Jack Ryder Mystery Series: Vol 4-6 Page 7

  “Stories still persist of a tunnel extending from the Old Rum Cellar beneath the Captain's Room to the river through which these men were carried, drugged, and unconscious, to ships waiting in the harbor,” he told them, making his voice scary and piratish. “A Savannah policeman—so legend has it—stopped by the Pirate’s House for a friendly drink and awoke on a four-master schooner sailing to China from where it took him two years to make his way back to Savannah.”

  “Wauv,” Abigail exclaimed, while Emily scoffed from where she was standing leaned up against a wall, her bangs covering most of her face, her hoodie pulled up. She was wearing way too many clothes for such a warm evening.

  “Well, it’s true,” I said, addressed to her. “That there are actual tunnels underneath Savannah.”

  I had heard about the tunnels myself, but had always been told they were used for the bodies of people who succumbed to yellow fever. Through an underground network, they were put in the tunnels and moved to prevent panic aboveground. Still another tale tells of runaway slaves hidden under the floor of the First African Baptist Church, and then ferried out of harm’s way via an Underground Railroad. I didn’t know what to believe. Savannah was a place of myths and legends and the Savannahians’ master storytellers. With a location this steeped in history, there was no shortage of compelling plotlines and colorful characters.

  This place was no different.

  “Even now, many swear that the ghost of Captain Flint still haunts the Pirate’s House on moonless nights,” the pirate ended his tale, just as our table was ready and we were seated in a private area like I had asked for, to make sure Shannon could take off her hat and relax for a bit. And so she could breastfeed if she needed to.

  I tipped the lady extra and she went away with a happy smile.

  The kids got menus that they could shape into pirate hats and paper earrings and color, while Shannon and I looked at what to order. Tyler had fallen asleep on our way here and stayed in his car seat, slumped down deep in dreamland. I just hoped he would stay there until we were done eating. We could use a nice night out with the kids without his meddling for once. He was adorable, but also exhausting.

  “I’m gonna get myself a steak,” I said, and then added a pirated, “arrr.”

  Shannon laughed. The kids seemed more embarrassed, especially Emily, who was hiding behind her menu.

  “I’ll have some Southern Style Catfish,” Shannon said. Then tried an “arrr” of her own. It received a laugh from her own daughter. Mine didn’t know how to pity-laugh.

  It was all the way it was supposed to be. It felt great to be back to normal again. If you could ever call this crazy family normal.

  Part II

  PUSH: A tie; the player and dealer have hands with the same total.

  23

  May 2016

  Shannon was happy. It had been a tough couple of days with Betsy Sue in the house, knowing her story and everything, and it hurt thinking about it. But now Shannon had finally let it go; finally, she was back with her family enjoying every one of them.

  Jack’s kids were being rowdy, as always, and every now and then she wanted to say something to Abigail, but she held it back. This was not the time or place. It was still Jack’s battle to fight. Later, when they were more used to Shannon being around, when they moved into the new house, she might listen to Shannon.

  The house. Oh, the house. They had owned the property for almost a year now. They started building the house following Jack’s plans and the drawings he made with the architect, but the house wasn’t done yet. It was about to drive all of them nuts. The house was there. There was a roof on and everything, but then there was the issue of the plumbing, then there was the electricity. It still didn’t work properly and they hadn’t been able to move in yet.

  Soon, they said. Very soon.

  They had said that for months now. It was getting tiresome. Shannon couldn’t wait to move in and start living in the house that Jack built for her.

  All good things come to those who wait.

  She was hoping that they’d be able to move in before the summer, but was trying to not get her hopes up too high. Until now, they had all been living in Jack’s apartment and it was getting a little cramped. Emily was spending most of her nights at the motel that Jack’s parents owned next door, and that had helped a little.

  Shannon ate her catfish while looking at Emily, who had ordered fish, but barely touched it. Jack didn’t see it, but Shannon did. The girl cut out the fish into small pieces, and then pushed them around on her plate, making it look like she had eaten. She was getting really good at hiding it; it was almost scary.

  “Can we get dessert, dad, can we pleeeeeaaaase?” asked Abigail and, as usual, she got her way. The kids were served chocolate ice cream and were soon bouncing off the walls of the small private room.

  Luckily, Tyler slept through everything. At least Shannon didn’t have to worry about him. Jack put his arm around her shoulder.

  “Do you want a dessert too?” he asked.

  “I can’t,” Shannon said.

  “Ah, come on,” he said. “You look great. No need to worry.”

  “I have to be able to fit into the dress,” she said. “They just finished it. I can’t make any more adjustments to it.”

  “Oh, well I could do with some chocolate ice cream myself,” he said. “Arrr.”

  “Dad, it’s not funny anymore,” Abigail said. “It never was.”

  Jack ignored her. “How about you, Emily? You love chocolate cake. They have that with vanilla ice cream?”

  Shannon could have screamed. How could he ask her that? Did he not see that she hadn’t eaten? Did he not see her?

