Fallen

He offered her a small, confused smile, but it quickly dwindled. “You’re brave too, Kandace. What do you need me to do to help you escape?”CHAPTER FORTY-TWOScarlett pulled up in front of Millie’s house, getting out of the car and beginning to walk toward the front door when she spotted the woman pushing a stroller toward her on the opposite side of the sidewalk. The woman smiled and Scarlett looked closer, realizing that the stroller she was pushing was for a special needs child, and the boy sitting in it—who looked to be a pre-teen—was clearly disabled.

“If you’re going to visit Vicky Schmidt, she won’t be home. She attends a church meeting every Thursday at five. We usually take our walk a little earlier and we see her leaving.” She smiled, ruffling the boy’s hair. He craned his neck, his mouth opening as he gazed at his mother with clear adoration.

“Oh, thank you,” Scarlett said, changing direction and walking toward her. “Do you, by chance, live in the blue house a few blocks over?”

“Yes. Do I know you?”

“No. I’m Scarlett Lattimore. We, um, moved to town very recently. Millie babysits my daughter, Haddie, and she mentioned you.”

“Welcome to town. I’m Dotty and this is Roger.”

Scarlett smiled down at the boy whose arms were folded inward, head slanted, tongue protruding through the same open-mouthed smile. He was obviously non-verbal. “Hi, Roger.” When she looked at his mother, she said, “I just wanted to say I’m sorry in person. Millie told me Haddie made Roger scream. I don’t know what came over my daughter that would cause her to upset him like that. She’s usually kind and very accepting—”

“Oh, Ms. Lattimore.” Dotty laughed, shaking her head. “I don’t think Millie understood. Haddie didn’t upset Roger.” She ran a hand over her son’s brown hair again. “He does that when he’s excited or . . . overcome with happiness.” Her smile widened. “It’s loud, and can be disconcerting if you don’t know him well, but it’s joyful. Haddie didn’t hurt him. Far from it. Whatever your daughter said made him overwhelmingly happy.”

Scarlett blinked in stunned wonder, her spirit lifting to hear what this mother was telling her. “Oh, I see.” She let out a breath, putting her hand over her heart. “I can’t tell you how relieved that makes me feel.” Oh, Haddie, I’m sorry I doubted you. Again.

Dotty gave her another grin. “I’d like to know what it was Haddie said so we can repeat it. Daily. He so rarely has a reaction like that. It was precious to me.” She gazed down at her child. “Roger is a handful some days, but he’s a gift.” She met Scarlett’s eyes. “He was taken, you know, a few days after his birth.” She swallowed, obviously reliving the memory.

“Taken?” Scarlett whispered.

“By a wild animal. I was napping and my husband was with him in our backyard. They’d said he needed sunlight . . . for his jaundice. He only turned away for a moment, but when he turned back, Roger was gone. The sheriff never could quite figure out what it was. There were no tracks . . . nothing. But . . . there had been other abductions like it in Farrow. Animals take babies sometimes, you know, just like they take cats and small dogs. Especially when they’re hungry.”

“Oh my God,” Scarlett said, putting her hand over her heart to imagine the horror of a moment like that for a new mother. The pictures that must have come to mind. The absolute torture she must have experienced.

“But he was found. Obviously.”

Dotty bobbed her head. “Yes. A hunter out near Lilith House heard an infant wailing. When he investigated, he found Roger, cold but unharmed in the little shed behind the property. It was like God Himself had delivered him to safety.” Her gaze became distant. “Like I said, there had been animal abductions before, but they seemed to stop after that.” Her eyes came back into focus and she looked at Scarlett, smiling. “Anyway,” she said, “despite the challenges, I don’t take a moment for granted.”

“No, of course not,” Scarlett murmured, gazing at the boy.

A wild animal took him. She could believe in the possibility.

But if so, what kind of creature returned him?

Maybe Dotty didn’t care. She had her boy back and that was all that mattered. Scarlett mustered a smile for her. “I’ll have to ask Haddie what she said to Roger so I can let you know. It was so nice to meet you both.”

“Yes, I’d love that. And likewise. See you around town.”

Scarlett turned, watching as Dotty pushed her son’s modified stroller away, returning to her car. She took a moment to shake off the unsettled feeling that crawled under her skin at the mere thought of a baby being taken by a wild animal. But she couldn’t ponder on that, not now when there were critical and urgent questions that needed to be asked.