In Harm's Way (Heroes of Quantico Series, Book 3) (19 page)

Punching in the numbers for the direct line to the case agent
in Chicago, Nick drummed his fingers on his desk and stared
at the doll.

"Matt Carson"

"Matt, Nick Bradley from the St. Louis office. I was looking through the intelligence bulletins and saw the photo of the O'Neil
baby. Is there more to that image?"

"Yeah. We cropped for the face. Why? You have a lead?"

"I wouldn't go that far. I just want to check out a hunch"

"I'll email you the full shot. We could use a break on that
case. It's as cold as a Chicago winter. Give me a few minutes"

"Thanks. I'll be back in touch if this pans out, but it's a long
shot."

"I'll take whatever I can get at this point"

Five minutes later, when the ping of his email sounded, Nick
clicked on the message from Matt Carson and opened the
photo.

Megan O'Neil smiled back at him. Clutched in her hands
was a tattered Raggedy Ann doll-with a patch above the right
eye.

He stopped breathing.

"The coast is clear. Steve gave the Houston leads to ..." Mark's
voice trailed off. "Hey ... what's up?"

It took a moment for Mark's question to register. Motioning him in, Nick pointed to his computer screen. "Get a load
of this"

Mark leaned over his shoulder. "That's the O'Neil baby, isn't
it? Why are you..."

In the stunned silence that followed, Nick felt Mark turn
toward the corner.

"Good God" Mark's soft, shocked comment was half exclamation, half prayer.

"That's my reaction too" Nick swiveled around. They both
stared at the doll.

"This doesn't make sense" Mark frowned and shook his head.
"Unless your Rachel knows more than she's telling"

The hint of suspicion in Mark's tone raised Nick's hackles. But it was also a wake-up call. If Mark suspected Rachel might
be involved in the crime, others would too. No one would buy
her "vibes" story. Yet Nick's gut told him she had nothing to do
with the O'Neil kidnapping.

"If she knew anything more, she would have told me on her
first visit. Besides, if she was involved in the crime, she wouldn't
have come to the office in the first place"

"Then how do you explain the connection between her and
the doll?"

"Emily already did that"

"This casts a whole new light on the situation"

"It might be coincidence. Emily's theory could still be accurate."

"I don't know, Nick." Mark rubbed the back of his neck,
his expression troubled. "This seems too weird to be coincidence"

Nick rose and folded his arms across his chest. "Rachel doesn't
know anything about the kidnapping, Mark"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes"

Mark pursed his lips. "It's gone that far already, hmm?"

"It hasn't gone anywhere. But it might. And I've learned
enough about her to be confident she has no connection to that
crime" He jerked his head toward the image on his screen.

"You might be right. But we need to talk to her about it"

"We?"

"It would be safer if both of us go, don't you think? In case
anyone finds out about the two of you and wonders if your
objectivity has been compromised"

He couldn't argue with Mark's reasoning. The fact that he
hadn't considered that issue himself suggested his thinking
was already muddled. "Yeah. You're right. But I need to talk
to Steve and Marty first:" Both the reactive squad supervisor and the Special Agent in Charge of the St. Louis office would
expect to be notified immediately of a lead in such a highprofile case, and Nick intended to follow protocol on this one
to the letter.

"Good plan. I'll clear my calendar for the morning and get
the doll to the lab:"

As Mark started to exit, Nick restrained him with a hand
on his arm. "Listen ... you take the lead on the questions,
okay?"

"Sure. I recall you doing a similar favor for me last summer."

"Yeah:" The arrest of the man who had tried to kill Emily
wasn't an event either would forget.

As Mark disappeared into the bull pen maze, Nick thought
back to that incident-and how close Mark had come to losing
the woman who was now his wife. It didn't leave him feeling warm and fuzzy. Neither did this latest twist in the doll
story.

There was no doubt in his mind that Rachel was innocent of
any criminal connection to the O'Neil kidnapping. But she did
have some kind of connection. Emily's assessment of Rachel's
reaction had been logical, but in his gut Nick was beginning to
believe there was more to it than that.

He could only hope that the person, or persons, responsible
for the crime hadn't seen the article in St. Louis Scene and come
to the same conclusion.

Because if they had, things could get very, very dangerous.

Thirty minutes later, when Rachel was pulled out of her
fourth-grade music appreciation class to speak with the FBI, she half expected Nick to greet her with a smile and suggest she
cut out early for lunch.

But when she stepped into the empty office, the somber faces
on the two men waiting for her dashed that hope. Bewildered,
she looked from Nick to the tall, dark-haired man with him,
then focused on Nick again. "Is something wrong?"

"Ms. Sutton, I'm Special Agent Mark Sanders" The darkhaired man smiled and extended his hand as he spoke. "I know
you and Nick are already acquainted. We just have a few questions."

"About what?"

Mark gestured to a chair. "Please, have a seat and we'll fill
you in"

With another searching look at Nick, she took the chair
Mark had indicated and waited while the two men sat opposite her.

"This is about the Raggedy Ann doll, Rachel;' Nick said.

"I thought that was over"

"Not quite. Ms. Sutton, do you recognize this child?" The
dark-haired man handed her a photo.

Rachel looked at the smiling infant and shook her head.
"No"

"Her name is Megan O'Neil. She was kidnapped seven weeks
ago in Chicago"

"I remember reading about it in the paper." Rachel's expression softened. "They never found her, did they?"

"No" Mark handed her another shot. "This is an uncropped
version of the same photo"

In the blink of an eye, Rachel understood why the FBI had
sought her out. The doll she'd found belonged to the kidnapped
infant. Her breath hitched, and she looked at Nick. "Does this
mean the feeling I had wasn't related to some incident in my
past after all?"

