"One of the doormen," we both said in unison.
"Okay," Tristan said, taking charge, "I am going to get background checks done on all of the maintenance and security personnel at the building. Trey gave me the name of a local investigative agency that gets things done very quickly."
"Sounds good," I replied. "What should I do?"
"How about you go and visit Jean?"
"I haven't seen her since before Preston was taken. I'm not sure what I would say when she asks about Preston and I know she will."
"Tylar, she may know things that she doesn't realize are in any way connected to what happened to her much less to Preston's abduction. You can find a way to break it to her. It may motivate her to really think deep and hard about what she observed on the days she worked for you and Trey."
"Okay Tristan; take me back to get my car and I'll go see her."
Jean had just finished with physical therapy for the day when I arrived at her room. As soon as I saw her face, I knew that she knew.
“Oh Tylar,” she wailed, “Please tell me that you have good news about the baby. I’ve been watching the television and when I saw her precious little face on the screen, I couldn’t believe that someone would steal her. Is it true that your own mother is the prime suspect?”
“More or less,” I replied. I didn’t want to get into all of the sordid details surrounding my bloodline at the moment.
“Jean I need your help.”
“I will help in any way I can Tylar.”
“Jean we’ve come to believe that the hit and run accident you fell victim to was done purposely and is connected with Preston’s abduction. Can you think back over the past several months – or even as far back as when I had the baby? Have you noticed anyone lurking around the apartment building; coming to the door while you were there, phoning and asking questions about Trey or me – anything no matter how trivial that involved us?”
“I don’t understand. Why would someone want to run me down in order to take Preston?”
“My suspicion is that someone hoped to gain access to our apartment by perhaps applying for the cleaning job that you currently hold. When Trey’s mother came to stay with us that thwarted any plans someone may have had in an effort to gain access to the baby through a temporary position.”
“There was something I recall Tylar. It was during the time that you were in the hospital having the baby. I was on my way out one evening and the doorman that was fairly new chatted with me outside the building while I waited for my bus. He was kind of nosey come to think of it.”
“Do you recall the specifics of the conversation?”
“Well he asked me if I lived in the building or just came to visit a lot. He said he was trying to recognize the faces of the tenants or their family. I told him I came in three days a week to clean the Sinclair apartment. He was very personable and likeable. He said he and his mama had just moved to Atlanta and he was glad to have found a job here. He mentioned that his mama might be interested in cleaning and wondered what agency had placed me. I gave him the name of the agency that Mr. Sinclair had used when he found me.”
“Did he say anything further or ask any more questions?”
“He acted as if he knew you and Mr. Sinclair. When I mentioned that I cleaned for you he said something like, ‘oh yes, the couple that just had a baby girl.’ I found that kind of odd.”
“How so?”
“Because I hadn’t even found out yet that you’d had a baby girl. This must have happened the day after you delivered the baby because my next day back you were already out of the hospital and that’s the first I would have known about you having a girl if it hadn’t been for the doorman. I figured Mr. Sinclair had told him.”
“Jean which doorman was it that asked you these questions?”
“I don’t know Tylar; I never saw him after that. You know there’s a fairly high turnover there so I guess I never thought much about it.”
“Could you describe him after all of this time?”
“I’d be hard pressed to I’m afraid. About the only thing that I recall is that he was young and had sandy-colored hair. He was average height, average build, and a nice looking boy.”
That description didn’t narrow anything down. Since Tristan was getting the names of the security and maintenance personnel at the building we could hopefully pin down the identity of the man that Jean remembered.
I certainly didn’t recall anyone fitting that description during the time that I had lived there with Trey, but then I didn’t pay a lot of attention to them either. It was mostly just a voice I heard over the intercom.
When I got back to the apartment, Tristan was already there; so was Trey. Trey was pacing. His face visibly relaxed as I walked through the door. Within a moment, he was pressed against me, hugging me close. I was scared. I was not sure if this was good news or bad. I pulled back from him immediately, searching his face for a clue.
"The Mississippi State Police just phoned baby," he said to me calmly.
"They found the white SUV abandoned at a truck stop about fifty miles north of Jackson. The vehicle matched the same VIN number as what Daniel provided you; they are fairly certain it is the vehicle that Maggie was driving and ditched once she knew she had been made on the news."
I wasn't sure what all that meant, but Trey seemed pleased.
"Where's Preston?" I asked, hopeful that he had more to tell me.
"Well for right now - we don't know, but the authorities have verified that Preston was in the vehicle and the investigation has really heated up."
"In the vehicle? What exactly does that mean, Trey?"
"Baby - it means that we are getting closer, I promise."
I trusted my husband. I could read him well enough to know that he was encouraged by this latest chain of events. That was enough for me.
CHAPTER 14
I had slept restlessly in my husband's arms that night. I had pumped my breasts but having been without Preston for the past several days, I could tell that my milk supply was diminishing. I hoped and prayed I would still be able to nurse her when she got home.
Trey was very optimistic that she would be back with us very soon. I felt cautious knowing that if Maggie had ditched the vehicle it was because she was fully aware of the magnitude of search efforts being made. The fact that a large sum of money was being offered for someone to divulge anything they might know, with no questions asked, certainly opened the door for anyone who was in cahoots with her to nark her out and take the money.
