Prodigal

Chapter 6

6

“Dorothy, calm down,” JJ said, placing her hands on the woman’s shoulders.

But her screams continued, and it was all JJ could do not to cover her own ears. Otto momentarily froze, and Adam stood rooted to the spot, face pale and mouth open. For just an instant, JJ feared Adam would start screaming as well.

“Adam,” JJ barked, pointing toward the front door, “get out of here. Now.”

The sound of JJ’s voice spurred Otto into action. He moved to the cushion on the other side of Dorothy, putting one hand on her shoulder and the other on her thigh while murmuring reassuringly. Adam finally closed his mouth, but his eyes were still too wide as he turned and left the room, his legs awkward as though he’d forgotten how to walk. JJ heard the front door close behind him when Dorothy paused. The woman’s face was pink with effort, and she sucked air in great, heaving gasps.

At least if she hyperventilates, she can’t scream. JJ felt a twinge of guilt at the thought—briefly—before flinching as Dorothy began wailing, a long, drawn-out extension of the sobs that racked her small body. JJ was suddenly aware of how cold her hands were as she took Dorothy’s warm cheeks between them. “Hey, Dorothy, you need to calm down.”

Tears streamed down Dorothy’s face from eyes that had squeezed shut against the world, and she continued to keen for her daughter.

“Dorothy,” JJ said, gripping the woman’s cheeks more firmly with her fingers, “if you don’t calm down, I’m going to slap you. Hard.”

JJ squeezed for emphasis, and Dorothy opened red eyes. Her breath continued to wheeze, but without the previous moaning exhales.

“Good girl,” JJ said, gently massaging the back of Dorothy’s head as she rested her forehead against Dorothy’s.

“JJ,” Dorothy whispered, “where’s my little girl?”

JJ’s voice was strong as she said, “We’re going to find her, sweetie. I promise. But you have to hold it together.” She squeezed Dorothy’s shoulders and smiled. “Now why don’t you go wash your face?”

Dorothy looked at Otto. The big man nodded and touched her hair. “Go on, honey. It’s okay.”

JJ and Otto leaned over the back of the couch, watching until Dorothy shut the bathroom door behind her. JJ sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, letting the emotions wash over her. What the hell was she thinking, making a promise like that? It was the same promise she’d made to Danny in her heart, but never shared out loud. Even as a child, she’d had more sense than that. So what had gotten into her tonight?

“You might want to give Doc Hammond a call,” JJ said. As time went by, it would become more and more difficult to calm Dorothy—or get her to sleep—without pharmaceutical help.

“I will,” Otto said. Already standing, he towered over her.

JJ pushed herself reluctantly from the couch and headed toward the front door. She made it as far as the kitchen when she felt Otto’s hand on her elbow.

“Why is he here?” Otto asked, flicking his eyes toward Adam waiting outside.

“He grew up in Cold Springs. Why wouldn’t he be here?”

Otto stared at JJ, unspeaking, mouth set and the slightest quiver in his jaw. JJ instinctively looked at his hands; they weren’t clenched into fists. Yet. She tucked one hand behind her and reached for the kitchen table with the other, gripping the tabletop.

“So you know what happened when we were kids?” JJ asked. Otto didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to. “Who told you?”

Otto shrugged. “People talk.”

JJ narrowed her eyes. People do talk, but she found it hard to believe someone had been callous enough to tell the man about a twenty-year-old unsolved kidnapping the day his own daughter disappeared. Otto must have known about Danny prior to today.

“Why is he here now?” Otto reiterated, crossing his arms.

“For God’s sake, Otto, Adam was a child, too, when it—”

“Why?”

JJ forced herself not to flinch when he yelled, to hold her position. “I called Adam,” she lied, effortlessly. She lifted her chin, almost begging Otto to challenge her. “I wanted him here.”

Dorothy’s voice called out from the living room, looking for the two of them, asking if everything was all right. Otto’s face softened, and JJ could almost believe she’d imagined his hostility just moments ago. Almost.

“Thanks, JJ,” he said. “I know it means a lot to Dorothy having you here.”

JJ nodded. “I’ll drop by again in the morning.”

Otto returned her nod and patted JJ’s arm as he passed. She watched him follow his wife’s voice into the other room, as if nothing had happened. And it hadn’t, not really. Except that was the first time in the five years she’d known him that she’d ever heard Otto Nicholson raise his voice.

JJ gazed out the kitchen window at her car, her anxiety for the man inside it turning to anger, as her anxiety usually did. If even-tempered transplant Otto was suspicious of Adam, what chance did the damned fool have with the people who’d actually lived here twenty years ago?