Little Girl Found

by Jo Leigh

  She grabbed her jacket from the chair and put it on. “I brought juice for her. It’s in the fridge. But I doubt she’ll want any.”

  He looked out to where Megan sat watching TV. Hailey went over to her and saw that her eyes were only half-open. She would be asleep very soon. Just looking at her made Hailey’s heart contract, and she had to fight another bout of tears.

  She went back to Jack at the table. “She’s almost asleep. So don’t worry.”

  “All right,” he said. “But hurry.”

  “I will.”

  She left his apartment and headed straight for hers. She wanted it to be ready for Megan, with lots of familiar things around. But first she changed the sheets on the daybed in the guest room, and then she looked for Megan’s stuffed bunny, but she couldn’t find it. The room that had been fine for temporary baby-sitting looked woefully unequipped for a long stay. It wouldn’t do at all.

  Hailey went to her desk and got the key Roy had given her, then she picked up her empty clothes hamper to use as a carryall. As she headed outside and around to Roy’s apartment, she thought about all the things she wanted to get. The bunny. Some more clothes, especially pajamas and a warm jacket. There was a picture of Roy in the living room, and Hailey wanted Megan to have that. There had to be some other things that would bring Megan comfort later on.

  She reached Roy’s apartment and slipped the key into the lock. The first thing she saw when she opened the door was chaos. Someone had been there. Someone searching desperately for something. Because there wasn’t one piece of furniture that wasn’t overturned or ripped to shreds. Not one picture that wasn’t torn down the middle. Not one cabinet that wasn’t opened and emptied.

  Her heart started beating so fast she didn’t think she could move. She wasn’t going to find anything to comfort Megan here. Everything in her world had been destroyed by monsters. Real monsters. No one else could have done something this destructive.

  She stepped back, pulling the door closed. Just as the lock clicked in, a hand gripped her shoulder.

  Chapter Five

  Hailey whipped around, slamming the clothes hamper into the stomach of her assailant. He doubled over, and she saw that he was wearing a uniform. A policeman’s uniform.

  “Oh, no. Oh, my God.” She dropped the basket and bent over to see his face. To make sure that he was breathing and she hadn’t broken something important.

  His face was red, but his eyes were open and he was breathing, albeit raggedly. With his free hand on his stomach, he stood up. He looked awfully mad.

  They stood like that for a few seconds. Hailey was afraid to move, even though she thought about making a run for it. But where would she go? The officer had seen her.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, but it sounded pathetic even to her own ears.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “You scared me.” She swallowed. “I’m really sorry.”

  “Not your fault,” the cop said, his voice still whispery with trauma. “I shouldn’t have come up on you like that.”

  “Why did you?” she asked, deciding right then to act as if she knew absolutely nothing. “Is it about what happened to Roy’s apartment?”

  “You were inside?”

  She shook her head. “I was just coming to get the laundry and I opened the door. It’s awful in there. The whole place is torn up. Do you know where Roy is? Where Megan is?”

  The cop, a youngish man with dark closely cropped hair and thin lips, stared at her hard. “I was going to ask you that question.”

  “You mean, they’re gone?”

  He was breathing easily again. He looked her over from top to bottom and back. “What’s your name?”

  “Hailey Bishop.”

  “You live here?”

  “Yes. In 3301.”

  “What’s your relationship to Roy Chandler?”

  “I baby-sit for Megan sometimes. And I do some housework and laundry.”

  “When’s the last time you saw Chandler?”

  “About four days ago,” she said, telling the truth.

  “Did he say anything to you about leaving town?”

  “No. Nothing. I watched Megan for a couple of hours and then he came for her. We barely said ten words.”

  “Huh,” the cop said, still looking at her as if she might whap him with the laundry basket again.

  “Listen, do you mind if I go inside?”

  His brows came down. “Why?”

  “I’d like to see if there’s anything left in Megan’s room. You know, for when she gets back. She’s going to be so upset. This is an awful thing for a little girl.”

