Chapter One
‘Daddy hits mommy.’
Meghan froze when she heard the words.
Beth, who was hurrying out of the kitchen with a plate full of cookies, stumbled.
The words were spoken by a green-eyed girl, whose blonde hair was neatly styled over her head. She wore a pink dress, had matching shoes, and usually her eyes were smiling.
They were sad now.
* * *
Madison ‘Maddie’ Kittrell, eight years old, was perched on a chair in front of Meghan. The chair went up or down at the press or pull of a lever.
She played with it, refused to meet Meghan’s eyes, darted an occasional glance to the sides.
By her side were Liz McCallum, fourteen years old, and Lizzie’s sister, Zoe, ‘Peaches’ McCallum, ten years old.
Maddie, Lizzie, and Peaches, were tight. They were besties. They were BFFs.
They grew up on the same street near Central Park, New York. They went to the same school.
Maddie wasn’t from the city originally. She had come to the state when she was small. Her dad had a job in some company. Her mom worked somewhere else.
Maddie didn’t know all that. She didn’t care.
She cared that Mommy cried every week. That the sound of Daddy’s blows terrified her.
Even worse was that Daddy had shouted at her a few times.
* * *
She hadn’t told anyone about the beatings. She carried it in her tiny heart. When she played with Lizzie and Peaches, she forgot everything.
Gramma, with whom Lizzie and Peaches lived – they didn’t have a daddy and mommy -- made the world’s best cookies. Maddie was in Heaven when she bit into them.
One day it became too much for Maddie.
Her mouth was full of cookie. Her besties were with her. And yet, somehow, the tears started coming.
Lizzie made a fuss. Peaches made a fuss. Gramma hugged her tight. Gramma smelled so nice that Maddie burst into more tears.
It came out finally. She couldn’t hold it in. Mommy had told her not to tell anyone. Daddy told her too.
But these were her best friends. They were like family. Better than family.
She told them of that one time, recently, when Mommy’s shoulder broke because of Daddy. Mommy had to go to work in a sling. She had to apply makeup to cover the bruises around her eyes.
It started only a year back, Maddie said through great gulping sobs. She would lie terrified in her room, hearing mommy cry. Hearing those horrible smacks.
* * *
Gramma became serious when she heard. Lizzie went white. Peaches started crying too. Silent tears. Maddie couldn’t help it. She cried more.
Something happened in the room that Maddie didn’t understand. Gramma looked at Lizzie. Lizzie looked at Peaches.
Gramma wiped Maddie’s tears and told her to come the next day. They would go to the park.
The park was great. Maddie could play for hours in it. She agreed.
* * *
The next day, they set out. Maddie and Peaches skipping ahead. Lizzie talking about something serious with Gramma.
They played for a couple of hours.
Then Gramma made Maddie sit on a bench and told her they would go and meet someone.
Someone who was very dear to them. Someone who had helped them.
Maddie would have to tell them everything.
Maddie shook her head. She wouldn’t tell.
She started crying again.
Daddy would go to jail. Mommy would cry.
She didn’t want that.
She wished she had never told them anything.
Gramma hugged her again. That nice smell enveloped her again.
‘Hush, honey. Nothing bad will happen. We trust them with our lives. They will not tell anyone. Just talk to them.’
Gramma produced a cookie. Cookies were magic workers. They could unlock tongues and change minds.
Maddie bit into the cookie and agreed.
They set out again.
* * *
Peaches told Maddie about the people they were meeting.
They had an office close by. It was neat. It had a basketball hoop. A baseball bat. Ball gloves. It was better than their school playroom.
Peaches wanted an office like that when she grew older.
‘Who are they?’ Maddie tugged at Peaches’ arm to slow her down.
‘Beth and Meghan. Twins. They are our friends. They can do anything. They can find anything.’
‘They found Mom’s killer,’ Lizzie added, when she overheard the conversation.
Maddie’s steps slowed. She didn’t want anything to be found.
