A Place In the Sun
37
"The police are on their way," Edmund said as he rejoined Maria and the children.
"Daddy, Kata's okay, right?" Maddie asked, tears in her eyes.
"Oh, baby," he said, kneeling down to her level and wiping her face. "We're going to do everything we can to get her back here safe."
"We need to call Ryan and Gillian," Maria said.
"Why don't we go on downstairs? The police are going to want to get any evidence they can from this room," Edmund said, picking Maddie up and leading the way downstairs.
After quickly building a fire in the fireplace, Edmund left to call Ryan and Gillian.
"Hello?" Ryan answered the phone quietly as Gillian lay asleep in his arms.
"Ryan, this is Edmund," he said, taking a deep breath.
"Edmund, what's wrong?" Ryan asked, sliding out from underneath Gillian and going over to the kitchen.
"You and Gillian need to get out to Wildwind."
"What's going on?"
"Ryan, Kata's missing."
"What?" he said loudly. Gillian sat up and turned towards him.
"What is it, Ryan?" she asked.
"We think that Ray has her," Edmund told Ryan.
"We're leaving right now," he said, hanging up the phone.
"Ryan, something is wrong…"
He nodded, "Kata's missing; Edmund thinks—he thinks that Ray kidnapped Kata."
"No," she said, shaking her head. "No, he can't…"
Ryan held Gillian close to him.
……….
Bobby found some old pictures of him and Kelsey and Sam from high school. He flipped through the pages quickly and then sat the album aside.
"Maybe this is crazy," he said to himself.
He leaned his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes for a few moments.
"You still up?" Opal asked, peeking into the room.
"There's no way I could sleep," he told her. "What're you doing up?"
"Middle of the night munchies," she said, showing a bag of popcorn.
"Have a seat," he told her, making room for her to sit down.
"Thinking about Kelsey?"
"Who else?"
"How'd things go between you earlier?"
"She freaked out. I don't know what's happening."
"I didn't want to tell you before, but I talked to Joe and Ruth a few days ago. I knew she was staying there."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"They said she wanted some time alone."
"Do they know why she's acting like this?"
"She hasn't really talked to them. Just kept to herself, only leaving the house to go to work. She looked absolutely awful when she was here earlier, if you ask me. Her face was all pale and her eyes puffy."
"I know. It was all I could do not hold her in my arms and take all the hurt away. But apparently she's hurting because of me…I just don't understand why she reacted this way, Opal."
"I know, sweetie, and I wish I had an answer for you. All I can tell you is to wait, she'll come around."
"I wish I had your confidence."
"You should get some sleep," she said, standing up.
"I'll try," Bobby said, watching as she left the room.
"How can I sleep when every time I close my eyes, I just see you, Kelsey?" he asked himself, taking another look at a picture he had set aside.
……….
Gillian didn't need to speak for Ryan to know exactly what she was thinking as they made their way towards Wildwind. Thankfully the roads he needed to take had been well traveled since it had begun to snow and it did not take them much longer than usual to arrive.
When they pulled in, the estate was completely lit up, the power having been restored, and they saw a policeman at the door. Quickly as they could, Ryan and Gillian got out of the truck, slamming the doors shut, and ran to the entrance.
"Any news?" Ryan asked.
The officer shook his head, "Sorry, we just got here a few minutes ago ourselves."
Without hesitating another moment, the couple went inside to find Edmund and Maria.
"We shouldn't have left her alone. I should have stayed with her," they heard Maria say, near hysterics. "As soon as the power went out, I should have checked on her."
"Maria, sit down," Edmund tried to calm her, forcing her to sit as they both turned to see Ryan and Gillian come in.
"The officer at the door said they don't know anything else yet," Ryan said.
"There's a few people upstairs examining the room, and a couple more are in the back looking at where the electrical wires were cut."
"And you're certain that it was Ray?" Ryan asked Edmund.
"Who else would do something like this?" Gillian asked, sinking into a chair and closing her eyes.
"Are any officers trying to follow him or anything?" Ryan asked.
