* * *
Mara clipped her hospital badge to her uniform pocket and took the elevator to the Internal Medicine floor. She hoped for a busy day so no one would notice her moving around the floor, but all was quiet.
Deciding she had no choice but to risk it, she went to a computer at the far end of the nurses’ station and logged into the system. She was hoping to find patients on medications similar to Johnny’s. She wished she’d been able to get there earlier when doctors were doing rounds so she’d be less conspicuous. The next best choice was to go at lunchtime when most patients would get their midday meds. She’d checked the patient boards and computers until she found what she needed.
She scanned the barcode on her badge at the door to the med room. The door popped open, and she looked both ways before entering. Her hands shook as she logged into the med dispenser. She wished she’d practiced getting the drugs out while she was on duty. She didn’t know how the system would respond if she didn’t have patients assigned to her that day, but the finger pad lit up. She pressed her index finger onto the sensor, and the patient drug list showed on the screen. She blew out her breath and looked at the patient names and room numbers she’d written on the palm of her hand.
She was about to press the screen to dispense the drugs she needed when the charge nurse walked by and glanced at Mara through the glass door. She would know that Mara wasn’t on duty since she was in charge of scheduling, so Mara casually signed out of the system and walked to the closest patient room. Fortunately, that room was empty. Mara held the door open a crack to spy on the charge nurse. She sat down at the nurses’ station and stared at the computer. Mara would be in her line of sight if she tried to get to the med room.
She waited thirty more minutes, but the charge nurse didn’t move. When she finally turned away to speak to another nurse, Mara exited the room and started in the opposite direction, but the charge-nurse saw her and called her name. Mara pasted on a smile when the charge nurse waved her over and walked to the nurses’ station as casually as she could.
“Hi, Candice. What do you need?”
Candice crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “What are you doing here, Mara? You’re not scheduled until tomorrow.”
Mara chuckled. “I know that now. I got my days confused. Since I was here, I decided to stop in and say hello to a few of my patients. Do you need me to stay and help out for the rest of the shift?”
Candice shook her head. “What were you doing in the med room when I came back from break?”
“Med room?” She tapped her chin in fake confusion and pretended to consider for a moment before grinning. “I left my sweater in there during my last shift.” She hooked her thumbs in the pockets to show Candice for emphasis.
“Then why were you at the dispenser terminal?”
“I was checking to see if Dr. Barrett uped Mr. Patterson’s BP meds. We were having trouble keeping his BP stable last week. How’s he doing, by the way?”
“He was discharged yesterday,” Candice said and eyed Mara with suspicion.
“That’s great. Explains why I couldn’t find him in the computer. See you tomorrow,” she said and waved as she turned to leave.
“Wait,” Candice said. Mara held her breath. “Check with me the next time you come in when you’re off duty and stay out of the med room unless you’re getting prescriptions for a patient.”
“Sure, Candice,” Mara said and grinned at her.
She left as quickly as she could without arousing suspicion and headed for the exit to the stairwell. She went down two flights before stopping to kick a metal trashcan. It tumbled to the ground floor, making a deafening racket all the way to the bottom. Mara cursed and held her breath again as she waited for someone to check out the cause of the noise.
When no one came after half a minute, she sank onto the stairs to get a grip and figure out her next move. She had no chance of getting Johnny’s drugs from the hospital thanks to Candice. She’d considered trying the following day when she was on duty, but Candice would be watching her. Her only other option was to get refills at Grace’s usual pharmacy. That move carried a risk of alerting the authorities, but after years on the run, Mara was expert at avoiding detection.
She was furious as she drove home for not taking Johnny’s need for prescriptions into account when planning her strategy to get him out of Richmond. She’d been careful to consider every factor, except the one most likely to derail her plan.
* * *
The house was too quiet. After two days of chaos, the FBI had pulled up stakes and returned to their field office but left two uniformed police officers behind to guard the house. Grace was left wondering how to occupy herself.
Alec had gone to the school after they called to tell her Rosie had been pushed off the slide and may have broken her wrist. Grace would have gone with her, but she didn’t dare leave the house again in case Johnny miraculously came home. Ryan had suffered another sleepless night despite Adam’s magic pills, so he was in the room with his noise-canceling headphones trying to take a nap.
Grace took her laptop to the dining room table and opened her notes for a lecture she’d been scheduled to teach before Johnny’s disappearance. The university had supplied a long-term substitute for her just in case the situation dragged on longer than they hoped. She’d need her notes for the next time she taught, so she had to keep them updated. She only typed three words before stopping to stare at the screen for long minutes before remembering what she was doing. “This is hopeless,” she announced to the empty room.
She closed the document and opened a video app to look for a movie to watch. She found a classic Jerry Lewis comedy and carried her laptop to the couch. Her phone rang two minutes later. She let it ring for ten seconds before getting up the courage to answer. Every call in the past two days had been nothing but terrible news. She peeked to see who it was and frowned at the name on the screen.
“Hello, Craig. I’ve been expecting your call,” she said and closed her eyes. Here it comes, she thought.
