Silent Night by Mary Higgins Clark Page B

dangerous,” Catherine repeated.
    â€œMrs. Dornan,” Rhodes said urgently. “If Siddons is in a car, he’s probably listening to the radio. He’s smart. Now that Officer Bonardi is out of danger, Siddons knows he isn’t facing a death sentence. Capital punishment had not been reinstated when he killed the police officer three years ago. And he did tell his sister that he’d let Brian go tomorrow morning.”
    Her mind was so clear . “But you don’t believe that, do you?”
    She did not need to see the expression on his face to know that Detective Rhodes did not believe that Jimmy Siddons would voluntarily release Brian.
    â€œMrs. Dornan, if we’re right and Siddons is heading for the Canadian border, he’s not going to get there for at least another three or four hours. Although the snow has stopped in some areas, the roads are still going to be something of a mess all night. He can’t be traveling fast, and he doesn’t know that we know he has Brian. That’s being kept from the media. In Siddons’s mind, Brian will be an asset—at least until he reaches the border. We will find him before then.”
    The television monitor was still on with the volume low. Catherine’s back was to it. She saw Detective Rhodes’s face change, heard a voice say, “We interrupt this program for a news bulletin. According to a report that has just been broadcast by station WYME, seven-year-old Brian Dornan, the boy who has been missing since this afternoon, has fallen into the hands of alleged murderer Jimmy Siddons, who told his sister that if the police close in on him, he will put a bullet through the child’s head. More later, as news comes in.”

17

    A fter Aika left, Cally made a cup of tea, wrapped herself in a blanket, turned the television on, and pressed the MUTE button. This way I’ll know if there’s any news, she thought. Then she turned on the radio and tuned in a station playing Christmas music, but she kept the volume low.
    â€œ Hark, the herald angels sing . . .” Remember how Frank and I sang that together when we were trimming the tree? she thought. Five years ago. Their one Christmas together. They’d just learned that she was pregnant. She remembered all the plans they’d made. “Next year we’ll have help trimming the tree,” Frank had said.
    â€œSure we will. A three-month-old baby will be a big help,” she’d said, laughing.
    She remembered Frank lifting her up so that she could place the star on the top of the tree.
    Why?
    Why had everything gone so wrong? There wasn’t a next year. Just one week later Frank was killed by a hit-and-run driver. He’d been on his way home from a trip to the deli for a carton of milk.
    We had so little time, Cally thought, shaking her head. Sometimes she wondered if those months were just a dream. It seemed so long ago now.
    â€œ O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant . . .” “Adeste Fideles.” Was it just yesterday that I was feeling so good about life? Cally wondered. At work the hospital administrator had said, “Cally, I’ve been hearing wonderful reports on you. They tell me you’ve got the makings of a born nurse. Have you ever thought of going to nursing school?” Then she’d talked about scholarships and how she was going to look into it.
    That little boy, Cally thought. Oh God, don’t let Jimmy hurt him. I should have called Detective Levy immediately. I know I should have. Why didn’t I? she wondered, then immediately answered her own question: Because I wasn’t just afraid for Brian. I was afraid for myself, too, and that may cost Brian his life.
    She got up and went in to look at Gigi. As usual, the little girl had managed to work one foot out from under the covers. She did it every night, even when the room was cold.
    Cally tucked the covers around her daughter’s shoulders,