Taken

by Debra Lee

  Taken

  By

  Debra Lee

  Copyright © 2010 by Debra Lee

  All rights reserved.

  Debra Lee Books-March, 2011

  Taken is a work of fiction. All characters, events and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Also by Debra Lee

  Featuring Fay Cunningham

  Deadly Arrows

  A Dangerous Woman

  Other Novels

  Dangerous Bedfellows

  Redemption

  Heartbeat

  Visit the author online at

  http://www.debralee.net

  Chapter One

  “Havin’ a new baby around can be a big burden at times. You know, all that cryin’ they do starts workin’ on your nerves.”

  Teary-eyed, Mary peered up at the soft spoken man hovering over her from where she sat on the couch. “What are you saying?”

  “Maybe you couldn’t take it anymore.”

  Mary sniffled and sat taller. “You think I did something with my own baby?”

  “It’s been known to happen.”

  Mary shot to her feet. Her face inches from his. “Somebody took my baby and if you’re not going to look for her, I am.”

  Detective Kelly Rogers acknowledged this latest outburst from Mary Murray with a nod and moved to the doorway. He mumbled something to the female officer by the door and left the apartment.

  The uniformed woman stepped up to Mary. “You should grab a coat and we’ll go. Answer a few questions for Chief Daniels. Then I’ll bring you back home.”

  Mary didn’t understand the need for more questions when she’d already answered dozens asked by the detective soon after she placed the 911 call. At first the man was sympathetic before cleverly working his way to outright accuse her of doing something to Jena.

  “Somebody took my baby.”

  The officer looked away from Mary’s sharp gaze. Did she believe she’d done something with her baby, too? Did the chief? Is that why she was being escorted to the police station?

  Mary yanked a coat from the closet hanger and pulled it on. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Neighborhood busybodies ogled from the sidewalk as Mary and the officer got into one of the borough’s three police cruisers parked outside the two story brick complex.

  “An Amber alert’s going out soon,” the officer said and turned the key in the ignition. “We’ll find your baby.”

  Her words startled Mary. She heard similar words years earlier in an attempt to comfort her and her parents. They worked then. Now they created intense fear as the cruiser crept through town, making it harder for Mary to keep from hyperventilating.

  When the car stopped for the red light, her fingers tightened around the door handle. Her mind flooded with thoughts of what might be happening to Jena at that very moment.

  She closed her eyes, hopeful the darkness would take away the sudden vision of her brother, Michael. His little body in that satin-lined coffin flashed into the darkness. When Jena’s tiny body replaced Michael’s in that coffin, Mary’s eyelids flipped open and she cried out. “No.”

  The officer placed a hand on Mary’s arm. “Take it easy. We’re gonna find your baby.”

  Mary shook her head. “You don’t understand.”

  The officer’s brow arched when she looked into Mary’s wide-opened eyes. “What don’t I understand, Miss Murray?”

  “It’s happening all over again.”

  Chapter Two

  Nine Months Earlier

  Mary shivered as she stepped from the bone chilling cold of the February day and entered the lobby of Valley Friends Nursing Home.

  Jazzy piano music and off key voices sang from the recreation room. Mary headed in that direction.

  “Your grandma’s livening up the place again,” the young aide said in passing to Mary, who smiled as she viewed the scene from the doorway.

  Sadie Johnson stood at the piano. Her fingers dashed from key to key. Her wide rump swung to the rhythm, while a few seniors swayed next to her.

  When the music ended, a deep baritone voice filled the room. “Encore. Encore.”

  Heads turned in the direction of the frail looking man in a wheelchair.

  But there would be no repeat performance. Sadie spotted her granddaughter.

  An exchange of cheek to cheek kisses with her granddaughter and Sadie turned to her audience. “You’ll have to carry on without me ladies and gentlemen. I have a visitor.” With a proud smile she hustled Mary out of the room.

  As they headed down the dismal corridor toward Sadie’s room, Mary had second thoughts about confiding in her grandmother. She sensed her nana surmised her turmoil. But Mary knew the woman well enough to know she wouldn’t question her.

  They entered Sadie’s private room and Mary closed the door to shut out the stale air in the corridor she associated with the smell of death.

  Sadie’s room was like walking into her grandmother’s living room at her previous home, blossoming with brightness. The walls were covered with her grandmother’s art work. A small room, but the paintings made Mary feel like she had entered an endless forest of flowers and ferns.

  “Sorry to pull you away from your friends, Nana.”

  “No need to apologize. Besides, those old folks out there are mere acquaintances.” With the conclusion of her statement, Sadie flopped back against the pastel cushion of her arm chair.

  Her words confused Mary. “I thought you liked the people here, Nana?”

  Sadie leaned forward, a whisper away from Mary who had settled on the edge of an armless chair across from her. “Let me tell you something, young lady, I’ve been around eighty years and there’s a big difference between a friend and an acquaintance.”

  “Of course there is.”

  “They’re probably out there gossiping about me as we speak.” Sadie eased back in her chair. “No, a true friend keeps your ugliest secrets to themselves. Your pleasure is your friend’s pleasure.”

