Lullabies and Lies

by Mallory Kane

  Finally her gaze faltered.

  “If you’ll stay here, I’ll go in.”

  She stiffened. “By yourself?”

  “Backup will be here in a couple of minutes. But you have to promise to stay in this car and out of our way.”

  He suffered her scrutiny as she decided whether she could trust him with the life of her child. Somehow, he passed her test. He wondered if he’d still pass if she knew about his sister.

  She nodded. “Please be careful. She’s just a baby.”

  He brought her hand to his lips. “I promise.”

  As Griff got out of the car, he noticed something that froze his heart. The front door was ajar.

  He shot a quick glance back at the car, just enough to be sure Sunny had stayed put. She sat in the passenger seat, watching his every move.

  He drew his gun. His gaze quickly assessed the condition of the porch and the door. Nothing had been disturbed. The door didn’t seem to have been forced. With his back against the wall, he glanced around the yard and the driveway, then slowly, with his gun hand, eased the door inward a fraction of an inch.

  He heard a sound—a moan, coming from inside the house. Someone was hurt!

  Clutching his gun in both hands, he shouted, “FBI. Coming in!” He shoved the door open with his shoulder and trained his gun on all corners of the dimly lit room.

  Another pained moan sounded, along with labored breathing. He saw a body crumpled over the large glass coffee table.

  He eased over and nudged the woman’s shoulder with his gun barrel.

  She sucked in a sharp breath.

  “Anyone else here?” he whispered.

  She didn’t answer.

  He checked the perimeter of the room, then quickly checked the rest of the house, acutely aware of every sound, every flicker of light.

  Retracing his steps, he bent over the woman, who lay in a widening pool of blood. As he crouched beside her, he saw what lay next to her.

  Griff’s heart shattered, and a sob shuddered through his chest. Automatically he reached into his pocket for the handkerchief he always carried, and picked up the rattle. It was spattered with blood, but the engraving wasn’t obscured.

  Emily.

  Ah God, not this time. Don’t let me be too late this time.

  He felt the woman’s neck. A faint, thready pulse beat there. She was alive, at least for now. But she’d lost so much blood.

  “Ms. Raymond? Bess Raymond? Can you hear me?”

  A breathy moan answered him.

  “Who did this? Where’s the baby?”

  She said something he couldn’t understand, then slumped, unconscious. At the same time, Griff heard the sound of tires on gravel.

  Rising, he whirled toward the door and stuck his head out, spotting the police cars and ambulance.

  “Get the EMTs in here,” he yelled. “She’s alive!”

  The ambulance drove right up to the door, destroying flower beds and leaving huge furrows in the well-kept yard.

  He hurried down the steps to the car. Sunny opened the passenger door.

  “Emily?” The hope in her voice struck his heart like a bullet.

  “She’s not in there.”

  “She’s—not?”

  She stood and grabbed his forearm with both hands. “What did Bess say? Where’s my baby?”

  He gently set her away from him and her gaze lit on what he held.

  “Oh, God, it’s hers!” She reached for the cloth-wrapped rattle.

  He held it out of her reach. “I can’t let you touch it, Sunny. It’s evidence.”

  “Eviden—” Her cracked voice ripped at his soul. She pressed her lips tightly together and nodded. “I’m sorry. Of course it’s evidence.”

  Her attention turned toward the house. “What are the EMTs doing?”

  “Bess has been shot.”

  Sunny swayed, and he caught her shoulders, feeling them trembling. “Shot. Is she—dead?”

  “No. We’ll know more in a minute. Officer!” He caught the eye of a female officer, who stepped over to them immediately.

  “Officer Linda Akin, sir.”

  Griff squeezed Sunny’s shoulders. “Let Officer Akin take you to one of the police cars. You’ll be safe with her.”

  Sunny nodded, moving stiffly. Her face was white and pinched, and her eyes were dilated. He’d seen the symptoms before. She was close to being in shock.

  Griff felt the crack that she had opened inside him become a gaping chasm. If Bess Raymond died, if Sunny’s daughter was never found, she would never heal. And neither would he.

