Time and Trouble by Gillian Roberts Page B

brainwashed first. ”
    “ Sophia. ”
    It was interesting, Emma thought, how easy it was to ignore somebody in a wheelchair. They were literally below notice, with all the unconscious contempt the expression implies. This man — the father and husband? — hadn ’ t acknowledged a word Sophia said, not to refute or confirm it except to squelch her. All without looking her way. Not that the woman didn ’ t need levees for her word flow, but if she ’ d been standing next to him, would he have treated her more like his equal?
    Emma beckoned them into her office, then excused herself to knock on and open Billie ’ s office door.
    The younger woman looked like a child being summoned to the principal ’ s office. Emma took a grim satisfaction in it. “ Something you should sit in on, ” she said. “ Ask questions if you have them. Follow my lead. ” She waited a beat. “ And don ’ t faint. ”
    Billie ’ s skin and features seemed wired to her central emotional core as if there were nothing in between. She wore a gauge on her face as easily viewed as her straight nose. Now, it registered clumsy, forgiven-puppy delight. She wasn ’ t being punished for the mess she ’ d made and she seemed to want to run in circles, wagging her tail. And then as Emma ’ s final phrase made it through the relief zone, her face-ometer changed, and registered anxiety.
    Billie grabbed a notepad off her desk and followed Emma into the larger office. Despite her normally transparent emotions, when Billie saw Sophia Redmond there was a sliver of a second — imperceptible to anyone not waiting and watching for it — less than an eye-blink of recognition, confusion, and fear, and then it was gone, so quickly it hadn ’ t happened, replaced by a blandly professional mask. She must have been a good actress, Emma thought as Billie nodded to the couple with no sign of recognition and took a discreetly placed seat to the side and slightly behind Sophia. Not obtrusive, but not out of the loop.
    “ This is my ”— Emma tossed her a cheap thrill —“ associate, Billie August. I want her involved in this. ”
    “ Does that mean we have to pay double? ” the man asked.
    “ You ’ re hiring our firm, ” Emma said. “ All our resources are available to you. You ’ re billed as we use them, and we ’ ll surely consult you on that. ” All our resources, she thought, and they ’ re right here in this room. One rapidly aging and short-tempered woman and her idiot hire, and a computer, the only resource that functions properly. “ And you are …”
    “ Arthur Redmond. ”
    “ And Sophia Redmond, ” the woman added in a rush.
    The man sighed before he spoke. He had a thin, thirties-style moustache that echoed the pout of his mouth. “ We ’ re here because our daughter —”
    “ She ’ s my daughter, actually. She ’ s from my first marriage, although Arthur here has been as good as any natural father would be to her, and she was seized by a cult. Brainwashed. She has to be saved. ”
    “ Ran away, ” Arthur said.
    “ I was there, ” Sophia said. “ I know what I saw. ”
    “ If your daughter was kidnapped, no matter her age, the police should be informed. Kidnapping is a crime, ” Emma said. “ A federal offense. And it ’ s best if it gets immediate attention. When did this happen? Do you have the ransom note? Was there forced entry? Abduction? Did you see something? ”
    “ I saw enough, ” Sophia said.
    “ But not those things, is that it? ”
    “ There ’ s no note, ” Sophia whispered. “ No forced entry. ”
    “ When did this happen? ”
    “ Three days ago. In broad daylight. Well, it was a dark day, rainy, but it was in the afternoon. ”
    “ And you waited till now because … ? ”
    Sophia Redmond twisted a button on the cuff of her blazer. “ We weren ’ t sure what was happening. Or that she was really gone. I mean she could have … I mean …”
    “ What are we hemming and hawing about? Do you