Free Kidnapped by Dee Henderson

packed.”
    â€œI’ll try.”
    Luke let her walk ahead of him, not wanting to interfere with what she might notice. He entered the study to check the answering machine. No messages. Papers were neat on the desk, what appeared to be yesterday’s mail from the postmarks was opened and sorted in the in-box. He didn’t see today’s mail. Sharon’s touch had placed a bowl of mints on the desk, fresh flowers, and a framed sketch of one of Mark’s best house designs.
    Mark or Sharon would have left a message on this home machine for the other one if they were not together, for the messages could be retrieved remotely. He continued to hope they were together.
    They had both been planning to travel I-20 to Atlanta. If Sharon got in trouble and Mark saw it and stopped to help her—it had to be that sequence since they knew Sharon had left first.
    Come on, Mark, you’re good. You were already concerned about Sharon after last fall’s coincidences regarding Caroline, and you’ve always been alert to your own surroundings. You wouldn’t get taken by surprise easily. What happened? Where? He heard Caroline coming and relaxed with his hands in his back pockets again as he turned.
    â€œBenjamin changed clothes when he got home. The shirt he wore to school, the pants, were beside his bed. The books and folders on the bed look like they came out of his backpack. I think his Braves shirt is gone, and I don’t see the display book of baseball cards he loves. I can’t tell what shoes he has on, and I think he may have taken a cap, but I’m at a loss for what he’s wearing.”
    â€œKnowing he changed after school helps. What about Sharon?”
    â€œShe went shopping last week for this weekend, and I can guess at least two of the dinner outfits she took along. But she has too many clothes; I can’t suggest what she might be wearing now.”
    â€œIt was a long shot. There’s no sign of anything here that delayed them. I want you to log on to their computer and see what time the last e-mail was downloaded. They might have checked messages just before they left.”
    She pulled out the chair at the desk. “I had hoped somehow there would be something here to suggest what might have changed their plans.”
    â€œWe’re going to find them, Caroline. Trust me on that.”
    He didn’t have much to give her beyond his word, but she nodded, accepting it. She’d dig deep and find the stability she would need for this crisis. He was confident her faith would hold her together while they endured this night.
    He wished his own faith had that same strength. There had been too many hard events over the years, too many times when he was like Peter walking on water, halfway across to Jesus on faith when a glance at reality made him sink. It was hard to trust God on a night like this, when he was all too aware of what might have happened. Caroline was going to weather this better than he would. She might be shaky at the start, but she’d finish in better shape.
    Luke walked through the house to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. The clock clicked past midnight.
    Too many dead people, Jesus. If I doubt during the next hours, please be merciful and remember You made me of dust, not steel. I was prepared for a holiday this weekend, not a storm. And this one is going to be vicious. I wasn’t ready.
    When Caroline joined him, the coffee was almost ready, and he poured her the first cup. She sat at the kitchen table and swiped her hands across her eyes. “The last time they were online was this morning about 7:20. What are we going to do, Luke?”
    He squeezed her shoulder. “Call in even more help. Pray.”
    Her hand covered his and what nails she had left made an impression before she released his hand. Scared. He understood that emotion. He rubbed his thumb on her cheek, then gently tugged the braid she’d put in her hair.