  Emily shook her head and leaned back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest. Shannon felt a pinch in her heart. She could see how Emily’s hands had gotten so skinny. The bones were too visible. She wondered how she looked underneath all that clothing. Shannon realized it was going to be up to her if anything was to be done about Emily’s condition.

  Jack ate his ice cream and they paid. Shannon put on her big hat when walking back through the crowd. All it took was one person recognizing her before hell would break loose. Shannon knew it was vital that no one saw her here. The press would hear about it and make a circus out of their wedding.

  Tyler started fussing as they walked towards the entrance. The kids stopped to look at some door that another pirate told them was magical. Shannon felt the pressure of Tyler’s demands and Jack saw it on her face.

  “Just go out to the car with him while I gather the kids,” Jack said.

  Shannon carried Tyler in his car seat out through the front door of the restaurant, leaving all the chaos behind her. It had gotten chilly outside and Shannon took her jacket from around her waist. To use both her hands, she had to put Tyler down on the porch. She put her jacket on and, as she turned to grab the handle of the car seat, it wasn’t there.

  24

  May 2016

  At first when I heard Shannon scream, I thought it was part of some gimmick in the restaurant. Someone screaming…pretending to be a ghost or to have seen one. I laughed and gathered the kids. We walked towards the entrance when I heard it again. This time it was a lot more serious and I realized it wasn’t part of a show put on by some people working here. This was real.

  It was a nightmare come true.

  My eyes met hers when she opened the door to the restaurant and stepped inside. “Did you take Tyler?” she asked, her voice trembling.

  I shook my head, panic starting to emerge in the bottom of my stomach. “What are you talking about?”

  “Did you take him? Did you come out and grab him?”

  “No. I’ve been in here with the kids, trying to gather them. You took him outside, remember?”

  “He’s not there,” she said. “He was there, and then he wasn’t.”

  It sounded like she had lost it. Her voice was calm like someone in deep shock. I had seen it before and it scar
ed me even more. “What do you mean he isn’t there? Didn’t you hold on to him?”

  “I had him in the car seat, and I carried him outside to the porch. Then I felt cold and put the seat down to put on my jacket. When I reached down to grab the handle, it wasn’t there. He was gone.”

  “Oh, my God,” I said and stormed outside to the old wooden porch. I looked to both sides of me, trying to imagine being Shannon putting on my jacket.

  Why on earth did she turn away from him? Why didn’t she keep an eye on our baby?

  “Tyler?” I asked, as if he was able to answer. I walked around the porch to the other side of the house, my heart throbbing in my chest. Cars were coming in and others leaving the big parking lot in front of the restaurant like nothing had happened. I felt like yelling at them, stopping them, and searching them for my baby.

  Where are you, little man?

  “Do you see him?” Shannon asked, as she came out behind me.

  I shook my head and rubbed my hair frantically. “No. Where did you put him down?”

  “Over there,” she said and pointed at a spot next to the door. “I put him down right there, I think.”

  “You think? You think?” I asked, a little more aggressively than I meant to. “Please do try and remember, Shannon. Did you put him down over there or not?”

  “Maybe it was over here closer to the door. I don’t remember Jack, I don’t remember exactly where it was!”

  “Think, Shannon,” I said.

  I stormed into the parking lot and started searching around the cars. I spotted a lady who was unlocking her car, holding a box of food in her hand. “Hey!” I approached her. She looked afraid of me. “Have you seen a baby in a red car seat? Maybe seen someone carrying it somewhere?”

  She looked at me like I was crazy. “No.” She hurried up and opened the car door and got in. I sighed, trying to ease up the panic slowly spreading in my body. I stared around me. Nothing but a sea of cars lit up by streetlamps. Cars were constantly coming and going. Someone ought to have seen at least something, right? A baby doesn’t just disappear, does it?

  I spotted Shannon, standing still on the porch, staring at the same spot where she said she was almost certain she remembered putting the seat down. I felt anger and found it hard to control it. I ran back towards her, yelling.

  “Come on! Shannon. How could you let this happen?” I yelled to her face, while raising my arm angrily.

  Startled, Shannon ducked down with a shriek, protecting her head with both of her arms.

  I gasped and pulled back.

  Oh, my gosh. She thought I was going to hit her, didn’t she?

  “I’m sorry,” I said. I backed up, angry at myself now for being so insensitive, given her past with a violent ex-husband. I knew better than this. I was just so scared.

  Shannon whimpered, then broke into tears. “I’m so sorry, Jack. I am so sorry. I lost him. I lost our baby.”

  I knelt next to her and pulled her into my embrace. I was fighting my own tears, but didn’t allow myself to cry.

  “No. We lost him. And we’ll find him. Together.”

  25

  May 2016

  “What’s going on?”

  It was Emily. I looked up at her.

  “What happened to Shannon?” she asked. “The kids are really scared. Can they come out?”

  The kids had stayed inside because I told them to when I ran out here. “Yes,” I said and rose to my feet. “Maybe they can help us search for him.”

  Emily went inside and came out, followed by Abigail, Austin, and Angela, our three A’s. They all looked terrified. Abigail was the only one with courage enough to speak.

  “What happened, Dad? Did something happen to Tyler?”

