The Stolen - Jason Pinter [71]
forehead, then turned her attention back outside.
"Mommy?" Patrick said.
"Hey, sweetie," Elaine said. "Did you have a good
nap?"
Patrick nodded, then buried his face back in her
shoulder as she leaned down. Elaine stroked his hair, that
strawberry-blond lock that confused Caroline. Neither
Bob nor Elaine had red hair. She'd asked Elaine how they
could have a boy with different color hair, and she just said,
God makes us all unique.
Elaine turned to Bob, who was digging a pack of gum
from his pocket, and said, "You want to get her?" Caroline
assumed she was the "her" being referred to.
Bob looked at Elaine, then turned toward the van, in no
real rush to say yes. Caroline had noticed that Bob had
become more and more reluctant to spend time with her
over the past few days. In the beginning he came into her
room often, even helped her set up that beautiful new dollhouse. But he'd withdrawn recently, and sometimes even
seemed afraid to touch her.
Thankfully, the coughing fits had passed. Bob and
Elaine seemed relieved at this. Bob had said something
strange that Caroline remembered.
We're supposed to take care of this girl, not kill her.
Elaine had marched out of the room, slammed the door
and didn't speak to him until dinner. And now they were
parked at some strange building, after having left that
house in a matter of minutes.
With a great sigh, Bob went around to the passenger
side, climbed in and unhooked Caroline from her harness.
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His fingers weren't nearly as gentle, as if he were unpacking a box rather than handling a human being.
"Ow," Caroline said as one of Bob's fingers accidentally jabbed her ribs.
"Christ, Bob, she's not a piece of meat," Elaine reprimanded. "Be careful."
"Sorry," he muttered.
"Honey, make sure to bring Boo Boo. You don't want
to lose him."
Caroline picked the small brown teddy bear off the seat
and held it fast to her chest. That bear was the only thing
she'd come with. Elaine had thrown together a bag of
clothes, but the bear was the only thing she wanted.
It had a goofy smile and button eyes, fur that was soft
to the touch. Out of all the presents the Reeds had bought
her over the past few weeks, this was by far her favorite.
"Boo Boo," Caroline said. "He's scared. He wants to
know where we are."
"Tell Boo Boo he's safe and not to worry," Elaine said.
"And make sure he tells you the same thing."
Caroline wanted to believe Elaine, but there was something in her eyes that belied the truth.
Bob reached in and picked up both the girl and Boo
Boo, carried them gently out of the van. Caroline blinked
sleep from her eyes, looked around.
"Where are we?" she asked.
Bob didn't say a word. Instead he looked at Elaine and
shrugged. You can answer this one.
Elaine walked over, put her hand against the young
girl's cheek.
"We're staying at another house for a little while," she
said. "Our home needs a little renovation, so we'll just be
staying here until it's ready."
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"What about my room?" Caroline asked. Even though
she was happy with Boo Boo, she'd be sad if she didn't
get to play with her toys again. She couldn't believe all
those brand-new toys and dolls Elaine and Bob had bought
for her. She'd never had a dollhouse. It would be so sad if
she never got to play with it again.
"Hopefully you'll be back in it soon," Elaine said. Then
she smiled, gave Boo Boo a peck on the nose and made a
funny grr noise. Caroline laughed.
"Come on, hon," Bob said. "We should check in."
"I never thought we'd see him again," Elaine said. "At
least not until much later down the road. When it was time
to, you know."
"I know," Bob said. "But he told us something might
come up. Makes me wonder whether we should have ever
listened to that scarred-up asshole. Sorry, kids, pardon my
French."
"You know why we did," Elaine said. They both
looked at Patrick, and for a moment Caroline thought
Elaine might cry.
"Who are you talking about?" Caroline asked.
"Nobody," Elaine said. "Just a scary man that hopefully