‘Nothing bad will happen, honey. They are good people. Just tell them everything, like you told us,’ Gramma urged.
Lizzie nodded. Peaches pressed her hand.
Maddie agreed reluctantly.
* * *
They carried on. Peaches told her about Beth and Meghan. How wonderful they were.
There was a man who helped them sometimes. ‘He doesn’t do much,’ Peaches said airily.
She didn’t know why the twins kept him around.
* * *
They reached the office. It was a tall building. So much glass.
The guards inside sprang to attention when Peaches entered, along with Maddie, and the rest.
One of them rushed to an elevator and pressed a button to summon it. Maddie looked around wide-eyed when she entered it. It had gleaming brass and polished wood panelling, and smelled so nice.
Its doors shut silently, and it whooshed up, and opened into an office.
Maddie stopped.
It was truly like what Peaches had described.
Color. So much of it. So warm.
Orange. Gold. Blue. Couches everywhere.
Peaches squealed and ran and hugged a woman.
She was brown haired. Green eyed. She whirled Peaches around and set her down.
Another woman came. She too was brown haired and green eyed.
Maddie was shy; however, Peaches pulled her by the arm and introduced her.
‘My best friend,’ she introduced Maddie.
The first woman bent and shook her hand gravely. ‘Beth Petersen, ma’am.’
Maddie giggled. No one called her ma’am.
The other woman shook her hand. ‘I’m Meghan.’
‘Want some cookies?’ Beth asked.
Lizzie and Maddie nodded their heads simultaneously. No one refused cookies.
Meghan looked behind Maddie.
Maddie turned round.
A brown-haired man was bringing more chairs.
‘He’s the helper,’ Peaches whispered.
Maddie looked at him, then at Lizzie. Lizzie’s face had turned red. Gramma seemed to be smiling.
Peaches didn’t care. She bit into the cookies Beth brought. Maddie followed suit.
They were delicious. As good as the ones Gramma made.
Maddie didn’t know it; Gramma sent a batch over to the twins, whenever she baked.
* * *
The cookies disappeared as if by magic and when Beth returned after refilling the plate, Peaches nudged Maddie.
Maddie didn’t say anything. Peaches nudged her harder.
‘They are friends. You can tell them anything.’
Maddie nodded. Tears were in her eyes.
‘Daddy hits Mommy.’
Chapter Two
Meghan froze when she heard those words. She looked at Regina Hunnicker, ‘Gramma,’ who nodded imperceptibly. Lizzie and Peaches were seated beside Maddie, forming a protective ring around her.
Beth recovered after stumbling and took her time placing the warm batch of cookies in front of the girls.
Tiny hands reached out and grabbed them. Mouths were stuffed and for a while the only sounds were those of munching on the world’s best cookies.
The outside world intruded faintly. Traffic roared outside their office on Columbus Avenue, its rage dimmed by thick windows. Those windows were armored and could stop heavy caliber bullets, but they couldn’t fully keep out the noise of the city.
* * *
‘Tell Beth and Meghan about it, honey,’ Gramma told Maddie softly. Maddie looked at her, scared, and shook her head.
Gramma cupped her cheeks with a warm hand. ‘They are our friends. We trust them. They won’t tell Daddy or Mommy. Nothing will happen to you or to them.’
Peaches nodded vigorously, her eyes wide and trusting. ‘I would live with them, like forever, if Gramma allowed.’
That sealed it for Maddie. She often had sleepovers with Lizzie and Peaches and would live with them in a heartbeat. Their home was wonderful. Gramma was wonderful. If Peaches wanted to live with Beth and Meghan, then they too must be wonderful.
She swallowed her cookie, drank from a glass of hot chocolate that had magically appeared, and told them.
Haltingly initially, and then with more confidence, as she saw nothing but understanding and acceptance in the eyes of the twins.
* * *
It had started about a year back.
She shook her head when Meghan asked if she knew when exactly. All she remembered was waking one night in her comfy bed and hearing the faint sound of murmuring.
