Page 20

Twenty

Quinn

“A lright, Rosie, can you tell us what happened and why you left grandma’s house?” I asked as I sat on the coffee table in front of the couch and studied her.

We had all taken turns looking her over to make sure she didn’t have any injuries, but that didn’t keep me calm, knowing that she had been away from us for who knows how long, with someone that we didn’t know.

“I heard a puppy crying, so I got up and looked out the window. I couldn’t see anything, but it kept crying louder. I knew that it needed help, so I went to the kitchen and checked to see if it was stuck in the dog door.”

“Was there a dog stuck in it?” I sat up straight and tried to keep the stress from showing on my face.

“No, but I could see a puppy, so I stuck my head in and tried to find where it went. It was still crying, so I climbed through and looked for it in the backyard.”

“Then what happened?”

“There was a woman by the street looking for her dog. She said that she was walking it and it got scared and ran away.”

“Do you remember what she looked like?”

She shook her head.

“Did she ask you for anything?”

She nodded.

“What did she say?”

“She said that she needed my help finding her dog and that she would make sure we didn’t go too far from the house so my grandma didn’t get scared if she couldn’t find me.”

I swallowed hard as I tucked that little nugget of information aside.

“Where did you guys go?”

“We stayed on the street, but then she thought she heard the dog crying further ahead, so we went that way looking for it.”

“And then you guys ended up at the subway?”

“Yeah, she thought she saw the dog run down the stairs, so we followed after it.”

I closed my eyes and took a moment to compose myself before talking to her about what had happened.

I felt my mom squeeze my knee reassuringly.

“I did something wrong, didn’t I?” Rosie asked, looking at me with tears in her eyes.

I was at a loss for words, struggling to explain to her the danger that she was in. I didn’t want to traumatize her, but I also knew that she needed to know the truth in order to protect herself.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, but we need to talk about what happened,” Mike said, sitting down beside me. I scooted over to make room for him.

“I know that you wanted to help that woman find her dog because you are such a helpful little girl, but unfortunately, she was using the lost dog as an excuse to get you to leave the house.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Do you remember in school when you guys learned about strangers and how you shouldn’t talk to them or go with someone if you don’t know them?” I asked, finally feeling the strength to have this conversation with her.

She nodded, and her face fell when she realized what she had done.

“I was worried about the puppy.”

“I know, baby.”

“Did she want to kidnap me?” Rosie whispered.

I nodded and felt the tears burn my skin as they trickled down my face.

“What was she going to do with me?”

“I don’t know, my love. But please promise me that you won’t ever go with someone you don’t know, ever again.”

“I promise, Mama.” She jumped up from the couch and landed on my lap with her arms wrapped around my neck.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare everyone.”

“I know,” I sighed, holding her tightly against me. “I promise that I won’t ever let anything happen to you. I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Mama.”

We hugged for a few minutes until she finally pulled away and asked to use the restroom. My mom went with her, all of us afraid to let her out of our sight.

Once they were out of the room, I sat on the couch and pulled a pillow onto my lap.

“You okay?” Roman asked.

I shook my head and let the tears fall, not caring that I was still surrounded by my brother, Trevor, and Max. Sonia was busy working on taking the dog door out, and her boyfriend was on his way over with supplies to help her.

“Why is this happening to her?” I sobbed, wiping my face with the back of my hands.

“I don’t know, but we’re going to figure it out,” Mike assured me.

“I agree—we’ll find whoever it is before they get another chance to take her,” Max added.

“They almost had her. If Julia hadn’t been there this morning, who knows where Rosie would be right now.

They got her out of the house without any of us knowing.

And even worse—they knew personal details about the house.

Like how would they know to lure her to the dog door if they hadn’t been here before?

Mom hasn’t had a dog in two years. And you all heard what Rosie said about the woman knowing she was at her grandma’s house.

” My voice was rising as my panic started to set in.

“The nice thing is that they’re consistent,” Max said from where he was leaning against the wall. “They want us to know they have a personal connection to you guys. They’ve left signs along the way. That makes it easier to narrow it down because it’s not a random attack.”

“What do you think the coincidence is that Julia just happened to be at the right place at the right time?” Trevor asked.

I hadn’t even thought of that until now, but he had a good point.

“She also knew to bring her back to my mom’s house—not our apartment. We live in the same one that Justin lived in, so it’s not like she wouldn’t know where it was. Lord knows she was there often enough when they worked together.”

“Do you think that she was the one who took Rosie?” Roman inquired from the other side of the couch. “Maybe she was the one who lured her away and then brought her back? It could be a game for her to point out how easy it was to take her in the first place.”

“It’s possible, but if it was her, why not just take her and run? Why bring her back?” I chewed my nail anxiously.

A few minutes later, Rosie returned with my mom and curled up on the couch with me.

“Hey, Rosie?” I asked.

She tilted her head up and looked at me.

“Was the woman who was looking for her puppy the same woman that brought you back?”

She didn’t have to think about it before she confidently shook her head.

“No, but she was really mad at the lady who lost her dog. They had a fight before she grabbed me and brought me home.”

“What was the fight about?” I pushed, hoping she would remember in as much detail as she did about what color socks her best friend wore every day at school.

“I don’t know, but they were whispering—but like mad whispers—and she told her, ‘it’s not time, what are you doing? You’re going to mess everything up!’ Then she grabbed my arm and brought me home.”

I felt all eyes in the room on me and knew that we had a bigger problem than we could have ever imagined.