“What’s happening here?” I asked as they continued to survey the contents of the room.
Miller’s cell phone rang just then. He withdrew it from his jacket pocket. “Miller here.” He listened and exchanged a look with Detective Holmes. “Good work. Send someone over there now to check the security tapes. Yes, we’re still here talking to her sister. Let me know if you find anything else.”
He hung up the phone, stared at me for a moment, and addressed me directly. “I’m afraid we have a bit of a situation here, Sylvie.”
“What is it?” I asked as a wave of panic rippled up my spine.
“Your sister’s not the only person who went missing today,” he replied. “We’ve been working on another case as well—a newborn baby that was taken from the same hospital your sister went to for blood work. The baby was taken from the nursery sometime between 6:00 and 9:00 a.m. Do you know anything about that?”
Bewildered, I shook my head. “What are you suggesting? That my sister kidnapped that baby?” When he gave no reply, I said, “So you’re not here because she’s missing. You’re here because she’s the suspect in a child abduction case?”
Again, Miller simply stared at me. I sensed he was waiting for me to answer my own question or start spilling out a waterfall of information.
“Who was on the phone just now?” I asked.
Thankfully he was upfront with me. “One of the detectives on the case called to tell me that your sister used her credit card at Walmart this afternoon, here in the city. She purchased a diaper bag, a baby blanket, and one of those infant carriers, as well as a few other items.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “Well, at least she’s not lying in a ditch somewhere. Not that
you’d
care.”
“We do care,” Detective Holmes said, striding forward to stand beside Miller. “If your sister is suffering from mental illness, we want to help her and make sure that she’s safe.”
“It’s not mental illness,” I replied. “It’s a brain tumor, and I give you my word that she would never do anything like this under normal circumstances. Seriously, you have to believe me. Just to give you some perspective, she suffered a miscarriage and didn’t remember having it.”
I wondered suddenly if I should be saying things like that. Maybe I should be calling a lawyer.
The two detectives shared a look. “Can you tell us where you think she might have gone?” Miller asked.
Realizing there was a missing child in the picture—and my sister really needed to be found—I labored to remember everything we’d talked about the night before.
“I don’t know. She had every intention of going to her doctor’s appointment at noon. If she got confused and took a baby, thinking it was hers, I would have expected her to come home with it and put it in the crib she just bought. It doesn’t make sense that she’d go anywhere else because I’m certain this wouldn’t have been premeditated. She would never plot to abduct someone else’s child and make off with it. She’s not a criminal. She’s the nicest person you’d ever want to know. Besides, she can’t remember things. She forgets.” I felt heat rush to my cheeks. “Oh God, what if she has a seizure?”
Miller frowned. “She has seizures? How often?”
“She’s only ever had two,” I replied. “It happened less than a week ago but the doctor gave her medication to prevent them from happening again until she could have the surgery.”
“Surgery to remove the tumor?” Holmes asked.
“Yes. It’s scheduled for the day after tomorrow.”
“Has she been taking the medication?” Miller asked.
“I think so. I’ve watched her a few times. Let me check.” I ran to the kitchen where she kept her pills and opened the bottle to look inside. “Most of them are gone,” I said. “She takes them right here at the sink.”
To my surprise, Holmes pointed at the green houseplant on the windowsill. “I don’t suppose she thought they’d make good fertilizer?”
Lifting my eyes, I nearly swallowed my gum at the sight of a small pile of pills on top of the dirt. “What the heck?” I picked one up to examine it. “This is crazy. I watched her open the bottle, put the pill on her tongue and drink the water.”
“Any chance she might have put the pill on her tongue,” Holmes asked, “didn’t like the taste of it, and gave it to the plant instead?”
I sighed with defeat. “Maybe. Oh Lord.” Feeling a surge of panic, I turned to Miller. “This is really bad. She’s sick. She could be passed out somewhere. And if she took a baby… Pray God, she didn’t…” I covered my face with my hands. “Why didn’t she just come home? Or at least call?”
Miller handed me his card. “Get in touch with me right away if you hear from her. Even if she didn’t take the baby, someone else did, so we need to know everything.”
They made a move to leave so I led them to the front door. When I opened it, however, my jaw fell open at the sight of Jake, in full fatigues, walking up the steps. A cab was just pulling away from the curb.
There was no sight of Jenn.
“You’re home,” I said, pausing in the doorway. “Thank God.” I strode forward and wrapped my arms around his neck.
Army bag in hand, Jake hugged me while glancing over my shoulder at the two detectives. “Where’s Jenn?” he asked. “And who are these people?”
I pulled Jake into the house where the detectives were waiting. “This is Detective Miller and Detective Holmes. They’re here because Jenn went missing today.”
Jake’s eyebrows pulled together. “Missing… What do you mean?”
I proceeded to explain the situation while the detectives watched and waited for Jake’s response.
“Christ!” he said. “How could this happen?”
“When was the last time you spoke to your wife?” Miller asked, reaching for his pen and flipping open his notepad.
Jake set down his bag. “We talked on the phone just before I boarded my flight in Dubai. That was last night, I guess. She said she had an appointment to get blood work done today.”
“Have you heard from her since then?” Miller asked him.
“I got a couple of texts from her—maybe about ten hours ago—but I’ve been in the air so my phone was on flight mode. I texted her back when I was waiting for my connection in Atlanta, but she didn’t respond. I figured her phone was dead or she was sleeping. I was disappointed when she didn’t meet me at the airport just now, but I figured it was because my flight was delayed. My schedule got messed up.”
“Why didn’t you call the house when you landed?” I asked Jake. “I could have picked you up.”
