by Rita Herron
Anger fueled her temper. She could handle whatever she discovered about her daughter, but she didn’t know if she could tolerate the pitying or condescending looks again. “I should have known that you wouldn’t help me, that you wouldn’t believe me. You don’t want anything to mess up your perfect world, do you, Dad?” She jerked her hands away and stood. “You didn’t want a pregnant daughter, or an illegitimate child, and you certainly wouldn’t have wanted a preemie who might have been handicapped.”
“That’s enough, Nina.” Her father’s eyes glittered with rage. “I love you. Everything I’ve ever done has been with your best interests in mind.”
Nina gripped her shoulder bag, and faced her father. “If you wanted what was best for me, you’d believe me. You would have helped me search for my baby instead of abandoning me and making me feel like I was crazy.”
Grief swelled inside her at the realization that she and her father would never get along. Never be close.
She had disappointed him.
But he had disappointed her, too.
He was the one person she’d thought would have had faith in her. But he hadn’t trusted in her when she’d needed him most.
She spun around and walked out of the office, knowing she’d never be back.
REBECCA DANGLED HER feet belong the swing, pumping her legs hard to make the swing move back and forth. She was too short to touch the ground, and her legs were weak so it took a bunch of tries, but finally the swing moved.
She didn’t care if the kids laughed at her.
She would learn to pump herself even if they teased her until school was out. When her mommy came to get her, she was going to show her everything she’d learned.
A black car drove by the fence near the parking lot, and someone rolled down the window. The sun nearly blinded her, and she scrunched her nose, her glasses slipping down.
But someone in the car pushed a camera out the window and began to snap pictures.
Her stomach spasmed. Why were strangers watching the school? She’d heard other foster kids talk about the news and how kids went missing every day.
That men stole them and did mean things to them, and the kids never came back.
She jumped from the swing to go tell the teacher, but she stumbled again and her knee hit the ground. A big boy with a ball cap on laughed, and she frowned at him as she tried to get up.
Then the flash of the camera blinded her once more. When she finally could see again, the boy had run off and she was alone on the playground.
Alone except for the man in the car watching her… Was he one of the bad men the other fosters talked about?
Chapter Seven
Questions and doubts assailed Slade as they left Raleigh and headed back toward Sanctuary. Nash had seemed sincere in his concern for Nina.
But his condescending attitude had irritated the hell out of him.
Even though Nina had put on a brave face, hurt had laced her voice when she’d stood up to her father.
If anyone should have believed her, her own father should have. So why hadn’t he?
Nina might be slightly obsessed over finding the truth about her daughter, but she didn’t seem irrational or delusional. She also didn’t appear to be taking drugs as her father had suggested.
And dammit, he understood her single-minded focus and the reason she’d asked questions. Obsession had driven him to keep looking for his sister until he’d located her. And although he hadn’t liked the outcome, at least he had closure. And his sister had received a decent burial.
Nina deserved to have closure, too.
Considering the fact that Nina was the only one who’d wanted the child, that left plenty of suspects. All who had means, motive and opportunity.
Her father. William Hood. Hood’s mother.
Any one of them could have paid someone to kidnap the baby.
But they couldn’t have predicted that the fire would break out the night Nina had delivered. Still, Nina’s father and Hood might have come to the hospital when the baby was born, and jumped on the opportunity.
He frowned and maneuvered around traffic. And Hood’s wife, Mitzi, topped his suspect list. Mitzi was upset about Nina’s pregnancy. What if she’d been afraid William would change his mind after the baby was born and decide he wanted Nina and his daughter in his life?
Would she have been desperate enough to steal the baby?
Hood’s mother was an even bigger question mark in his mind. She’d tried to bribe Nina to have an abortion. Had she kidnapped the baby so she wouldn’t have to live with the stigma of an illegitimate child in the family? Or maybe she’d been worried that Nina might demand money. The baby would have had legal rights to the Hood fortune….
NINA STARED AT THE PASSING scenery, desperately trying to wrestle control over her ping-ponging emotions. She would not behave like the delusional psychotic her father and William had described.
“Nina?
She braced herself for Slade to announce he was dropping the case. “What?”
Slade slanted her a sideways look as he changed lanes. “Did your father come to the hospital when the baby was born?”
Fresh pain squeezed her heart. “The doctor called him. He was on his way when I went in to have the C-section.”
“Did he see the baby?”
Emotions threatened to choke her as she remembered the harrowing birth. “No.” She rubbed her temple in thought. “He didn’t arrive until later, after the fire had broken out.”
Slade twisted his mouth sideways. “What about Hood or any of his family members? Did they come to the hospital?”
She heaved a breath. “It may sound crazy after the way William treated me, but I did call him when I went into labor. I thought he had a right to know that his daughter was about to be born, that he might change his mind when he saw her.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “But he didn’t?”
“No. He ordered me to sign the papers and give her away, and not to ever bother him again.”
“Cold son of a bitch,” Slade muttered.
His comment eased some of the tension knotting her shoulders. “I remember thinking that myself. How could anyone be so unfeeling about their own child?”