  “It’s a crime scene,” he said. “You can’t go in there.”

  “Can’t you take me? I promise, I won’t touch anything without your permission.” Hailey knew it was futile. No cop in his right mind would let her into an active crime scene. She’d seen enough television shows to know that. And yet, he didn’t dismiss her out of hand. He just stared at her some more.

  She glanced down, trying not to be too obvious. There it was. His badge. Nichols. Officer Nichols. Why wasn’t he saying anything?

  “All right,” he said. “It’s not regulation, but I’ll take you in. But don’t touch anything without my permission, got it?”

  “Oh, thank you,” she said. She smiled at him as if he’d done her a huge favor, but on the inside, she just got more frightened. Why was he breaking the rules? Would he get her inside and do something horrible? Maybe kill her or frame her for Roy’s death? “You’re very nice, but no. I don’t want you to get in any trouble on my account. I’ll just wait until…” She started backing up, little steps.

  “I won’t get in any trouble,” he said. “I think you’re right about the kid. Let’s see if there’s anything of hers left.”

  Hailey tried to find another excuse, but the cop took hold of her arm as he opened the door. She had no choice but to go in with him.

  The living room was completely trashed. Whoever had done this hadn’t been kidding around. They’d been looking for something, and they hadn’t been shy about it.

  Hailey hoped with all her heart that they’d found it. That whatever Roy had hidden had been in the apartment. But something told her they hadn’t. And that Officer Nichols knew it, and figured she might point him in the right direction.

  She walked quickly through the living room and down the hallway right to Megan’s bedroom, Officer Nichols on her heels. The door was open, so she didn’t have to wait for the verdict. Everything, including Megan’s stuffed toys, was in shreds.

  Despite her fear and her struggle to keep her wits about her, Hailey’s eyes burned with tears as she thought of what that poor little thing was going through. Nothing left of her life but a picture, a recipe, a doll. Even that photo of Roy had been destroyed. How would Megan remember him?

  “Guess there’s not much to salvage, after all,” Nichols said.

  “No. Nothing.” She turned, holding the laundry basket in front of her. “I’d better be going. I’m sure you have a lot to do here.”

  “You know if he had any relatives?” Nichols asked, as if she hadn’t spoken.

  “I think so. I’m pretty sure Roy told me he had a sister in Florida. Or was it a brother?”

  “Florida?”

  “I think. Maybe Georgia. I’m not sure.”

  “You don’t have any phone numbers? In case of emergency or something like that?”

  “Just the pediatrician. What happened here?” she asked, deciding to change tactics. “Who did this?”

  He didn’t answer her. The only move he made was to lift his hand to his leather holster and finger the big metal snap. “I think you ought to give me the key, Ms. Bishop. You won’t be doing any more laundry for this family.”

  When she pulled the key out of her pocket, her hand shook. She handed it to the policeman, inadvertently brushing the palm of his hand. It was damp with sweat.

  “You’re Officer Nichols?”

  He looked t
o his right, then back at her. Which meant, if her classes in neurolinguistic programming could be believed, he was about to tell her a lie. “That’s right.”

  “Am I going to be questioned?”

  “Someone will be in touch with you,” he said, not answering her at all. “I think you’d better leave now, though.”

  “Yes, all right,” she said, glancing back at Megan’s room. She couldn’t quell an involuntary shudder. “Awful,” she whispered. “Just awful.”

  The officer stepped aside for her to pass. As she walked down the hallway, she had the horrible feeling she was going to be shot in the back. That the next second would be her last.

  When she reached the living room, she started running. She didn’t stop until she got to Jack’s door. With a shaking hand, she turned the knob, grateful Jack hadn’t locked the door behind her. She did, however, checking the dead bolt twice.

  Jack was standing in the doorway of the kitchen opening a beer. But the moment he saw her, he put the bottle down. “What’s wrong?”

