Read Online Hear the Children Calling by Clare McNally - Free Book Online Page A

And Kate found herself in the desert again.
    She was walking along a seemingly endless highway, dust kicking up around her feet. Sagebrush dotted the landscape about her and the glaring sun made her squint. She stopped abruptly when she came to the bleached skeleton of a long-dead animal. Slowly, the dream-Kate bent down to pick it up.
    The few tufts of fur that still remained tickled her hand as they blew in the desert wind. Kate dropped the skull. The dull thud reverberated endlessly, thumping noises that sounded like . . .
    . . . like running feet.
    Kate looked up, and there was Laura racing toward her.
    “Laura!”
    Kate began to run, faster and faster, down the long stretch of road. Laura ran toward her, her sleeveless dress fluttering around her, arms stretched out. But a few feet away, the child stopped.
    “Laura, come here,” Kate cried. “It’s Mommy. Come here, Laura. Let me help you.”
    Laura shook her head vigorously. “I’m not Laura,” she cried. “I’m not Laura!”
    She turned and ran away from Kate with a scream so loud it broke through the barriers of Kate’s subconscious, forcing her awake.
    For a long time, Kate lay trembling, staring at the stripe of moonlight that shone through a gap in thecurtains. She wanted to wake Danny, to tell him she had seen Laura again, and that she sensed more than ever that their little girl was in danger. But Danny wouldn’t listen to her. He had made that very clear.
    So Kate cried silent tears for her daughter and made silent vows she would work on her own to find her little girl.
    Danny said nothing of the previous night at breakfast. The boys seemed to have forgotten all about it and were as wiggly and giggly as usual as they downed bowls of hot oatmeal with strawberry preserves on top.
    Kate thought that all was forgotten until Danny went to kiss her good-bye before leaving for work at the car-repair shop he owned.
    “I’ll call you this afternoon at the boutique.”
    He said good-bye to the boys and left.
    “Is Mrs. Ginmoor coming today?” Chris asked.
    “Yes, she is,” Kate said. “It’s a work day for me.”
    “I wish you could stay home.” Chris pouted. “I miss you when you go to work.”
    Kate went to Chris and hugged him. “I’ll come home early,” she promised.
    Before she could finish, the doorbell rang. A UPS man in a brown uniform greeted her. He handed her a large yellow envelope. It was from Walter Suskind’s Photography Shop. Kate opened it and pulled out a thick pile of eight-by-tens. From each, the black-and-white visage of her daughter smiled out at her. Kate carried them back to the kitchen.
    “Tell you what,” she said to Chris. “I’ve got some paperwork I can do at home today. I’ll tell Dorothy I won’t be in.”
    “Oh, boy,” Chris cried. “Joey, Mommy’s staying home today.”
    “Mommy,” Joey cried.
    Kate waved a hand at them. “But Mrs. Ginmoor is still coming,” she said. “I have to do work at home, so I’ll need her help.”
    Chris climbed down from his chair and went to hughis mother. “I’m just glad you’re home today,” he said.
    “Finish your breakfast, boys,” Kate said. “I’m going to be in my bedroom. You can just let me know when Mrs. Ginmoor arrives.”
    When the elderly sitter showed up, half an hour later, she was surprised when Chris answered the door.
    “Where’s Mommy?” she asked Chris.
    “Upstairs,” Chris said, frowning. “I knocked on her door, but she told me to go away.”
    “Oh, dear,” Mrs. Ginmoor said. “I hope she isn’t sick. Let me go up and check.” She went up the stairs, Joey and Chris tagging behind her. At the door to the master bedroom, she knocked and called out to Kate. “Kate, dear, are you ill?”
    “I’m fine, Mrs. Ginmoor,” Kate called back. “Just very busy.”
    “The boys are worried about you.” She heard Kate groan, then a shuffling of papers.
    A moment later, the door opened. Kate grinned sheepishly. “I’m sorry,” she said.