A Christmas Stolen (Christmas Holiday Extravaganza)

by Lillian Duncan

  “Leah, where are you?” Danica called out as she went into the kitchen. Two tiny Christmas trees were perched on the window behind the kitchen sink with a tiny Nativity between them. That made six.

  Her sister’s purse sat on the table. Leah must be home. Danica walked back into the living room to the bassinet. No baby. She placed the goofy snowman on the rocking chair.

  Apparently, Leah hadn’t heard the doorbell.

  Danica moved down the hall and peeked into the nursery. No one there either. She took a moment to appreciate her sister’s artistic skills. Leah had painted a mural on one of the walls using the biblical theme of Noah and the Ark. Rainbows, elephants, and giraffes decorated the wall next to the Ark. Leah had sent Danica several pictures, but they hadn’t done it justice.

  Danica knocked on her sister’s bedroom door. No response. She hesitated but then opened the door and peeked in. Her sister was sprawled on the bed asleep. Alone. Where was the baby? Maybe Mark was off work today and had taken the baby somewhere so Leah could get some sleep.

  Leah had told Danica about the baby not sleeping well. She’d leave her sister to rest and go cook supper. She might not have Leah’s artistic talent or decorating but she could cook.

  “Danica? Is that you?” Leah muttered, her eyes half-open.

  “It’s me. Go back to sleep. We can talk later.”

  “What? What time is it?”

  “Not quite three.”

  “Three in the afternoon?”

  “Of course. It’s not three in the morning.”

  “I can’t believe I slept that long.” Leah rubbed her eyes, clearly still groggy.

  “Go back to sleep,” Danica whispered. “We can talk later.”

  “Nah, I’m awake now.” She sat up and looked around. “How’d I get in here? I don’t remember coming in.”

  “You told me you were exhausted. I’m sure you needed the sleep. Lay back down. I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

  Leah shook her head. “I’m awake. Besides Angelica must be starving. Did you see my perfect little Christmas angel? Isn’t she beautiful?”

  “I’m sure she is, but I haven’t seen her yet.”

  Leah combed her fingers through her hair. “Why not?”

  “I guess Mark took her somewhere.”

  “Mark? He’s not here; he’s at work.” Her gaze went to the clock. “He won’t be home for another two hours.”

  “I don’t understand.” Her sister wasn’t making a whole lot of sense.

  “Isn’t Angelica in the living room? In her bassinet? With…with Maria?”

  “No one’s here but you and me, Leah.”

  Leah was already out of the bed and running down the hall.

  Danica followed, not quite sure of the problem.

  “Maria,” Leah called. When she got to the living room, she turned to Danica. “Where are they?”

  “Who? Who’s Maria?”

  “My baby. My baby’s gone.”

  “No. No. Mark just took her somewhere.”

  “Mark’s at work. I…I…” Leah looked as if she was on the verge of passing out but that quickly turned to panic. “Call the police. Now.” Her voice rose hysterically with each word, tears running down her face.

  “You’re not making any sense. Why call the police?” Danica led her to the couch. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  “A woman came. From the church. Said she was here to help.” The words were coming out in short little gasps. “I was suddenly so sleepy. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Maria told me to take a nap while she watched Angelica.” As she said her daughter’s name, Leah bent over sobbing, her head resting on her knees.

  “Who was here? What’s her cell phone number? I’ll call her and find out where she went. Don’t panic.”

  “I don’t know her number.” Leah shrieked. “I don’t know her.”

  “Don’t you know her if she’s from your church?”

  “Not my church. Another church. I…oh, no. I don’t understand.”

  Danica’s stomach churned. “Let me go through the house to make sure they’re not in the basement or something.”

  “Why would they be in the basement?”

  “I don’t know, but let me go check.” Danica ran from room to room then to the basement and finally, the garage. With each step panic grew. She returned to the living room, her mind telling her heart the news she never wanted to know.