“Why didn’t you call me? I saw the news about Johnny on CNN last night and got a call from the FBI five minutes later. I told them I hadn’t seen or heard from Johnny, but they came and interrogated me and searched the house anyway. The investigator just left. Melanie and the kids are terrified, except for Sam, who thought it was cool. What the hell is going on, Grace?”
“The FBI didn’t tell you?”
“No, all they did was ask questions and refuse to answer our questions. They treated me like a criminal. I would have appreciated some warning.”
“It didn’t occur to me to call you,” she said and crossed her fingers for lying. “You’re nothing to Johnny. He doesn’t even know you exist, which is what you requested.”
“My son, who was kidnapped on the day he was born, goes missing. I need to know that, even if just as a courtesy.”
Grace rubbed her temples and toyed with the idea of hanging up on him. He had no right to question her actions, and she wasn’t obligated to listen to him rant, but she explained the story in full detail despite her reluctance. He’d hear it eventually. It was better coming from her.
“Why did you lie to him? What would the truth have hurt? You used to say you’d tell him about me when he was old enough. What were you waiting for? His college graduation?”
“If you wanted Johnny to know you were his father, you should have been a father to him all these years. This was your choice. We honored your wishes.” She hovered her thumb over the button to hang up but didn’t have the heart to do it. She knew that deep down, Craig loved Johnny.
“Clearly, I made the wrong choice,” he continued. “What kind of mother have you been? You’ve lied to him, and worse, allowed him to be taken right out from under your nose.”
“You mean like you did the day he was born.”
Grace cringed as soon as the words spilled out of her mouth. What she’d said was inexcusable. Craig had been at his dying wife’
s side when Mara and Rick took Johnny. No one was to blame but them. That Mara, Grace thought. She’s the cause of all this anguish not Craig. No one but her.
Grace jumped up as the memory of chasing Mara across the parking lot flashed into her mind like a giant, orange neon sign.
“I’m sorry, Craig. I’ve got to go.” She hung up, ignoring the protests she heard before the line went dead.
Grace ran to her bedroom and clicked on the light.
Ryan sat up and pulled off his headphones. “What the hell, Grace? Did they find Johnny?” She put her hands on his shoulders. “No, but I know where he is. Mara has him.”
Ryan rubbed his eyes and tried to focus on her face. “Did you say Mara?”
“Get dressed. We’re going to the FBI.” Ryan started pulling on his jeans without questioning her. “I told you it was Mara I saw in that parking lot. You and Alec convinced me I was just paranoid. I forgot about the incident until I was just talking to Craig…”
Ryan froze with his leg halfway into his pants. “Craig? You called Craig? Are you insane?”
“I didn’t. He called me. He had to make sure I understand what a terrible mother I am, but our conversation reminded me of Mara. She has our son. We have to find her.”
Ryan nodded as he zipped his pants and slipped on his shoes. “I’m ready.”
As he held out his hand to Grace, she felt the first glimmer of hope since Johnny vanished.
* * *
Grace had called Scott Michaels on the way to the FBI field office. By the time they reached the lobby, Agent Shepherd was waiting for them. After checking them through security, she escorted them to a small conference room adjacent to Scott’s office. He came in two minutes later with Agent Reid from the CARD team and a man he introduced as Anderson Nettles, their forensic sketch artist.
“Please, give Mr. Nettles a description of Mara before we do anything else. Then, explain to me why you think she has Johnny. She’s eluded us for years. I’m skeptical she would come back and risk capture,” Scott said, “so, convince me.”
“I agree,” Agent Reid said, “but we don’t have any concrete leads at this point, so I’ll take whatever I can get. We’ve been getting hundreds of calls on the tip line, but none of them look promising yet.”
Mr. Nettles took out a spiral bound book with pages of headshots and asked Grace to point out ones that had facial aspects like Mara’s. Once he had the base elements to go on, he began to sketch on an artist's pad. He finished the initial sketch quickly and asked Grace if the drawing was close. She suggested some minor changes. After Mr. Nettles made the corrections and Grace approved them, he uploaded the information into facial composite software. Grace was shocked at how much the full-color finished product resembled Mara.
“That’s her,” Grace said. “The likeness is remarkable.”
“Odds are she’s changed her appearance since you ran into her, but if the facial structure is accurate, someone might recognize her,” Agent Shepherd said.
Scott asked Agent Shepherd to get the sketch to media outlets immediately. When she left the room, he turned to Grace. “Tell me what happened when you thought you saw Mara.”
“I don’t just think I saw her. I did see her. I remembered her from when I saw her at the hospital when she abandoned Johnny. I’ll never forget her eyes. She was older, and her hair color was different, but it was her."
“I believe you. Please continue,” Agent Reid said.
Grace glanced at him and nodded, relieved he didn’t discount her statement. “I dropped Johnny off for his appointment with the physical therapist. Mara bumped me as I was walking to my car. Our eyes only locked for an instant, but it felt like slow motion. When she saw me staring at her, she took off running, but she was too fast, and I lost her. She had a car waiting around the corner. She sped off a minute later, but I couldn’t get her license plate.”
