Free Children of the Fog by Cheryl Kaye Tardif Page A

detective flicked an uneasy glance at her husband. Philip was standing a few yards away, glancing at his watch as if he had somewhere better to be.
    "That depends on who took him, Ms. O'Connell," Jay said.
    "You told me the first three days were critical. What happens after that?"
    "We keep looking. You've given us lots of leads to check out."
    "What if it was The Fog?" she persisted.
    Jay's mouth thinned. "We haven't found any of the kids he's taken. But that could be a good thing. It's very possible they're all still alive. Including Sam." He looked at Philip again. "But that's if The Fog has taken him. Without witnesses or a description, we don't have much to go on, but we're looking into all possibilities."
    'Without witnesses or a description…'
    The detective's words made her flinch, and she hurried around the hall corner, anxious to escape the police station. As she neared the waiting area, she skidded to a stop.
    Thick-lashed blue eyes met hers.
    Sam!
    He was sitting in a chair, crying. When he saw her, he smiled and motioned her to come closer.
    Ecstatic and relieved, she turned to Jay. "You found him!"
    "What?"
    "Sam!" She spun around, pointing toward the chair. "He's—"
    The chair was vacant.
    Her mind went numb. She had seen him. He had smiled at her, waved at her.
    Philip grabbed her arm, leading her out of the station. "That wasn't funny, Sadie."
    "It wasn't meant to be," she snapped. "I thought…oh, never mind."
    Not a word was said on the drive home. Or as Philip pulled the Mercedes into the garage. When she entered the house, she kicked off her shoes, dropped her purse on the floor and plodded upstairs. Two painkillers and a sleeping pill later, she climbed into bed.
    It wasn't quite six o'clock.
     

9
     
    Sadie awoke slowly, rubbing her weary eyes. They felt dry, as if someone had coated them with flour and rubbed it in for good measure. Most likely a side effect of the pills she had taken the night before.
    She blinked.
    It was day two and a piece of her was missing.
    Sam.
    She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. A low moan boiled in the pit of her stomach, slithering upward, a coiled snake ready to strike. It burned between her ribs, up to her throat and then erupted from her mouth in a keening wail.
    "Sam!"
    Wherever he was, he was scared. She knew that without a doubt and she wanted to comfort him, take away his fear. He should have been getting ready to go to school, just as he did every Tuesday morning. Instead, he was with…
    The devil.
    "Oh God. Why'd you let him take my baby?" She pounded the mattress. "Why?"
    Swatting back tears, she reached for the phone.
    "It's Sadie O'Connell," she said when Jay Lucas picked up.
    "I was going to call you. Can you come to the downtown station?"
    "Why? Have you found Sam?"
    There was a brief pause. "No, but we do need to talk to you again."
    "Should Philip come too?"
    "No, just you."
    She hung up and dressed quickly, distracted by her thoughts.
    Why did Jay want to talk to her alone? Had he somehow guessed that she'd been lying? Did he suspect that she had seen the man who had taken her son?
     
    After signing in at the front desk, she was escorted to a small office where she sat down uneasily. Jay entered the room, carrying a gray folder. He shook her hand, then sat down behind the desk.
    "Ms. O'Connell," he began. "What I'm about to tell you is highly sensitive and cannot leave this room. I shouldn't even be discussing this, but it could be pertinent to Sam's case. A word of caution though. If you mention any of this to your husband or anyone else before it becomes public, we'll be forced to charge you with interfering in our case. Do you understand?"
    "I-I…yes, I understand."
    "Are you aware that your husband is being investigated for fraud and embezzlement?"
    "What?" she sputtered. "What are you talking about?"
    "Fraud division's been investigating him for the past year. I didn't see the connection at first because I had you both listed