Authors: Alexa Grace
"I know, honey. Can't blame a dad for missing his girl, can you?"
"I love you, Dad. Don't forget that."
"Right back at you. Listen, I'm going to be in Bloomington on Tuesday. Can we meet up for lunch or something?"
"No, I'm so sorry, but my geology class has a field trip that day." She bit her lip. She'd never lied to her father, but she couldn't let him see her and guess that she was pregnant. She knew him. She'd be in his car headed for home before she could blink.
"I understand. Just thought I'd try."
"Why are you going to be in Bloomington?"
"I need to talk to your cousin, Frankie. She's doing a job for the department and we have a meeting."
"Frankie's in Bloomington?" Crap. That was all she needed. If Frankie was in Bloomington, why hadn't she contacted her? Frankie was a private investigator. What if she found out she was no longer living at the dormitory? Jennifer had no doubt if Frankie made that discovery she would look for her and quite possibly find out where Jennifer had moved. A shiver ran down her spine.
When the call ended, Jennifer went back into the house to join Ally in the living room. Moans floated down the hall from the bathroom, so she tapped on the door. "Ally, are you okay?" She got no answer so she opened the door.
"Jennifer, I think my water just broke and the labor pains are getting worse and worse." Ally cried.
"How long have you been having labor pains?"
"All day. I didn't want to say anything in case they passed. But they're not. They're getting worse and worse. Oh my God! It hurts."
"Here's my cell phone. Call your doctor."
Hours later a frightened Jennifer stood in front of the nurse's station for the third time in an hour asking about Ally's condition.
A young nurse wearing her hair in a tight bun finally noticed her. "Aren't you Ally Black's friend?"
"Yes, I am. Do you have any word on how she is doing?"
"Honey, she just delivered the prettiest little girl you've ever seen. Come with me and I'll show her to you."
The nurse led Jennifer down a long hallway then stopped in front of a large window that revealed ten or more tiny babies swaddled in either pink or blue blankets on the other side. She pointed out Ally's baby girl. The little munchkin had a shock of black hair the same shade as her mom's.
"She was only six pounds and five ounces, but she's fully developed so she'll be fine."
"She is so beautiful." Jennifer's heart squeezed as she watched the tiny baby lift her arms and squeeze her fingers into fists. For the first time, she wondered what her own baby would look like. Would he or she look like her or the man had who let her down? A lone tear ran down her cheek and she quickly brushed it aside. "Where is Ally? When can I see her?"
"She did fine during the delivery and should be in her room by now. She's in 323C if you want to see her."
Jennifer rushed down the hall until she reached Ally's room. The new mother sat in her bed eating an ice cream sandwich.
"So you get a new baby and ice cream too?" Ally smiled and glanced to her right. It was then that Jennifer realized Ally was not alone. A tall man with longish blonde hair stood in the corner near the only window. His hair, which looked overdue for a shampoo, fell in pieces about his face.
"Jennifer, this is David from Forever Home Adoptions." The man nodded in response but said nothing as she moved closer to Ally's bed.
"Have you seen your baby, Ally? She's beautiful," Jennifer gushed.
"No." She noticeably glanced at David then back at Jennifer. "It's best I don't see the baby since I'm giving her away."
"Okay, I understand." Jennifer sat on Ally's bed and patted her hand.
David took that as his cue to leave. Still saying nothing, he nodded at Ally then left.
"He's a little creepy," Jennifer said once she was she heard his steps retreating down the hall.
"No kidding. I woke up and he was staring at me. I had no idea who he was, so he introduced himself as David from the adoption agency. He said he was visiting to remind me of the papers I signed to give my baby away. He told me it was best if I didn't see my baby before I give him or her up. Well, he's not the boss of me," Ally said as she buzzed for a nurse to request to see her baby.
Soon a nurse wheeled her baby into Ally's room and placed the tiny infant in her arms.
"Isn't she the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" Ally whispered as she gently touched her little cheek. "She's so tiny and fragile."
"She's beautiful, Ally." Jennifer squeezed back a tear as she watched Ally hold the squirming little angel.
Suddenly Ally placed the baby back in the protective plastic of the cart and started crying so hard she launched into hiccups. Jennifer didn't have to ask her what was wrong, she knew. She stretched her arms around Ally and held her until the sobbing and hiccupping stopped.
"Now that I've held her, I don't know if I can go through with giving her up. I want to keep her. I want to be the kind of mother to her that I never had. What am I going to do?"
