InSight

Luke asked. Pete nodded. “Why didn’t someone notify Abby? Why didn’t they broadcast his escape on the news?”
    “Apparently, hospital officials kept the disappearance quiet,” Pete said. “No news bulletins, no police report. The man is a major news blackout. Everything about him has been stifled.”
    Luke resumed his pacing. “How could they cover that up? They’d have to tell the Charleston police. He’s a convicted murderer, for chrissake .”
    “The courts never convicted Stewart because he never went to trial,” Lucy said. “They locked him away until a judge declared him capable of aiding in his own defense, which would be never. Never, because he’s insane.” Lucy gave in to the sobs that erupted like a live volcano. She sputtered and shook and collapsed in Meyer’s consoling arms.
    When she calmed down, her tone turned cold and hard. “He should have died, you know. Shot himself right under the chin. Should have blown his brains out. But bastards like him survive, don’t they? While angels like Macy are taken long before their time. Once they put him away, his family kept everything quiet. That bitch of a mother controls everything down there. You’d have thought he was a goddamn government secret.”
    Watching the pain contort Lucy’s face, Luke almost understood her reasoning. Maybe he would have done the same thing to protect his child. Maybe. But nothing changed the fact that Abby had disappeared, taken by the man she most feared.
    He knelt down in front of Lucy, turned her toward him. “Abby’s been getting threats the last couple of months. Someone even hurt Daisy. She couldn’t imagine who hated her enough to do that. Now we know.”
    “Why didn’t she tell me?”
    “She didn’t want to worry you. Seems like you both kept secrets, doesn’t it?”
    Lucy gazed off into the distance and nodded. “That must have been who tried to run us off the road the day we went to pick up Daisy.”
    “Probably,” Pete said.
    “You’ll never get him if he doesn’t want you to,” Lucy said. “Stewart’s smart. You’ve heard the expression, crazy like a fox? Abby thought she’d be safe here because Stewart didn’t know where I lived, but he found us. How could they let him walk out? Aren’t those places guarded?”
    “He got past them,” Pete said.
    “Maybe I should have told her, Luke,” Lucy said. “This is my fault.”
    “It’s not your fault, Luce,” Meyer said. “You did what you thought best. You protected her all these years, and if those schmucks at the hospital had been doing their jobs, he’d never have gotten past them.”
    But Lucy stared straight ahead, clutching her middle, as if someone had pushed a button, sending her to another planet.
    “Not now, Lucy,” Luke said. “I need you. Look at me.”
    “He has my baby.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “He’ll kill her. I’m sure that’s all he’s thought of for the last eight years.”
    “Lucy, focus.” Luke grasped her shoulders. “We have to know everything about Stewart Gentry. Does he know anyone here?”
    “What have I done?”
    “Pay attention,” Luke said. “We need answers.”
    “Stop badgering her,” Meyer cautioned, pushing away Luke’s arm. “Can’t you see how upset she is? Give her a minute to digest this.” He handed Lucy his handkerchief, and she wiped away the tears along with her makeup.
    “With all due respect, Mr. Goldman,” Luke said, “we may not have a minute, and if we do, every one of them counts.”
    Luke felt Pete’s hand on his arm, his fingers tightening in warning. Luke watched his friend’s lips.
    “You did what any mother would have done, Mrs. Gallant,” Pete said, signing Luke off with a scowl. “But now I need to ask you some questions.”
    Luke backed to the other side of the room, still picking out parts of the conversation.
    “I need you to think,” Pete continued. “To your knowledge does Stewart Gentry know anyone in the area?”
    “I don’t know. He’s from Charleston . Everyone knows the Gentry family. He may have friends here.”
    “Where did they live when they were married?”
    Lucy went into the kitchen and poured a glass of water from a filtered pitcher on the counter. She drank half the glass before answering. “ Atlanta . They were so happy until he got sick. He was exciting, handsome, funny. He swept her off her feet.”
    Luke wanted to stop studying Lucy’s lips so he didn’t have to see anything more about Stewart