He wasn’t even aware of crossing the lawn, only that he crouched beside Helen. However much he wanted to take her and Jacob in his arms, he had to do his job. “Was somebody here?”
“He went that way.” She pointed past the garage. “I heard him running down the alley.”
“How long ago?”
“Only...only a minute or two.”
Seth sprinted, despite knowing he’d be too late. Gun in hand, he reached the side street, where he saw no movement at all...but heard the receding engine of a car.
He ran to the closest house. No one home. The one across the street, the kids were watching cartoons and nobody had seen anything.
Ten minutes later, he walked back to Iris Wilbanks’s house to find the backyard empty. He opened the screen door and followed the voices inside.
A pair of paramedics had the woman on a stretcher and were obviously ready to transport her. She was conscious but looked bad, tiny and fragile. Bandages were wrapped her head, and an oxygen mask covered her face.
A distraught Helen stood at her side, Jacob on her hip. “You saved him. I’ll never forget. Thank you.”
“Ma’am, we need to go,” one of the EMTs said.
“Yes.” Helen squeezed the older woman’s hand and stepped back. Then she saw Seth and came to him, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Hey, buddy,” he murmured.
Jacob kept blubbering, and who could blame him? Even if the piece of scum hadn’t actually gotten a hand on the boy, he must have seen unfamiliar violence.
“I need to sit down,” Helen said suddenly.
He allowed himself to wrap a supportive arm around her as he steered her to the sofa. She sank down as if her knees had given way. Seth excused himself, and he and Dave Todd stepped onto the front porch, both watching as the ambulance pulled away.
“Were you able to talk to the victim?”
“She kept saying, ‘Jacob, Jacob,’ over and over again.”
“That’s the boy’s name,” Seth said. “Okay, let’s get the story from Ms. Boyd. She lives next door.” He nodded toward her house. “Last week’s murder happened in her rental. She tells me she left behind an abusive ex. I’m thinking the two crimes have to be related.”
Todd nodded, and the two men went back into the living room. Seth sat on the coffee table facing Helen, while Todd chose a wing chair a little farther away. Fortunately, Jacob’s sobs had dwindled to rhythmic snuffling.
“All right,” Seth said, “can you tell us what happened?”
“Iris offered to watch Jacob while I grocery shopped. She said he could help her work on her vegetable garden.” She almost sounded steady. “I came home, took my groceries into the house and went out the back door with a carton of eggs for Iris.”
Seth could just imagine how much help a two-year-old would have been.
“They weren’t outside, though,” she continued. “I was partway across the yard when the screen door slammed open and a man wearing a ski mask ran out. He—” her voice broke “—he had Jacob over his shoulder.” Her desperate gaze met Seth’s. “If I’d been twenty seconds later—”
He couldn’t help himself. He reached out and took her hand in his, not surprised to find her fingers were icy. “You weren’t.”
After a minute, she nodded.
“How did you get Jacob away from him?”
She told them about having noticed the shovel, snatching it up and swinging at the kidnapper’s legs. The stumble, her tackle.
“He took off because he heard the approaching siren.” Helen shivered. “Iris must have called 9-1-1.”
“She did,” Todd confirmed.
“She saved Jacob. And she got hurt so badly doing it. I should never have left him with her. Never!”
Out of the corner of his eye, Seth saw the other officer’s brows rise, not only at what she’d said, but also the passion in her voice.
His fingers tightened on her hand. “Helen.” He waited until he had her full attention. “Was this your ex-husband?”
She shook her head slowly, some bewilderment showing. “No. He was bulkier than Richard. Anyway, I saw his eyes. They were light colored. Gray, I think. Richard’s are brown.”