Puzzle Pieces

Chapter 12

We parked across the street from the blue two two-story house. It's pretty nice actually. It had white trimmings and a white door. There was a Deputy squad car parked in the driveway and they had police tape across the yard that read "Do Not Cross". Was it just yesterday morning I stared at the door in shock of the girl I saw? Now it seems that the girl and I are connected somehow and that I've known her my entire life.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Noah asked, turning in the driver's seat to look at me.

"Yes," I answered. I really don't have a choice not to. I am having these dreams for a reason and I want to help Katrina get away from that p*****t of a man. Noah watched me for a second. My guess would be to make sure that I don’t change my mind. I turned and opened the passenger side door to climb out. Walking around the car, I heard Noah's car door slam.

What am I doing? What am I going to say? Ma'am I know where your daughter is, but I don't know the exact location. I know who has her, but have no idea who he is. I mean I've seen him at the bank, but what if he doesn't work there? What if when I saw him, he was just depositing money or something? Annabel! You should have thought about this a whole lot more. I hesitated walking across the street, stopping in the middle.

"What's wrong?" Noah asked, stopping and turning to look at me. I took a deep breath. You can do this, Annabel. You have to. You're the only one that can. I shook my head and continued to walk. Once we got to the yellow tape, we stopped.

"Excuse me!" I shouted, looking at the house. I didn't want to break the law and cross the tape, but I am not going to stand here all day and wait for someone to exit. "Excuse me!" I shouted again. Noah looked at me with a "you have got to be kidding me" face and bent down under the tape and continued to walk to the door.

"Noah! They have that up for a reason!"

"Yeah. To stop nosey people and reporters and stuff. You know, keep them away. We're not either. You're here for a purpose, aren't you?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. Since there was no sign of anyone coming out of the house, I bent down under the tape and followed Noah to the door. Almost tripping on the top step, I stumbled into Noah, who was ringing the door bell, and had him bump into the door. "Watch it Annabel!"

"Sorry" I hissed at him because I heard voices on the other side of the door. A second later, the door flew open and a short, chubby woman answered the door. It was the same woman who called for Katrina yesterday morning. Her eyes are watery and her cheeks are tear streaked. She is shorter than me, but that was no surprise. It's just a bigger gap than I thought. She is wearing some dark jean petal pushers, a black blouse, flip flops, and the same light blue sweater.

"Can I help you?" she asked with a light, almost breaking voice while she wiped her nose. My heart broke in a million pieces and the urge to run forward and hug this woman was running through me, but I stopped myself. I have to hold myself together! I must! I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. Noah stared at me, waiting for me to say something.

"Hi. I'm, uh, Annabel James" I managed to say with a small smile. My heart is starting to race and my palms are starting to sweat. She nodded, waiting for me to continue. Noah looked at me a little upset. Something like "You had me come all this way for nothing?" was clearly going through his mind. "We kind of met yesterday, down the street,” I started. She nodded.

“I remember. You were ill and I offered to help. You said you were fine and ran off. How can I help you?”

“Yeah, that’s, uh. Well, anyway, I came to talk to you. We, uh, live down the street and heard about what happened on the news," I continued, pointing in the direction we lived. For some reason, I feel frozen. Not really in shock, just way more nervous than usual. I mean put me in a crowded arena while I stumble around cheering and I'm fine, but right at this moment, in front of this one woman, I lose my ability to speak.

"Oh? Do you know something I don't? Did you see anything? Hear something?" she asked, growing hopeful. I grimaced slightly, but hid it quickly with the fake smile I pasted on my face.

"Well, uh, you see that's why I was coming to talk to you" I said hesitantly. My heart feels like it's about to fly out of my chest and my palms feel like they're rushing rivers.

"Oh! Well, please come in," she said, taking a step back and motioning us to enter the house.