Daddy and Mommy never murmured. They spoke normally. They laughed. Sometimes they fought but made up soon after.
She got out of her bed and crept out of the room and went to their room. It was empty.
She thought about calling out, but something stopped her.
It was then that she heard it.
A sharp sound. Like when flesh hit flesh. When a hand hit a face or other parts of the body.
Maddie knew that sound. She heard it every day in school when the girls played and someone ran into someone else or play became rough.
The sound was followed by a low voice and then another voice.
The second voice seemed to be crying.
Maddie’s heart was racing. She went down the stairs and in her haste, slipped. She froze at the loud sound she made.
A voice called out immediately.
‘Honey, is that you?’
Maddie’s breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t answer for a moment.
Mommy came at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at her.
Mommy was beaming, her face bathed in love. She ran up and hugged Maddie tight.
‘Naughty girl, you should be sleeping. You have school tomorrow.’
Maddie clasped her hands tight around Mommy’s neck and breathed in her scent.
‘I heard something,’ her voice was muffled.
‘Daddy and I were talking, honey. We didn’t want to wake you and so we went downstairs.’
Mommy rubbed her back soothingly and laid her on bed and sat with her till her eyes got droopy and heavy.
All was right in her world. That sound and crying she had heard; maybe it was something else.
* * *
Maddie stopped and wiped a tear away furiously. She didn’t want to cry in front of the twins even though they were kind.
Gramma rose and lifted Maddie and sat in her place and made Maddie sit on her lap.
Maddie was embarrassed at first. She was eight years old. She didn’t sit in anyone’s lap any longer.
But Gramma felt so good and warm and comforting. Her hand on her head was calming and protective.
‘Did you hear that again, Maddie?’ Beth asked.
Maddie nodded.
* * *
She heard the sound maybe a month later. This time she didn’t crawl down. She burrowed deeper in her soft bed, drew the blanket around her and tried to drown the sound out.
The sounds and what felt like Mommy’s crying became regular.
Once she heard Daddy shout. She ran out of her room and called out to him.
He came up immediately and hugged her and told her everything was alright and put her to bed.
Once she was woken up from her sleep by the sounds coming repeatedly. Short. Sharp. Like smacking. There was silence and then even through the walls of her room and through the floor, she could hear weeping.
Mommy was crying.
Maddie was terrified. She hurled herself out of the bed and ran down the stairs, heedless of what Daddy or Mommy would say.
She burst into the kitchen and stopped short as Mommy turned around and smiled at her.
‘Couldn’t sleep again, honey?’
Maddie searched her face. Were Mommy’s eyes red? Were her cheeks wet? She couldn’t be sure.
She turned to Daddy who looked up at her from the newspaper he was reading. He held out his hands to her.
For some reason, Maddie didn’t go into his hug.
She let Mommy carry her and take her to bed.
This time, sleep came harder. This time, she was sure Daddy was smacking Mommy.
* * *
Maddie stopped talking and eyed the few cookies remaining on the plate.
Peaches grabbed one. Lizzy took another, and Gramma handed the remaining one to Maddie.
Peaches wriggled on her seat and looked at the hoop. Maddie followed her glance. The hoop was so tempting.
‘Run along and play,’ Gramma chuckled.
Peaches squealed and ran. Maddie followed her. Lizzie walked sedately. She was older. She was almost an adult.
* * *
Beth watched them play while Meghan cleared the table, refilled the plate and brought a jar of water and plastic cups.
Her mind was whirling and one glance at her twin showed she was shocked too.
Gramma alone looked composed, but then she always did. Nothing seemed to ruffle her. Gramma had seen her daughter, Mary McCallum, murdered. She had seen her son-in-law die slowly in grief. She had taken charge of her granddaughters and raised them single-handedly.
Gramma was a force of nature who blew anything and anyone away who stood in the way of her babies’ happiness.
