by Mallory Kane
She resolved to tell Griff as soon as she had a chance.
From her vantage point next to Griff, Sunny watched two men suit up in protective gear and carry a device from their truck, down the sidewalk and up the front steps to her door.
“That’s an X-ray machine,” Griff said. He stood beside her, his arms crossed, his foot tapping. He obviously wanted to be in the middle of the action.
“Have you seen many bombs?” she asked.
“A few.”
“Are you going to feel silly if it’s the box of business cards I ordered?”
“No. And it’s not.”
“It’s the right size.”
He cut his eyes over to her. “Too light.”
She nodded, swallowing nervously, as the two men who’d delivered the X-ray machine to her front door retreated, leaving the officer in charge alone in her house with a potential bomb.
She hugged herself, cringing, expecting an explosion any second.
A voice distorted by static crackled over a mobile telecom unit. She couldn’t make out what it said, but one of the suited-up men jogged up the street from the police van to her house and went in. Through the door, she could see him and another man crouched near the package.
They seemed to confer for a long time. Then the officer in charge took something from his pocket.
“He’s going to open it,” Griff said softly. He took her arm and gently led her farther down the street, toward the bomb squad’s van that was parked about sixty yards from her house. “You should always be at least as far away as the bomb squad members. They know what a safe distance is.”
Sunny looked back over her shoulder at her front door, seeing the forms disappear as she and Griff moved farther away.
A sudden shout startled her and she grasped Griff’s hand.
“That was a warning to clear the area around the house.”
Her shoulders tensed and she leaned in toward Griff. His arm slipped lightly around her shoulders. The air reverberated with tense silence.
Then she heard a muffled pop.
The officers in the van didn’t move.
After what seemed like a very long time, a silhouette appeared in Sunny’s doorway. He took off his helmet and yelled, “All clear.”
Sunny’s breath whooshed out in a huge sigh. “Wh-what was that pop?”
One of the bomb squad members heard her. “A blasting cap, ma’am.”
“Agent Stone.” It was the officer in charge.
Griff let go of Sunny’s shoulder and headed toward the house. Sunny followed.
The officer took her in at a glance as he began talking to Griff.
“Blasting cap. We identified wires and the cap on the X-ray, but couldn’t tell what else might be in there.”
“What about the characteristics?”
He shrugged. “Crude. Simple. Almost anyone could do it, following instructions on the Internet or in books. It’s easy to put together. The problem for amateurs comes when they try to put explosives in it. That’s a lot trickier. Plus it’s a little more difficult to obtain C-4 or other explosives than it is to get blasting caps.”
Sunny listened, confused. “But if it was just a blasting cap and some wires, then what was he trying to do?”
Griff looked at her. “Scare you. Warn me.” He turned back to the officer in charge. “Can we have the package now?”
The officer nodded. “Sure. It’s all yours.”
“Get me a paper bag,” Griff said to Sunny.
She stepped around the package and retrieved a grocery bag from the kitchen.
Griff had pulled on latex gloves by the time she got back. He carefully lifted the opened package and placed it in the bag just as Carver approached.
“That your bomb?” Carver asked.
Griff stood and handed him the bag and the notes Sunny had given him. “Make sure CSU goes over all this with a fine-tooth comb. Check the printing on this and the two notes—see if they match.”
Carver’s eyebrows flew upward when he saw the notes, and he shot Sunny a look of irritation. “Two notes?”
She lowered her gaze.
“I’ll get CSU on it,” he said to Griff. “We’ll see if we can lift any prints, too. What was the bomb?”
“Crude. Blasting cap triggered to go off when the package was opened.”
“Mmm, could have cost a finger or two.” Carver frowned. “Who do you think—Means?”
“It’s worth checking out. Working in construction, he might have access to blasting caps. I’ll write up the report on the notes and get it to you.”
Even after the officers and the bomb squad van left, Sunny couldn’t stop trembling. She wouldn’t have given a thought to opening a package. She or Lil could have been injured.
“I don’t understand,” she said to Griff. “Who would send me a fake bomb? Why? What were they trying to accomplish?”
“I told you, it could have been a warning, a scare tactic, a diversion. It might not even be connected to the kidnapping.”
“Not connected?”
“Emily’s disappearance has gotten a lot of publicity. In addition to the Grosses and Emily’s biological father, there are others who aren’t happy with you—Thomas the deadbeat dad, Jennifer Curry. I have copies of your case files from the police. There’s almost always an injured party—even if it’s only in their own mind.”
With every word Griff spoke, Sunny felt her carefully constructed fantasy crumbling. “I don’t understand. All I ever wanted to do was help people. Give them the happy ending they were looking for.”
Griff just looked at her, his face carefully blank. “Haven’t you figured it out yet? There are no happy endings.”
GRIFF RAPPED on the open door of Lieutenant Carver’s office. The older man was on the phone, but he waved Griff in.
“No, you stay on the canvassing. I’ll go over and talk to her parents.” Carver wiped his face. “Thanks.”
When Carver hung up, Griff stepped closer to his desk and handed him three sheets of paper. “Here’s the report I promised you about the notes Sun—Ms. Loveless received.”
