The Airnapped Child

by Sandra Ryan

  Sophie gave a deep sigh, but still said nothing. When she finally spoke, her voice sounded tired, the spark was gone from her eyes.

  “What exactly do you want to find out?”

  “I just want to know about him. I want to know the kind of cop he is. Is he somebody who could be enmeshed in something like this?”

  Sophie sighed again. “Sheridan was my classmate at the police academy. He was one of the good ones. He had such zeal for the police force. He felt he was on the path to saving the world. He had such fire about him, such optimism about the world. He was the person to go to if you needed a boost or anything. He had a way he looked at the world, an infectious upbeat lifestyle that drew in anyone whom he came across. Eventually, he graduated as the best student in our set.”

  She waved over the waitress and ordered another glass of iced tea. She did not continue till the drink came and she had taken a generous sip.

  “As a cop, he was the go to person for any case. It did not take long before the superiors noticed him. Soon he was being sent on big assignments and he was quickly promoted. He had his life in front of him, and from all indications, he had the potential of becoming a commissioner one day and even maybe heading the force at some point.”

  Olga was not writing anything down. She had a pen and her notebook in her bag but she did not want to spook the other woman. She trusted that she would be able to recall whatever it was Sophie told her.

  “I do not know at what point his optimism turned to cynicism. Somewhere along the way, he must have found out what the rest of us already knew: that there were no good guys or bad guys. There were just humans who could be good or bad at any point. That the propensity to do good or bad resided in equal proportions in any one person. He must have realized that because his former sunny self was gone. It was replaced by a sour personality. He was reported to be insubordinate, and he was reprimanded severally by the superiors. You see, that is what usually happens to the nave cops. They are often hit smack by the realities of how the world works that they often have no way of being prepared for it.”

  Sophie’s eyes misted over. She looked genuinely sad.

  “Before long news started filtering in that he may be involved in some illegal activities. They were rumors of course, so one took them seriously. But then it continued, drugs started disappearing after raids that he was part of. Guns taken from preps would be found on the streets a few weeks later. Things began to happen which gave life to the rumors. The superiors had to put him on desk duty, but by then the damage had already been done.”

  “Was that the extent of the allegations?” Olga asked.

  Sophie did not still look at her although she continued speaking,

  “We heard that he was working with the mafia. I have it on good authority that he was paid to offer them protection and to make sure that the dope they sold on the streets was undetected by the other police officers.”

  “Is there something else?” Olga asked, noticing the quiet way Sophie folded her hands and avoided looking at her the entire time.

  “Well, I am not quite sure about this but I have heard it said that he was a cop for hire. That sometimes some of them big guns would pay him to do their dirty works.” Then she added quickly, “This is totally unsubstantiated. I cannot speak to the truth of it.”

  “I see.”

  “Really, Sheridan is not bad. The system just messed with him. Underneath all you have heard about him is a police officer who was zealous to carry out his job. He was just caught up with the wrong crowd and everything went haywire since then.”

  “Wow, you almost sound like you are apologizing for him,” Olga said.

  “I am not. I have been at a place where I was maligned for the choices I made by people who were not understanding. I wouldn’t want another person to go through what I went through. So, if what you are saying is correct and he actually is involved in some way in this kidnapping, I’d like you to give him the benefit of the doubt. Things aren’t always as black and white as we make it out to be.”

  “Fine. Whatever you say.”

  “I am exhausted. I have to go now.” Olga took this as a cue to pay her and reached for her purse to extract some bills. She pushed them towards Sophie who winced and pushed them back towards her.

  “I don’t think I could accept this money right now. It almost appears like I sold out a brother. Just find out the truth, that is all the payment I want right now.”

  She got up and made her way away from the park. She walked quickly as though she could not wait to get away from Olga. As soon as she was out of sight Olga folded the bills back into her purse, then reached further in to turn off the recording device that had been spinning immediately Sophie started speaking.

  ********

  Holly was in her bathrobe when she went down to open the door. She had just come in from work and was about to have her bath when her doorbell started ringing. She had wanted to just ignore it but whoever was at the door was not going to go away anytime soon, so she had thrown on a bathrobe and marched downstairs. She had found Olga standing there.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, a little alarmed. Olga looked all washed up, and had bags under her eyes. Her ripped jean was looking scruffy and dirty.

  “I am fine,” she replied, brushing past Holly into the room.

  “Are you sure?” Holly continued. “Because you look terrible, and I can almost swear you need a good scrubbing.”

  “Oh,” Olga said, looking down at her clothes. It was as though she was just noticing them for the first time. “I have been busy. I haven’t paid much attention to hygiene, and frankly, anything else for that matter.”

  She placed her backpack on the couch and began bringing out folders from it.

  “Here, this is all I could find on Sheridan Cox and Heather Kline.”

  While Holly went through the documents Olga looked around at the apartment.

  “Nice place you’ve got here.”

