Finding Amy

by Carol Steward

  Becky kept walking, but Sam knew she’d never let him live this one down. She had that look on her face.

  “Sure thing. That explains why Jessica got so hot after I walked into the room.” She looked at Sam with laughter in her eyes. “Whatever is going on between you, it doesn’t matter to me. We agreed long ago that we didn’t have what it takes to make it.” Her hazel eyes looked as tired as his felt. “We made the right decision, Sam. You have my blessing.” She backed away.

  Sam stepped into her path. “It is a coincidence that we broke up when we did. There was nothing, no one who came between us.”

  “It’s okay, Sam. Really, it is.” Becky smiled. “You are so fun to razz, but not tonight. We have a little girl to find.”

  He could tell by the tone of her voice that she was sincere. “Yeah, let me know what you find. I’ll call you after Jessica’s asleep.”

  Becky muttered under her breath. “Why don’t you stay here with Jessica and let me know if you hear anything? Whether or not you two are seeing one another, I think she needs your support. I’ll call with an update.” Then Becky chucked him under the chin in her tomboy sort of way. “You two would have beautiful babies together. The chemistry is obviously there. Seems like God found you the right one this time.”

  “Not so sure about that, but I’ll take it into consideration…after we find Amy.”

  “Hang in there. We’ll find her.”

  The supervising nurse called Sam from the nurses’ desk. “Sam, you have an urgent call.”

  “Go ahead, I’ll be in touch,” Becky said as she left.

  Sam dreaded walking into the room to face the two women in his life. Especially under these circumstances. He wanted more than anything to hand Jessica good news for once, but there was no use delaying the inevitable. Sam stepped through the door and to her side.

  “What now?” Jessica moaned.

  “Deanne called in sick this morning. No one thought much about it. The officers confirmed that no one with her description has checked into any of the area hospitals. She hasn’t been in any accidents, but no one answers the door at either residence. It’s now official. Amy’s been listed as a missing child.”

  Chapter Ten

  A few minutes after Detective Hilliard left, the supervising nurse returned.

  “I don’t want any medicine. I need to be awake in case we hear from Deanne,” Jessica argued as the nurse prepared to administer the medicine into her IV.

  The nurse paused, looked at Sam, then at his mother. “I know how difficult this is for you, Jessica, but you really need to rest. This will help relax your body so it can heal. We’re going to keep a very close eye out for your daughter, and if they come here, we’ll make sure to wake you. Trust us. Okay?”

  Sam gave up fighting away his own misty eyes. He asked the supervising nurse to postpone the medication for another fifteen minutes so they had a little more time to talk.

  “That’s fine.” She turned and left.

  His mother gave Jessica a kiss on the forehead. “I’m going to go get a few things from the house and let Max know what’s going on, then I’ll be back. Would that help, Jessica?”

  Jessica shook her head. “It’s late, Lidia, you need to stay home where you can rest.”

  Sam interrupted. “I’ll stay here until Mom’s back, then come back later so Mom can go home and rest. Wouldn’t you feel better if one of us is here with you?”

  Lidia didn’t give her a chance to argue. “Of course she would. Anyone would feel the same. It shouldn’t take but half an hour to get what I need.” She kissed Sam’s cheek and smiled before hurrying out the door.

  Jessica’s teary gaze met his. “I’m sorry for everything, Sam. For this, for my stupid comments at the wrong times, for making terrible things happen every time I’m near you.”

  “Don’t blame yourself. As for your comment, I like the idea of being your boyfriend.” He waited for her reply.

  “What, there’s not enough danger in police work these days—you have to include a woman whose life can only make matters worse?” She smiled weakly. “Thanks for the flowers, but you didn’t have to apologize for anything.”

  “You didn’t return my calls—does that mean you’re not interested?”

  Jessica’s gray eyes were darker than usual, and Sam realized he shouldn’t be pushing her at a time like this. He was about to tell her to skip answering, but her dreamy gaze startled him.

  “No, it doesn’t. I didn’t think a woman taking strong medications should make important telephone calls, let alone leave messages on answering machines.” Jessica’s nervous giggle turned to tears. “Maybe when this…is all over, we could try again.”