  Hailey glanced around for Megan. Thankfully she was asleep. Hailey put down her empty basket and headed for Jack, all the while trying to calm down.

  He sat and she pulled up a chair right next to him. “I went to Roy’s apartment,” she said.

  “You what?”

  She held up a hand to shush him. “I know, I know. But I didn’t think—”

  “That’s right, you didn’t.”

  “Hey,” she said, indignation making her pulse accelerate again. “Pardon me for not being up on my murder-investigation etiquette.”

  “It’s not etiquette I’m worried about. It’s blundering into a situation that could get you killed.”

  She couldn’t really argue with him. What if the person who’d trashed the apartment had still been there? She shuddered, thinking it was quite scary enough, thank you.

  “Well?”

  “The place was a wreck. Not untidy. Slashed to bits. Nothing was left intact, and I mean nothing. Not even the pictures on the wall.”

  Jack didn’t comment, but she could see his jaw muscles flex. He’d shaved. He must have done that just after she’d gone. He looked nice without the stubble.

  “Is there more?”

  She glanced away, flustered to have been caught like that. Curious, too. Why, when her heart was still beating like a drum, would she pause to think about his face?

  “Hailey?”

  She closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them again, she was able to focus more clearly. “There was a policeman there.”

  “Inside?”

  She shook her head. “No. Outside. He stopped me just after I opened the door.”

  Jack nodded slowly. “He was alone?”

  “As far as I could tell. I didn’t see anyone else.”

  “No tape in his hand, no camera?”

  “Nothing. His name was Nichols, according to his name tag.”

  Jack leaned back. “Brett Nichols?”

  “I didn’t ask his first name. But something was peculiar about him.”

  “What?”

  “He let me go inside. Actually, he pretty much insisted.”

  “What?”

  “I know. It struck me as very odd. I mean, why would he want me to go inside, unless he figured I might lead him to…whatever they were looking for.”

  “Nichols. I’ve heard the name.”

  “Thin lips,” she said. “Really short hair, a military cut. Tall, but not as tall as you. And really long fingers.”

  “Long fingers?” Jack repeated.

  “Yeah. Like he should have been a piano player, instead of a cop.”

  “Uh-huh,” Jack said, clearly not thrilled with her description, which wasn’t fair at all. It was very accurate. She’d be able to pick him out of a lineup in a flash.

  Jack rubbed his chin as he thought about what Hailey was telling him. If Nichols was on the level, he’d have a lot of explaining to do. No way he should have let her go into that apartment. It compromised the whole scene.

  So what was he doing there? And where was the rest of the crime team?

  He saw that Hailey had calmed down. At least her breathing seemed normal. She took off her jacket and flung it casually over the back of the far chair. As if she’d been here often. As if she knew him.

  “You know what else? He didn’t seem all that surprised about the house. As if it was no big deal that every single thing had been torn apart.”

  “How do you know he didn’t do the tearing?” Jack asked.

  She stopped. Blinked. Her pretty coral lips turned up into a smile and her eyes lit up. “Of course! He did it,” she said, as if she’d scooped the New York Times. “He did it wearing a policeman’s uniform, so if anyone came by, he could just say he was there to make a report or something. I bet he wasn’t a real cop at all.”

  “Don’t bust your arm patting yourself on the back,” Jack said. “We don’t know who he is. Or if he did anything. He might have been looking for the people who tore up the place. It seems pretty likely that he was looking for whatever the killer had been looking for.”

  “Or maybe he is the killer.”

  “Maybe,” he said, kind of liking the way she was smiling at him. The way her cheeks were flushed with excitement. How she’d told him the facts without getting all emotional. She’d remembered details, and that was good. But he knew she didn’t get it. She didn’t get that this wasn’t a game, and that the stakes were life and death. Here they were, talking about murder suspects and bogus cops, and she was as excited as a kid climbing on a roller coaster. But he knew the kind of ride she could expect if she hung on. Roller coasters are only fun because there’s no real danger.