  “I agree.”

  “You know in all my years I’ve had the good fortune to have three good friends, counting you. Your grandfather was my very best friend.” Sadie unexpectedly stared off into space. “Vera was way before you were born.”

  “What happened to her?”

  Sadie shifted her gaze to Mary and studied her features closely. “Have you been feeling all right, Mary? You look awfully pale.”

  Mary shrugged off her question. She didn’t understand why, but she wanted to know more about Vera. “I’m fine. Tell me about your friend Vera.”

  “Vera and I started first grade together. We shared all our secrets.” A mischievous grin emerged. “Even a few boyfriends now that I think about it.”

  “Grandfather too?”

  “Yes. They went out once. Complete disaster.”

  “Did that end your friendship?”

  “Heaven’s no. Your mother is what did us in. Vera felt she was in competition.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Vera was jealous. Simple as that. Nothing I did or said could change the fact she resented the time I spent with your mother. Truth is Vera hated her.”

  “What did you do?”

  “The only thing I could do. I made a choice. Your mother needed her mother. You see, I had come to terms with the fact Vera would never understand my love for your mother until she had a child of her own. And that was hardly possible when she swore she’d never have one.”

  Mary couldn’t comprehend the kind of jealousy this Vera woman possessed, especially toward a child. Mary’s best friend Carol had her faults, but Mary knew she could never be that heartless. Or could she?

&nbs
p; When Sadie suddenly got up and slid the drapes apart, Mary saw the fine flakes of snow coming down were beginning to stick to the sidewalk.

  Sadie turned back to Mary. “I’m not so sure I made the right choice.”

  “What?”

  “Where is your mother now?”

  “Nana, you know Mom and Dad are living in Florida.”

  “That’s what I mean. They just picked up and went. Not a second thought about leaving me here in this hick town in Pennsylvania to freeze to death.” She gave the scene outside another quick glance. “I always hated the cold and snow.”

  Mary swallowed hard. “Nana, you insisted Mom and Dad go. I remember you told them I’d be here if you needed anything.”

  “Lesson number two for the day, Mary Murray, people rarely say what they mean.”

  “Then you didn’t mean it when you said you wouldn’t think of moving to Florida with them as long as I was here?”

  Sadie’s mouth twisted into her famous mischievous smile. “Okay, you got me on that one. It’s nice to have your family around, even if it is only a piece. There was no way I was leaving you here completely alone.”

  “And I love you for that, Nana. But I do have friends.” Sadie arched bushy gray eyebrows. “Okay, two good friends. Three, when I count you.”

  “Your friend Carol’s a survivor. Not surprising after the terrible childhood you told me she had.” Sadie paused long enough to give Mary an unsettling look. “So you’re still seeing that Kyle fellow?”

  The question gave Mary a jolt. It took her a few moments to get her bearings. “I thought you liked Kyle?”

  “He’s a darling.”

  “But? Come on, Nana, I know there is one.”

  “Well, if you must know, he doesn’t look at you the way you look at him, honey.” She took a long breath. “Sometimes the truth hurts, but that’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

  “Of course.” Mary’s tone was laced with sarcasm.

  “Now don’t be upset with your nana.” Sadie slid a hand over Mary’s shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. “Could be I never saw that look in Kyle’s eyes because my eye sight’s not what it used to be.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with your eye sight, Nana. I went with you to your last eye doctor appointment, remember?”

  Mary exchanged a brisk goodbye with her grandmother and left the nursing home. She began the half mile walk home, oblivious to the snowflakes coloring her collar-length black hair white. Or that her prominent cheekbones were becoming soaked with melting snow.

  She had visited her grandmother with the hope of some guidance and encouragement about her unplanned pregnancy. But she couldn’t bring herself to confide in the woman after her comment about Kyle, the love of Mary’s life.

  Chapter Three

  The more affluent crowd of Watery frequented Trevor House. On Mary’s secretary salary, she could only afford to eat at the restaurant on special occasions. Today was one of them. Raised a gentleman, Kyle would pick up the tab anyway unless her news scared him off before the waitress brought the check.

  The hostess seated Mary at the table she’d called to reserve. “It has to be the one in the corner next to the window,” Mary had insisted.

  The table she and Kyle shared the first day they lunched together. “Our first date,” Kyle had said, smiling.

  Mary fell in love with that irresistible smile that day.

  Now it would be our first child, Mary thought and grinned as she watched the doorway for him to appear, to rush over to her with an apology for making her wait. A client had held him up. Or would it be the hearing ran longer than he’d anticipated?

  Spending the last couple years as the district attorney’s personal secretary, Mary understood the demands placed on an attorney. And certainly how one delay early on in the day could throw everything else in the full schedule behind.

  She glanced at the wristwatch Kyle gave her for Christmas and frowned. She’d misread the little hints he’d started dropping after Thanksgiving about what her gift would be. The day he let slip that he’d spent more time than he’d expected at the local jeweler’s was the one that convinced her he was going to propose on Christmas with an engagement ring.

