by Rita Herron
But she hadn’t been able to do that.
“I know this is painful,” he said gruffly, “but let’s review what happened the night Alice disappeared.” If someone had witnessed something at the hospital or afterward, time might be on their side. With the passage of time, sometimes witnesses felt guilty for not coming forward or remembered details they hadn’t recalled in the aftermath of a trauma.
Cora sighed. “We’ve been over this a thousand times before.”
“True, but bear with me and just focus on Drew this time. And your marriage.” Directly following the kidnapping, she’d still been in love with her husband. She’d been in shock and terrified and had clung to him.
She might look back and see their relationship in a different light now.
* * *
CORA FOUGHT TO keep her emotions at bay as she relived that night once again. “I was in labor for eighteen hours, and I’d hardly slept for two days. After I gave birth, I held Alice for a few minutes, then the nurse took her for routine tests.”
“And Drew was with you?”
She nodded. “He’d been anxious about work and the money when we first learned I was pregnant. But he was there for the delivery.”
“He wanted to make partner?”
“Yes, he was driven and ambitious. That’s one thing I admired. At first.”
“What do you mean at first?”
She bit her lip. She hadn’t meant to say that.
“Cora, you can be honest now. It’s the only way to get to the truth.”
“During the pregnancy, he worked such long hours and answered calls no matter where we were. He’d miss dinners and seemed so preoccupied with his clients that I wondered if he’d spend time with the baby when we brought her home.”
Jacob leaned forward, eyes piercing. “During all those late nights when he said he was working, did you ever suspect he was having an affair?”
Cora’s breath caught. She tried to mentally replay those months. “I didn’t at the time,” she admitted. “I just thought he was focused on his career.”
“Was he solicitous to other women when you went out?”
Cora shook her head. “Not really,” she said. “But I did wonder if I’d be raising Alice alone while he spent all his time with clients.” She tapped her nails on her coffee cup. “Then she was gone and that wasn’t an issue.”
He’d abandoned them both.
“I’m sorry,” Jacob said. “Let’s get back to that night. Before the nurse took Alice for tests, what happened?”
“Drew’s phone rang, and he left the room. I rocked Alice, then the nurse took her. I fell asleep a few minutes later, and when I woke up, the fire alarm was blasting.”
“Do you know how long it had been since Drew left the room?”
She shrugged. “Not long. Maybe half an hour.”
“That was a long phone call,” Jacob commented.
She sipped her coffee. “His business calls often ran long.”
Jacob made a low sound in his throat. “I know we questioned the nurse who took Alice for the tests, but was there anything about her that felt off?”
“Not at all. Lisa was a sweetheart,” Cora said. “She coached me through delivery, and afterward encouraged me to rest. I remember her saying the night feedings could get rough.”
“How about anyone else? Did another staff member act strangely? Maybe you saw someone lurking by the nursery.”
“I didn’t go out by the nursery until after the fire started,” she said. “When I first arrived at the hospital, I was wheeled directly to the labor room. I was so excited about finally getting to meet my baby that all I remember are nurses and doctors bustling around.”
“I understand,” Jacob said softly.
He could never understand. He hadn’t held his newborn in his arms and then felt the emptiness afterward when that baby was suddenly gone.
“Back to Drew,” he said. “Did he tell you who phoned him?”
She strained to remember. “He didn’t mention a name. But after the nurse left with Alice, I thought I heard him talking to someone outside the door. A woman. I assumed it was Lisa.”
Silence stretched between them, filled with tension and stirring questions in Cora’s mind.
Drew had married within months after they’d separated. Was it possible he’d been seeing someone else while they were still married? That the phone call or the woman outside the hospital room was his lover?
Chapter Six
Doubts nagged at Cora as she walked across the street to the bookstore.
She searched her memory banks and recalled little snippets of conversations with Drew during their marriage when he’d been vague about where he was going. Late-night phone calls he answered behind closed doors. Missed dinners and outings where he’d supposedly been caught up in a case.
She’d trusted him implicitly. Had been so deep into her fantasy of a family that it never occurred to her that he’d betray her.
Yet he was a lawyer, and a good one. Lying with a straight face came easy to him on the job. Why not at home?
Nausea filled her at the possibility that he might have been talking to a lover outside the hospital room only minutes after she’d delivered their child. Surely he hadn’t been...
Disturbed at her train of thought, she combed through the bookstore in search of some reading material to distract her. Although she enjoyed sketching outside with a view of the river or mountain, she had her sketchpad in her bag and sometimes came here to draw and people-watch.
The bookstore had added a small café two years ago, which was a popular gathering spot for teens, seniors and parents accompanying children. Computer stations also invited clientele to linger and work or do research.
Being surrounded by books and the people in the store helped fill her lonely summer days.
Her stomach twisted. She would have a lot more of those in the future. The uncertainty was daunting. She’d have to find a job...somewhere. Doing what, though? The only thing she’d ever done was teach.
You could move, find a teaching job in a different city.
