Sufficient Ransom Read Free Page B

they had shared as a family,in that little town on the Hudson River, full of memories of what had been. Evenings, she would sit in her bedroom waiting for her mother’s phone call. Homework hastily completed, teeth brushed, pajamas donned, Ann hoped her mother wouldn’t forget her promise to talk. And then, long past her normal bedtime, the terrible ache in her chest and the bewildering disappointment when it became clear that she had.
    Her mother had promised to bring Ann to her studio apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and show Ann her new life. Those promises, like the many she had made before, were soon broken. The dance recitals she promised to attend but never did. The little lies she told when she cancelled a lunch or a movie date. Ann soon learned that her mother was so absorbed with her new boyfriend and social-climbing life she no longer had time for her daughter. Ann’s introverted, awkward father had little to offer in the way of comfort. He had a hard enough time taking care of himself, let alone his twelve-year-old girl.
    Sadly, Ann’s parents died young: her mother from cancer when Ann was in college, her father from a heart attack when she was twenty-five. As flawed as they were, Ann loved her parents and would have wanted them in her son’s life.
    When she got over the shock of her own perceived abandonment as a child, a fierce determination took root in Ann’s soul to not repeat her parents’ mistakes, should she ever have her own children. Yet, for reasons that were unclear even to her, Ann couldn’t shake the feeling that she would end up betraying her family the way her mother had betrayed her and her father.
    She checked her phone again. Richard still hadn’t emailed.
What’s he doing?
    She leaned over and looked at Travis. His face was turned toward the window, his arms thrown over his head. He had insisted they sleep with the curtain open so when he woke up he would see the sunny sky. The moonlight imbued his skin with a soft glow. He looked so beautiful.
    Ann was thankful her son hadn’t picked up on her anxiety. Checking into the hotel, getting ready for bed—she had worked hard to seemupbeat and unconcerned. After Travis brushed his teeth and donned his pajamas he curled up beside her and fell asleep.
    She imagined what life would be like if Kika Garcia were successful: Travis taken from her and living with another family. How long would he remember her?
    Travis stirred.
    Her hand over her mouth to hold back her sobs, Ann thought of her husband. If only he would call back, she wouldn’t feel that their problems were hers alone to carry.

C HAPTER 2
    Monday, October 1
    9:30 A.M .
    T he next morning, Ann and Travis were in their hotel room having breakfast when her phone rang.
    “Hold on a minute, Stewart,” Ann said to her attorney, thankful he had gotten back to her so quickly. To Travis: “Honey, I’m going into the bathroom to talk to my friend. After you finish your pancakes you can read your book.” She patted his backpack. “Your things are in here.”
    The bathroom door locked, Ann said, “Last night was the third time Kika came to the house, Stewart. Remember how she crashed Travis’s birthday party last week? And how I saw her at the coffee shop on Prospect Street, and at the grocery store?”
    “She lives in La Jolla, Ann.”
    “I never see my neighbors around town. I’m telling you Stewart, she’s stalking us.”
    “I’ll talk to her supervisor and straighten everything out.”
    “What about the restraining order against her?”
    Stewart’s sigh was deep. “Judge Nolan denied it. I told you it was a long shot. Look. I’ll call you as soon as I know more.”
    It was that hippie throwback, Travis’s new teacher, Amanda White, who had called CPS. “Your son had bruises and scratches all over his lower body,” Amanda had said when Ann demanded to know why a stranger had interviewed her son at this private school without her knowledge.
    Four days