  But as hard as he tried to hold on to his professional distance, he knew in this instance he was not just an FBI agent. He was as invested in Sunny’s daughter as she was.

  “We’ll find Emily, I swear on my life.”

  As Officer Akin led Sunny away, Griff spoke to her. “Ask the paramedics about giving her a sedative.”

  “I do not want a sedative!”

  Griff caught the officer’s eye. She nodded as she led Sunny over to the second police car.

  The EMTs came out, carrying Bess Raymond on a stretcher. Griff crossed the short expanse of yard between them. He stuck the wrapped rattle into his pocket and then pulled out his badge.

  “Griffin Stone, FBI.” He nodded toward the stretcher. “How is she?”

  The EMT in charge waved the two carrying the stretcher on into the ambulance. He peeled off his gloves.

  “Small caliber gunshot wound to the chest, point-blank. Hard to believe she’s still alive.”

  Griff’s heart sank. He glanced toward the police car where the female officer had placed Sunny.

  “I’ve got to talk to her. There’s an infant missing. And this woman knows where she is.”

  The EMT shook his head. “She’s lost too much blood, and she’s got to be close to eighty years old. I doubt she’ll make it to the hospital.”

  JANIE WATCHED IN HORROR as the ambulance pulled out onto the street, sirens blaring. She dropped her cigarette to the ground and stomped on it.

  Bess was alive. Hell and damnation. She hadn’t meant to shoot her, but damn if she didn’t wish she’d killed the old hag.

  Now what was she going to do? She wrapped her fingers around the weapon in her pocket as she hunkered down farther and watched the activity through the trees.

  As the ambulance pulled away, Janie saw Sunny Loveless sitting alone in the backseat of the police car. A relieved sigh escaped Janie’s lips as she studied her.

  At least Bess hadn’t been able to give her the kid.

  Damn Bess, and damn Hiram. And damn Eddie, too. If they’d just come to her first, let her handle everything. But no…

  Everybody had to try to think for themselves. And Janie always had to straighten everything out. Now the police were involved. Who knew what Bess had told Sunny. For all Janie knew Hiram could have been picked up. She snorted. He was such a pansy and a coward. He’d spill his guts for a hot cup of coffee.

  There was only one way to protect Eddie and her now.

  She slid her gun out of her pocket and aimed it at Sunny Loveless, closing one eye.

  “Bang,” she whispered.

  No more problem.

  111 hours missing

  WHEN SUNNY CAME to consciousness, she felt an all-encompassing emptiness. Emily. Was Emily dead?

  She tried to open her eyes, but when she did the world tilted at a funny angle, so she closed them again.

  Sharp, clean smells filled her nostrils, and the surface upon which she was lying was hard, but she felt the scratch of starched sheets against her arms. She was in a hospital.

  Steeling herself against nausea and dizziness, she finally managed to open her eyes. When she did, she found a nurse hovering around the bed, checking an IV bag, adjusting the automatic blood pressure cuff around her arm.

  She looked down. She still had on her jeans and T-shirt but a huge needle and tubes were attached to the back of her left hand. Her gaze followed th
e tubes to the IV bag.

  “Where am I?” she croaked. “Where’s Emily?”

  The nurse smiled at her. “So you’re awake? You’re in the Emergency Room of Oak Grove Community Hospital.”

  “What’s wrong with me?”

  “You were sedated.”

  Sedated. It all came flooding back. The house, the blood, Emily’s rattle. The visions swirled dizzily in her head like a broken kaleidoscope.

  Terror squeezed her heart. “My baby,” she whispered.

  The nurse looked at her oddly.

  Sunny rubbed her eyes and concentrated. What had happened?

  The policewoman had sat with her in the backseat of the police car until Griff had come over with one of the EMTs.

  She remembered pleading with Griff not to let them sedate her, but he hadn’t listened.

  Once the injection took effect, everything else was a blur. She remembered being carried. Snatches of conversation floated just out of reach of her rational brain.

  At one point, she’d heard one of the EMTs say something about the woman’s heart.