Stepping into the house, I couldn't help but look around. The light purple walls and hardwood floor of the living room. The white staircase that leads up to the second floor, most likely where the bedrooms are. The stairs were made up of hardwood with white carpeting steps. There is a glass table with black chairs in the dining room. The kitchen is painted a deep red. There are a couple of small pillars that hold knick knacks. Going into the living room, there are light blue sofas pressed against each wall facing towards the TV. There is a decorative rug in the center of the room with a glass coffee table on top.

"Please have a seat," she said, taking a seat as well. I can tell that she can't wait to hear what I have to say. "Before you start, this is Lieutenant Menedez. He is in charge of this case," she continued when the Lieutenant stepped into the room. He is a little shorter than Noah, but taller than me. I would guess about five feet ten inches with a medium tan muscular build. His eyebrows are a little closer than I'd like, but not too bushy. He has light brown eyes and long curly eyelashes.

"Before you start your statement, I have to warn you that withholding or falsifying information is against the law. If you withhold any information you can be charged with aiding and abetting, do you both understand?" Lieutenant Menedez said, bringing out his notebook. His voice is deeper than you would expect. When he started speaking, I jumped in reflex, but I think my nerves have more to do with it than fright. Noah and I nodded at the Lieutenant.

"Can I please take both of your names?" Lieutenant Menedez asked, looking right at me.

"Annabel James," I responded, then looked at Noah who had a bored look on his face. The Lieutenant turned his attention to Noah with his eyebrows raised waiting for his name.

"Noah James," Noah answered as Lieutenant Menedez nodded as he wrote down the names. "Do you need my middle name too?"

"No. First and last is fine," Lieutenant Menedez replied with some attitude to Noah's question. Probably thinking that he's a smart mouth or somehow disrespecting him as an officer of the law. Noah kept the bored look on his face.

"Okay. Now, what do you know about my daughter?" Mrs. Peterson asked, grabbing my hand and holding it in her lap. I looked around the room at the pictures on the walls. Katrina smiles back from each and every one, showing off those pretty dimples in her cheeks. There are only a few of Katrina and her mother, but not one of Katrina's father. I take a deep breath then focus my attention on the woman sitting next to me, who is squeezing my hand. I want to yank it back away from her, but I know that she's clutching at my hand, trying to clutch on to some kind of hope that I know something about her daughter or her whereabouts.

"Umm. Mrs. Peterson, when was the last time you went to the bank?" I asked, throwing everyone off track. Everyone looked at me with a confused face. Even Noah went from the bored face to snapping his head at me. The officer tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. Mrs. Peterson’s wide eyes blinked a couple of times before shaking her head.

"About two weeks ago, I think. Why? Did you hear someone talking at the bank? Does someone there know where my little girl is?" she asked, reaching. She let go of my hand and I wish that I could be happy about that, but since she is now squeezing my arms, I feel about the same.

"Hey, can you ease up on her a little? She knows that you want to see your daughter and she's telling you what she knows, but you're hurting her," Noah said, coming to my defense. He put his hands on hers, giving a gentle squeeze. Maybe he could sense that I was uncomfortable? Or maybe he just knows me well enough to know what's too close for comfort. She nodded and removed her hands before wrapping her arms around herself.

"I'm sorry. You have to understand that I just want to find my daughter," she said starting to weep again. I put my hand on her knee, giving a gentle squeeze to comfort.

"I can tell you what I know, but I doubt you'll believe what I have to say," I said, tilting my head to meet her gaze.

"Anything, just tell me!" she said, taking my hands in hers. I took a deep breath. You would think it would be easier to tell more people, but I still struggle. Maybe because I know how big a pill this is to swallow.

"I've never met or seen your daughter before yesterday, but a few nights ago I had a nightmare," I started, and she looked confused once more. Lieutenant Menedez stopped writing and put his hands on his hips, clearly upset at what I've said.

"A nightmare?" Mrs. Peterson asked, confusion ringing in her voice.

"Yes, and like I said, I know this is hard to believe, but it did happen," I said, taking another deep breath. Everyone’s eyes were on me. Here it goes. "I dreamt about Katrina. Then I was her and I had been...abducted."