Snatched

Part 36

Maddie opened the front door to the house and walked into the living room.
'Maddie' Maddie heard her husband shout from the kitchen. She walked past where Daniel was sat, in the same position he had been when she left and into the kitchen.
Her husband was stood there looking a ghostly white and holding his phone out in front of him. Maddie could hear Amelies voice coming from the phone. 'Antoine! Antoine!' she was saying.
'Antoine honey, what's wrong?' Maddie put a hand on her husband's shoulder.
'Maddie is that you?' she heard Amelie shout down the phone. Maddie immediately took the phone from husbands hand. He shifted away from her and leant on the kitchen worktop to steady himself.
'Yeah it's me' Maddie said, 'what's going on?'
'Maddie' Amelie sounded the most sincere Maddie had ever heard her. 'Your friend Odette isn't who she says she is'. Confused, Maddie moved across the kitchen and moved a chair for her husband to sit on.
'What on earth are you talking about, Amelie?' she asked.
'Have you heard of Rory Gilmore?' Amelie questioned her back.
'The author? Yeah, people come into the bakery reading her books all the time.'
'Great!' Amelie said, 'drop her a quick Google search'. Maddie took her own phone out of her pocket and quickly googled Rorys name. The page was filled with stories about a kidnapping. Confused, Maddie begged Amelie for more details.
'So what are you saying?' she asked.
'Well Rory is my assistant for one of my classes' Amelie began 'and tonight we got to talking about her son, Dylan. She mentioned that her and her family thought he'd be kidnapped by a woman named Odette, Rorys boyfriends wife or something like that'.
'But Amelie' Maddie said, 'you know that there are probably thousands of women in France whose name is Odette'.
'I know' Amelie said, 'but there aren't that many who have a son who is exactly Rorys little boys age.' Maddie was starting to feel faint. She sat on a chair opposite her husbands.
'Maddie, when abouts did Odette arrive in town?' Amelie asked.
'Erm about two years ago, almost exactly' Maddie replied.
'And about how old would you say her son was then?' Maddie felt physically sick at this thought. She walked over to the sink and threw up violently.
'Maddie are you ok?' Amelie asked, concerned.
'Not really' Maddie said, 'but carry on'.
'Maddie', Maddie heard her husbands voice from across the room. She'd almost forgotten he was there. 'I think we need to leave. Soon. We need to go to America and we need to take Daniel, I mean Dylan, back to his rightful family.' Maddie felt at odds about what her husband was saying.
'Do you think that's right?' She asked him.
'Of course it is!' Amelie screamed down the phone, 'this poor woman is absolutely devestated. She's lost her only son at just three weeks old. Imagine if that had happened to one of the twins.' The thought of this made Maddie feel even sicker and she wretched into the sink again.
'We need to go Maddie' Antoine said, sounding the most serious she'd ever heard him. 'We need to go and we need to take Daniel with us.'
'We, we should pack a bag and go get the boys' was all Maddie could manage.
'Ok, I'll let you go and pack' Amelie said, 'send me your passport details over and I'll book you all on the next flight to Connecticut. I'll hang up now and tell Rory the news.'
'Ok' was all Maddie could say, before she hung up the phone.
'Ok you sort out our stuff and I'll sort the boys' Maddie said to Antoine, as they walked through to the living room.
'Good look getting Daniel to go anywhere' Antoine chuckled nervously.

As they entered the living room, Maddie dropped to her knees and clasped her hand over her mouth. Daniel was nowhere to be seen.