  Sunny forced herself to speak. “A woman was brought here in the ambulance with me,” she whispered hoarsely to the nurse. She licked her dry lips. “I have to see her. I have to get up.” She lifted her left hand and the tubing pulled, sending a burning pain through the back of her hand.

  “Why do I have an IV?”

  “The doctor ordered it. You were dehydrated.”

  “Take it out. I have to see Bess.”

  “Not right now.”

  “Please.”

  The nurse gently but firmly caught her hand and laid it down on the bed, then straightened the IV tubing. “You need to stay still. I’ll check on her for you. Do you know her name?”

  Sunny’s hazy brain wouldn’t work. “I don’t—wait. Bess, I think. Bess something.”

  “I’ll be back.”

  “Please hurry. She knows where my baby is.”

  GRIFF STEPPED into the curtained cubicle. Sunny’s eyes were closed, her brow had that tiny frown line in the middle of it.

  After the ambulance had taken off, sirens screaming, he’d spent hours with the local police as they went over Bess Raymond’s house, taking fingerprints, tire prints, blood samples. He’d watched with dread as the CSU team took swab after swab after swab of blood from the living room. He prayed none of it was Emily’s.

  Then he’d given Captain Sparks an abbreviated version of what he’d found when he’d arrived at the scene.

  As soon as he could get away, he’d come straight here. He’d tried to talk to Bess Raymond. No luck there. The gunshot had miraculously missed her vital organs. It had nicked one kidney and then exited intact.

  But she was on a blood thinner after a heart attack almost a year ago, which accounted for all the blood, and made her recovery uncertain.

  If Bess died, they might never find Sunny’s baby. How could he bear to tell her? He reached over and ran his thumb along the tiny line between her brows, smoothing it out. Then he combed her silky hair back from her face with his fingers.

  She opened her eyes.

  “Griff,” she said softly.

  “Hi Sunny.” He threw up a smiling mask to hide his worry. “Looks like you had a nice nap.”

  She sent him a feeble glare. “You let them drug me.”

  “You were about to go over the edge.” He eyed the IV pole. “Looks like it was a good idea.”

  Her gaze sharpened. “Did you talk to Bess? What did you find out about Emily?”

  “Bess lost a lot of blood.”

  Sunny threw back the covers and tried to struggle up, but she was blocked by the metal guardrails on the side of the hospital bed. “I want to talk to her.”

  “Sunny, you can’t now.”

  Sunny’s face grew pale. “Is she dead?”

  “Bess Raymond has a heart condition. They had to take her right into surgery to repair the bullet wound. She’s in Intensive Care on a ventilator. We haven’t been able to talk to her yet.”

  Sunny’s eyes widened with dread.

  “They’re trying to stabilize her. They hope she’ll regain consciousness soon.”

  “And Emily?”

  “The crime scene investigation unit is going over the house now. We found an empty infant carrier seat in the bedroom. It’s being checked for trace evidence now.”

  “Emily’s gone? They took her.” Sunny put both hands over her mouth as a strangled sob escaped.

  Griff stood there helplessly. He didn’t know how to comfort her. All his training, all his experience, hadn’t prepared him for what he was feeling now.

  Each missing person was important. Each case he’d handled, he’d given everything he had. But this time, everything he had wasn’t enough.

  Looking at Sunny’s pale face and bowed shoulders, he realized a terrifying truth. The truth that had been eating at his insides for five days. He was falling in love with her.

  No. The word reverberated inside his brain, mocking him. No! His mixed-up feelings were the result of taking this case so soon after the Senator’s son’s death, combined with returning to Nashville. That was all.

  Even as the thoughts coalesced, he knew he was lying to himself. He cleared his throat. “I’ll check with the nurse about letting you leave, and we’ll go get something to eat.”

  Sunny shook her head, dislodging tears from her eyes to slide down her cheeks. “I can’t eat. I want to wait here. I have to be here when Bess wakes up. She’s my only link to my daughter.”

