Family Money(6)

My wife was not prone to outbursts of emotion. I was the one who cried while watching sappy movies. Taylor was more like her dad. Steady. But I could see tears quickly forming in her eyes. I kept talking because I knew giving her as much information as possible would help her to hold things together.

“The officer I spoke with suspects these men may have spotted us in the village earlier this week. Maybe even followed us back here. They probably saw my nicer vehicle and put it together that we might be wealthy Americans. He thinks we’ll likely get a ransom note at some point tonight. The officer called it a quick money trick.”

“I can’t believe this.”

“I know. I’m so sorry, Taylor. I just didn’t think—”

“What do I . . . How do I tell my mom?”

“We’ll do it together. But I wanted to tell you first.”

“Did they hurt him?”

I shook my head. “No, they just grabbed him and took off.”

I left out the part about the black hood being pulled over his head. I thought that detail would only freak her out even more. I could see the wheels beginning to turn in my wife’s mind. Taylor liked to be in control. She was immediately putting together a plan of action.

“We have to get to the bank,” she said. “How much money will we need?”

“The officer says it’s usually only a couple thousand dollars.”

Taylor looked at her watch. “It’s after five. The banks are already closed!”

“We’ll get it first thing in the morning.”

“What if it’s too late by then?”

“It won’t be.”

“You don’t know that, Alex!”

Tears were now falling down her cheeks. I pulled her in close to my chest, wrapped my arms tightly around her. Thankfully, she didn’t resist.

“We’ll get him back. I promise.”





FOUR


My mother-in-law took the news about how I’d expected—an emotional explosion that left her gasping for air, clutching her chest, and nearly hyperventilating. For a moment, I wondered if we were going to have a second tragedy on our hands and have to rush her to the hospital. It took Taylor a minute to calm Carol down to the point where she could start to breathe again. The strength my wife showed in that moment with her mother overwhelmed me. But I’d seen this before. When Olivia was born, we nearly lost her that first night in the hospital. Everything had been fine, and then doctors were whisking our baby girl away for emergency heart surgery. I fell apart. But my wife was a rock. I’d never seen a woman pray like Taylor did throughout that night.

Together, the three of us decided we would wait to share anything with Olivia or Nicole about what had happened to Joe in the hope that we’d get him back by tomorrow, and everything would return to normal again. Raul had made it seem like that was a real possibility. Maybe we could spare my girls from the trauma. To her credit, Carol was able to gather herself enough to put on a good face while they began to eat dinner with all the kids and the staff at the orphanage. Esther told me they’d never experienced anything like a kidnapping situation. She was horrified and pledged to do whatever she could to help us.

Instead of eating dinner, I spent my time trying to be proactive in an effort to keep myself from having a nervous breakdown. I was on the phone with the US embassy in Mexico for more than an hour, trying to figure out if there was anything they could do. Unfortunately, their support seemed to be very limited. Still, they emailed me information on Mexican legal procedures, how to file a police report and seek prosecution, a list of Mexican attorneys, and a packet about emotional trauma support. I called one of the local attorneys on their list. He said he had a private investigator he trusted if I wanted to put down a significant retainer fee. It would have to be all cash. I told him I’d get him the money first thing in the morning.

When I couldn’t take the waiting around anymore, I drove back over to the village to see if I’d missed anything. I stood in the exact spot where it all happened, but no new revelations came to me. I felt eyes on me and turned toward a building to my right. When I did, a man quickly slipped out of my view around a corner. But I’d caught enough of a glimpse to recognize it was the same clean-shaven guy in the gray suit I’d spotted in the crowd earlier. I walked over to the corner of the building and peered around it into a dirt alley. There was no sign of the guy anywhere. That was odd. Had he been watching me? Could the guy possibly be involved?

I called Raul. To this point, the police officer had been very responsive in keeping me updated with his progress over the past few hours. We’d spoken twice already. He told me that a new witness had given a vague description of the men and the van. But he was honest in saying it wasn’t really much help. And unfortunately, nothing had turned up yet on the van. I mentioned the guy in the gray suit. Raul said he’d ask around about him. After getting into my Tahoe, I returned to the orphanage. No ransom note had arrived in my brief absence.

When it began to get late, Taylor and I decided it would be best for her and Carol to take the girls to our hotel. I would stay at the orphanage until this was all resolved and we got Joe back safe and sound. I prayed it would be just one night.

“What about Papa?” Olivia asked, climbing into the back seat of my Tahoe.

To this point, we had led our girls to believe Joe was still over at the village, meeting with local painters about assisting with our project.