The selection was limited, but he filled his arms with everything he could find: a child’s box of animal crackers, a blue plastic rattle and fluffy yellow duck, a paperback copy of Dr. Spock, a plastic bib printed with a lop-eared rabbit, fruit juice, and a box of oatmeal because she had to eat well.
He sped back to the circus with his offerings, and the sack tore as he snatched it from the front seat. He held it together in his big hands and ran toward the trailer. When she saw all this she’d understand what she meant to him. What their baby meant. She’d know how much he loved her.
He dropped the rattle as he twisted the knob on the door. The plastic bounced once on the metal step and then rolled into the grass. He rushed inside.
She was gone.
22
Max Petroff glared at Alex. “Why are you wasting your time looking for her here? I told you I’d get in touch with you if she contacted us.”
Alex stared blindly out the window that overlooked Central Park and searched for a good answer. He couldn’t remember her the last time he’d had a decent meal or slept more than a few hours without jolting awake. His stomach was giving him trouble, he’d lost weight, and he knew he looked like hell.
It had been a month since Daisy had run away, and he was no closer to locating her today than he’d been that night she’d fled. As he’d chased one lead after another, he’d missed more performances than he could count, but neither he nor the detective he’d hired had come up with anything.
Max had given him a list of the names of everyone he knew that Daisy might contact, and Alex had spoken with each of them, but it was as if she’d slipped off the edge of the earth. He only prayed her angel’s wings were keeping her aloft.
He turned slowly to face Max. “I thought you might have missed something. She didn’t have more than a hundred dollars on her when she left.”
Amelia spoke from the couch. “Really, Alex. Do you think Max would keep information from you after all the work he did to get the two of you together?”
Amelia’s arch manner always set his teeth on edge, and with his nerves stretched so taut they were ready to snap, he couldn’t conceal his dislike. “The fact is, my wife has disappeared, and nobody seems to know a damned thing about it.”
“Calm down, Alex. We’re just as worried as you are.”
“If you ask me,” Amelia said, “you should question that worker who saw her last.”
Alex had cross-examined Al Porter until he was convinced the old man had nothing more to tell him. While Alex had been making his foolish trip to the convenience store, Al had seen Daisy standing on the side of the highway flagging down an eighteen-wheeler. She’d been wearing jeans and carrying Alex’s small valise.
“I can’t believe she hitchhiked,” Max said. “She could have been murdered.”
That terrifying possibility had kept Alex dry-mouthed with fear for three days until Jack had come rushing out of the red wagon one afternoon with the news that he’d just spoken with Daisy on the telephone. She had called to make certain the menagerie animals were all right. When Jack pressed her to tell him where she was, she’d hung up on him. She hadn’t asked about Alex.
He’d cursed the circumstances that had kept him from being in the red wagon when she called. Then he’d remembered the half dozen times he’d answered the telephone only to hear a click at the other end. It must have been her. She’d been waiting for someone else to answer so she didn’t have to talk to him.
Max had begun to pace. “I can’t understand why the police aren’t taking this more seriously.”
“Because she disappeared voluntarily.”
“But anything could have happened to her since then. She’s totally incapable of taking care of herself.”
“That’s not true. Daisy’s smart, and she’s not afraid of hard work.”
Max dismissed his comments. Despite the incident he’d witnessed with Sinjun, he still saw his daughter as incompetent and frivolous. “I have friends in the FBI, and it’s high time I contacted a few of them.”
“Hundreds of witnesses saw what happened in the ring that night. The police believe she had ample reason for disappearing.”
“That was an accident, and for all her faults, Daisy isn’t vindictive. She’d never hold it against you. No, Alex. There has to be foul play involved, and I’m not letting you talk me out of this any longer. I’m calling the FBI today.”
Alex had never told Max the entire truth, and now he understood why he’d felt compelled to come here today. By holding back the whole story, he was leaving out information that might give either Max or Amelia some additional idea about where Daisy could have gone. He hated the idea of revealing something so ugly about himself, but his pride wasn’t nearly as important as Daisy’s safety and the well-being of his child.