Free Born To Be Wild by Patricia Rosemoor

to know I’m okay, that I’m not hurt. Like I was in the bus accident. Please don’t look for me and don’t go to the police again. I’m where I’m supposed to be for now.
    Love, Lucy
    “Ms. Falcon? Not Mom?” Isabel burst into tears. “ Ms. Falcon? I don’t believe this. I’ve never given Lucy any reason to want to leave home!”
    Though Micah had wondered about the possibility of Lucy running away earlier, he didn’t believe it for a minute now. Not even if Lucy and Isabel had been fighting. He didn’t know a kid who got along with his or her parents all the time, but the way Lucy had worded the note…it had to be some kind of message.
    “That’s not what she said,” Micah assured Isabel. “The letter is worded very carefully. My guess is Lucy was forced to write this to throw us off. She’s trying to tell us something.”
    Pain cut through him. His little girl must be terrified, and yet he was certain she was trying to send them a hidden message. Reading the note again, Micah was certain of it. He set it down on the coffee table next to the envelope.
    “I should call Detective Ochoa,” Isabel managed, swiping the tears from her cheeks.
    “Good idea. He might be able to get fingerprints.” Micah had been very careful not to leave his prints all over the note.
    Her hands shaking, Isabel punched in Ochoa’s number, and when he answered, told him about the note.
    “I doubt there’ll be prints, but you never know,” Ochoa said over the speakerphone. “And there may be other forensic evidence left on it. I’ll send an officer around to collect it right away.”
    When the squad car pulled up in front of the house a few minutes later, Micah let the guy in. The officer wore gloves to lift the note and envelope into an evidence bag.
    “I tried to touch it as little as possible,” Micah said.
    “Good,” the cop said. “Detective Ochoa will have it run through forensics right away.” He took the evidence bag and left.
    Isabel had remained dead silent. She was standing frozen in the middle of the room looking lost and scared.
    “I’d feel better if they’d asked for ransom,” she said. “Then at least the motive would be money. This…”
    Although Micah knew a ransom wouldn’t necessarily mean whoever took Lucy wouldn’t hurt Lucy anyway, he agreed. This was far worse.
    “Who would take Lucy? And why?” Isabel asked, more distraught than ever. Finally voicing the question foremost in both their minds
    “Maybe someone who has reason to dislike her family. Someone with a grudge against the Wilds? Or something to do with your news photography—an enemy you somehow made?”
    Or was it some pervert who’d taken their daughter to abuse her?
    Micah wasn’t putting that one on the table. He didn’t want to believe it. Didn’t even want to think about it. He told himself there had to be another reason.
    Isabel was sobbing now, as if she feared they’d already lost the battle.
    Micah grasped Isabel’s arms. “I am not giving up. And you aren’t, either. You’re a fighter.” How well he remembered . “Lucy is all right—”
    “She has to be.” Her lips trembled with the words.
    “She is . And you have to be strong for her, so whatever it is you’re feeling, get rid of it now. Let go of what you’re holding back. Let it all out, it’s okay.”
    A glittering river rolled down her cheeks.
    “Good. More,” he urged. “Scream. Throw something. Punch me, if it’ll make you feel better.”
    To his astonishment, Isabel screamed.
    And screamed.
    And screamed.
    And then she hit him. Once. Twice. Again. She hit him with the flat of her hands against his chest and arms over and over, but Micah wouldn’t have flinched even if she’d actually punched him, though he knew exactly how hard she could hit.
    This was about more than today or yesterday. This was about more than Lucy being taken.
    This was about last year, and the one before that, and the one before that. All the years they’d been