by Joanna Wayne
Matilda ducked into an empty room and waited until he’d passed and had ample time to board the elevator.
She was only a few feet from Janice’s room when she heard a familiar voice. She turned to find Hadley rushing toward her, a nice-looking man keeping pace. Hadley pulled Matilda into a heart-wrenching hug that had Matilda struggling to hold back tears.
“Any news?” Matilda asked when Hadley’s arms dropped back to her side.
“None. No leads and no contact from the kidnapper.”
“That will come,” Matilda said, expressing more hope than confidence.
Hadley stepped closer to the man. Matilda figured he was a detective, since she was pretty sure that Hadley wasn’t in a relationship. Janice frequently lamented the fact that Hadley showed no interest in having a man in her life.
“Have you seen Mother?” Hadley asked. “Is she awake?”
“I can’t say. She was still in recovery when I went down to the cafeteria for coffee and a sandwich. After that I stopped in the chapel for a few minutes. I’m on my way back to her room now.”
“Did you by any chance talk to Dr. Gates after surgery?”
“No,” Matilda said. “The nurse said he’d talk to you when you got here. Are you going to tell Janice about the abduction?”
“Yes. I hate it, but she’s the only one who can give us the names of everyone who has a key to her house.”
“She’ll handle it,” Matilda assured her. “When the going gets tough, your mother is always tougher. And far better she hear it from you than from anyone else.”
“I know. But I’d hoped she wouldn’t have to hear it at all. I keep praying the police will call and tell me that they’ve arrested the kidnapper and that Lacy and Lila are safe and on their way home.”
“You keep on praying and trusting in the Lord, Hadley. Half the city of Dallas is praying right along with you. Even the ones who don’t pray are on the lookout for your two sweethearts ever since that first AMBER Alert was released. People around here come together in a crisis. That’s the Texas way.”
“I know,” Hadley said. “You’d think the cops would have a decent lead by now.”
Dread swelled inside Matilda like a pot of soaking beans. “If you don’t need me anymore, I think I’ll go home for a while.”
“Of course. You should. I’ll be okay. I have Adam.” She touched the man’s arm. “Sorry I didn’t introduce him sooner, but this is Adam Dalton, an old friend. Adam, this is Matilda Bastion.”
Matilda recognized the name immediately. She’d never met Adam, but she knew that he and Hadley had been engaged for a few months several years back. Janice had never approved of the relationship and Matilda figured she’d had something to do with their breakup.
She sized him up while they exchanged a greeting. The fact that he was standing by Hadley in a time of crisis was good enough for Matilda.
She looked up as a middle-aged nurse approached them.
“Is one of you Hadley O’Sullivan?”
“I am,” Hadley answered.
“Dr. Gates would like to speak to you. He’ll meet you in your mother’s room.”
Matilda said a quick goodbye and made her exit. If this was bad news, she didn’t want to hear it. Today was already hell enough.
* * *
HADLEY LOOKED UP as the doctor joined them in her mother’s room. She was only vaguely aware of Adam standing beside her, but glad he was there. His strength and confidence worked like an invisible conductor to fight off hysteria and keep her at least semi-grounded.
“The surgery was a success,” Dr. Gates said calmly. “The tumor was larger than the scans indicated, requiring more involved and complex incisions, but it wasn’t attached to any vital organs.”
“That is great news.” She leaned against the bed frame. “Will she need follow-up chemo or radiation treatments?”
“Your oncologist will go over that with you when he gets the full results back from tissue samples taken from surrounding areas. Your mother tolerated the surgery well, but with her blood pressure problems, I’d like to keep her in the hospital for at least three nights. I’ve already cleared that with the insurance company.”
“Now you’ll only have to convince Mother.”
“I’m hoping you can help persuade her. She’s a very lucky woman to have caught this in time.”
Lucky.
Under the circumstances, the word seemed so ludicrous as to be vile. Yesterday, the news he’d just given her would have been cause for celebration. Today it barely penetrated the layers of horror.
“Is Mother alert?” she asked.
“She’s coming out from under the influence of the anesthetics, but I want her to stay as quiet and as calm as possible for at least the next twenty-four hours. That means no visits from those precocious granddaughters she was telling me about.”
“I’m afraid there’s a problem with keeping her calm,” Hadley said. Her insides began to churn again and for a few seconds she was afraid she was going to have to make a run for the bathroom or risk throwing up on the floor.
While she struggled to settle her nerves, Adam took over for her. He explained the situation to the doctor much more succinctly than she could have managed.
Shock shattered the doctor’s professional demeanor. “Someone broke into your house while you were sleeping and abducted both of your daughters? That’s...” He paused, evidently struggling for the right word. “It’s evil, depraved beyond comprehension. What kind of maniac would do such a thing?”
“Apparently, one with a key to Janice O’Sullivan’s house,” Adam explained. “No door or window locks were tampered with.”
“That’s why I have to tell Mother the truth,” Hadley said. “I have to ask her for the names of everyone who could possibly have gotten their hands on a key.”