But the thought of leaving Whistler made her uneasy. The small mountain town had been her sanctuary during her pregnancy, when she wanted to get away from the city, and then after Alice had disappeared.
Voices from the children’s corner drifted toward her. Unable to resist, she maneuvered the teen section until she reached the reading nook where two mothers were reading to their little ones. Three preschool children were putting on an impromptu puppet show behind the puppet stage, and a toddler was thumbing through a picture book, pressing the sound link associated with the animal pictures.
She glanced around for an empty table where she wouldn’t disturb the families, then spotted Nina Fuller at a small round table, coloring with markers.
Cora’s breath caught. Nina Fuller...the little girl who’d caught her eye the first day of school this past year. She and her mother had just moved to town. Nina was in kindergarten. She wore her long brown hair in a French braid today. A slight sprinkling of freckles dotted the bridge of her nose, and her shy, sweet smile was infectious.
She was also the reason Cora had been fired.
Cora ordered herself to walk away. If Nina’s mother saw her—
“Ms. Reeves!” Nina jumped up, ran toward her and threw her arms around her waist.
Emotions swirled inside Cora. She stooped down and hugged the little girl. Nina smelled like peppermint and felt like an angel. Cora squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, savoring the sweetness of the child’s hug.
“Let my daughter go.”
The sound of Nina’s mother’s voice made Cora tense. She patted Nina’s back, then gave her another squeeze and slowly pulled away. “Hi, Mrs. Fuller—”
The woman’s glare cut her off. She clasped her daughter�
�s little arm. “Honey, get your coloring stuff. We have to go.”
“But Mommy,” Nina cried. “I wanna stay and talk to Ms. Reeves.”
Cora gave the mother an imploring look. “I’m sorry if I—”
“Stay away from me and my daughter.” Faye quickly gathered their belongings and rushed Nina from the store.
* * *
JACOB STUDIED THE drawings Cora had left. Doubt had filled her eyes as she recounted her relationship with Drew. She was second-guessing her husband now.
If Drew had been cheating on Cora, it changed everything. It also meant he’d lied to the police, which launched him to the top of Jacob’s suspect list again.
Knowing Cora would be sentimental about the drawings, he made copies on the machine at his office, placed the originals back inside her envelope and stowed them in his desk to return to her.
Then he drove to the FBI’s local field office to see Liam. Sympathy softened the hard planes of his brother’s face as he examined the drawings.
“She’s really talented,” Liam said.
“I agree. She created composites of her childhood photographs along with her ex-husband’s to project what Alice might look like today.”
“This is a long shot,” Liam said. “But I’ll see what we can do with them.” He stood. “Come on, there’s something I want you to see.”
Liam was short on words but quick on ideas. Like a dog with a bone when he was investigating a case, he didn’t give up until he had answers. And they both wanted to find their father’s killer and make him pay.
Jacob followed Liam into a room housing three analysts. “I retrieved some of the original security tapes from the hospital fire,” Liam said. “Some were damaged, of course.”
“We’ve been through these before,” Jacob said, hoping Liam had something new.
“But technology has improved. Angie recovered some blurred images and cleaned them up.” Liam gestured toward a female analyst whose long blond hair was in a twist at the nape of her neck.
Angie angled her monitor to review the images on her screen. “I’ve searched all the tapes. Frankly, they’re difficult to watch,” she said with a pained sigh. “So much chaos and so many terrified people. But then—” she held up a finger “—I started focusing on anyone who looked out of place. And this caught my attention.” She clicked a key and scrolled through several frames. “Most everyone is running toward the exits and stairwells.” She displayed footage of two women running toward the nursery. A dark-haired woman was quickly ushered toward the stairs. Then Cora.
Both were terrified and frantic as they ran to save their newborns.
Emotions clogged Jacob’s throat. Watching Cora suffer made him want to pound something.
“This is Cora Reeves,” Angie said. “She’s obviously trying to find her baby.”
“Which confirms her story and puts her in the clear,” Jacob said, although he’d never doubted her. A mother’s pain was a palpable force.
“Do you see the father anywhere?”
She scrolled through more footage until Jacob pointed out Drew Westbrook. He was on the phone, head bent, heading down the hall toward the cafeteria.
“After this, we lose him,” Angie said. “But I thought this was interesting.”
Jacob leaned closer as she flipped through several more frames, then zeroed in on a person in scrubs, head and face not visible, carrying a bundle toward the housekeeping area on the bottom floor.
“We thought someone took the baby during the commotion outside the hospital, but this bundle could be Cora’s baby.”
Jacob narrowed his eyes, hunting for identifying markers. Hairstyle or color. A scar. A limp. But whoever it was had shielded his or her face from the cameras.
“Body size and height indicate it’s either a small man or a woman,” Liam said.
“And that the baby was kidnapped while still inside the hospital,” Jacob added.
Liam folded his arms. “We’re looking into people who lost babies around that time. We also have to consider that this kidnapping could have been professional. I’ve been investigating a case of baby snatchers who’re selling the babies.”
