Free Twelve Days by TERESA HILL Page A

here?"
    "Lotsa places," he said.
    "In Ohio?"
    "I think so."
    "What town?"
    "I dunno."
    "Did you ever memorize your address? For school? Have you ever been to school, Zach?"
    Zach shook his head. "Is that bad? Am I gonna get in trouble?"
    "No."
    " 'Cause Emma has to go to school. We get in trouble when she doesn't."
    Sam nodded. He wasn't surprised she had missed a lot of school. And he wondered what he could get Emma to tell him. She'd know so much more.
    "Zach," he tried one more time. "If you'd just tell us what you know, I promise we'll do our best to find her."
    "She's gonna come back," Zach said stubbornly.
    "I know she said that, but..."
    Tears welled up in the little boy's eyes. "She's comin' back!"
    "What are you doing to him?" Emma yelled and ran to Zach's side. She put herself between Zach and Sam, like a mother defending her child—she probably thought Zach was hers—and attacked. "You made him cry!" Emma put her arm around the little boy. "What did he do, Zach?"
    Zach sobbed. "He made me talk about Mommy."
    Emma glared at Sam. "He's just a little boy."
    "Emma, if you know where your mother is, you should tell us so we can find her."
    Unmoved, Emma didn't say a word, just stood there holding Zach against her side. Sam looked up and in the open doorway saw Rachel with the baby in her arms, looking as angry as Emma. He turned back to the children.
    "She told you not to tell, right?" Sam said. "Before she left you at the motel. She told you she'd be back, too, but she didn't come back, and now we need to find her. Do you understand that? You need to help us find her."
    "Sam! That's enough!" Now Rachel planted herself between him and the children, telling Emma, "Take Zach to the house, okay? I'll be right there."
    The girl nodded, in tears herself now.
    "Everything will be fine," Rachel reassured the girl. "You'll see."
    "She's coming back," Emma said, her lip quivering, her expression forlorn.
    "Emma," Rachel said, trying to undo the damage he'd done, "we're going to take care of you. You'll be fine here. I promise. Now I need to talk to Sam. Please take Zach into the house and let him eat his breakfast. I'll be right there." Emma nodded. Rachel turned to the boy. "Zach, Emma and I were worried about you. We didn't know where you were."
    "I was with him," Zach said, pointing to Sam.
    "Well we didn't know that. You shouldn't come out here without telling us. You shouldn't leave the house at all without me or Sam or Emma, okay?"
    " 'Kay," he said solemnly.
    "Go inside with Emma and eat." The two of them left, and Rachel, looking like a warrior woman, wheeled around to Sam and said, "What did you think you were doing?"
    "Trying to find out where they belong," he said. "If they have a home, that's where they should be."
    "So you're going to interrogate them until they crack? You had them in tears, Sam. Do you want them gone so badly?"
    "No. I said they can stay, and I meant it. But there might be someone out there looking for them. Did you ever think of that? Someone might be worried half to death over them by now."
    "I'm sure Miriam is checking. She doesn't need you to give them the third degree. They're little kids, Sam. They have to be so scared."
    "Which is why they should be with people they know, people who love them—"
    "If such a person exists," she said.
    "Yes, if there is such a person, that's where they should be."
    "Why don't we let Miriam worry about that."
    "Miriam's not here. We are."
    "And we're taking care of them. That's all she asked us to do. We need to give them a place where they feel safe," Rachel said. "You make it sound like you can't wait to get rid of them."
    "That's not it," he insisted.
    "Did you ever really want children?" she said.
    "What?" Sam stared at her.
    "Children. Did you ever really want them?"
    "I wanted our baby," he said.
    "Did you?"
    "Of course I did, Rachel."
    But Rachel didn't look convinced. She stood there holding Grace tighter, Grace who snuggled against her so trustingly,