“Great. Nice of her to finally tell us about ’em.”
“She was afraid. They told her they’d kill her baby.”
Carver’s bushy brows drew down as he angled a glance at Griff. “They all say that.”
Griff nodded, chagrined. He sounded like a rookie. Worse, he sounded like a rookie with a crush on a crime victim, and he knew that was exactly what the veteran police lieutenant was thinking.
Carver heaved a big sigh and nodded toward a chair. “Sit down. I’ve got news.”
Griff didn’t like the tone of Carver’s voice. This didn’t sound good. He sat. “Is it about Mabry?”
“First of all, the preliminary report on the notes is that the first one was written by a different person than note number two or the lettering on the fake bomb.”
“Yeah?”
Carver nodded. “Our handwriting expert states that the second note and the address on the package could be the same person.”
Griff filed that information away. “What else?”
“Brittany Elliott’s missing.”
Griff’s pulse sped up. “She’s gone to her boyfriend, Means.”
Carver nodded.
“What do the parents say? When did she disappear?”
“Apparently she was supposed to spend the night with her best friend. When she didn’t come home by noon, her parents called the friend’s parents. Brittany hadn’t been there.”
“Damn. I didn’t expect this. Means’s profile doesn’t fit with stealing the baby. Not unless it was for money.”
“Doesn’t fit? Why not? He’s the baby’s father.”
“Our profiler has studied his history. He’s from an abusive family. Ran away from home, never finished high school. He’s emotionally immature. Fatherhood would be way too much responsibility. Now if the girl had been with him from the beginning, it would make more sense. She m
ight have coaxed him into getting her baby back for her.”
“We’re still searching for them. We can’t rule them out.”
“I agree. I want to talk to Means soon as you find him. And I don’t care how long it’s been, I want his hands tested for residue. I want to know if he set that blasting cap.”
“I got the report from CSU. Inconclusive. It’s a common brand, used all around this area. We’re checking retailers, but I doubt that’s gonna give us anything.” Carver leaned back in his chair and sighed. “And there were no prints or trace evidence.”
“What about the rigging?”
“Like the bomb squad leader said, it’s a simple rig. Anyone who’s ever worked construction, or can follow directions, can rig a cap to pop. According to the lab, it wasn’t meant to be anything more than a scare tactic. Chances of injury were low, especially with such a small box.”
Small box. “Wait a minute.” Griff’s pulse sped up. “The box was small enough to fit into the mailbox, so why did the mailman bring it to the door? He told Sunny it didn’t have a stamp.”
Carver shuffled papers on his desk. “The officer on duty at Ms. Loveless’s house took his statement. Let me see.” He reached for a file. “Here it is.”
He read for a few seconds, then handed the typed report to Griff.
Griff scanned it. “He found the box in the mailbox and brought it to the house to let Ms. Loveless know it didn’t come through the regular mail.” He looked up at Carver. “Could have been any time since the mail ran yesterday. Is someone canvassing the neighbors, to see if anyone saw anything?”
Carver nodded. “The street is pretty deserted during the day. Most of the residents work.”
“So nobody saw anything.” Griff stood. “I’m going to the M.E.’s office. See what they’ve found about Mabry’s death.” He paused at the Lieutenant’s door. “Thanks. I know this is straining your resources.”
Carver shrugged. “A baby’s missing. Nobody’s complaining about the work.”
Griff nodded. These were good people, doing a good job. Whoever they were up against was either extraordinarily good or extraordinarily lucky.
HIRAM TURNED DOWN the volume on the police scanner and picked up his phone, nearly giddy with relief and excitement.
He punched in a number.
“What?” Janie’s irritating screech hurt his ears, but right now he didn’t care.
“Are you still watching the national news? ’Cause there’s been a new development.”
“I told you not to call me.”
Anger caused sweat to pop out on his forehead. “Listen, you—” he stopped before he said the word he was thinking. It would be better not to cross Janie. He took a deep breath instead.
“Sunny Loveless received an explosive device in the mail today. They had to call in the bomb squad.”
He couldn’t help grinning. “According to the police scanners, they’re looking for the baby’s biological father and mother. The father is wanted for questioning, because he’s worked in construction.”
“Hmmph. If I want to talk to you, I’ll call you.” The line went dead.
Hiram looked at the phone, then threw it across the room. It bounced harmlessly against the wall and plopped onto the floor.
The twerp in the next apartment kicked the connecting wall and shouted, “Keep it down in there!”
Hiram muttered an appropriate response under his breath. The guy worked nights, and he got mean if woken up during the day.
Moving to the table, Hiram turned up the volume on the scanner as high as he dared. If anything else happened to Sunny Loveless, he wanted to hear about it.
Chapter Five
73 hours missing
It was after nine o’clock when Sunny waved good-night to Lillian, and watched as her friend crossed the yard to her own house. As soon as Lillian was safely inside her house, Sunny closed and locked the front door. She turned out the lights in the foyer and wearily climbed the stairs.
The excitement over the fake bomb had finally died down, and Sunny had spent a grueling couple of hours being questioned by Agent Stone—Griff. He’d grilled her about every single case she’d had in the two years her agency had been in business.