"They couldn't, all they could tell was when he turned out of Wildwind, he left going away from town, but the road forks less than a mile away from here and they couldn't tell which way he went after that," Edmund told him.
"I'm going to check on Sam and Maddie," Maria said, excusing herself.
"That's the fifth time in fifteen minutes she's checked on them," Edmund said.
"Do the police have people looking for Ray and Kata in the next towns?"
"They've put out APB's on both of them and alerted police, but some places are hit with this weather harder than here."
"So it's going to be tough for them to do anything…" Ryan remarked.
"We have to go out and look; your truck will make it through the snow," Gillian said slowly.
"You're not going anywhere, Princess," he said, his eyes not leaving Gillian as he kneeled down beside her. "Edmund, go get Gillian a glass of water." Edmund left quickly.
"No, we have to find her," Gillian told him.
"I know, and we will, but right now you look really pale."
Edmund handed Gillian a glass and she took a few sips.
"Mr. Grey," an officer said, coming into the room. "We need to speak with each of you, individually."
"Can it wait?" Ryan asked. "Gillian isn't feeling well."
"We need to get as much information as possible," the officer told him.
"I am fine, Ryan," Gillian said. "Anything I can do to get Katalin back here safe, I have got to do it."
……….
Bobby woke up not an hour after Opal had left, his head filled with worry.
"I shouldn't have let her go out in this weather by herself," he said out loud. He searched for the phone and quickly dialed Kelsey's number.
There was no answer at her apartment. He tried her cell phone; again, there was no answer. He tried the apartment again, hoping that she was asleep and had not heard the phone the first time, but she still did not pick up.
"Kelsey, I just want to make sure you got home, or somewhere, alright," he said, this time dialing Joe and Ruth's number. "Someone's got to be home at your grandparents'."
Still no one answered. By this time, Bobby was nearly in a state of panic. He tried the three numbers again, but there was no change.
He looked outside; the sun had already begun to rise. Bobby scribbled a note to Opal and grabbed his coat, going out in the snow to find Kelsey.
………. "Hi, I'm Officer Watkins," a petite woman introduced herself as she sat down opposite Gillian.
Gillian nodded as she took another drink of water.
"First I want to ask you some questions about your daughter. Could you describe her for me?"
"She just turned four years old; she is three foot tall, brown eyes, long light brown hair that curls up at the ends. She looks more like Ryan than me."
"Do you have any pictures of her with you?"
"Yes, of course," she said, fumbling through her bag and producing several photos of Katalin.
"Can you describe what she was wearing when you last saw her?"
"She was wearing this new pink velvet jumper that I bought her last week. It is dark pink and she had on a white shirt underneath it, white tights, and black little dress shoes. But she has some spare clothes here, so Maria might have changed her into a nightgown."
"Someone will find that out. Where were you tonight?"
"I was at home with Ryan."
"Your daughter's father?"
"Yes, Katalin is Ryan's daughter."
"And you and your daughter are currently living with him?"
"Yes."
"Would Ryan have any reason to want to take your daughter from you?"
"What are you asking me?" Gillian aske d. "Ryan would never take Katalin from me. We are together, and we are going to be remarried. Ray took Kata; there is no question in my mind."
"This is the man accused of attacking you on November 27th?"
"Yes, there is a warrant out for his arrest."
"And you believe he may have taken your daughter?"
"Yes, he wants to hurt me. He wants me to be with him. We lived with him before we came back to Pine Valley."
"How long have you known him?"
"Since I was pregnant with Katalin. I met Ray in July of 1999."
"In the assault report you filed, it said he had been violent towards you before. When did that begin?"
"About two years ago. Something happened between him and his brother, whom I never met. They got in a fight over the phone and as far as I know they have never spoken since. Before that day he was the perfect boyfriend…the day he laid a hand on Katalin was the day we left," Gillian said, wiping away her tears.
"Thank you, that's enough for now," Officer Watkins told her, standing up.
Gillian buried her face in her hands. Within a few minutes, Ryan came back into the room and sat down beside her.
He put his arm around her and told her, "We will find Katalin; we'll get our daughter back."