AN: Thanks for all your feedback! Some of it has been, "Well, DUH!" kind of stuff for me. Like someone pointed out that OF COURSE Luka wouldn't be sitting around just la-dee-dah drinking coffee if his daughter was missing. And someone else pointed out that Olivia should have probably gone to a juvenile detention center. Thank you for all that, I took it all into consideration. Well, here comes the next chapter.
There came a knock at the door then, and I turned from the kitchen scene. Two women in blue suit-coats were standing at the door. "Hello, can I help you?"
"My name is Karen Hoyle, I'm with the Chicago Juvenile Detention Center, also known as the Grammercy Detention Center. This is my partner, Alanna Madison. Are you Abby Kovac?"
"Yes." Someone had told. Someone at the hospital had told. We had pleaded with everyone, "Please, don't tell what Olivia had done. We know she had problems, we'll put her in therapy. Just don't tell. We know it's wrong, but we don't want Olivia to go to jail." But someone had told.
"We have an anonymous warrant," Alanna Madison said, "to take your daughter, Olivia Danijela Kovac, to the Grammercy Detention Center, for a period of up to two years as seen fit by a judge. She will be held until a court date has been set."
"When will that be?" I asked fearfully. Luka came from the kitchen to stand next to me.
"In about four days," said Karen Hoyle.
"We're very sorry," Alanna Madison added.
A male police officer came in then, and he took Olivia away. Standing out on the porch, I watched him as he put her in the car, like she was just a common criminal.
I was falling apart, falling apart. I felt like running.
Jacob came out next to me. "Where are they taking Olivia?"
"To…" Where were they taking her? I didn't know.
"Away," Luka helped me. He had brought Daniel out onto the porch, and he hugged me. "It's okay, Abby. Everything will be okay."
Everything was falling apart. Maggie was gone, Olivia had been basically arrested, Daniel was sick again, and Jacob was off in his own piano-playing world. What was going to happen to us?
That afternoon, Luka and I met up at the corner of South Street and Johnson. We had been out searching for Maggie since the morning. We'd left the boys with a kind neighbor, who always gave them cookies. It was taking my mind off Olivia. "Anything?"
"No, and I asked all the regulars. I asked the man who owns the shop where she buys her candy after school, and the woman who sweeps the floors at the community center, and her school principal, and the little old lady who feeds the ducks by the river," he answered. "You?"
"Nothing."
"I guess we'll have to check everywhere," he said with a shrug.
And suddenly I knew where she was. "Come on."
Two blocks away, on McKinley Street, was our old house. It was a large, two-story, blue house that sprawled across two lots. It had a huge backyard with a small pool, and a shed where we kept the lawn mower. But we'd moved to the house on 72nd Street just three years after we moved into the house on McKinley Street. The house on 72nd Street hadn't been bought by anyone yet.
Up the six steps to the front door. Then I reached under the fading welcome mat and pulled out a key. It had always been hidden there. Carefully I unlocked the door and stepped inside. "Maggie?"
The rooms were silent and empty. I walked carefully along the parquet foyer floor, stepping into the kitchen. "Maggie?"
Luka followed behind me, checking in the dining room with its faded raspberry carpet, and the living room with the big hardwood floor. "Maggie, are you here?"
We checked all of the first floor and the basement, and then carefully ascended the steps to the second floor. Maggie's room had been on the left, Daniel's next to hers, Jacob's across the hall, Olivia's next to Jacob's, and ours down at the far left end. Down on the far right end was a huge room with a big stained glass window that was basically a workroom or an office of some sort. During the three year period we lived in the house, it was the kids' playroom. I could still imagine them scooting their trucks along the uncovered floor, or drawing on one of the big desks we'd set up.
A lone figure stood in front of the stained glass window. Maggie stood there, securely bundled in her parka. "Mom," she said.
"Hi, honey."
Luka and I went over to her and hugged her to us. "Oh, you gave us such a scare!" Luka said.
"I know." It was an admission of guilt, plain and simple.
And as I hugged her, I never wanted this moment to end. It was some sort of victory over the evils in the world, and it was worth more than all the riches I could ever accumulate.
People
always hope for moments like these. I
just wish there were more of them. There were still so many evils we had to conquer – especially Luka and
I. But this moment made up for part of
the horrific day.