You Can't Hide by Theresa Sneed (uplifting novels TXT) 📕

read the nametag on each of the employees. Gertie was at the cash register.

“Morning, Gert,” a customer said. “How are you today?”

“Oh, to be expected, Pam,” Gertie replied. “It’s still quite a shock, y’know.”

“Heavens, yes,” Pam said, her eyes wide. “That happened to my husband’s cousin, too. First her mother and then her sister. Gone. Just like that.” She waved her pudgy arms in the air like a magician performing a disappearing act. Gertie gave her a look, and she stopped. “Oh, sorry.”

Gertie’s eyes lowered. “Y’know that theory you had about the whole thing?”

Pam squinted her eyes. “Uh-huh.” She waited for Gertie to go on, but when she didn’t, she gasped. “Really? You mean it?”

Gertie bobbed her head up and down.” “Uh-huh,” she blubbered, her eyes twinkling.

“No way.”

“Shh.” She waved Pam down and gave her customers a quick glance, but no one seemed to be paying attention. Ricky dropped his eyes to the newspaper he’d opened.

Pam’s voice lowered. “Seriously?” She leaned in. “Well, where is she?”

Gertie grinned. “Oh, I can’t tell you, that, but, I do know.”

Pam’s voice dropped to a whisper. “If I was you, I’d be a heading out to see her.”

Gertie’s fist tightened on the cloth she was wiping the counter with. “Don’tcha think I’ve told him that?” She was silent. “Anyhow, he locked the pictures up, all except one. He keeps it in his wallet.”

Pam drew her head back. “He has pictures?”

Gertie laughed. “Yes.”

Ricky knew exactly what he had to do. He’d been trained to pick pockets by a master of deception, but how to get close to Edward, was another thing.

He lay awake in his hotel bed. In the back of his mind, he hoped they’d survived the fire, but he doubted it. But, it made sense that if Sally survived, Edward would have a picture of her—anyone else in the photo was a bonus.

The next morning found him out of the hotel early. The best thing way to get close enough to pick Edward’s pocket, was to go straight to him. He wondered if he’d remember him. After asking around, he went to the job site where Edward worked. Keeping his distance, he studied the man.

A man’s voiced shouted. “Hey, you! Are you the new hire?”

Ricky nodded.

“Put this on and help me with that board.” The man tossed him a hardhat.

The rest was all too easy, though unplanned. Ricky hefted the heavy board on his shoulder and followed the man partway up a ladder. The board slipped from his grasp and the end clanked against the ground. Edward ran over to help. He pressed close to Ricky and helped to heft the board up the ladder. While that was happening, Ricky faked a fall, his hand grazing Edward’s pocket, where he’d seen the outline of a wallet.

Minutes later, he was flipping through it inside the construction porta potty. He nearly dropped the wallet when he saw the picture.

The sweet, little girl stood next to a very much alive Elle, and they both stood in front of what looked like a fairy castle. He removed a camera from his pocket, snapped a few shots of it, and then put it back in the wallet. He laid it on the porta potty floor, next to the door. Soon, he was back in his car and heading out of town.

He had his proof, but now was unsure of what to do with it. Back home, he developed the film. The castle was an enigma to him, though he knew it had to be in Europe somewhere.

He picked up the phone.

“Yes. What’s taken you so long?” Merrick growled, obviously irritated.

Ricky leaned against the door trim. He stared down at the innocent girl—his uncle’s child, his birth cousin—the only good family he had. His voice quivered, and he cleared his throat. “Yeah, well, I broke into his house. Didn’t find a single thing. Whatever Nancy knew, went with her to the grave.” He held the phone away from his ear, while Merrick cursed.

Merrick’s voice dropped low. “Don’t think we’re done, kid.”

Kid, thought Ricky. “I don’t.” Truthfully. Whatever he did find would remain his secret. Merrick had ways of finding out things without Ricky, and whoever was still out there could do the same investigating he’d done. He’d have to find Elle first and warn her. It would be the most right thing he’d ever done. Save Elle and save his little cousin.

In the years that passed, Ricky, now called, Rick, heard very little from Merrick. Bewildered, but relieved, he left well enough alone. He’d had not been able to locate the castle, so it remained a mystery, a hidden place he was determined to find.

Nineteen

1986

Elle twisted the ring around her finger, mesmerized by the sheets of rain pelting against the windowpane. An occasional flash of lightning filled the sky, and she glanced down at the letter in her hand.

She had read it so many times, she knew it by heart. This is to inform you that Merrick Snyder will receive death by lethal injection on . . . A flurry of emotions overwhelmed her. This was the moment they’d all been waiting for, especially Nancy. She looked over at another letter laying on the table addressed to Nancy O’Brien.

They’d taken on new surnames to protect their identities, but kept their first names intact. Sam’s new last name was Hadlock and with their wedding a few years back, it was now hers, too. Karen and Todd chose the surname Brennan. They’d given birth to two children, a girl, now three-years-old, and a baby boy, just six-months-old.

Elle and Sam tried to have children, but so far, had not. She’d had two miscarriages, and for the time being, settled into watching Sally grow, along with Karen’s little ones.

A loud crash of lightning and a series of brilliant flashes lit the room. Elle jumped up from the window seat and went to the table. She picked up Nancy’s letter and turned it over in her hands, wondering