  “Thank you,” Holly responded. “How did you get your hands on these? Wait, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. However, what I would like to know is if the information contained here is genuine?”

  “One hundred percent.”

  “You can trust your source on this one?”

  “Absolutely!” Olga replied, nodding vigorously.

  “Well, my dear Olga, you may have found us a way to solve this case. And for that I am immensely grateful.” Her face broke into a grin.

  “Thank you. But that was not why I came here. I wanted to tell you personally…”

  “Are you quitting?” Olga cut in.

  “No, not right now, anyway. I just want to take a few weeks, I need to sort out some personal issues.”

  “Take whatever time you need, you have earned it,” Olga said.

  “Well then, good night. And good luck cracking the case. I really hope this goes well for Mr. Clark.”

  Holly nodded, and walked her to the door.

  ************

  Two hours later, Holly had still not taken her bath. She was curled up on the couch, going through the documents that Olga had dropped off. She was almost at the end when the doorbell started ringing again. She swore under her breath. Whoever was at the door probably felt that pressing the doorbell was insufficient, so the person alternated between pressing the doorbell and banging on the door. She cursed again when she saw who it was on her doorstep.

  “So, since you guys left I have been thinking about that business with the airplane. The past week I have hardly eaten or done anything else, my mind kept going back to the plane and how Mr. Clark had said that it was almost impossible for someone to take a baby off of the plane.”

  “Penny, are you sure this cannot wait till morning? This is pretty late. And what the hell are you wearing?”

  And for the second time that evening, another visitor to Holly’s house looked down at her outfit as though just realizing what she was putting on.

  “Oh, sorry about that. I just f
igured it out right now and I did not think before grabbing anything I could and rushing out the door. And No, this cannot wait till morning,” Penny Meyers said. She was putting on a very flimsy night dress. She obviously was about going to bed before she left her house.

  “Very well, go on. What were you able to find out?” Holly settled back on the couch. It didn’t look like Penny was in the mood to sit.

  “Like I said, something Mr. Clark said kept bugging me, so I got the video footage from the airport and began going through them…”

  “Wait, how?” Holly cut in. “I practically begged the airport authorities for that and they would not budge.”

  “Oh, honey, you probably were asking the wrong person. But like I said, I went through the footage. There were only two other women who had babies that were within baby Benson’s age bracket. One of them, Heather Kline never showed the face of her baby the entire time. It was as though she was particularly careful to make sure that the cameras never saw exactly what she was carrying in her arms.”

  “But if she was not carrying a baby, which I suppose is what your proposition suggests, wouldn’t the other passengers have seen that. Or even the airport officials?”

  “That’s where it gets tricky. There was another man with her. Sheridan Cox … You are aware of him?” she asked when she saw the recognition in Holly’s eyes. Holly nodded.

  “Well, he is a police officer, so the airport officials always deferred to him. They made sure they did not query him or his girlfriend too closely. As a matter of fact, some of the clearance protocols were even waived for him. And for the other passengers, they never got a chance to get close to the couple. They mostly stayed by themselves and tried to discourage the other passengers from even speaking to them.”

  Holly considered this for a while, lost in thoughts.

  “Well, what you have just said could only explain how they got on the plane without anybody detecting that Heather was actually not carrying a child with her. It does not explain how they grabbed the bay or even smuggled him off of the plane. Elizabeth had had to take a look at the child, I doubt if there was any way she would not recognize her own child.”

  “Yes, that was what had me stomped for a few days. The first part is easy. They could have grabbed the child during the smoke scare. We are not yet certain what caused the smoke scare in the first place. But then the second part, I was considering that Mrs. Benson may have been too shaken up to be able to be accurate. But I knew that no mother would mistake her own child, no matter how shaken she was.”

  She had been pacing up and down the whole time. She stopped then and pinned Holly with a stare.

  “Then I researched deeply into this Heather character. You are aware that she has been in and out of prison a lot of times right?”

  Holly nodded.

  “Now, as part of the rehabilitation process for inmates of prisons, they are often taught some basic skills; computer programming, distant education, the whole works. Guess what skill Heather learned while in prison?”

  Holly did not respond. She knew Penny was going to tell her anyway.

  “Make up!”

  “Holy shit!” Holly exclaimed, everything immediately falling into place.

  “Yes, that was exactly the reaction I had too when I made the discovery.” Penny’s eyes were burning. “I heard that she was so adept at the skill that people sometimes came to the prison so she could work on them. She was the go to person for Halloween makeup and the likes.”

  Penny looked spent. Whatever adrenaline rush she had felt while rushing from her house had all but dissipated.

  “I do not know how, but I think that somehow on the flight, she must have done a couple of retouches, changing the baby’s features such that even his mother could not recognize him.”

  “Damn!” Holly cursed again, getting to her feet.

  “All of this is speculation; of course, you would have to find evidence to back this up. I do not envy you right now, Holly. You have your work cut out for you.”

