The Family Gathering (Sullivan's Crossing #3)(64)

Sedona had been missing for ten days. She left the hospital on a Thursday, stayed over the weekend in Maggie’s house, left there on a Monday with the intention of flying home to Connecticut but lost her purse, her phone, her money and hooked up with Alice out of necessity. And she was actually quite happy despite her obvious issues. Alice didn’t question Sedona’s behavior or fuss that she was disturbed by her quirky rituals, like folding and refolding the towels, taking three steps into a room, then three backward steps out and then back in.

But on their sixth day together, Alice’s son called as he did every Sunday morning. And Alice said, “I’ve never been so happy. I have the loveliest roommate! Her name is Sedona!”





   A loving heart is the truest wisdom.

   —CHARLES DICKENS





13

DAKOTA AND HIS band of volunteers were not getting off to a prompt start. Up till now it had only been a few people to manage but fifteen was a bit daunting. Sister Mary Jacob stepped up to the plate, fetched clipboards out of her car, while Dakota rummaged around for paper in Maggie’s study. Everyone in the group hunted for pens and the nun, a born organizer, begin to assign areas. While they were doing that Cal, Maggie and Sully arrived, Elizabeth with them. Introductions were made and instructions repeated.

Even though they had canvassed much of the area between the restaurant where Sedona was last seen and Maggie’s house, they had not gone to the neighborhood in the other direction, away from the restaurant, so that was the mission of the volunteers for this particular Sunday. They went down the sidewalk in pairs, headed for the neighborhood just past the small park, when two police cruisers rushed past them, lights flashing but no sirens.

“This used to be such a quiet neighborhood,” Maggie said. “Nothing but excitement the last couple of weeks.”

Dakota’s cell phone was ringing in his pocket and he pulled it out. It was Detective Santana. “Where are you?” he asked Dakota.

“Just outside my sister’s house. Less than a block away with a group of volunteers. What’s going on?”

“I think we might have found her but we’ll need your ID. The son of an elderly woman called the police and said a woman named Sedona was holding his mother hostage...”

“Hostage! She wouldn’t do that! Where is she?”

“The police are en route to Felder Avenue, just three blocks from Dr. Sullivan’s house.”

“I see them!” Dakota shouted into the phone. He began to jog down the street where the two police cruisers were parked diagonally in front of a little house and the officers were crouched behind the cars, weapons drawn. “Holy shit, what are you doing?” he yelled.

“Stay back, sir! Get down the street and take cover until this is resolved!”

“Is my sister in there? Sedona Packard? She wouldn’t hold anyone hostage! Sedona!” he yelled, walking right into the police officers’ line of fire. “Sedona! Come out!”

He was suddenly tackled. He went down hard with a very heavy police officer on top of him, a knee in his back. He realized a little late that it was lucky he didn’t get shot. “Don’t move,” the officer said. Dakota felt his hands roughly pulled behind him and handcuffs slapped on his wrists.

“The detective just called, he’s on the phone! Let me see if my sister is in there! Take my phone,” Dakota pleaded. “Talk to Santana. Come on, man, have you lost your mind?”

“The house is not secure!”

The front door squeaked open and an elderly woman with wiry white hair wearing a purple pantsuit and bedroom slippers stood in the doorway. She just stood there, looking at the scene on her front lawn with a confused look on her face.

“What in the world are you people doing?” she asked.

Sedona stepped up behind the old woman, her hands on the woman’s shoulders. Immediately, the police started shouting at her to show her hands and come out of the house slowly.

Sedona had a stricken look on her face, but she did as she was told and the crowd of volunteers was converging rapidly on the two officers and Dakota. Cal ran toward them, waving one of his flyers with her picture on it, trying to rapidly explain that they’d been looking for Sedona for a week.

Ignoring the police, Cal pulled her into his embrace. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I just wanted a little time,” she said. “I’m afraid the bunch of you and Bob will have me committed.”

Maggie ran up to them. “Sedona, no one can have you committed unless you’re a danger to yourself or others. You’re panicked, that’s all. We’ll find the right kind of help for you.”

“Bob will be furious,” she said. “He’ll—”

“Bob is worried sick,” Dakota said from his place on the grass. He’d wrangled himself into a sitting position, hands cuffed behind his back. “Will you get these goddamn things off me?” he shouted.

“Hey, Bud,” the second officer said, holding his cell phone away from his ear. “This is our missing person. Santana is on his way into the station. We’re going to meet him there with Mrs. Packard.”

“And me,” Cal said. “I’m her brother and attorney.”

“And I’m her sister-in-law and doctor,” Maggie said.