“Tell me what happened to you, Kens.”
Chapter 13
Kens.She liked that. Or maybe she only liked it because he was the one giving her that nickname. Coming from him, it made her feel special.
“So, I guess it’s my turn.” She hated talking about that time in her life. No one could understand how frightened she’d been and how it had changed her and her family. Cooper had been kidnapped, though, so if anyone could understand it would be him.
“The man snatched me right out of my front yard where I should have been safe, you know?”
“You should have been. Obviously, you were found. How and how long did he have you?”
“I got away that night.”
“You saved yourself?”
“I did. He drove for a long time, and when it got dark, I guess I fell asleep. When the car stopped moving, I woke up but pretended I was still asleep. When he got out of the car, I opened my eyes and saw we were at a motel. I could read well enough by then to understand what the sign said. It was the Pearl Motel, and the sign said they rented rooms by the hour. At the time, I didn’t understand what that signified.”
“Hell, Kendall.”
“I know. I try hard not to think about what he might have done to me in one of those rooms. I guess he thought I was fast asleep and wouldn’t wake up for the few minutes he was gettinga room. As soon as he walked into the office, I got out of the car and started running. I didn’t know where I was, and I don’t know how long I ran before I saw a gas station. There was an older woman working there, and she called the police.”
“He didn’t come after you, try to find you?”
“If he did, I never saw him.”
“Did he touch you? Do anything to you?”
This was the part that still sometimes gave her nightmares. “While I was in the car, he put his hand on my leg, told me I was a pretty girl and that I was going to be a good friend to his sister. I didn’t know what all that meant.” She shuddered just remembering that long-ago day.
“I told him I wanted my mother, and he told me that my mother gave me to him because she didn’t want me anymore. I didn’t really believe him, but a part of me wondered if it was true. If she wanted me, she wouldn’t have let him take me, right?”
“It’s easy for predators to play mind games with a child. Children tend to believe what adults tell them. Did they catch him?”
“No. By the time the police went to the motel, he was long gone. The clerk claimed he didn’t pay attention to what the man looked like, and there weren’t security cameras everywhere like there is now. I couldn’t give them a good description, and I didn’t know what kind of car he drove other than it was white. What if he abducted other girls because I couldn’t tell the police what he looked like? I think about that a lot.” Tears gathered in her eyes, and she squeezed them shut. She would not cry.
“That’s why you do the podcasts, because you feel like it’s your fault he’s still out there somewhere.”
“Yes,” she whispered as tears she hoped he couldn’t see fell down her cheeks.
“All the blame falls on the man who took you. All of it. You were seven years old, Kendall, and terrified. Even adults often can’t give accurate descriptions of a suspect. That you had the courage and bravery to escape like you did is amazing in itself. So instead of thinking anything about that time was your fault, think instead of the courage that little girl had and the good that grown-up girl is doing now.”
Was it that easy? “To this day, I sometimes look over my shoulder, watching for him to come take me back. Except I don’t think I’d recognize him even if he stood in front of me.”
“I think if you were to see him again, you’d sense something was off. Always trust your instincts. I’m guessing your parents were overly protective of you once you were back home.”
“They were never the same, especially my mother. Mom was as afraid as I was that he’d come back, and except for school, and until the day she died, I wasn’t allowed to be out of her sight. I added feeling suffocated to the fear that was always with me. We moved to a gated community where it would be harder for someone to get me.”
“Come here, Kendall.”
“There?”
“Yes. I need to hold you.”
When was the last time someone had held her? It was an offer she couldn’t refuse, didn’t want to. She checked to make sure Livie was still asleep, then she eased out of bed. He held the covers up for her to slide under. Once she was in the bed, he dropped the covers over her.
“Turn on your side, facing away from me,” he said. “Good. Now snuggle your back against me.”
Oh, she was liking this.