  Leah gave her a wild-eyed look, still sobbing. “My baby. My baby.” she wailed.

  Danica dialed 9-1-1.

  3

  “All my fault. All my fault. Why did I let her in?” Leah sat on the sofa rocking back and forth, almost incoherent. “All my fault.”

  Danica her voice intentionally sharp as if she was talking with one of her misbehaving students. “Leah. Stop this. Stop it right now.”

  “I. Can’t. My. Baby’s. Gone.”

  “Look at me. Now.” Her voice was sharper than before.

  Her sister looked at her with tears streaming down her face.

  “I know this is horrible, but you can’t lose it right now. OK? For Angelica’s sake. If you fall apart now, you won’t be able to help her. Do you want to help her? To help your daughter?”

  Her sister nodded.

  “Then you have to be strong. You can’t fall apart. Understand?”

  Leah nodded again.

  “Do you want me to pray?”

  By the end, both women were sobbing and holding on to each other.

  “We’ll get through this, sissy.” Danica took a deep breath. “I’ll call Mark.”

  Leah’s face crumpled. “He’ll hate me. And why not? I hate me. All my fault. This is—”

  “Stop it, Leah. You have to be strong, remember. For Angelica. OK? The police are on their way. We’ll figure this out, but you need to stay calm. Where’s your phone?”

  Leah pointed at the coffee table.

  Danica scrolled until she found Mark’s name.

  He answered on the first ring. “Hey, sweetheart. Everything OK?”

  Danica forced herself to speak. “Mark, this is Danica.”

  “Oh, great, you made—”

  “There’s a problem. You need to come home right now.”

  A slight pause. “What’s the problem?”

  “I think it’ll be better if I explain when you get here.” She didn’t want him to have a car accident hurrying back home in a panic. “Drive careful and we’ll explain everything when you arrive.”

  “But—”

  Danica disconnected.

  A police cruiser pulled into the drive.

  “Maybe it’s Maria? Coming back with Angelica?” Leah’s expression changed to hope, her voice wobbly.

  “It’s the police.”

  Leah collapsed and sobbed.

  Please God, help her get through this. And keep Angelica safe wherever she is. Danica gave her sister a worried look then went to the door and opened it.

  The uniformed man jogged up the steps. “I’m Officer Dan Tate. We got a report of a missing baby.”

  “That’s right.” She opened the door wider. “It’s my sister’s child.”

  He walked inside. “What happened?”

  His blunt tone irritated Danica. “The baby is gone. I just called her husband, too. He’s on his way home. He doesn’t know what happened yet. Someone took the baby. It’s a stranger abduction.”

  He gave her a skeptical look. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m absolutely sure. They’re married—happily married. It wasn’t him.”

  He nodded as if he didn’t quite believe her. “Who took the baby then?”

  “Some woman called Maria, but that probably wasn’t her real name.”

  From the sofa Leah moaned.

  He paled. “Tell me what happened.”

  She nodded. “I don’t really know. I only got here a few minutes ago, and the baby was gone. My sister was asleep.”

  “So you weren’t here when it happened?”
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  “No, but—”

  “Then I’d like to hear it from your sister if you don’t mind.” He stated, his voice firm.

  Leah was half-sitting, half-curled in a fetal position. And still moaning.

  “She’s quite upset. She told me what—”

  “I can see that, but I need her to tell me.” The officer walked over to Leah. “Ma’am, I need you to tell me what happened to your baby.”

  Danica didn’t like his implication. She stepped toward her sister in a protective mode.

  Leah straightened to a sitting position. “It’s OK, Danica. I can do this. For Angelica, right?” Her voice was a tremor-filled whisper.

  “Right.”

  Leah lifted a shaky hand to her face, her bottom lip trembled as she tried to speak. She looked at the officer and fought for control. “A woman came to my house today. She said her name was Maria.”

  “You didn’t know her?”

  Leah looked as if she would break down at the policeman’s question. Her mouth quivered. “No…she said she was from a church.”

