She knew what he had done.
He wanted to show her that he trusted her.
For a moment there, she could see how he wanted to tell her to wait until he was done with his call.
He hated the idea that she might face her ex-husband alone, yet he decided to trust her as she had asked.
Emotions swirled in Reyona as she raised her hand and knocked.
It was a bit disturbing that the house was eerily quiet and everywhere was dark too.
Reyona knocked harder as the image of Ruth popped into her mind.
She almost expected the woman to open the door at that moment and welcome her in the way she had always done, even when she was lying to her face.
Reyona shrugged away the uncharitable thought and the niggling feeling that accompanied it.
She turned back when she heard his footsteps.
"Maybe he is not in there after all? They found something."
Reyona's heart thumped as she came forward. "What? Do they know where she is now?"
"No, not that. While they were interviewing the people around the area this morning, they found this girl. When they mentioned a van and gave the description that Amelia had given, she remembered. She remembered because the van had messed up the video she was making twice that morning."
Reyona's hand went to her mouth as she asked hopefully. "Did she…?"
"Yes, she deleted them though, and it took a while for the police to convince her to let them have her phone long enough to retrieve her deleted media, but yes, they found the video. In one of them, the van was blurred due to the speed with which it passed, but the second was better once they'd blown it. It was the same van Amelia had described. Too bad they didn't get a plate number though."
"Oh my god," Reyona said in disappointment as her hope crashed.
"They did find something though. From what the camera could pick through the rolled-up windows, the driver looked like a female."
"A female? A female? A female helped in kidnapping a child?" She asked in surprise.
Then, because she couldn't stop herself, she asked, "Do you think it might…"
He put his hands in his pockets and shook his head as he said "I don't think so. I don't want to believe that she had gotten worse and that she would kidnap her own daughter. She could have just shown her face and asked me for them if she wanted to see them. She would know that I wouldn't keep her away from them."
Reyona was not sure if he believed himself, but she nodded and said "Of course,"
She knew the kind of woman she had faced in that bathroom though.
Once she wouldn't put anything past.
"They are looking into it though. They are working with the KDLEA to pull anything they can get at all about her case. Anything that could help at all."
"Right. And that is why we need to do our part too." Reyona said as she turned back abruptly to go to the door again. "Allysyn is counting on us." she knocked harder on the door again as he came up behind her.
"Maybe he is not…"
"Mary said he was around. She saw him this evening and didn't think he left again. We need to ask the bastard if he at least knows if his criminal girlfriend had any…"
He laid his hand on her shoulder and she turned to wrap her arms around him as she buried her tears-streaked face against him. "Oh my god, she would be so scared. We need to get her back, Maxwell. We need to take her home. What kind of cruel person would snatch a little girl from what she believed was a safe place? She is counting on us, and we have no clue of where to even start the search from."
Maxwell held her to himself as he lay his head atop her hair that she had rid of the dye. "Please, calm down. We will get her back. We will get Thomas and see if…"
He had reached for the handle of the door behind her and twisted while he was talking.
Reyona knew when the door gave as he turned it.
She turned around with an "oh" and pushed the door wider.
The blast of stench that struck made her cough.
"Hang on," Maxwell said hurriedly as he moved her behind him and pulled out his phone.
Then he put on the flashlight as he wrinkled his nose at the stale smell coming from inside.
"You know where the switch is" he asked.
"It is right…you know what, let me get it."
"No, I don't want you going into that sk**k hell without a full blast of light on." He said with determination.
"Just point out the right place for me and I will figure it out."
"To your left," Reyona answered. "A bit inside, but yeah."
"Hold on," he said and moved.
In seconds, the light came on, and Reyona gasped at what she could see from the door.
Mess and debris were strewn everywhere.
"I don't really think you should come in here," Maxwell said, subtly blocking her at the door.
When she raised her brows at him, he said, "Breathing in this can't be healthy. Not for you or the baby. Why not let me check around and…"
"Maxwell, I will be fine. You and I don't know what Allysyn could be going through right now. I am sure something as small as this horrible smell is nothing compared to that. I am coming in." She said with determination.
"Okay," he said in resignation. Then he took out his handkerchief and tied it over her nose and mouth before stepping out of the way.
He closed the door behind him as they stepped in fully.
Sadness washed over Reyona anew as she saw the once-well-kept home reduced to nothing but a pigsty.
The TV in front of which she had bonded with Leah was no longer there.
The couch was gone.
The curtains were no longer there.
The hard-backed chair was lying drunkenly on its side.
Food wrappers were strewn everywhere.
Empty bottles were lying around, and the floor felt sticky to the heels of her shoes.
"Well, a lot of good that rehab did him," she said in a voice muffled by the handkerchief.
As she moved inward with Maxwell silently walking by her side, her heart constricted when she saw all the empty spaces where Ruth's beloved knickknacks used to be.
She could only think of one reason why they were no longer there.
The same reason why every other valuable thing was gone.
The bastard!
"Thomas, where the hell are you?!" She called out suddenly, surprising herself.
They were close to the entrance of the kitchen at that time.
"Reyona" Maxwell called as he laid his hand on her rigid shoulder.
She shrugged and said "I am fine. I said…"
"Reyona" he called her with more determination, and she jerked her head towards him to ask…
Whatever she intended to ask was immediately forgotten as she saw what he was looking at through the opened kitchen door.
Beside the edge of the kitchen island, she could see the pair of bare feet sticking out, while the counter hid the rest of the body.
Reyona's eyes widened as her hand covered her mouth in horror, "Oh my god"
"Listen, Rey…"
Before he could stop her, she rushed towards the prone figure.