One Grave Less

bad,” Korey said. “The son of a bitch took Ariel. Jonas and I are fine. Go find her.”
    Diane shot out the door and back down to security.
    “Steven Mays is out there with my daughter,” she said.
    That brought her a bewildered look from Chanell.
    “This guy kidnapped a little girl and has her somewhere near here,” said Frank. “Jonas and Korey are in the conservation lab hurt and need help. Do you have a gun?”
    Frank had his gun. Diane armed herself with one from the security office. To her surprise, both Lindsay and John were armed.
    How could I have been so stupid? Diane thought, as she headed out the door. She stopped. He could have already taken her in a car to who knew where.
    “Have you seen any cars leave?” Diane asked Chanell.
    “No, we’ve been watching pretty close,” she said.
    Diane thought a minute. “The back road behind the museum,” she said. “They have a car there.” She raced for the back door. Damn it, she was going to get Ariel back. Her little girl didn’t come all this way to be lost to her.

Chapter 67
    Diane asked Lindsay and John to find Cameron and get out of him by any means necessary where Steven might have taken Ariel. She, Frank, and David were on their way to search the grounds. Chanell caught up with them before they got out of the building.
    “A couple of the back cameras have been disabled, just a few minutes ago,” said Chanell. “That’ll be where they went out. Do you want security to go with you?”
    “I need you to protect the people in the museum,” said Diane.
    Chanell nodded. “We’ll do that,” she said.
    “We need to split up,” said Diane, to Frank and David. “The backyard of the museum is too big.”
    “No,” said Frank.
    “I know it’s not safe,” said Diane, “but we need to cover as much ground as possible. Please.”
    Frank studied her face a fraction of a second and nodded. “Be careful,” he said.
    All three were familiar with the grounds. They all jogged the nature trail on a regular schedule. Diane could search it with her eyes closed. Good thing because, with the storm cloud cover, it was pitch-black dark. They had elected not to take flashlights because that would make them targets.
    Diane hurried, scanning every time lightning lit up the sky. She was sick with fear. This couldn’t happen again. She couldn’t survive it again. What kind of mother was she to let this happen to Ariel another time? Diane ignored the pelting rain as she searched. The wind almost knocked her down.
    Lightning flashed and she saw the sparkle of a red shoe. Ariel. Diane ran to it.
    It was the aftermath of the massacre all over again—finding Ariel’s bloody shoes. Diane felt sick. “Damn it,” she said through her teeth. Only this time it wasn’t bloody.
    She hurried on. She had never before seen a rainstorm like this one. The rain was coming down in sheets and the wind was blowing it straight sideways with such ferocity that the drops were stabbing her skin like hundreds of tiny knives. The limb of a tree broke with a loud pop overhead and came crashing down beside her. She pushed on against it. Her eyes grew accustomed to the dark; she became used to the shadowy landscape. She watched for movement that wasn’t wind and rain.
    She thought she heard something.
    “Ariel.”
    A male voice calling Ariel. Had she gotten away? Diane’s heart leaped with hope. She listened through the howling wind. She breathed in the rain. It felt as though she were going to drown in it. She could hardly see. She coughed. The lightning flashed again and there was a figure—a black silhouette strobed by lightning flashes. She ran toward it. It wasn’t Frank or David, she knew their silhouettes. She saw the sports coat flap in the wind at the next strobe of light. Steven.
    Then she heard him.
    “Ariel, damn it, you little brat. Where are you? God, you are a lot of trouble.”
    Diane took aim and fired.
    If her aim was good, she blew out his right knee.
    She saw him go down. She ran to him and watched him writhing on the ground.
    “Where is she?” yelled Diane. Blood was washing from his hand. She thought she saw a little half-moon of teeth marks. Good for Ariel.
    Steven rolled over and tried to raise his gun. Diane fired into his shoulder. He grunted and passed out.
    “Damn it,” she said out loud.
    She picked up his gun and put it in her waistband. She looked for a hiding place.
    “Ariel,” she shouted.
    Why would the little girl ever trust her