The Courage Tree - Diane Chamberlain [58]
“I’m not hungry.”
“You have to eat something.” He put his hands beneath her shoulders and pulled her into a sitting position. “Come on, Jan, seriously. Let’s go.”
She allowed him to guide her into the kitchen and onto one of the chairs at the table. Opening the cupboard nearest the window, Lucas peered inside.
She couldn’t even think about the boxes and cans of food he was looking at. “I don’t think I can—”
“How about soup?” he asked, holding a can of turkey-and-rice soup in his hand. “Are you too hot for that? It would probably be the best thing for your stomach.”
“Okay.” It was easier to give in than to fight him. She watched as he opened the can and poured its contents into a bowl. While it cooked in the microwave, he took the English muffins from the bread box, pulled one from the package, and put it in the toaster.
“So,” she said, watching him, “what have you eaten in the last day and a half?”
He smiled. “More than you,” he said. “At least I’ve had enough to sustain life.”
He placed the soup and toasted English muffin on the table in front of her, and she ate under his supervision. The soup tasted flat and flavorless; the muffin was impossible to get down, and she left it on the plate.
At ten o’clock, they undressed to their T-shirts and underwear and got into her queen-size bed to watch the news. She was anxious to see the footage of the press conference, and the disappearance of the missing Scouts and their leader was the first story mentioned.
“Two eight-year-old Vienna Girl Scouts and their leader are still missing this evening,” the male newscaster said. He was grim faced, but what did he care? He recounted stories like this one every day of the week. Janine suddenly understood what it was like to be on the other side of those news stories. To the public, the disappearance of three people was just one more tragedy; to their families, it marked the collapse of their worlds.
“They were last seen driving away from Camp Kochaben in West Virginia yesterday afternoon,” the newscaster continued. “The leader, twenty-five-year-old Alison Dunn, was driving a ’97 dark-blue Honda Accord, and was expected to arrive at Meadowlark Gardens in Vienna at three o’clock yesterday afternoon. Police report they have no leads at this time. Ms. Dunn, originally from Ohio, is scheduled to be married this Saturday. The parents of Sophie Donohue and Holly Kraft held a news conference this afternoon, pleading for the safe return of their children.”
The camera shifted from the newscaster to the footage of Janine and Joe and the Krafts, who by now had completely lost their cavalier, this-is-no-big-deal facade. The four of them looked tired and frightened. Janine held an eight-by-ten picture of Sophie, Rebecca, an even larger picture of Holly. Joe spoke first.
“If anyone has any information regarding the whereabouts of our children and Alison Dunn, we’re begging you to please contact the police,” he said.
“My…our daughter has a serious kidney disease,” Janine added.
Watching herself now, Janine winced, remembering her slip of the tongue.
“She needs medical treatment immediately,” Janine had continued. My God, she looked desperate. “Please, if someone has her, we don’t care who you are or why you did this. Just please drop the girls off at a restaurant or a gas station.”
Suddenly the camera switched to one of the police officers, someone Janine had not seen on the case until that moment. He appeared to be standing outside the police station, and he squinted from the sun.
“We don’t know at this point if we’re dealing with a kidnapping situation or what,” he said. “All we know is that we’ve got three missing people to find.”
“Is the Scout leader under suspicion?” The question was asked by someone out of camera range.
“We’re not ruling anything out right now,” the officer said, “but the Scout leader was planning her wedding for this coming weekend, so it seems unlikely she had any premeditated intent to take the girls.”
“He’s leaving open the possibility of impulsiveness on Alison’s part,” Lucas said.