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posted nationwide; you’d think someone had seen them! If only I knew which direction he headed, or where he planned on stopping, I’d go there and wait.”
    Jack studied his son’s face. His voice was shaky when he asked, “Do you really believe we’ll find them?”
    “Of course I believe it, Dad! We will find him, and when we do…” Henry broke off, not wanting to worry his dad with what he’d thought of doing to Eli.
    Jack, still whittling away, read his son’s thoughts. “You’ll have to stand in line, Henry. I want first crack at that low-down sonuvabitch.”
    Henry had thought much worse than low-down sonuvabitch , even though he hadn’t said it out loud. For starters, he’d wring Eli’s scrawny neck, cut his balls off and shove them up his ass…but first, he had to be found.
    If only Eli wasn’t so damn devious , Henry thought. But, he knew Eli would make a mistake sooner or later, and when he did…
    “I’m going in, Dad. I have to tell Violet I don’t have any news.” Standing, he looked around the yard and tried to decide what he’d say. “You coming in, Dad?”
    “No. I think I’ll stay here a while longer. You go on, son. Violet’s waiting for you.” Jack didn’t look up, but continued working on his piece of wood that was getting smaller and smaller. Whittling had been his way of handling stress for years, and he knew he’d need a lot more—and much larger—pieces of wood to subdue this stress. 
    Henry took a deep breath before opening the door and going inside. “If only there was some good news for a change,” he muttered. But, Eli had gotten too much of a head start, and he knew the ten-and-a-half months were definitely against them. 
    It had been about two years to the date since Eli first kidnapped Sarah. Unlike the last time, Eli had said just enough to alert Jack that something wasn’t right. That night, Jack had gone to bed at his regular time, but he didn’t sleep.
    He’d stayed awake listening for any sounds out of the ordinary. When he heard the front door squeak, he jumped up, and ran outside just in time to see Eli as he scrambled into the car and drove away with Sarah. After watching the direction Eli turned, Jack had called Henry immediately. It was that quick response that prevented Eli from getting out of the city before a patrol car pulled him over, then detained him until Henry could get there.
    “I saved Sarah that night. But this time…damn it!”
    Violet sat at the kitchen table with her mother and sister, crying as she had been for months. She jumped up, almost tipping her chair over, when her brother entered the room.
    She searched his face for any sign, and not seeing what she looked for, she knew the answer, but found it too difficult to admit, and asked between sobs, “Did you find her, Henry? Did you find my baby girl?”
    “Not yet, sis, but we’re still searching. He will make a mistake, eventually, and when he does, we’ll find her. I promise, we will find her, Violet.” 
    Henry acted calm while fighting back his own tears, and thought: I’m a cop, damn it! I’ve seen everything. I learned to disconnect myself. Keep emotions out. Be objective. See all angles of a crime. I can’t let myself be drawn in. I have to be strong! But damn it! Hurting a child…that, I just can’t handle.
    He put his arm around Violet, and whispered, “Vi, I’ll bring her home. You can count on that. You can count on me.”
     
     
    More days, weeks and months went by without a word. Violet continued to drink more and more, and Barbara’s hostility was relentless. Jack began to tire of it all, and Margaret, at her wits end, didn’t know what to do.
    Jack tried to referee, and although he wasn’t a violent man, he had to fight the impulses of slapping his daughters, landing them both on their keesters. Jack and Margaret looked as if they’d aged ten years since Sarah’s disappearance. 
    Driving to the station, Henry wondered if he’d be able to keep