“I did call,” he explained. “No one answered. I didn’t bother to leave a message.”
I glanced back at the phone. “I must have been at the hospital when you called. I was looking for her.”
“But you didn’t find her?” Jake said, beginning to pace. “What the hell, Sylvie? No one knows where she is? She has a brain tumor!” He turned to me. “How could you let her go to the hospital alone? Why weren’t you with her?”
“I had an exam,” I explained. “We talked it over last night and she convinced me she’d be fine. She’s been really good all week and I thought she was taking her medication. I’m so sorry, Jake.”
With mounting anger, he continued to pace around the kitchen. “God… How long has she been gone?”
Detective Miller slipped his notepad into his pocket. “We have a record of her using her credit card at Walmart this afternoon around 1:30 p.m. So she was still in the city at that time. We have a team over there now, looking at the security camera recordings and asking questions.”
Jake regarded Miller with concern. “We have to find her. She’s sick and she’s pregnant, too.”
Miller and Holmes both glanced at me curiously.
“Oh, Jake…” I moved to lay my hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry about this. You better come in here and sit down. I have to tell you something.”
“What is it?” he asked as I led him into the living room.
“It’s about the baby.”
I wasn’t surprised when Miller and Holmes followed us. No doubt they wanted to hear this, too.
Riley
After relaying the latest developments to Lois in the hospital, I hung up the phone and moved into the living room to sit alone for a few minutes. Holly rose from the table, followed me and sat down on the sofa.
“How did she take the news?” Holly asked.
All I could do was shrug, because I’d never known my wife to be so guarded and silent. She was always an open book. Today, however, was a different story.
“She’ll come around,” Holly said. “And you can’t blame yourself, Riley. You were up for days, taking care of your wife during her labor, which was no easy thing. When it was over, you had to sleep. You couldn’t have known this would happen. Besides, it’s the hospital’s fault, not yours.”
I managed to nod my head. “I just hope Lois sees it that way, eventually.”
“She will. Be patient. She’s scared right now.”
“I’m scared, too,” I replied, slouching down on the sofa to rest my head on the back cushions and stare up at the ceiling. “What if they don’t find this woman? Or what if they do, and she’s done something terrible? I’m not sure if Lois would ever be able to get over that, much less forgive
me,
if something happens to our baby.”
“She’ll have to,” Holly replied, “because it was no more your fault than it was hers. You’d both been through hell during her delivery. But that doesn’t matter because they’re going to find your baby. Everything’s going to be okay.”
A movement at the corner of my eye caused me to lift my head. There stood Trudy on the carpet with her thumb in her mouth, her oversized rag doll hugged close to her little body.
“Hey kiddo.” I rose to my feet and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist. “What’s the matter? Couldn’t sleep?”
Trudy shook her head and pulled her thumb out of her mouth. She spoke weepily. “The lady woke me up.”
I felt a sudden eruption of goose bumps over my skin. “What lady? The one with the numbers on her arm?”
Trudy nodded. “She shook me hard, Daddy. I didn’t like it. It scared me.” Her bottom lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears.
I turned to Holly who quickly stood. She approached us and rubbed Trudy’s back in a comforting way. “Did she say anything to you?”
Trudy rested her cheek on my shoulder. “She made me get out of bed.”
“Why?” I asked.
“To tell you she’s at the airport.”
“
Who’s
at the airport?” I asked insistently, shifting Trudy in my arms to prevent her from falling back to sleep.
“Try to remember, sweetheart.” Holly rubbed Trudy’s back. “It’s very important. Did she tell you who?”
Trudy stuck her thumb back in her mouth. “My sister.”
Immediately, I carried Trudy to the kitchen and passed her to my mother, who was still seated at the table. I squatted down to ask my daughter one more question. “Did she tell you
where
at the airport? Think hard, Trudy. Please.”
Trudy shook her head and I knew she had no more information to give. “Take care of the kids,” I said to my mom. “I have to go.”
“Why?” she asked, her face turning ashen.
“To get my child. God help us, what if she’s getting on a plane?”
“What if
who’s
getting on a plane?” my mother asked with distress as I grabbed my keys off a hook on the wall and ran to the door.
I was vaguely aware of Josh and Holly hurrying to follow me out.
Inserting my key into the ignition, I waited a brief second or two for Josh and Holly to get into my car and slam their doors, then I sped out of the driveway.
I passed my phone to Josh who sat in the front beside me. “Call Detective Miller and tell him we’re on our way to the airport. Tell him the kidnapper’s there.”
While I drove at a fast clip out of our neighborhood, Josh found the number in my recent contacts and dialed it. “Hello? Detective Miller? This is Josh Wallace. I’m Riley James’s brother-in-law. We just received a tip that the kidnapper is at the airport with the baby. We’re on our way there now… Yes, that’s right… No, we don’t have any more information than that. Thanks. We’ll see you there.”
Josh ended the call. As he reached for his seatbelt, he glanced over his shoulder at Holly, who sat next to the empty baby seat in the back. “Are you buckled in?”
“Yes,” she replied.
I checked my rearview mirror, then hit the gas, keeping my eyes peeled for oncoming traffic—or cops—as I approached an intersection and drove straight through a red light.
For once, luck was with me. I didn’t get pulled over. Cops were never overly forgiving when they checked your license and discovered you were an ex-con.
My tires skidded to a screeching halt at the passenger drop-off zone in front of the airport terminal. The three of us spilled out of the car and pushed through the revolving doors to the departure area…where we stopped dead in our tracks and looked around.
So many people
…
“Let’s split up.” I reached for my phone. “I’m calling Miller now in case the woman went through security. Look everywhere. Stop anyone with a baby.”