A heartbeat of silence passed between them. “I don’t know either,” he said in a gruff voice. “But that apathy gives him motive.”
“Does that mean that you’re not dropping the investigation?”
The air vibrated with uncertainty and questions. “No, I’m not dropping it,” he said. “I may not find the answers you want, but I am a man of my word, and I will get you answers.”
SLADE REQUIRED VERY little sleep, but food was a different story. He pulled into the diner in town for a late lunch before heading to the hospital. He wanted to question the nurse on duty the night Nina had given birth.
It was way past the lunch hour, and the diner was nearly deserted, so they slid into a booth in the back. Slade ordered the deluxe burger and fries, and Nina a bowl of homemade soup. But she barely touched it.
“Have you had contact with William over the years?” he asked as he bit into his burger.
She sipped her tea. “Not really. I heard things through the gossip vine in town. About his graduation from law school, when he took over his Dad’s practice. And I saw a write-up in the paper about his country-club wedding. Apparently it made the society page.”
Climbing the social ladder seemed to be a high priority to the Hoods. But at what cost?
“You were in love with William?”
She shook her head and leaned her head on her hand, looking exhausted.
“No. I was young, Slade. Trying to fit in. Shy. And I was trying to impress my father.”
“You went out with William to impress your father?”
A sarcastic laugh escaped her. “I realize that sounds ridiculous. But I was seventeen with no mother. More than anything I wanted my father to be proud. And the Hoods were the type of prestigious family he wanted
me to end up with.” She offered a self-deprecating smile. “So I was flattered when he asked me to prom. Then later…”
“Later what?”
“Later, I saw how selfish and conceited he was, and I didn’t even like him, much less love him.”
Slade ordered himself to resist the temptation to cover her hand with his, to soothe her distress.
But he lost the battle and did just as his heart commanded. Her hand felt small and cold and in need of a big one to cling to, and something twitched inside him urging him to be that someone. That everyone else in her life had let her down.
You might, too, a voice inside his head taunted.
Her fingers curled beneath the weight of his hand as if grasping on, and panic set in. He couldn’t make promises to a vulnerable woman like her.
Not when he knew he’d walk away in the end.
He was too damn broken to be any good to anyone long-term.
She deserved someone better. A savior who’d stick around.
So he pulled his hand away and finished his burger in silence, determined to tie up the case so he didn’t have to be tortured by her big, sad eyes, and by things he could never have or give her.
His cell phone buzzed as he was paying the bill, and he checked the number, saw it was GAI and connected the call. “Blackburn speaking.”
“Slade, it’s Amanda Peterson from GAI.”
“Yeah?”
“Gage managed to get a copy of all the forensics reports from the hospital fire, including copies of the bodies found after the fire.”
Slade’s gut tightened. “And?”
“It was a mess,” she said. “I can see why forensics and the cops had trouble sorting out the truth. Bodies were dismembered, literally blown apart. The chemicals ate away skin, bone and tissue, making identities impossible. The small town just didn’t have the manpower at the time to handle such a large investigation, and the feds that came in wrote it off as a tragic accident and told families they had to accept the loss.”
Slade saw Nina watching and adopted a poker face. “So what can you tell me?”
“They did take photographs of the bones and recorded the unidentified ones. Unfortunately hospital records were also destroyed that night, so any records of Peyton Nash, including her footprints and handprints, were lost in the fire.”
“Damn.”
A moment of silence, then Amanda continued. “But there were a couple of infant bones in the mix. I’m trying to see if they belong to Peyton now, but getting the results may take time.”
“How about patient files of other births, infants in the hospital for other procedures, tests or treatments that night?”
“Gage already put Benjamin Camp on it.”
Slade’s admiration for McDermont rose. “Thanks. I’ll fish around at the hospital. Keep me posted.”
She agreed and he snapped his phone closed. Nina was watching with anticipation. “What?”
“I told you I wouldn’t mince words,” Slade begun.
Her face paled slightly. “All right.”
“The forensics expert at GAI is studying copies of the forensics reports. I’m sorry to say, but there were infant bones in the mix.”
Her breath hitched out. “Did they identify them?”
“No, they’re working on that now. But I want to question Dr. Emery again. According to him, there weren’t any babies other than Peyton lost that night.”
Tears glittered in her eyes before she blinked them away. “Then he lied,” she said with a strength to her voice that surprised him.
“Gage is going to request copies of hospital records from that night, but most were destroyed in the fire.”
“Didn’t they have some kind of back-up system?” Nina asked.
“Our computer guy is working on that angle.” Slade reached for the bill. “Let’s go talk to the nurse on duty that night and find out what she remembers.”
THE IMPLICATIONS THAT there had been an infant’s bones in the fire made Nina’s stomach protest, and for a moment she’d thought she might lose the lunch she’d barely touched.
But she swallowed hard to stem the nausea. At least Slade hadn’t given up. She’d asked for answers and she was grateful he was being honest with her, not treating her as if she were a crazy woman who might flip out if he didn’t walk on eggshells around her.