"I have no idea what it means." Nick leaned forward and
clasped his hands between his knees, his gaze never leaving hers. "Do you have any connection to the O'Neil family, Rachel? Or a Pearson family? That's the mother's maiden
name."

"No. I don't have any relatives at all. And I have no friends
in Chicago" She looked again at the photo. "Do you think my
uneasiness these past few weeks is somehow related to this
too?"

"What uneasiness?" Mark cast a questioning glance at
Nick.

"Rachel says she's felt a little off balance and anxious since
the first of the year" His eyes narrowed and he regarded her.
"Do you remember when these feelings began?"

"Yes. I can tell you the exact moment because it happened
so abruptly. One minute I was fine, working on a mural for a
customer, and the next I was overcome by a feeling of panic. It
was Saturday, January 4. About ten o'clock in the morning."

Mark riffled through the folder in his lap, scanned a sheet,
and handed it to Nick, his mouth grim.

"What it is?" Rachel asked.

After reviewing the sheet, Nick expelled a long breath. "That's
the day and time the O'Neil baby disappeared"

For an instant, Rachel's world tilted. This couldn't be happening. She was no psychic. She didn't believe in such things.
And she doubted the men across from her did, either. Which
would lead them to an obvious conclusion: she had some kind
of connection to the crime.

She searched their faces. Mark's was impassive. Nick's was
troubled. Neither expression was comforting. Panic clutched
at her throat-and this time she could pinpoint the exact
cause.

"I didn't have anything to do with this kidnapping:' Her words came out taut and choked. "You can't believe that I did." She
looked at Nick, but the reserved stranger bore no resemblance
to the warm, engaging man with whom she'd spent a good part
of her weekend.

"We're not making any accusations, Ms. Sutton, Mark told
her. "We're just trying to understand why you're having these
... feelings"

"I don't understand it, either." She heard the touch of hysteria
in her voice, and she sensed a subtle shift in Nick's posture, as if
he wanted to reach out and take her hand. She wished he would.
Instead, he asked a question.

"Rachel, is there anything else you can tell us about this crime
based on the feelings you've been having?"

"I don't know anything about the crime, period. I had no idea
the doll or my feelings were connected to it:"

With a glance at Nick, Mark closed the file in his lap. "I think
that's all we need today, Ms. Sutton. Sorry to interrupt your
day. We'd appreciate it if you'd keep the reason for our visit
confidential:"

The two men rose. Rachel stood too.

"Give me a minute" Nick spoke to Mark but kept his gaze
fixed on Rachel.

With a nod, the dark-haired man exited.

As the door shut behind him, Nick started to take a step
toward her. Stopped. "I'm sorry about this, Rachel:"

She wrapped her arms around herself, wishing they were
Nick's arms. "Do you believe me?"

"Yes"

At his immediate response, and the honesty in his eyes, she
slowly exhaled. "I don't understand what's going on, Nick"

"We don't, either."

"I don't believe in ESP"

"Neither do we."

"But I can't think of any other explanation. My feelings of
anxiety began when the baby was taken. And I had a very strong
reaction to the doll:" She felt the pressure of tears in her throat
and tried to swallow past it. "What happens next?"

"I'm flying to Chicago to meet with the case agent this afternoon and get up to speed on all of the details. While I'm
gone, our local agents will interview the staff at the Bread Company."

"That's a long shot, isn't it? The doll could have been dropped
anytime that first month after the baby disappeared. I didn't find
it until early February."

"It's more likely the abductor ditched it soon after the baby
was taken. Maybe even the same night. Our agents will be focusing on staff working those first few days"

"Do you think the baby's still in town?"

"It's possible. The fact that you found the doll at a neighborhood mall suggests the abductor wasn't just making a quick
exit from the highway for food while en route somewhere else"
He took a step closer and dropped his voice. "I want you to be
careful, Rachel:"

The intensity in his eyes put her on alert. "Why?"

"Your name's already been connected to this crime publicly."

"You mean St. Louis Scene? But the story never mentioned
the kidnapping"

"The abductor will make the connection-if he or she read
it."

A shock wave rippled through her, and she groped for the
back of her chair. Nick's fingers closed around her upper arm,
steadying her.

"I never thought of that"

"Don't obsess about this. I doubt the kidnapper saw it. I just
want you to be aware-and cautious:"

She tucked her hair behind her ear with fingers that
weren't quite steady. "This isn't the way I expected to start
my week:"

"That makes two of us"

She took off her glasses to massage the bridge of her nose,
and a tremor ran through her words. "I've felt alone before, but
never quite like I do now"

Reaching over, Nick lifted the slender gold cross that hung
around her neck and weighed it in his hand. "You're never alone,
Rachel. Hold on to this when you need a friend. If you talk,
he'll listen"

Somehow she managed a half smile. "But he doesn't talk back.
Not that I can hear, anyway."

"It takes a little practice to hear his voice." He released the
cross. For a second, as his fingers brushed the silk of her blouse,
his eyes deepened in color and she thought he was going to step
forward and give her a hug. Instead, he shoved his hands in his
pockets. "Call me if you need anything"

"Does that mean you aren't going to call me?" She'd intended
the question to sound teasing, but it came out wistful.

"I think it would be wise to suspend our ... social ... relationship for the duration:"

"Because you have doubts about me?"

"No" His response was immediate-and convincing. "But I
want to work this case. And if my boss thinks we're involved in
any way I'll get yanked:"

His response made sense. That didn't mean she had to like
this latest turn of events, however.

"Okay. Will you ... or someone ... let me know what's going
on?"

"Yes. That's a promise" He took her hand and linked his fingers with hers. "And here's another one. When this is all over,
you and I will make up for lost time"