Gingerbread Man

the child's cheeks. "Suzy, you didn't do anything wrong, okay? You need to know that. No one's mad at you, and you didn't do one thing wrong. You understand?"
    Sniffling, the child nodded.
    "In fact, you might be able to help us find Bethany more than anyone else can. Do you want to try that?"
    Suzy nodded again.
    "You're such a good girl. And so brave. Now, can you remember when you ended up wearing Bethany's hat?"
    Suzy's lower lip trembled. "She g-gave it to me. Mine fell off and I couldn't find it, and I started to cry, so Bethany gave me her hat to wear."
    "That's good, very good. Now do you remember where you were when that happened?"
    Again, the jerky little nod. One black curl fell, and stuck to her cheek, glued there by tears. "We were outside. It was when Mr. D'Voe led us around the front yard."
    Amanda's head lifted slowly. "She never made it back inside" she whispered.
    Holly looked through the faces in the crowd, spotted her uncle, sighed in relief. "Uncle Marty, I need you to keep everyone here. Don't let anyone leave. I'll be right back."
    "You got it, hon." He came to the front of the room and took a spot beside Amanda, patting her shoulder gently as Holly raced up the stairs. She found Vince and Dr. Graycloud in the first bedroom at the top. Val Stevens lay in a large bed. Her eyes were closed, but moved rapidly beneath the thin lids. Her chest rose and fell in staccato breaths. An empty hypodermic needle lay on the bedside stand.
    "Vince, I think Bethany was taken during the parade around the lawn. It doesn't look like she ever made it back into the house."
    Lights flashed through the outer windows as the state police converged on the house. Behind Holly, Chief Mallory and Reggie entered the room.
    "We've searched the entire house, including the attic and the cellars. There's no sign of her," Reggie said. His voice shook, and he looked as if he'd aged ten years in the past few moments.
    "It looks as if she was snatched during the parade, outside," Vince said.
    The chief swore. Reginald lifted his head. "That's impossible. I was the only adult near the children during the parade. I alone, led them around the yard..." He let his voice trail off then, and his eyes met Vince's.
    Holly glanced from Vince to Reggie and back again, and a chill settled deeper into her bones.

SEVENTEEN
----

    THE STATE POLICE sent teams out to search the area around the house. There were a lot of woods.
A lot
of woods. And there was the lake. Spotlights were set up, teams combed the woods, calling for Bethany. More went out on the lake in boats, shining lights on the water.
    Police officers interviewed the guests, gave them clearance to leave. A pair of cops searched each vehicle before its owners were allowed to take it off the premises.
    The chief had led Reggie outside. Amanda walked outside behind them like a zombie, and Vince tapped his partner, and pointed. Jerry looked, gave a nod, and went to help Amanda. Good. Less for Holly to do. She let Vince lead her to the Jeep, and rode in silence to the Dilmun Police Department.
    But when she was finally left alone, on one of the small sofas in the reception area, she felt herself sliding into the distant past…
    She was small, and shivering, and utterly alone, sitting on an oversized chair that all but swallowed her up, her feet dangling inches above the hard gray carpet. She didn't know if her mother was going to live through the night, because she'd never seen her mother look the way she had seen her look then. She felt sick to her stomach, and thought she might have to run for the rest room at any second. It was all her fault. It was all her fault. Her sister was gone and it was all her fault.
    But they would find her soon, and everything would be okay again. They would find her by morning. Surely by morning, and it would be okay.
    There was something dark and deep inside her, though, that told her that was a lie. It wouldn't be okay. It would never be okay again.
    A hand closed on Holly's arm. She looked up, into Vince's face. His eyes were shadowed with concern.
    "You were right about me from the start, you know," she told him.
    "No, I wasn't."
    She shook her head too fast, too jerky. "I need Dr. Graycloud. I need something." She glanced down at her hands, gripping the arms of the chair, white knuckled, shaking.
    "What, a tranquilizer? You threw them away, Holly. You're stronger now. You don't need them." He followed her gaze to her hands, put his over them. "Look,