“You’re right,” Dr. Gates agreed. “Her input is invaluable. Even if it weren’t, she’d never forgive you for not telling her the truth immediately.”
“How long before she’ll be coherent enough for me to explain the situation and ask her about the key?”
“She’ll be able to communicate within the hour though she will still demonstrate signs of the drugs.” He scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I need to be in the room with you when you tell her about the kidnapping.”
“Are you afraid the shock could cause Mother to suffer a heart attack?”
“I’m a grandfather,” Dr. Gates said. “I haven’t had surgery and I’m in perfect health. I’d be in danger of having a heart attack if someone kidnapped one of my grandchildren, much less two.”
“I’ll make sure you’re in the room when I tell her,” Hadley said. “But that won’t be the end of it. Detective Shelton Lane is heading up the case and he’s already bugging me about questioning Mother.”
“That’s up to you,” Gates said. “But if it were me, I’d insist that a family member be in the room during any police visits, at least for the next twenty-four hours. Your mother, while cognizant, will still be under the influence of the anesthetics.”
“But if she can help find the girls in any way, I want her to be heard.”
“That’s why I recommend having a family member with her during the meeting. There’s a difference between questioning and harassment. The detective on this case may be the exception, but unfortunately, some cops don’t differentiate between the two very well. At least that’s been my experience with other patients.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Adam said.
“Yes, but I’m not sure I can call those shots,” Hadley said.
“I can,” Dr. Gates said. “If you want, I can leave an order with the nursing staff that says positively no visitors except you or someone you accompany.”
Hadley hesitated. She didn’t want to interfere with the investigation. She wanted the girls found. And it wasn’t as if her mother was a suspect.
“I think you should do as Dr. Gates suggests,” Adam encouraged.
“Okay,” she agreed, “but add Matilda Bastion to the list of people who can visit without me present.”
“Spell that last name for me, just to make sure I get it right on the order.”
She did and they talked for a minute more before the door opened and her mother was wheeled into the room. Hadley stood aside while her mother was transferred from the gurney to her bed.
She appeared groggy, her eyes narrow slits beneath puffy lids. Her usually well-coiffed hair was damp and pressed against her head.
She saw Hadley and smiled. Then her gaze moved to Adam. The smile vanished.
“Whass see doin’ here?” Her words were slurred but clear enough that they all got the message that she wasn’t happy to see him.
Hadley breathed a sigh of relief. Neither drugs nor pain would keep Janice O’Sullivan from coming to the brawl ready to fight. She’d stave off the effects of the drugs and give them the names they needed. Detective Lane and the DPD could do the rest.
Lacy and Lila might be home in time for her to tuck them into bed tonight.
* * *
THE LATE-AFTERNOON SUN was almost blinding as Hadley and Adam made their way across the hospital parking lot. Hadley slowed her pace to reach in her handbag for her sunglasses.
She put them on and adjusted the frame on the bridge of her nose. The glare diminished. Her desperation intensified. They’d spent an hour with her mother privately before the detective had joined them for a rehash of the same information. The illuminating moment that could change everything had never come.
Now, thanks to powerful medication, her mother was resting and in the hands of the private nurse they’d hired and the competent fourth-floor nursing team.
“I had such high hopes for Mother coming up with a name that would make sense of the abduction and lead us to the girls. Now it seems that’s just another dead end.”
“Don’t count it out yet. Lane said he’d follow up on the construction workers who’d been involved in her remodeling project.”
“He didn’t sound encouraged that construction workers were the best suspects we could come up with. Especially since the remodeling project has been finished for at least six months and Lacy and Lila had never been there when they were working.”
“Every lead is important,” Adam said. “Your mother may come up with more names when the meds wear off a bit.”
“She’ll definitely try,” Hadley said.
“I’m sure,” Adam said as they reached the truck. “I thought for a minute there she was going to jump out of that hospital bed, grab an AK-47 and storm every house in Dallas until she found the girls.”
“Too bad Lane’s team isn’t doing that.”
“I’m sure they’re throwing everything they have into this, Hadley. Missing children are top priority on every police force in America.”
He opened her door for her and then rounded the truck and slid behind the wheel.
Hadley had to admit that her mother had taken the news like the fighter she was. She’d ordered the nurse to get her clothes and dared anyone to try and stop her from leaving the hospital.
A failed attempt to sit up by herself had allowed Dr. Gates and Hadley to convince her that the best way she could help was to provide them with information. She’d tried and then become furious at herself when she couldn’t give them what they needed.
To the detective’s credit, he hadn’t harassed her mother. In fact he’d been almost too accommodating and a lot of his time had been wasted on idle chatter. At least it had seemed that way to Hadley.
“Did you find the detective’s interaction with Mother odd?” she asked as Adam backed from the parking spot.
“You mean the fact that he talked more about you and your relationship to your mother and to the girls than he did about people with access to the house?”
“Exactly.”
Hadley’s cell phone rang. Her pulse pounded—until she saw the caller ID. “A friend from high school who I haven’t heard from in years. Evidently the girls’ identities have been released.”