Jacob’s blood ran cold.
If that was the case, Cora’s daughter could be anywhere.
* * *
CORA WATCHED WITH a heavy heart as Nina and her mother left the bookstore. The last thing she wanted to do was to frighten a child or her mother.
For goodness’ sake, her former best friend had once accused her of behaving like a stalker when she’d chased down a woman in the mall pushing a baby stroller. That day, she’d been certain the woman had Alice.
Just like she’d thought Nina was her daughter when she’d seen her at school.
Terrified she was losing her mind and on the verge of another breakdown, she phoned her therapist, Ruby Denton, and requested an emergency session. The woman agreed to see her in an hour, so she forced herself to comb the bookstore for reading material. Meditation tapes had worked well to calm her. So had books of faith and stories of individuals who’d overcome tragedies to turn their lives around or use the trauma as inspiration to help others.
She selected a couple of autobiographies of survivors, one of abuse and the other, of a terrible, crippling accident. Then she chose a book on artistic styles along with a book on police sketch artists.
She paid for her purchases, then drove to Ruby’s office. Her mind kept replaying the incident at the bookstore with Nina while she waited for the therapist to see her.
Finally Ruby opened her door and invited her into her office. Today the perky redhead wore a dark green suit that accentuated her eyes. She was slightly younger than Cora, and was compassionate and straightforward. An old soul, Cora thought.
As usual, she set a bottle of water on the coffee table for Cora, and they faced each other. Cora sat on a plush gray velvet love seat and Ruby in a dark red velvet wing chair.
“Tell me what’s going on,” Ruby said.
Cora twisted the cap off the water bottle and took a sip, then breathed out to steady her nerves. “I think I may be going crazy,” she blurted.
Ruby’s look softened. “I doubt that, Cora. But you’re obviously upset. What happened?”
Cora explained about Nina and Faye Fuller’s complaint to the principal.
“Ah, Cora,” Ruby said. “I know you love teaching.”
“I do,” she admitted. “But maybe I overstepped. I frightened the little girl and her mother.” She reiterated her encounter at the bookstore. “I didn’t mean to upset them, but Nina hugged me and I couldn’t help it. She’s such a sweetheart that I hugged her back.”
“We never know what someone else is going through,” Ruby said. “You can’t blame the mother for being protective.”
Cora shook her head. “No, I can’t. I...had no idea she’d had a miscarriage, much less three.” Her voice choked. “I...do feel badly for her.”
“Then tell her,” Ruby said.
“I tried, but she told me to stay away from them.”
A heartbeat of silence stretched between them. “Give her some time,” Ruby advised. Cora twisted her fingers together, rubbing them in a nervous gesture.
“I sense something else is bothering you, Cora,” Ruby said.
Cora heaved a wary breath. “I told you before about Kurt Philips, the private investigator I hired to find Alice.”
“Yes. As I recall, the two of you are friends.” Ruby offered her a smile. “I hope you’re not feeling guilty about finding a little joy in your life.”
“We were just friends,” Cora said. “But...the problem is... Kurt is dead.”
Another heartbeat of silence. Ruby crossed her legs, her expression concerned. “What happened?”
“He left me a message saying he was ending the search for Alice, and I should move on. I wa
s upset and drove to Kurt’s to talk to him, but when I arrived, his apartment and office were on fire.” She took a breath. “Later, the sheriff told me Kurt was murdered.”
Emotions overcame her, and she burst into tears.
Ruby pushed a box of tissues toward her. She waited patiently, giving Cora time to compose herself, and then asked, “Are you crying because you love Kurt and are upset about his death, or because he was dropping the search for Alice?”
Grief and anger knotted Cora’s insides. “I don’t know. Maybe both.”
Ruby gave a small nod. “That’s fair. Does the sheriff know who killed him?”
“Not yet,” Cora said. “It’s possible he was murdered because of me.”
Ruby’s eyes widened slightly. “You can’t blame yourself, Cora.”
“I know. But if he was killed because of my case, maybe he’d found something,” Cora said, hope fighting through her anguish.
“I’m sure the sheriff will get to the truth.” Ruby waited a second, then spoke softly.
“We broached this subject before. But have you thought about what you’d do if you found Alice and she’s happy and in a loving home? Would you uproot her world to tell her that you’re her mother?”
Chapter Seven
Anger seized Cora at the question. “You think I’m selfish for wanting to find my little girl?”
“I didn’t say that,” Ruby said in the calming voice that sometimes worked on Cora’s last nerve. “I just want you to be prepared for whatever you find. It’s been five years. I understand your pain and your need to be honest and connect with Alice if you find her. But she’s not a baby anymore. If she is in a happy home and has loving parents, which I’m sure you want to be the case, learning the truth is bound to be upsetting.”
Cora clutched the arm of the chair with a white-knuckled grip in an effort to keep from shouting. “And what if she’s not happy? What if she’s been bounced around from one foster home to another?” Cora’s voice rose an octave. “Or what if whoever has her has mistreated her?” The very idea nauseated her.