"Ally, that's your decision and yours alone. I don't care what papers you signed, if you want to keep your baby then you keep her."
"I'm keeping her. That's what I decided. I'm not giving her up and I'm going to call the agency and tell them. I'll get a job and work out a payment plan to pay them back all the money they spent on my room and board. I'm keeping her." Her mouth curved into an unconscious smile as she watched her baby.
The next day, Jennifer entered the hospital with a large gift wrapped in pink under her arm. She rode the elevator to the third floor and headed to Ally's room. When she reached the room, a woman in scrubs was changing Ally's sheets. "Good morning. I'm here to see Ally. Can you tell me where she is?"
"Ally's not here. She left with her dad not even an hour ago. He got her checked out and away she went."
"She left with her dad?" How was that possible? Ally had told her that she never knew her father. "Are you sure she left with her father?" Jennifer glanced at the woman's name tag — Carole.
"Yes, I was in here and he introduced himself to me before they took off. He seemed in an awful hurry."
"Carole, where's the baby? Where is Ally's baby?" Her heart sank. Something was very wrong.
"I think the baby went home with her adoptive parents. About thirty minutes before Ally left with her dad, I saw him with a couple in the waiting room. The woman was holding the baby and the man was filling out some paperwork."
Numb, Jennifer left the room and headed toward the nursery. She was right. The baby was gone. And so was Ally.
Chapter Six
Frankie sat at one end of the long dining room table beneath the crystal chandelier and Lane sat at the other. They were facing each other, laptop to laptop, as they searched for the identity of the driver of the Lincoln Town Car. Frankie pressed the Enter button on her keyboard and nearly jumped out of her chair.
"I've got him, Lane! David Edward Chambers."
"Okay, let me input that name into
IAFIS
and see if Mr. Chambers has a record."
"Think he'll be in there?"
"
It's the largest database in the world with the fingerprints and criminal histories for more than seventy million subjects, so there's a good chance he'll be in there if he has a record or has been in the military."
A computer email alert beeped from Frankie's laptop prompting her to quickly close the email account she'd forgotten was open. After she'd installed the computer surveillance software on Dr. Caine's computer, she'd created a separate email account devoted to information the software gleaned. She didn't want the reminder to go off again and draw Lane's attention to the special email account. Not that he could find it, unless he was looking for it, and knew what he was looking for. She should tell him that she planted the recording device in Dr. Caine's office and installed the computer surveillance software, but she couldn't. He'd kick her off the case, and even scarier was the thought that he'd tell her Uncle Tim.
Lane, whether he realized it or not, needed her help. So what if she occasionally went outside the box? Okay, more than occasionally. But he needed the information the two surveillance tools would provide to solve the case and put Mandy's killer away. She'd just have to figure out a way to give him the information without telling him how she got it, since she'd undoubtedly broken a couple of laws by planting the bug and installing the software. They'd just have to find a way to confirm the information so it could be used as evidence in court.
"Got it!” Lane called from over his laptop. “David Chambers served in the military spending time on the front lines in Iraq as well as Afghanistan. In both cases, he served on the sniper team."
"You're so lucky he missed you the night he shot at you in the woods. Does he have a record?"
"Two instances of domestic violence, once while in the military and once after he came home. The second time he put his wife in the hospital. She must've dropped the charges because there's no record of a trial or that he served time."
"Nice guy," Frankie said, her voice laced with sarcasm. She got out her cell phone and called the Forever Home Adoption Clinic. "Hello, I'm from the Henderson Mortgage Company and I need some information about an employee by the name of David Edward Chambers. Yes, I'll hold on to speak to someone in Human Resources."
"What are you doing?" Lane whispered.
"Listen and learn."
"Hello, this is Jane Sell from the Henderson Mortgage Company, and I need a little information about your employee, David Edward Chambers so that we can complete his application. Is Mr. Chambers employed by you? He is. In what capacity? So he is a personal assistant and driver for Dr. Caine? How long has he been employed by Dr. Caine? Ten years? That's a long time. One last question, how much did Mr. Chambers earn last year? $210,000? Well, I think that is all the information we need. Thank you very much. You have a good day."
"Personal assistant? He makes $210,000? Give me a freaking break. The guy's a hired gun."
Frankie rolled her eyes and shook her head in disgust. "Yeah, and you just have to wonder how far this guy will go to protect Caine's interests. He doesn't seem the kind of guy afraid to get his hands dirty. But would he kill for him?"