Trey had pretty much cleared his calendar for the next week so that he could be home and focus on any other avenues we might pursue to expedite our baby’s return. Leah’s surgery had gone well; Trey had assigned Tonya to Harmon’s area since he was out for the next week. After that he said we would play it by ear.
Tristan and I had shared with him the information we had gleaned from Sheila Bradley’s interview. I shared what I had learned from my visit with Jean. Tristan had met with the building management. Unfortunately, identifying the doorman that had initiated the conversation with Jean around the time Preston was born was not going to be as easy as we had hoped.
Apparently the building manager used a temp agency to fill doorman slots because it was cheaper and presented less headcount to the corporate board who oversaw maintenance and operating costs. The temp agency was one of questionable repute being that many of the doorman candidates were found to be illegal citizens; the background and reference checks on these individuals were non-existent.
Trey hit the ceiling when Tristan provided this information to him. He vowed to raise this as a major issue with the tenants association. Unfortunately, that would be too little and too late to make a difference as far as Preston’s well being was concerned.
Tristan had gone to his room earlier to call Libby. Trey and I had busied ourselves folding laundry and loading the dishwasher. I had taken the last load out of the dryer and was folding it when I came across several of Preston’s sleepers and tee-shirts. Tears had immediately streamed down my face. Trey came into the laundry room to ask me something and stopped when he saw my emotional meltdown.
He had immediately pulled me into his arms and consoled me. Later in bed, Trey had made love to me again very slowly and lovingly. Afterwards he had held me in his arms assuring me that our baby girl would be home soon.
It was just past dawn when my Blackberry chimed on the nightstand next to the bed. I disengaged myself from Trey’s arms quickly grabbing for it. The caller I.D. was not recognizable simply showing 'Indiana Call'.
It was Daniel’s voice on the other end.
“Tylar – it’s Daniel Henderson. I’ve heard from Maggie. I think I can help you.”
I sprang up immediately; he had my full attention.
“Where is she?”
“Whoa, wait a minute. I want to make sure that if I give you this information that I am not going to be dragged down with her for this. That’s why I am calling you first. If you can’t give me that assurance, then all bets are off.”
“Daniel don’t fuck with me,” I hissed. “If you don’t give me the information than you are withholding evidence in a felony kidnapping. If she has taken my baby across state lines, it’s a bigger felony. Besides, there is a reward being offered if in fact your information nets us the return
of Preston.”
“Really?” he asked, “Well I wasn’t looking for any monetary reward – just your assurance that I won’t somehow be incriminated in all of this shit.”
By this time Trey was up hovering over me as I continued the conversation. He was shaking his head at me indicating he wanted me to back off of Daniel.
“You have my assurance. Please tell me what you know.”
“I got a call from her a few hours ago. She apparently ditched my SUV because the heat is on her and the word is out. She’s such a dumb bitch at times. Anyway, she gave me a sob story about how she only took your baby because she had lost mine and she wanted us to be a family again. I didn’t mention that you had been here. I acted as if what she was telling me was the first time I had heard it. I acted shocked and appalled.”
He paused for a moment, chuckling at his apparent ability to pull the wool over her eyes.
“She asked me if anyone had contacted me or if the authorities had been around questioning me. I told her no. She admitted to having a nice chunk of change stashed away and wants me to meet her at a Greyhound Bus station in Wheeling, West Virginia. She gave me the arrival time of her bus and said she would be looking for me. I agreed to be there. She wouldn’t tell me what city she was departing from. She probably doesn't trust me a hundred percent since she's screwed me over so many times."
‘Did she call you from a track phone?”
“Nope – she is playing it way cool. She called from a pay phone that had a Georgia area code on it. Same area code that you cell phone has a matter of fact. I wrote down the number of the pay phone if you want it. She had to keep feeding change into it. Now I won’t hear from her again before the bus arrives in Wheeling. Oh, just so you know, I did hear your baby crying in the background.”
My heart lurched. Oh dear God, Preston was crying.
“I did ask her if she felt like she would be recognized and she said she had taken care of it. She wouldn’t tell me anything further. She said that I would see for myself when she found me at the bus station.”
“Daniel I am going to put Trey on the phone. You give him the details, okay?”
“I guess,” he replied somewhat reluctant. “Don’t fuck me over on this Tylar.”
The irony was not lost on me with his warning. I handed my Blackberry to Trey and scrambled to get a pen and paper for him to jot down the information. For the first time I held out hope and prayed that this would lead us to getting our baby back.
Trey was scribbling away and responding to Daniel in a very re-assuring and encouraging tone. That is why I let him take over; I knew he would handle it more diplomatically than I ever could. I wasn’t above thinking that perhaps Daniel had been involved all along. As long as we got our baby back we could deal with the rest of the issues later.
Trey ended the conversation by telling him that he would phone him within the next hour to work out the details. He made sure that he mentioned to Daniel that he would be financially rewarded if this led to getting Preston back in our possession. He thanked Daniel for ‘doing the right thing.’
As soon as Trey was off the phone he swung into action. He phoned the detectives and relayed the information that he had obtained from Daniel. I scrambled to get dressed and get an overnight bag packed before he finally noticed what I was doing.