LOVE IS MORE THAN A FEELING
Chapter Twenty-Seven
At around six o’clock that
evening, Jack returned home. He felt bad about the fight with Rose that
morning, knowing that it was at least partly his fault. To make amends, he had bought
dinner at a local restaurant and brought it home, along with a bouquet of
flowers he had picked up.
Jack made his way across the yard toward the
house, then looked in surprise at the open door. Rose never left the front door
open unless she was carrying things in or out of the house. For the sake of
privacy, she preferred to open the back door and windows to let the breeze
through.
Briefly, Jack wondered if Fabrizio or Tommy
had returned early and left the door open, but there was no sign of them. Brow
furrowed, he set the food and flowers in the kitchen and walked through the
house, calling Rose’s name.
There was no response. Even more confused,
Jack walked through every room in the house, looking for her.
She wasn’t there.
He wondered suddenly if she might have been
so angry over their fight that morning that she had left him, but all of her
belongings were still there, as were Elisa’s. She hadn’t left him, but he still
didn’t know where she might be.
Shaking his head, Jack left the house, going
to check the most obvious place Rose might have gone—Fred and Monica’s house.
Monica was due to give birth any day, and Rose went to visit with her
regularly.
Walking rapidly, he made his way to the
Winkings’ home, hoping that Rose was there. A feeling of worry was beginning to
overcome him, but he pushed it aside. Most likely, Rose had simply gone out and
forgotten to close the front door. There really wasn’t anything to worry about.
Fred answered the door when Jack knocked.
"Jack! Good to see you," he said, a
little puzzled as to why Jack was visiting. He didn’t usually visit after work,
especially when it was dinner time at home.
Jack nodded, looking around Fred to see if
Rose was in the house. "Have you seen Rose today?" he asked, anxiety
creeping into his voice.
Fred shook his head. "I haven’t seen
her. Monica, have you seen Rose today?" he called.
Monica stepped into the foyer. "No, I
haven’t seen her. I thought she might be sick or something, or Elisa wasn’t
feeling well. She usually comes by early in the afternoon, but I haven’t seen
her at all today. Isn’t she at home?"
Jack shook his head, his face showing his
worry. "She’s not there. I looked everywhere. When I got home the front
door was open, but Rose wasn’t home, and neither was anyone else."
"Maybe she went into town," Monica
suggested. "She might be home by now."
"Maybe," Jack conceded, but somehow
he knew that she wasn’t. Where could she be? he wondered. If she’s
left, why didn’t she take her own and Elisa’s belongings with her? She must
have Elisa. It isn’t like Rose to leave the front door open and the housework
undone. Could she have been that upset with me, that she forgot or ignored
those things?
"If she comes here, come and get
me," Jack told them. "Rose and I got into an argument this morning,
so she may still be upset with me. If I don’t find her, I’m coming back here. I
may need your help."
Turning on his heel, Jack hurried back toward
his own home.
*****
Jack returned home, hoping against hope that
Rose had returned, but there was still no sign of her. Tommy and Fabrizio were
back, but neither had seen her.
"I haven’t seen her since early this
morning," Tommy told Jack in response to his inquiry. "She seemed
kind of upset."
"She was. She says we make too much work
for her."
Fabrizio looked a little guilty. "I
guess we do, but why didn’t she say something?"
"She thought we should be able to figure
it out." Jack was too worried to take the time to explain. "Are you
sure you haven’t seen her?"
"I haven’t seen her, Jack,"
Fabrizio replied. "I thought, since you were gone when we came back here,
that you two were out somewhere."
Jack shook his head. "No. I haven’t seen
her since I left for work this morning. We’d been arguing, but I don’t think
she’s left. All of her stuff, and Elisa’s things, are still here. All that’s
missing are Rose and Elisa."
"Have you asked the Winkings if they’ve
seen her?" Tommy asked.
"I just got back from there. Monica
expected her to come by early in the afternoon, but she never showed up."
All three men exchanged worried glances. This
was definitely not typical of Rose. She would never leave a friend in the lurch
if she could help it.
"I’m going back to the Winkings’
house," Jack told them. "I’m going to need their help looking for
her."
"We’ll come with you," Fabrizio
told him, following Jack as he headed for the door. Tommy hurried after them,
closing the door behind him.
*****
A short time later, the three men arrived at
the Winking home. Monica met them at the door.
"Still no sign of her?" she asked,
her expression worried.
"None," Jack told her. "I take
it you haven’t heard from her either?"
"No." Monica shook her head.
"You need to look for her. I’m going back to your house, in case she shows
up there."
"Be careful," Jack told her.
"I have a bad feeling about this."
"I will be," she promised, slipping
past him. "Let me know if you find her."
Jack watched her walk down the street, then
turned to the others. "Fred, you go to the lake and the falls. She might
have gone there, especially if she was upset with me. Those are good places to
get away and think. Tommy, you look around these neighborhoods. See if any of
the neighbors have seen her. Fabrizio, you know where the farms around town
are. Look for her there. I’ll check the rest of town. If anyone finds her, go
back to our house and tell Monica, then wait for everyone else. We’ll all meet
there. Hopefully, we’ll find Rose."
*****
Three hours later, Jack was growing frantic.
No one had seen Rose that day. Now, it was dark out, and they couldn’t continue
the search until morning. The search party stood in the front yard of the
Dawson home, apprehensively discussing where Rose might be.
"Mr. Dawson?"
Jack barely glanced at the two boys who were
standing at the gate, looking at him as though they had news to impart.
"Mr. Dawson?" the boys asked again,
louder this time.
Jack sighed in irritation. "What is it?
We’re having a very important discussion here."
"We know where your wife is."
Jack was immediately alert. "You do?
Where? Where is she?"
The boys looked at each other, a little
nervously. "Well...we were exploring around the old McCauley place. You
know, the house some people say is haunted." The boy telling the story
looked even more nervous. The town’s children had been forbidden to go there,
but it proved irresistible to many.
"We were walking around the house,
trying to see if there was any way in, when we heard voices coming from the
house. Me and Jimmy wanted to see who was in there, so we sneaked up to a
window and looked in."
"And?" Jack asked, wondering what
they were getting at.
"There was a dark-haired man inside with
a gun, yelling at a lady with a baby who was backed against the wall. I guess
she was mad at him, because she spit in his face. He hit her, and then the baby
started crying. She turned away from him, looking toward the window, and that
was when I saw that it was Mrs. Dawson. Then the man looked toward the window
and saw us, and we got scared and ran back to town."
"When was this?" Jack wanted to know,
his gaze steady on the two boys.
"About an hour ago," Jimmy
volunteered. "Me and Johnny ran back here, and Johnny heard his mom say
that Mrs. Dawson was missing, so we came to tell you we saw her."
"Thank you," Jack told them.
"Thank you so much. We’re going over there right away."
"You know where it is?" Johnny
asked.
"I know where it is," Jack
confirmed. "I explored it myself when I was your age. Now, you’d better
get home before you get in trouble. It’s getting late."
The boys hurried off. Jack turned to Fred,
Tommy, and Fabrizio.
"Let’s go," he told them.
"I’ll lead the way."
The four men hurried off, ignoring Monica’s
insistence that she should come, too. Fred told her to stay behind, that this
was no place for a woman about to give birth.
Jack ignored the squabbling of his friends.
He knew now where Rose was, but he also knew, with a sick, sinking feeling, who
the dark-haired man was.
Cal.
Who else would come all the way to Chippewa
Falls to kidnap Rose?