The wind ruffled her hair as they entered the hospital and rode the elevator to the maternity floor. Nurses bustled up and down the halls, orderlies were picking up food trays, a woman in a robe strolled toward the nursery and voices echoed from the closest room nearby just as an older couple, probably grandparents, rushed down the hallway carrying flowers and a blue stuffed teddy bear.
Nina’s experience had been so different, yet she had to smile at the thought of the happy couple and grandparents celebrating a new life.
“Excuse me,” Slade said to a curly-haired nurse wearing pink scrubs at the nurses’ station. “Is Carrie Poole here?”
The woman nodded. “She’s in the NICU.”
“Can you ask her if she can speak with us?” Slade asked.
The woman glanced at Nina with a frown. “Regarding what?”
Nina cleared her throat. “I just want to ask her a couple of questions. She took care of my baby when I was here a long time ago.”
“You’re Nina Nash, aren’t you?” the woman asked.
Nina stiffened. “Yes.”
“Dr. Emery said you hired a private investigator and were asking questions.” A wariness tinged her eyes. “I wasn’t here back then, but I’ve heard how horrible it was. I can’t imagine…”
“I’m not here to cause trouble for the staff, or blame anyone for that night,” Nina said. “In fact Carrie was so sweet to me, that I just want to talk to her, that’s all. Please.”
The woman’s expression softened. “All right, sugar. I’ll let her know.”
She rose from the desk, exited on the opposite side and walked down the hallway.
Voices sounded, and she glanced to the left and saw a new mother cradling her baby as the nurse pushed her in a wheelchair toward the elevator. The father walked behind, carrying a bouquet of balloons and pink roses. As they reached the elevator, he leaned over and kissed his wife and baby girl. Tears stung Nina’s eyes.
Slade’s hand stroked her shoulder as if he understood how the scene affected her. A minute later, the nurse returned and pointed them to a waiting room. The bubbly red-haired nurse Nina remembered popped into the room a second later, and Nina made the introductions.
“I don’t know if you remember me or not,” Nina began.
“Of course I do.” Carrie sat down and took her hands in hers. “I’ve thought about you a lot over the years. I’m sorry for all you’ve been through.”
Her kindness touched Nina. “You were so sweet to me and my baby,” Nina said. “I want to thank you for that.”
Carrie smiled. “I can still see her little face, all scrunched up and fussing. She was a real fighter. I…thought she had a good chance.” Carrie’s voice cracked. “And then everything went wrong.”
“Can you tell us exactly what you remember about that night?” Slade said.
She bit her lip as she looked at him, then nodded. “I wasn’t in the nursery when the fire broke out. I was down the hall with another patient. I helped them to get out, then rushed back to help clear the babies. Two other nurses from the regular unit had infants in their arms, and rescue workers were rushing toward them to help. I ran to the NICU. There were only two babies in there that night, and Jane had the little boy. I went to get Peyton, but she wasn’t in the bassinet.”
“No one saw anyone take her?”
Carrie shook her head. “Dr. Emery had ordered tests for the baby, and I assumed that someone had taken her to another wing to administer them.”
“Carrie, I know it’s been a long time,” Slade said. “But do you remember anyone odd hanging around the nursery, someone who looked out of place?”
&n
bsp; She fidgeted with the pocket of her scrubs jacket. “No, not that I can think of.”
Slade hesitated. “How about other births that might have gone wrong that night or week? Maybe someone who had a miscarriage?”
Carrie drew her shoulders back. “That information is restricted for the patient’s privacy.”
“Please,” Nina said. “If there’s a chance another patient kidnapped my baby, you have to help me.”
Her eyes flickered sideways nervously. “Well, there was one woman… She gave birth to a stillborn that afternoon. A baby boy.”
Nina’s chest constricted. “Do you remember her name?”
Carrie chewed her bottom lip. “I’m really not supposed to divulge that information. I could get fired.” She fidgeted. “Besides, the poor woman suffered a terrible tragedy herself.”
“I understand,” Nina said. “What happened to the baby?”
“I don’t know. He was probably taken for an autopsy.”
“The woman’s name?” Slade pressed.
“Gwen Waldorp,” Carrie said. “I think she moved to Kings Mountain.” Carrie glanced at her watch. “If that’s all, I need to get back to work.”
“One more question,” Slade asked. “Do you know William Hood and his family?”
Carrie nodded. “I’ve seen their pictures in the newspaper.”
“Were either William or his mother at the hospital the night Peyton was born?”
She backed away, fidgeting with her hair again. “I don’t remember seeing them.”
“How about William’s wife? Her name is Mitzi.”
“I told you I don’t remember. It was madness here, everyone in a panic.” She tapped her watch. “Now I really have to get back to work.” Her ponytail swung behind her as she turned and rushed down the hall.
“What do you think?” Nina asked.
Slade frowned. “I think that nurse knows something she’s not telling us.” He gestured toward the elevator.
“That bone your forensics person found, it could have belonged to the stillborn,” Nina suggested.