She let the phone ring without answering. Even if the phone hadn’t needed to stay free for the kidnapper’s call, she couldn’t bear to go through the details again. Her friends would understand.
Adam shifted out of Reverse and headed toward the exit. “I’m hoping he was just trying to put your mother at ease.”
“I guess. But the girls have been missing for hours now. We have to find them before dark. They’ve never spent the night away from me.”
Hadley could feel herself sliding to the edge of hysteria. She took a deep breath, determined to stay in control. Losing it wouldn’t help find the girls.
Adam turned to look at her. “Have you eaten anything today?”
“Not that I remember, but I’m not hungry. I doubt I could even swallow.”
“You have to keep up your strength. Collapsing won’t help anybody.”
“I know. I’ll try to eat something later. But if you’re hungry we can stop somewhere.”
“I can wait. I had breakfast.”
He pulled out of the parking lot and into a stream of cars. “So is it back to the house?”
The empty, silent house void of Lila’s laughter and Lacy’s high-pitched chatter. No footsteps running down the long hallway no matter how many times she cautioned them to walk.
No one there to call “Momma.”
“I don’t think I can face going back there yet.”
“Where would you like to go?”
“I don’t know, but I can’t just sit and do nothing while waiting on the kidnapper to call with a ransom request or the police to call with good news. The waiting is driving me insane.”
“We can backtrack where the cops have been, search the nearby parks, go house to house and ask if anyone saw or heard anything last night.”
“But that would only be reaching the same people who’ve already been questioned.”
“What about going on television?” Adam suggested. “You can personally plead for the kidnapper to let them go or for someone to come forward with information.”
“I like that.” Hope spiked her pulse as the idea took hold. “Dallas has a big heart.”
“It’s the fastest way to reach hundreds of thousands of people,” Adam agreed. “You can offer an award for information leading to the safe return of the girls. That might get a response from someone from the city’s criminal element who actually knows the kidnapper.”
“Or someone involved in the kidnapping,” Hadley said. “If we act now, I may be able to get on the evening news broadcast of every local TV channel.”
“At least you should be able to make the ten o’clock news.” Adam agreed.
“I’ll call Detective Lane right now and see if he can set it up.”
She grabbed her phone. Adam reached across the space between them and laid a hand on hers. “Just a suggestion, but if I were you, I think I’d bypass Lane with this and go directly to the local TV stations.”
“Do you think the detective would have a problem with my decision?”
“I think he has his own way of handling things and might object,” Adam said.
“If he has legitimate objections to my making a public plea, I’d like to hear them. I don’t want to take any unnecessary risks where the girls’ safety is concerned. I can’t afford a dangerous mistake.”
“I can’t tell you what to do with this, Hadley. It’s your daughters.”
But not hers alone. “I’d appreciate your honest opinion,” she said. “As a friend and as a male point of view.”
Before he had time to answer, her cell phone rang again. This time it was a close friend who she hated to ignore. She took the call and accepted the empathy. Another call buzzed in.
Detective Lane. She told her friend a quick goodbye and took the detective’s call. “Have you found Lacy and Lila?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
Her spirit plunged. “What about the construction workers involved
in the remodeling project? Did you check them out?”
“We’re working on it, but at this point it doesn’t appear that any of them have a criminal record.”
Desperation forced her to ignore Adam’s words of caution. She had to do something, and Lane could probably make the arrangements quicker than she could on her own.
“I want to go on television and plead for the girls’ safe return,” she said.
There was a long, silent pause before the detective responded. “We can discuss that possibility.”
“I don’t need to discuss the possibility. My mind’s made up. The only question is will you help me arrange it or should I proceed on my own?”
“I’ll set it up, Hadley, but we need to talk first. Do you mind if I call you Hadley?”
“Please do, and I’m not questioning your expertise or your methods, Detective. But unless you can assure me that you have a credible lead in finding Lacy and Lila, I insist we go forward with the TV spots immediately. There is no time to waste and no reason to talk about it.”
“I agree, but we have a new development in the case.”
She held her breath, a wave of dread rushing through her. If this was bad news... “What’s the development?”
“Someone claiming to be the kidnapper has made contact.”
Chapter Four
Hadley’s heart was pounding as Adam pulled into her mother’s driveway. At her frantic urging, Adam had broken the speed limit more than once on the way here.
Detective Lane had refused to give her any additional information on the phone except that there had been a ransom demand along with a promise by the kidnapper that Lacy and Lila were alive and well.
Alive.
The word echoed in her heart. But the detective’s word choice continued to haunt her—someone claiming to be the kidnapper.
Please, God, let this be more than a claim.
She spotted the detective on the covered porch, standing in the stalking shadows cast by a pair of aged oak trees. She jumped from the truck as it rolled to a stop and raced to hear the rest of the story.
The detective was not smiling when he greeted her. She paused a few feet away as her gaze zeroed in on a FedEx envelope the detective held in his right hand along with a small plastic bag. When she looked closer she recognized the bag’s contents.