  “Ma’am, you let a complete stranger in your house?” He widened his eyes.

  Leah closed her eyes, her body began to tremble. “I know it was stupid now. I just wasn’t thinking. She seemed nice. Said she was from some organization that sent people out to help new mothers. I believed her.”

  “Are you sure you…something didn’t happen to the baby? I’m sure you didn’t mean to but…things can happen. Accidents. Did you drop the baby or something?”

  Danica couldn’t believe he’d actually said the words. She walked in front of him and blocked her sister from the man’s view. “How can you say something that horrible? Of course, she didn’t hurt her baby. And if she’d had an accident, she would have taken the baby to the hospital.”

  He put his hands on each of her arms and slowly moved her out of the way. “I’m talking to your sister, ma’am. Not you.”

  “I don’t care who you’re talking to.” She sat beside Leah and picked up her sister’s hand. “She didn’t hurt the baby. You need to find the woman who took her. Not stand here and ask these horrible questions.”

  Leah curled back into a protective fetal position. Heart-rending sobs and moans filled the air.

  “I’m just doing my job.” Officer Tate knelt down in front of Leah. “Ma’am…”

  “Her name is Leah. Leah Barnes.” Danica bristled at the condemnation lacing the man’s words.

  “Mrs. Barnes, I need you to tell me where your baby is and what you did.”

  “I. Didn’t. Do. Anything. She’s. Gone. The woman. The woman. The woman took her.”

  “OK. Tell me again what happened. From the beginning.”

  Leah leaned against. “The woman said she was from the church. She wanted to help me. I told her I didn’t need help but then she made me some tea and took a picture.” She picked up her phone from the coffee table. “There. See. She took the pictures. That proves she was here. I didn’t do anything to my baby.”

  “Ok. I see the picture. What church did she say she was from?”

  “The Good News Church.” Leah jumped up, ran to the door and took a pamphlet off the small table nearby. “Here. She gave me this. Said they helped new mothers and…I thought it was OK. She said she was from this church.”

  The officer stared down at the brochure for a few moments. “Yeah, I’ve heard of the church. So what happened next?” His voice was softer, not accusing.

  Leah swayed.

  Danica rushed to her side and put a protective arm around her.

  “How could I have been so stupid? This is all my fault.” Leah’s wails verged on hysteria.

  “Stay focused, Leah. Tell him exactly what happened.” Danica walked her back to the couch.

  Leah took a deep, shuddering breath and wiped away tears. “She came in and made me tea, and we talked while I fed Angelica. She seemed so sweet. Then I got so tired. I couldn’t stop yawning, and my eyes wouldn’t stay open. I’ve never felt so tired before. And then...I’m not sure what happened after that. I can’t remember anything else.”

  “Mrs. Barnes, were you that tired before she came?”

  “Not really. But while she was here I just couldn’t keep my eyes open. I guess the sleepless nights caught up with me.” Leah shook her head. “Maria said I needed to sleep. And then Danica woke me up. I don’t know anything else.” The last words were smothered in a sob.

  “What time did she come here?”

  “A little after ten.”

  He looked at his phone. “It’s three thirty now. You slept all that time?”

  “I…I…” Her sister looked at her. “I guess I was really tired.”

  “OK, so let’s go through all of this step by step one more time.”

  “No. Not one more time.” Danica stood up. “You need to do something. Get people looking for Angelica. My sister already told you what happened several times. Shouldn’t you be doing something? Like an Amber Alert?”

  “Ma’am, there’s a process.” He turned back to Leah. “Tell me again what happened.”

  Leah took a deep breath and went through it again. “The doorbell rang. She gave me the pamphlet. She sort of crowded me, stepping into the house. It was cold, I just thought she wanted to be warm. She took a few steps inside. And then Angelica woke up. Maria offered to make tea since she was here, and we could talk a little. I started feeding Angelica while she made the tea.” Her sister pointed at the stand by the rocking chair. “There’s the cup. And then I got so tired, and I don’t remember anything after that.”

