CHAPTER 9

The following morning did not offer a new chance for the angels to enjoy some more time together. Monica had had a change in her schedule and arrived at the Clarks house by eight. When she woke up her Andrew had already left, in search of new evidences to help solving a horrible crime. A loving note over the side table together with a blooming rose were the two items he had chosen to tell her about his love.

"Oh, Monica, thank goodness you're here!" Laura exclaimed in relief, as she quickly opened the door for the friendly and smiling nanny.

"Good morning, Mrs Clark. I hope I'm not late…" she greeted cheerfully, watching as the woman put on her coat and grabbed her bag.

"Oh, no, you're just in time. You see, Ted had to spend the night at the office as it was too late for him to return home." She explained, not noticing as Monica's smile slightly faded away.

"Oh, I see… I wonder if he is coming back today to stay with the children then…"

"No, he still has a lot to do there. They're closing this month's balance and it's a very busy time."

Biting her lower lip, Monica dared to speak again. "They miss him… Especially Josh…"

Sighing deeply, the woman nodded her head. "I know… But it was a tough year and now it seems we're finally settling down again. He'll make it up to them when their birthday comes." She replied, finally finding her car keys. "Look, Monica, I cannot thank you enough for being here earlier."

"Please, don't thank me, Mrs Clark."

"They're all asleep but I'm sure Jane and Josh will come down soon; I left the breakfast ready, so you won't have to bother preparing it, ok? See you in the afternoon."

The woman left in a hurry, leaving a worried Monica behind. How in the world would she make her and her husband pay attention to their children?

X

A while later, as their mother had predicted, little Jane was the first one to wake up. The angel heard it as her tiny feet climbed down the stairs and soon the little girl was standing before her with a sleepy but joyful face.

"Monica!" She exclaimed, visibly glad to see her nanny so early.

"Good morning, wee Jane! Did you sleep well?"

"Yes. I dreamed about the lady with a beautiful voice. She was singing!"

"Oh, what a lovely dream!"

Frowning a little, she tilted her head and looked at Monica with questioning eyes. "Did you sleep here?"

"Oh, no. I arrived earlier today."

"Angels don't ever sleep?"

Highly amused by her inquisitiveness – something that they had in common, as Andrew would point out, Monica smiled. "Well, occasionally, when they feel like it or when it's necessary."

"Do you dream about Heaven and the other angels?"

"I certainly do. I sometimes have lovely dreams myself too, you see?" She answered, taking the girl's hand and guiding her up to the table, so she could set her bowl of cereal.

"Jane, stop torturing Monica with this angel talk."

The two turned their heads to see Josh coming through the door; also with a sleepy expression on his face. Monica motioned for him to sit next to Jane and served his cereal.

"Josh doesn't believe in angels." His sister replied, looking at him accusingly.

"Because they don't exist." He replied back, defiantly.

"Yes, they do! Don't they, Monica?"

Smiling, she finally took a seat next to them, placing both hands over the table and pondering about her words. "Most people tend to doubt of the things they cannot see or prove, because it is easier this way. But the truth is that when they need it the most, in a difficult hour, this is the time when they start seeing with their hearts. And what they find out is… Well, let's say it can fill their hearts with hope and love."

Jane smiled happily at that answer, even though, truth to be told, she could not fully understand it. Josh lowered his head quietly, but Monica knew that what she had just said had an effect on him somehow.

What she expected was a chance to make his parents see with their hearts, and she was determined to make it happen.

When both children had finished breakfast and had dispersed to get dressed, Monica was becoming concerned that she had yet to see Aiden. He rarely slept in late, usually eager to eat, dress and get outside to roller blade and Monica had promised him that today she would join him. Andrew had come home two days ago with a bag from a local store that contained not only knee and elbow pads, but a helmet as well. Her raised eyebrows and amused expression when she had picked up the bright pink helmet had been one of the few things that had made him smile lately.

Jogging up the stairs to the second floor, the angel knocked softly on Aiden's door and after not getting any answer, she quietly turned the knob and pushed the door open slowly.

What she saw made her blood run cold.

Aiden's bed was empty and his bedroom window was open, though she reasoned that the summer morning was warm and he had quite probably slept with the open window to allow the cooler air of night to flow across his sleeping form.

"Aiden?" Monica called out as she stepped into the room. His bed was unmade, despite their mother's rule that all three children make their beds in the morning, but what she noted was that the sheet and blanket were dragged along the floor. Swallowing hard, Monica called his name again, even as she checked the closet in the event he was playing a prank on her.

"Where's Aiden?" Jane's little voice quipped as she walked into the room behind her nanny.

"Well, I think he may be playing a trick on us, wee Jane," She managed to keep her voice light, despite a heaviness in her heart she didn't yet completely understand, "Do you want to help me find him?"

The little girl's face lit up with excitement, "Yes! And I know all of his favorite hiding places too!"

For the next fifteen minutes, Monica and Jane searched the house, and Josh soon joined them, calling out mock threats to his little brother if Aiden didn't show himself. But their calling, threatening and cajoling still did not produce him.

"Oh Father, please…please no, please no…" Monica's whispered prayer was inaudible to anyone else, as she flung open the door that led into the garage, hoping she would find his roller blades missing, but instead they were exactly where they had been left the night before.

"Are his skates there?" Josh's voice interrupted her thoughts as he stuck his head through the door.

"Yes. Josh, would he have gone anywhere else? To a friend's house maybe?"

"No way. He can't go anyplace else until mom is home," For the first time, the teenage boy noticed the look in Monica's eyes and true fear found him, "You think something happened to him."

"I just…I don't know where else to look," Monica was struggling to keep her emotions intact, but her heart felt as if it were about to beat out of her chest. Surely Andrew's assignment was not touching her own! Laura, Josh and Jane would be heartbroken and probably Ted too though Monica had yet to meet the man. And Andrew…

"I need to call your mom. Maybe she knows where he might be."

"I'll call…there is another phone line in the study…in case mom doesn't know where he is…"

His words chilled her. Josh knew Laura had no idea where her youngest son was and he knew Monica would need to call the police from the study.

Which was exactly what happened.

X

The police arrived first and Monica answered all their questions all the while being keenly aware of Jane's growing distress. The little girl was quickly understanding that her brother was not just hiding but that something was very wrong, even if she didn't understand what. Crime was something impossible for such an innocent heart to understand at such a young age, but she did understand that police meant something bad had happened and the trembling of her nanny's hands only made her growing panic all the more acute.

Several of the officers followed Josh upstairs to Aiden's room and Monica found herself wishing for a quiet place to pray and maybe cry, when she felt an urgent tug against her summer dress.

"Monica?" Jane's voice trembled as she looked with trust up at the angel, "Where is Aiden? What happened to him?"

Forcing back her own emotions, Monica knelt down and gathered the little girl into her arms, "I'm not sure, Jane. But the police are here to help find him. Was he okay last night when he went to bed? Was he upset with anyone?"

"He was a little bit sad that daddy wasn't coming home but mommy played cards with us until bedtime and he was okay. Josh was still really angry though."

Monica felt a twinge of hope. Maybe Aiden had been upset and in typical childlike fashion, had rebelled a bit by running away, probably going no further than a friend's house. But she had seen no evidence of Aiden having packed anything and surely he wouldn't leave without his roller blades, his most prized possession. And would the boy really go out the bedroom window?

" Whoever it was left behind no finger prints or even shoe marks outside the window".

The words that Andrew had told her several nights ago suddenly rang through her mind and she closed her eyes against Jane's hair.

The window. It had been open.