“Why didn’t you report it at the time?” Scott asked. “Having a heads up that she was back in town might have prevented this.”
Grace glanced at Ryan and started to answer, but he stopped her. “That was my fault. I thought she had imagined seeing Mara, and I discouraged her from coming to you.”
“Alec did, too,” Grace said. “She and Ryan convinced me I was just paranoid, but it was real. It happened several weeks ago. I’d forgotten the incident until today.”
“If it was Mara, Johnny’s disappearance makes a whole lot more sense. We’ve been hunting Mara for twelve years and zilch. Your description is the only lead we have,” Scott said.
Grace stood and faced Scott. “Mara has Johnny. She considers him to be her son, so I don’t think she’ll hurt him. She’ll slip up eventually, or Johnny will find a way to alert us. He’s smart. We’re going to find him.”
“I’m convinced,” Scott said. “Talk to Alec. If you two remember anything else about Mara, no matter how insignificant, call immediately.”
“I’ll make sure she does,” Ryan said. “If that psycho does anything to hurt my boy, I’ll never forgive myself.”
* * *
“I’m sick about this,” Ryan said on the ride home. “I got our son kidnapped.”
A portion of Grace agreed with him, but she said, “We’ll talk about it when we get home. Alec should be there. I don’t have the energy to go through it twice.”
“I noticed that you didn’t disagree with me,” Ryan said and was silent for the rest of the drive. Grace resisted the urge to comfort him. She was at fault for listening to him, but the lion’s share of the blame was his. She wanted him to feel it. Maybe then he’d learn to listen to her more closely in the future.
* * *
Alec and Adam were in the living room with their kids when Grace and Ryan got home. Poor Rosie had a neon pink cast on her arm, but she was happy to see Grace. They all were. Grace hugged each one and asked Rosie about her arm.
“That stupid Thomas Landon pushed me off the slide,” she said and cradled her cast against her stomach.
“Don’t say stupid,” Alec said.
“But he is,” Rosie whined.
“I’ll take the kids home,” Adam said. “You and Alec have things to discuss and don’t need us underfoot.”
“I want to stay with Aunt Grace,” Graham said and wrapped his arms around her calf. “Where’s Johnny?”
Adam pulled Graham off Grace and lifted him onto his shoulders. “You’ll see Johnny later. How about we get pizza on the way home?”
“Yes,” Graham said and pumped his fist.
Once Adam shuffled the kids out the door, Alec said, “Let me have it.”
“What’s the point?” Grace sat on the couch with her elbows resting on her knees. “Will it bring Johnny home sooner?”
“No, but it’s not healthy to bottle up your feelings. Scream at me, slam the door in my face, kick me out.”
“She’s right,” Ryan said. “Because of us, our son is with that madwoman. If you’d reported seeing Mara, they would have been on the lookout for her. We would have protected Johnny better, like keeping the tracker on his phone. We could have prevented this.”
“What do you want me to say? That I’m furious with both of you? I am furious, but this isn’t about the three of us. Our total focus needs to be on finding Johnny. Nothing else matters. I’ll save the screaming for when he’s home.”
“Fine, but for what that’s worth, I am deeply sorry,” Alec said. “What do you need from me now?”
“Scott wants us to rehash that phone call from Mara. We might remember some clue that will lead the CARD team to her. There has to be something.”
“It was so long ago, but I’ll try,” Alec said and sat on the loveseat facing Grace.
“What can I do?” Ryan asked.
“Heat up some dinner. I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and I have an appetite for the first time in days.”
“What do you want?”
“I don’t care. Between Mark and the neighbors, there’s enough food for an army. Just throw
something on a plate.”
“I’ll pack up some of it and put it in the freezer. It’ll give me something productive to do.”
“He’s a good man,” Alec said after Ryan went to the kitchen. “He loves you, and he’s devoted the last twelve years of his life to you and Johnny. More importantly, you owe him your life. He may have been wrong about this, but don’t let that get in the way of what you’ve built with him. You need a united front more than you ever have.”
“Why do you always have to be right? It’s infuriating,” Grace said. “Give me my two minutes to be pissed at both of you. I’ll be the martyr and bigger person after that. I just need my two minutes.”
“Deal. Let’s talk about Mara.”
Chapter Ten
Johnny ignored the news at first, but his curiosity got the better of his reluctance. The fact that the whole country was watching news reports about him was too tantalizing. He flipped to a cable news channel, but the story was about a sleazy politician. What’s the news in that? Johnny thought and smiled. It was five minutes to the hour, so he decided to wait for the headlines to start.
His patience paid off, but instead of a picture of him, a color sketch of Mara appeared on the screen with her first name in the caption. He was shocked that they’d found out about her so fast. He watched the report for fifteen more minutes and felt another pang of guilt when the newscaster begged the public for any information on him or Mara.
She’d been gone a long time, and Johnny started to worry she’d been caught. That meant the FBI could be coming for him. He wasn’t sure how he felt about her getting arrested for kidnapping. Mara had taken him from the hospital as a baby, but she’d done that out of love. She kind of was his mother. He’d also gotten into the car willingly on Monday night, so had she committed a crime this time?
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