  Chapter Nine

  Janie glanced at the dashboard clock as she pulled into the parking lot of Oak Grove Community Hospital. She didn’t have long. She had to be back home by six or six-thirty at the latest, to dress for a dinner being given by the mayor of New Rochelle in Eddie’s honor. Both the lawyer and the campaign manager had recommended that they act as if nothing had happened.

  She’d be cutting it close, but she’d make it. It wouldn’t take her long to get ready. No one ever really looked at her anyway. They were interested in Eddie, and that was how she liked it.

  She got out of the car and adjusted her baggy jacket so the .22 in her pocket wasn’t weighting down the material. As she walked toward the front entrance, she quickly assessed the area. No metal detectors, no security checkpoints for visitors.

  She entered and stepped up to the information desk.

  The white-haired woman in a blue volunteer jacket was talking to a middle-aged man. When the man left, the woman picked up the phone and began to dial. Janie stepped directly in front of her.

  The woman started, then hung up the phone. “I’m sorry,” she said with a smile. “I didn’t see you. May I help you?”

  “Bess Raymond’s room, please.”

  The woman nodded and consulted a computer. “Raymond…Raymond.”

  Janie slid her hand into her pocket and fingered the cold metal of the gun.

  Try the Rs you idiot. She bit her tongue, working to keep a serene expression on her face.

  “We have an Elizabeth Raymond.”

  “Yes. That’s her. She’s my aunt.”

  “Oh, of course. She was scheduled for emergency surgery at two o’clock. I can direct you to the surgery waiting room on the third floor. That way Ms. Raymond’s doctor can reach you.”

  “So she didn’t say anything?”

  The woman frowned slightly.

  “Never mind. What about Sunny Loveless?”

  “Who?”

  “Sunny Loveless. Another patient.” Janie’s fingers tightened around the handle of the gun. She’d seen the EMT give Loveless an injection and load her into the ambulance alongside Bess.

  “Oh.” The woman typed, then peered at the computer screen, then typed some more, then peered again. “I don’t show a Loveless.”

  “Are you spelling it right?” Janie spoke through a clenched jaw. “It’s L-O-V-E-L-E-S-S.”

  “I’m sorry. No one by that name has been admitted. You might check t
he emergency room.”

  “How do I get to the emergency room?”

  “Follow the circular drive to the west side. Or you could walk through. This hallway leads to the employee entrance. One of the nurses might let you in.”

  Janie forced a smile. “Thank you.” You incompetent old relic. She turned on her heel and left.

  So Bess had made it, so far. If she was in surgery, she wouldn’t be talking for a while. The question was, what had she already told Loveless?

  Janie looked toward the sign that read EMERGENCY ENTRANCE. She sighed. It was getting late. She didn’t have time to check on the Loveless woman.

  Anger sent a streak of pain through her temple. If that ridiculous volunteer had taken any longer, Janie was afraid she might have shot her, right there in the hospital lobby.

  Now, because of her, Janie had to hurry back to New Rochelle. She didn’t have much time.

  She’d have to come back later.

  GRIFF BOOKED a double room at a hotel near the hospital. He didn’t want to leave Sunny alone, for a number of reasons, not the least of which was he couldn’t be sure what she’d do.

  She had insisted she wasn’t hungry, but he’d ordered in room service anyway. She’d sat on her bed cross-legged, and eaten a little bit of her turkey wrap, more than he’d figured she would. She’d drunk a cup of coffee, but it hadn’t seemed to make much difference.

  She was still drowsy from the sedative. When he saw her eyelids droop and the coffee cup tilt in her fingers, he leaned over and took the tray. Then he turned off the light on her side of the room.

  “I’m not going to sleep.”

  He chuckled silently. “I know.”

  “Griff?”

  “I’m right here.”

  “Call the hospital.”

  He sent her a wry smile. “I just called a half hour ago.”

  “Call again, please? And check with the police, to see if they’ve found anything?”

  He took out his cell phone. “Both the hospital and Captain Sparks have promised to call as soon as they know anything at all.”

  Her gaze implored him.

  He sighed. “Okay, but if I do, you have to sleep. Deal?”