  “I love you, Mary.” He had told her too many times to count. But never, “I love you so much I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me, Mary Marie Murray?”

  Once he knew about the baby, she was sure he’d say it all. He’d beg her forgiveness that they hadn’t already become man and wife.

  “You know me, Mary,” he’d begin, “sometimes I get so caught up in my work I don’t think about anything else. Will you ever forgive me?” She’d fall into his strong arms to let him know all was forgiven.

  This time when Mary glanced toward the doorway, Kyle Frederick was there, smiling as he maneuvered his impeccably clothed body toward her.

  A wonderful tingly sensation danced through Mary.

  “Sorry I’m late,” came as he folded his tall lean frame into the chair across from her.

  “You’re here now.”

  Kyle instantly began fidgeting with the place setting in front of him. He finally pulled the napkin from beneath forks and carefully arranged it over his lap. When he continued to avoid eye contact with her, Mary couldn’t restrain herself.

  “Is something wrong, Kyle?”

  His eyes met hers while he reached across the table for her hand. The mere touch of his hand closing over hers caused a stirring deep within Mary.

  The instant Kyle’s hand slid away from hers and those haunting eyes of his looked into his lap, Mary knew something really was wrong.

  “We can’t see each other anymore, Mary.” He peered up at her. “I’ve fallen in love with someone else.” His eyes steadied on hers. “I’m sorry.”

  It wasn’t until he stood to leave that Mary released the hold on her breath. She wanted to speak, but no words came even as she watched him walk off.

  She couldn’t remember leaving the restaurant and had no memory of arriving home.

  The knock on her apartment door gave Mary a start. For a moment she imagined Kyle with a bouquet of her favorite white carnations in his hand standing on the other side of the door rehearsing his apology.

  In the next moment, Mary padded stocking footed across the worn carpet to the door, knowing it would be Carol standing on the other side. She remembered calling her less than ten minutes ago and crying into the phone.

  “Take it easy, Mare. I’ll be there in five minutes,” Carol assured.

  Mary opened the door and fell into Carol Sanders outstretched arms. And for nearly a full minute the fashionably suited petite woman comforted her friend in her arms until the hard crying eased into soft sobbing sounds.

  Carol guided Mary to the couch and both women sank into the cushions and fluffy pillows staggered behind them.

  Mary used the wet tissue she had balled up in her fist to dab around her eyes and cheeks. “What am I going to do, Carol?”

  Carol gently gripped Mary’s chin and looked straight into her eyes. “Exactly what I told you after we watched that test kit shade to positive.”

  Mary jerked free of her grip. “I won’t have an abortion.”

  “I’m sure Kyle doesn’t approve of you going through with this?” Mary wet her lips, then bit down on the corner of her lower one. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”

  “He’s in love with someone else, Carol. If he knew, he’d want to do the right thing. I don’t want him that way.”

  Carol got up and headed for the tiny eat-in kitchen around the corner when she said, “You didn’t get pregnant alone.”

  Mary followed her to the kitchen and stood in the doorway watching Carol root through her refrigerator. “Kyle’s not going to know about the baby.”

  Carol glared at her a moment, then went back to studying the contents of the refrigerator. “How long has this lasagna been in here?”

  “Couple days.” Mary choked. “I made it for Kyle. It�
��s his favorite.”

  Carol popped the glass dish into the microwave and turned back to Mary. Her hazel eyes beamed with compassion. “I can arrange everything for you, Mare. Doctor Moore tops the list of doctors we have on file. He can probably do the procedure in a couple days.”

  Mary sniffled and stood tall. “Do you tell everyone who comes to you pregnant they should have an abortion?”

  “I work at a family planning center, Mary. Parenthood is tough enough when there are two parents involved. Single parenthood is worse.”

  A brief period of silence lapsed. Carol had been straight forward and to the point like usual. But that didn’t make her right. Mary was determined to have her baby. Nothing Carol said was going to change that.

  The subject was temporarily dropped while Carol reached into the cupboard for two plates. Mary collected the silverware and glasses and set the table.

  It wasn’t until they were seated, Carol digging into her plate of lasagna, Mary staring at hers before either spoke.

  “You better eat up. If you’re determined to go through with this pregnancy, you can’t neglect your body.”

  It took a few seconds before what Carol had said fully registered with Mary. For the first time in hours, her mouth twisted into a smile. Without uttering a word, she picked up her fork and poked it into a noodle.

  Chapter Four

  Mary’s office at the end of the hallway gave her a clear view of the reception desk and front door of the old two-story house. Most days she closed her door in order to get her work done for the district attorney. Today she left the door opened and welcomed the sound of incoming telephone calls to the reception desk and the steady foot traffic in and out of the building. The noise and activity helped keep her mind from wandering to Kyle and the baby.

  She had almost finished proofreading the plea agreement Nelson, her boss needed on his desk by the end of the day when the bell over the front door jingled. She heard Nelson chuckle before she saw him in the hallway. She recognized the fast paced tone of the man who followed him inside before she saw him.