  Danica started to pick up the mug.

  “Don’t touch it. We need to have it tested for fingerprints.” He gave his attention back to Leah. “What did she look like?”

  “She was young. In her twenties. Long, black straight hair with these huge glasses that practically hid her face.”

  The officer frowned. “Sounds like it could be a disguise. Could she have been wearing a wig?”

  Leah stared out into space for a moment. “Now that you say that, I guess it could have been. It was so black.”

  Mark came running in the house. “What’s going on? Why are the police here?”

  “Stand back, sir.”

  “He’s my husband. It’s OK.” Leah said as the tears started once again.

  The officer nodded.

  Leah reached for her husband. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She collapsed into his arms, sobbing.

  Mark’s arms went around his wife, but he looked at Danica. “What’s going on?”

  There was no easy way to say it, so she blurted it out in one quick breath. “We think the baby’s been kidnapped.”

  His mouth dropped open as the blood rushed from his face. He staggered, even as his arms tightened around Leah. He held on to her as if he was afraid he’d fall. “Kidnapped. That’s…that’s impossible. What happened, Leah? What’s going on? Where’s Angelica?”

  Leah wailed, slumping against him.

  The police officer intervened. “Sir, I was just getting a description from your wife of the suspect. Let me get that so I can put out a BOLO. Then you can ask all the questions you want.”

  Mark blinked. His arms stayed around Leah’s shoulders as if she was all that was holding him upright. “Of course. Leah?”

  Leah didn’t straighten. She turned her head against his chest to look at the officer, her expression bereft.

  “Did you see her car? What color and model?”

  “I…I don’t remember seeing a car in the drive, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I should have realized…” Her painful, whispered words were lost.

  Mark pulled himself up and hugged her closer.

  “All my fault. So stupid,” Leah mumbled.

  “We’ll find your baby,” the officer said. “I’ll check with some of your neighbors. They may have seen the car.”

  Danica stepped forward, glad to be of use. “I can go do that right now if you want.”

 
; “No. Another officer’s on the way. He’ll do that.”

  “But I want to help.”

  “Feel free to go with him if you want. In the meantime, I’ll call this in, and we’ll get things rolling.”

  4

  Danica stood on the steps behind Officer Rod Mackey as he rang the buzzer on the third house. No one had been home at the other two.

  The door opened.

  An elderly woman still in pajamas stood there. “Can I help you?”

  “I’m Officer Mackey. We’re investigating a possible crime, ma’am,” the officer said. “We’d like to know if you saw any strange people or cars parked on this block this morning.”

  The woman eyed him suspiciously then glanced at Danica.

  Officer Mackey nodded slightly, signaling her to speak.

  To put the woman at ease? “I’m Leah Barnes’s sister. She lives a few houses down.”

  “Oh, I know her. She’s so sweet, and Mark is such a gentleman. He mows my yard sometimes and clears the snow as well. They are such wonderful Christian people. How’s the new baby? I haven’t gone over to see her yet. I didn’t want to bother them.”

  “I need to know if you saw a car in her drive this morning or maybe in front of the house,” the officer said.

  The woman looked at both of them strangely then poked her head out the door. Her eyes widened as she took in the two police cruisers in front of Leah’s home. “What’s going on?”

  “Someone came into the house and took the baby,” Danica blurted.

  The woman grabbed her chest. “Oh, no. That can’t be true.”

  “I’m sorry to say it’s very true. Did you see anyone? See a car? Anything would be helpful,” Officer Mackey urged.

  “Oh, my goodness.” She moved her hands up to her head. “Let me think a minute. I can’t believe this. This is so awful.”

  “If you can remember anything that will help.” The officer stayed on point.

  “I guess I did see something. I heard a car door, so I looked outside but that was hours ago. And the car was in front of my house, not theirs. So that probably didn’t have anything to do with the baby.”