CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The drugs the doctor had prescribed for Liz kept her listless and mostly silent. They helped her construct a shell around herself that Bob couldn’t penetrate. Nothing he said seemed to reach her. The blank, lifeless look in her eyes scared him.
He needed to feel his family around him. He went to the hall closet and pulled out a box of home movies and a movie projector. He selected a reel he’d taken a few Sundays before and threaded it through the projector. After closing the shutters to darken the room, he flipped on the machine, and looked at the images of Liz and Michael that popped up on the living room wall. His wife and son stood in the kitchen doorway, silhouetted against early-morning sun bathing the patio and the yard beyond. The weather had been perfect – warm, but not hot. He knew how much Liz loved her mornings with Michael.
“Swing, Mommy, swing,” Michael said.
“Okay, baby,” Liz responded. “As soon as Mommy finds her sunglasses, we’ll go play on the swings.”
The next scene showed Liz and Michael facing each other, lazily swinging back and forth on the glider. White Dog lounged on the terrace, basking in the sun.
“Look at the bird in the tree, Michael,” Liz pointed. “It’s a robin.”
“Wobbin,” Michael repeated and pointed with a pudgy finger.
“Do you know that one over there?” Liz said. She pointed out a bird perched on a bush.
Michael showed a confident smile and said, “Wenn.”
“Good boy,” Liz exclaimed.
Michael began singing some indecipherable tune, hamming it up. The sound of his voice coming from the projector filled the room and Bob’s eyes brimmed with tears. He stared at his son’s image and felt an ache penetrating his entire being.
Then movement in the hallway startled Bob. Liz suddenly stumbled into the living room, frantically looking around. He stood and moved toward her. She turned to Michael’s image on the wall, staring, frozen in place. Then she rushed to the wall, her hand raised to touch Michael’s face. But she blocked the projector’s lens, obliterating her son’s image. She backed away and stared at the wall.
“Michael, it’s Mommy. I’m here, sweetheart.” Then she began to sob.
Bob reached his wife and held her until she stopped crying. “Take it easy, Liz. We’ll get our son back,” he said, stroking her face. “But I can’t do it without you.”
Liz’s eyes grew wide in the light from the projector. Bob thought he saw a brief hint of lucidity, but then she seemed to fade back to the demented vacuum she’d been occupying since Michael was kidnapped. She grabbed the front of his shirt. “What can we do?” she said, panic in her voice. “What can I do?”
Bob couldn’t hold her gaze. The guilt he felt over not being with his family when they needed him was already like a bleeding wound. The lost look in Liz’s eyes only made him feel worse.
“First, you have to eat something,” he said. “I need you strong and well. Then we’ll figure something out. No one’s going to keep our baby from us.”
Bob’s words seemed to bring Liz all the way back for a moment. She turned to the wall. “Look at his face, so trusting. We’ve got to find Michael before it’s too late.” Then she devolved into sobs and sank to the floor.
Bob knelt and wrapped her in his arms. “We’ll find him, honey. You can count on it,” he said. He wanted to believe what he’d said with every fiber of his body and soul.
YOU ARE READING
EVIL DEEDS
Mystery / ThrillerEvil Deeds is the first in a 4-book series that follows the Danforth family from the kidnapping of their 2-year-old son in Greece in 1971 to present day. The book (and series) is a roller coaster ride of action and suspense. This book, as with all o...