He was kind, but relentless. And he was good. He’d coaxed tidbits of information from her memory that she hadn’t known she knew.
Like the glint of venom in Bob Thomas’s eye. She’d forgotten how the man had looked at her that day in court, right after he’d been harangued by the judge for not paying child support.
Or the hostility in the young woman’s voice when Sunny had contacted her to tell her that her brother wanted to end a ten-year estrangement between them. The woman had coldly told Sunny that some things could never be forgiven. At the time, Sunny had sympathized with the brother, who’d seemed brokenhearted that his sister didn’t want to see him. But today, Griff’s intense gaze made her wonder if she’d done the right thing.
When Griff asked her if she’d given the man any hint of where his sister was, Sunny’s heart had hammered in trepidation. Had she? What if the brother was violent or abusive? Had she put the woman in danger? The man had sat in Sunny’s office, with her case notes in plain view on her desk.
Griff’s scowl told her what he was too polite to say. He thought she was careless and incompetent. Fluff.
Right now, she agreed with him. She’d had an idealistic notion of helping people by giving them the happy ending they sought. It warmed her heart each time she helped reunite friends, or bring together long-lost family members.
But Griff had forced her to see how naive she’d been. The harsh truth had been reflected in his violet eyes.
Every one of her cases had its dark side, its unanswered questions. Almost any one of them could have spawned a bitter person who resented her intrusion.
At the top of the stairs, she wrapped her arms around her stomach and hugged herself. She felt beaten down. Sick with worry.
For the first time in six months, since Emily had come into her life, the weight of her loneliness enshrouded her. It was amazing how thoroughly one tiny little being had taken over her heart. The gaping hole left when her parents had died had been filled to overflowing by her beautiful little girl.
A small moan escaped her lips as she stopped at the door to Emily’s room. She filled her lungs with the sweet, baby powder smell of her daughter. And felt the emptiness return.
The moonlight turned the bright pink-and-yellow room to a soft, muted beige. The baby bed sat by the window, its little blankets unwrinkled, its baby pillow smooth and undented by Emily’s tiny head.
As tears began to flow down her cheeks, Sunny tiptoed over and picked up the stuffed bear she’d had made especially for her daughter. She sat in the rocking chair, hugging the bear to her chest.
“Oh, Emily,” she choked. Was she ever going to see her sweet baby girl again? The fear that had dogged her all her life, the reason she had formed Loveless, Inc. two years ago, echoed in her ears in Griff’s low deep voice.
There are no happy endings.
She pushed her nose into the bear’s soft fur. “Dear God, please. I will do anything. Just don’t let them hurt her. I promised her I’d take care of her. Help me keep that promise. Please don’t take her away from me.”
Old grief mixed with new, tasting like ashes in her mouth. Without Emily to fill the void in her soul, Sunny missed her mom and dad with a fierceness that surprised her. Her parents had been in their fifties when her mother had found her, a newborn, abandoned in the parking lot of the hospital where she’d worked the evening shift. The Lovelesses had immediately started proceedings to adopt her. As far as Sunny was concerned, they were her family.
Just as she was Emily’s family. Her throat clogged with tears and she rocked back and forth, her chest cramping with a pain too deep for tears.
She finally understood what her mother had always told her. You could not be more special. Not even if I’d carried you inside me.
> A harsh jangle startled her. It was her cell phone.
Her heart skipped with hope and fear. In the three days since her baby had been stolen, her cell phone hadn’t rung once.
Only Lillian and a few close friends had the number. She’d given it to Lieutenant Carver so he could reach her no matter where she was.
But the number was engraved on the gold ID bracelet Lil had given Emily just a week before, for her six-month birthday.
She dug the phone out of her pocket and flipped it open. She didn’t recognize the number. Her hand shook so much that she almost dropped the phone.
“Hello?” she said cautiously, afraid to hope, afraid to think this was anything other than a wrong number.
“Ms. Loveless?”
The voice was gruff but definitely female. And tense.
Sunny’s heart thudded in her chest. The bear fell from her lap as she cupped both hands around the tiny phone.
Was this the call? The ransom request?
“Y-yes?” She clenched her jaw to keep from screaming Where is my baby?
“You don’t know me,” the woman said nervously, her voice almost drowned out by the sound of traffic in the background. “But—”
“Do you have my baby?” Sunny croaked.
“Emily is right here. She’s just fine.”
Sunny’s breath caught between a sob and a gasp. “Oh, thank God.” Her scalp tightened as the edge of her vision went dark and her knees gave way. She crumpled to the floor, huddled over the phone.
“Please, please, tell me where she is. Give my baby back to me. I’ll do anything.” Sobs racked her body.
“Ms. Loveless, listen to me. I can’t stay on the phone. You have to come to Philadelphia, alone.”
Sunny tried to concentrate on the woman’s words. “Phila-Philadelphia? Pennsylvania?” What was she talking about? “Is that where you are? Where Emily is?”
“Ms. Loveless, I need to know that I can trust you not to tell anyone. Not the police. Not the FBI. Not even your family. It’s a matter of life or death.”