  “I’d better get Megan up,” Hailey said. “I’m worried that she’s sleeping so much.”

  “I want you two to stay here tonight,” he said.

  She nodded. “I think that’s a good idea. But what about after tonight? After tomorrow night?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I’ve got a question.” She stood up, but put her hands on the back of the chair. “How come you aren’t more surprised?”

  “About what?”

  “About me running into that cop. Or about what he did?”

  “I am surprised.”

  She shook her head. “Nope. When I told you what had happened, you nodded. As if you’d expected something like that. You found out something at the police station, didn’t you?”

  He sighed. He’d been right about her. She was nosy. Nosy and intuitive, and too eager for her own good. He’d have to be careful with her. She could get herself into a lot of trouble, and he wasn’t going to be able to get her out of it.

  “Come on, Jack. Tell me. I have a right to know.”

  “No, you don’t,” he said. “But I’m going to tell you, anyway.”

  She sat back down again and leaned forward, waiting.

  “When I did the background check on Roy, I found out that he used to work for Craig Faraday.”

  “From UTI? That big computer company?”

  Jack nodded, wondering if he was doing the right thing by misdirecting her. But what good would it do for him to tell her the truth? If the cops were involved, he’d find out. But he still wasn’t convinced it had anything to do with the police department.

  “He and his wife. Chandler changed his name after being fired for stealing.”

  “So you think that whatever he stole is what they were looking for?”

  “Makes sense to me.” Jack heard a little squeak behind him. A noise unlike any he’d heard before. It was the girl of course, but he couldn’t imagine why she’d made that high-pitched sound. “What’s that?”

  “That was a very tiny girl yawning,” Hailey said, rising once more. She smiled as she turned to walk away.

  Jack got up, too, and picked up the beer he’d put down when Hailey had come back. He made his way over to his chair, but he didn’t sit right away. Instead, he watched her reflecti
on on the television screen. He saw her open her arms wide as she knelt on the quilt. Megan crawled into her lap, curling herself into a little ball. As soon as Hailey’s arms went around her, the kid put her thumb back in her mouth and closed her eyes.

  To be that comfortable in someone’s arms was something he didn’t understand. He got the concept of course, and he saw the truth of it right there on the screen, but it was foreign to him all the same. He’d found many things in the arms of a woman, but never safety. Never that kind of comfort. He’d never had that much trust in anyone.

  “Did you and Tottie sleep well?” Hailey asked.

  Megan’s head moved up and down, but the thumb didn’t leave her mouth.

  “How about, when you wake up a little bit more, we play a game?”

  Again the little head bobbed.

  “And then you can help me fix dinner. Because guess what? We’re all going to sleep here tonight. A big slumber party! Won’t that be fun?”

  Megan didn’t nod this time, and Jack figured she was thinking about where she should be sleeping. Her own bed. With her toys and dolls all around her. Did she know it was over? A kid that age, could she grasp the notion of a world turned upside down? Probably. The kids he’d run across in his years on the force had all been savvy as hell. Dangerous and devious, too, but the truth was they all understood much more than most people gave them credit for.

  Despite Hailey’s belief that it would take Megan a while to come to terms with Roy’s death, he knew the kid got it. All the sleeping, well, that was because she didn’t like it. And because she didn’t know what to do with it. But she knew. She knew she’d never go home again.

  “I have to go potty.”

  Jack shook his head. Kids. Strange little creatures.

  He watched Hailey and Megan get up and walk out of range. The television was dark again. He closed his eyes and listened to Hailey’s voice. He wasn’t even sure what she was saying, but the way she said it made him relax. No wonder Megan had climbed so willingly into her arms.

  The bathroom door closed, cutting off the sound. He looked at his watch. It was almost two, and he hadn’t gone over the rest of the material from his morning visit to the station. He’d forwarded a bunch of files to his home computer. He put his beer down and headed for his bedroom.