  “I know. I would try my best. That is the least I could do given the circumstances. Thank you so much for the help.”

  “It was a pleasure to help, and I would be sending you my bill,” Penny said, smiling.

  CHAPTER 9

  UNEXPECTED

  Heather looked down at the sleeping child in the crib. He had his fist in his mouth and his lips were puckered as though in a pout. He was curled up to his side, snoring softly. For the past hour, he had been bawling his eyes out. In fact, he had been crying on and off for the past few days. It was probably as a result of his spike in temperature and the fever he was battling. Heather had tried everything she knew – which was not much- to no avail. Each time he began crying, she would carry him and walk around the tiny apartment, singing lullabies to him till he quietened down. She felt tired. Her bones ached and she felt like she had aged a thousand years since they brought the baby home from the airport.

  Yet she did not feel irritation or anger at the child, what she felt was a stirring of affection. It had crept up on her unawares, and it frightened her. At the airport when the woman had asked to take a look at the child, she had been so frightened, but then she had done a good job altering the boy's features, his own mother could not even recognize him. However, as they walked away and she saw the depth of the sorrow in the other woman's eyes, she had felt such sorrow for her. She had wanted to run back and hand the baby back. That was why she was taking such good care of the baby, she wanted to make sure that when the time came, they would return him to his mother safe.

  She sighed and moved away from the crib to stare out the window. Their apartment was on the third floor of a building far away from town. Their flat was directly facing the road to the house, she had no doubt that Sheridan had specifically picked the view so he could monitor everyone who came and went. They had just two neighbors, one man who was probably a salesman, he came and went irregularly, and another family downstairs, they were a couple and spent their entire time listening to songs from the nineties. They had not even bothered to check them out when they moved in or to welcome a welcome. The electricity was not so great and the plumbing barely worked. Because she spent so much time looking after the baby, she had little time to do anything else so the apartment was a mess, clothes were strung all over the floor and packs of leftover food were on the table. She did not care for any of those. She knew it was only a matter of time before they had to move again. This was their third building in four weeks. Each time, Sheridan showed up and told her to pack and then found them some place to stay. Sheridan made use of the Multiple Listing System (MLS) to find them apartments that were vacant.

  When she had accepted to go along with the job, she had done it just to make do at the moment. Sheridan had told her that it was just a simple case and that she was expected to grab the child and walk out of the airport. The idea was to lay low for a few weeks then hit the parents of the child up for the ransom and then they'd disappear. She had not signed up for the amount of press attention they had gotten. Sheridan had not told her that the baby's parents were famous. She felt that it was only a matter of time before the police caught up with them and all they had done. They had managed to stay out of the police radar for a while now, but they could never be sure how long that would last. Something was beginning to gnaw at her lately, though. She had the distinct feeling that Sheridan was not telling her the truth. She had the distinct feeling that he was keeping something from her, and she was getting alarmed by that.

  There was a knock on the door. One short knock, then two drawn out knock. Heather sighed and went towards the door. Sheridan insisted that they maintained a particular mode of knocking so she would know he was the one each time he showed up. She felt it was ridiculous. Nobody knew where they were and since they started moving, no one had ventured to some visit them. He had made her discard her old phone and had got them disposable phones with untraceable lines. The few friends she had before had no means of reaching o
ut to her, so she was hard pressed to think of any other person who would be coming to visit them.

  When he came in, he looked round suspiciously, then went into the other rooms. He behaved like that every time he stepped into the apartment. Often times he swept the house for bugs and generally behaved like a person in the grips of deep paranoia.

  "We have to leave today," he said when he came out of the bedroom. He went to the fridge and surveyed the contents there. There was barely anything to eat in the fridge. He gave a grimace and then plucked a bottle of beer.

  "Do we really have to? This is a good a place as any."

  He turned to stare at her. "I've told you not to get too attached to the house. We would always be on the move, that’s the only way we could ever be one step ahead of the police."

  "I don't know." She was fiddling with the towel she was holding. "The boy is too sick to travel. We need to find him help as soon as possible. His fever has refused to come down and I'm starting to get worried.."

  Sheridan walked to the baby's crib and felt his temperature. Then he seemed to contemplate for a while.

  "Fine. I would find help along the way. We would find someone to take a look at him. If that's not possible, we would get to a hospital and sign in under aliases, but we need to leave today."

  "I am getting really worried, Sheridan," she said, going to place her hand on his shoulder. "This was not supposed to last this long. You told me that this would only be for a couple of weeks. This has gone on for more than a month now."

  "Stop it, Heather," he said shrugging her hands off of his shoulder. "Don't forget I am doing this for both of us and not just for myself alone. You doubts and fears are not helping. You need to stop being such a pain and actually start helping."

  Heather turned away from him.

  "Listen," he said, his voice becoming tender. "I know this was not what I promised. We just encountered some challenges, that's all. But I would have it sorted out soon enough. Trust me."