  “We can’t find him,” I said. “Maybe if we all looked around the area? Could you guys help us with that?”

  The three young ones nodded. “Maybe you could go with them, Emily?” I asked. “Just basically look everywhere.”

  The kids took off into the parking lot and I watched them for a little while before I helped Shannon to sit down on an old bench by the front door. A couple walked past us. The man grabbed the door handle, but his wife urged him to stop. She approached us.

  “What’s wrong, dear?”

  She sounded like she was from up north, but I had never been very good with accents.

  “I…we can’t find our baby,” I said. “He’s in a car seat, you know the ones you can carry by the handle.”

  The lady nodded. “Yes.”

  “Well my…our baby boy, Tyler, was in one, sleeping. My wife put him down for just a second and when she reached for him, he was gone.”

  “Oh, my. That’s terrible,” the lady said. “Where did it happen?”

  “Right here,” Shannon said. “In front of the door.”

  “Say, aren’t you that singer?” the lady asked, and suddenly I could see the headlines in all the newspapers tomorrow.

  Shannon shook her head and looked away.

  “Thank you. We’ll take care of it,” I said and helped them get inside. “Don’t worry.”

  I realized my hands were shaking as I closed the door behind the couple. Shannon had gone into complete shock and I could make no sense of what she was saying. I walked back into the restaurant and alerted the hostess, asked her to look for a baby in a small car seat. But I also told her to please be discrete about it to protect my wife.

  “Let me call my manager right away,” she said. “We’ll have everyone looking for him.”

  The words kidnapped and abduction were staring to roam in my mind as I returned to Shannon, but I didn’t want to succumb to them; I didn’t want to say them out loud or even let them take root in my head.

  Tyler has to be here somewhere, right? He simply has to be. Just stay calm now, Jack. You have to keep your cool.

  “He’s gone, isn’t he?” Shannon suddenly said, looking up at me. Our eyes met and I felt the anxiety she was going through.

  “Don’t say that,” I said. “I’m sure there is some explanation for all this.”

  Shannon was rocking back and forth, biting her nails. “Do you think that’s what the Hawthornes told each other when their daughter went missing five years ago?”

  “No! Don’t talk like that!” I yelled. But I had no right to be angry. She was just saying what I was afraid to even think.

  It did, however, make me realize we had to do something more drastic. I grabbed my phone and called Detective Bellini.

  “Bellini. Ryder here. I need your help. We…” I looked at Shannon, who was shaking her head in panic, crying heavily between sobs. She got up and started searching in the bushes next to the restaurant. I fought my urge to cry. Saying the words out loud made it so much more real, so much harder to cope with. But I had to. I needed all the help I could get now.

  “Tyler is missing.”

  “Tyler, as in your newborn?” she asked with great urgency.

  “Yes.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and closed my eyes. “Our three-month-old baby is gone. He disappeared outside the Pirate’s House. We’re in front of the house now, searching the parking lot, but there aren’t many places he can have gone. I fear he might have been taken. Please, help us.”

  “Be right there.”

  “But, Bellini?”

  “Yes?”

  “I need you to be very discrete about this. We can’t have this hit the front pages tomorrow morning.”

  “Of course not. I’ll see what I can do.”

  26

  May 2016

  “I have a surprise for you, girls!”

  The Doctor turned off the lights and all the girls in the house started to scream. Mostly in excitement. They knew something was coming. The Doctor had placed them in a circle. Meanwhile, the Doctor carried the surprise into the middle of the circle, went back to the wall, and flipped on the lights again.

  “Ta-da!”

  All the girls stared at the little pink lump in the car seat in f
ront of them. The Doctor stormed back and took him out. All eyes were fixated on the baby, but no one spoke. Not until Daisy opened her mouth as the first. Typical Daisy to be the first to complain. Always her.

  “But…” she started, but got a look from the Doctor that made her stop. She opened her mouth once again, but then held it back.

  “That’s not…” Miss Liz said.

  “That’s a boy!” Millie said. “That’s not Betsy Sue!”

  The Doctor gave Millie a look. It made her stop whining immediately and look away. Her arm was doing better, but was still in a sling. The Doctor had put it back in place, but Millie still complained about the pain. She wasn’t going to risk another incident. She wasn’t that stupid.

  “I know it’s a boy,” the Doctor said, caressing the baby’s cheek. “Isn’t he a beauty?”

  Lacy Macey made a grimace. “Yuck, I think he’s ugly.”

  The Doctor turned to look at the little girl with the brown curly hair. Her long eyelashes were blinking as she realized she had crossed the line for what the Doctor found acceptable. The Doctor approached her, lifted her chin up with a finger underneath it, and made her look into the Doctor’s eyes. Next, the Doctor slapped her across the face, causing her head to turn forcefully to the side. It didn’t return to face the Doctor before the Doctor grabbed it and turned it back.

  “Now,” the Doctor said with a sniffle. “What do you say to poor little…Rikki Rick?”

  Lacy Macey’s eyes hit the wooden floors.

  “Look at him,” the Doctor said. “Look at him when you say it.”

  The girl looked up. “I’m sorry,” she said.