She took the mug of Jamaican Blue Mountain that Meghan brewed and sipped it. ‘It’s true. All of it, and there’s more. Maddie told us of more incidents. He even broke her shoulder once.’
Beth blanched and searched for words. ‘How long have they been married, ma’am?’
‘At least fourteen years I would reckon. I know they were married when Lizzie was born. Amy, their mom, showed me their family photographs once.’
‘You know them well, ma’am?’
‘I have met Amy and Josh, a few times. Since the kids are very close, besties,’ Gramma’s lips twitched, ‘I speak often with Amy. We invited them for dinner on a couple of occasions and meet them at school events.’
Meghan was playing with a sheet of paper, unconsciously folding and shaping it into a plane. She let it fly toward the girls and smiled when they shouted in delight.
‘She didn’t see the beatings, did she?’
‘She heard them. She saw her mom afterwards. Children know these things. They can sense fear, anger, and violence in their folks. I have no reason to doubt her.’
She swung around at a shout and relaxed when Lizzie waved a hand. Just playing.
Gramma turned back to the twins. ‘Where’s Carter?’
Beth smiled for the first time since Gramma had walked into their office, kids in tow. ‘He left, ma’am. He figured Maddie would open up in his absence.’
* * *
Gramma nodded, her gray eyes resting on the twins. She knew their office, a security consulting firm, was cover for a deep black national agency. It undertook missions which never came to light. Zeb Carter was its lead agent, the twins and a bunch of other folks worked with him.
The twins were in their late twenties, Meghan, the older of the two by a few seconds. Zeb was elder to them by several years. Gramma knew the age difference didn’t matter a whit. The twins, Zeb, and some of the other agents that Gramma had met, were like family.
* * *
Gramma was deeply indebted to Carter – she never called him Zeb and had dropped the Mr. reluctantly – and the twins for finding her daughter’s killer and bringing closure.
Knowing that the debt could never be repaid and that the twins or Zeb never saw it as such, Gramma made the twins her family. She treated them as her daughters and the twins reciprocated.
Carter had the air of a loner, but Gramma knew what lay beneath him, what he had been through, and he became part of her brood whether he wanted it or not.
* * *
‘You will find out what exactly is going on.’
It was a statement, an order.
Beth’s eyes widened. ‘Ma’am, this isn’t what we do. This is something the police should investigate. I don’t even know if there’s enough for them to look into.’
Gramma brushed aside the idea of involving the NYPD with an imperious hand. She had enough dealings with them when they were investigating her daughter’s killer. She didn’t rate them.
‘Do it.’
Her voice hardened and the steel in her showed. ‘If he’s a wife beater - and I believe Maddie - I want him stopped.’
She rose, silencing anymore objections and with a flick of her hands drew her wards together.
She shepherded the girls to the elevators and held the door open for Beth and Meghan to join them.
The silence in the elevator was broken by Maddie who looked shyly at Meghan and asked, ‘Can we come again?’
Gramma’s stern visage softened, became warm and she answered before Meghan could. ‘Of course, honey. Whenever you want. They are our friends.’
* * *
Beth hailed a cab when they were outside and when it arrived, helped Gramma in. Meghan went to the other door and got Lizzie and Peaches seated.
Beth was helping Maddie inside when she felt the blur approaching behind her right shoulder.
Maddie got a foot inside.
Beth turned her head slightly when the blur shouted.
Maddie got another foot in and was ducking her head under the roof, when Beth’s eyes focused on the blur.
It resolved into a man, wearing a hoodie. Running towards her. Red faced.
He shouted something unintelligible.
Beth opened her mouth to say something, to stop him, but before she could do so, he rammed into her.
Her breath left her in a gasp, as she lost her grip on Maddie and fell.
Her head bounced on the sidewalk to the accompaniment of a thin scream from somewhere.
An angry roar sounded. A hard boot landed next to her, lifted, and swung.
Beth had a last thought as darkness descended on her.
Maddie has been kidnapped.
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