  Sam hadn’t considered what it might mean for their relationship if they didn’t recover Amy. She was right—they shouldn’t move into a relationship until the search had concluded. Still, there was no way he could walk away from this case, even though he could count a handful of reasons why he should.

  “Sam?” Jessica looked understandably frightened and alone.

  “Yeah?”

  She reached her hand to take his. “I can’t imagine going through this without you and Lidia. Thank you.”

  His heart beckoned him to wrap his arms around her and comfort her. His brain warned him to keep his distance, not to complicate circumstances. If God was, in fact, leading him and Jessica together, He’d done so for a reason. Was that so Sam could be her comfort? Her strength? Her protector?

  Sam took her hand in his and realized it was pointless to deny his feelings for her. He’d told himself again and again over the past week that falling in love with a victim of a case was unwise. Or was it God’s way of bringing them together?

  Jessica looked Sam in the eye. “Will you stay until the medication takes effect?” she asked.

  Sam hadn’t noticed the supervising nurse step into the room. “Sure. I won’t leave until my mom gets back, so don’t worry. Before you go to sleep—do you have your house keys with you?”

  “In the closet. It’s the jagged key in my waist pack.”

  Jessica fought sleep as long as she could, but finally lost the battle.

  Sam called Becky as soon as his mother returned. On the way out of the hospital he stopped in at the security office and reviewed the few tapes that included blond children. There was no sign of Amy.

  The security guard rewound the last tape. “Could the kidnapper have dyed her hair?”

  “They wouldn’t have come to the hospital if they had changed their looks. It would ruin their disguise.” Sam gave the security officer a description of Amy and his cell number to call if he found anything promising.

  Afterward he met Becky at the courthouse, where the judge was to sign the search warrants.

  Sam realized they were waiting for two warrants, one for each apartment. “I didn’t think we’d need a warrant for Jessica’s place—she gave me her keys.”

  Becky nodded. “Since I didn’t have them, I figured it was better to cover all angles. I don’t want the judge to disallow any evidence. This suspect isn’t walking if I can help it.”

  “You remembered to include any evidence that might lead us to their current location, right? And pictures for the press.”

  “Got it covered, Sam. Don’t worry, we’ll find Amy.”

  “Deanne has a sixteen-hour lead. She could be out of the country by now.” Sam looked impatiently at the judge, who seemed to be taking too long to sign the warrants.

  Judge Warren looked right at Sam. “You’ve pushed the boundary on these.”

  Becky spoke up, as if to remind the judge and Sam that this was officially her case. “A three-year-old—”

  “I’m signing the warrants because of the child’s age, but do not push any further or I’ll disallow your evidence. Timing isn’t so critical that it’s worth letting a kidnapper go free on a technicality. I’m on call all night, you know. Just let me know if you need another warrant to get more evidence.” They both watched hi
m scribble his signature and then shove the papers across the desk.

  Sam bit his lip to keep from interrupting—he and Judge Warren had a good working relationship. Sam wondered how much Becky had actually included in the warrant.

  “Thank you, sir.” She turned and headed toward the door.

  “What do you have so far?” Sam opened the door of the courthouse and held it for Becky to exit.

  “Found an ex-husband, but we haven’t reached him yet.”

  “Anyone else involved?”

  “No evidence of anyone.”

  Becky opened the car door and paused before getting in. “How did Jessica take the news?”

  “She seemed to know before we did. Mother’s intuition? She’s had a lot of tough breaks, and this isn’t easy for her to take alone.” Sam shook his head. He wanted to be there for her, but he also wanted to be out there finding Amy.

  They met at Deanne’s a few minutes later and knocked on the apartment door. Sam looked in the windows while Becky jiggled the doorknob.

  “See anything?” she asked.

  “Nothing.” Sam knocked on the door again. “There’s a light on at the neighbor’s. See if they might have seen anything.”

  “Sure. I’ll also find out if these are privately owned or rentals. You know the drill. This is a solid wood door. It doesn’t look like a fun one to bust down.” Becky headed next door. “Why don’t you see if there’s any way in to the garage?”

  Sam headed around back while Becky talked to the neighbors.

  Sam put on his leather gloves so as not to disturb any fingerprints they may be able to lift. The side door to the garage was unlocked, and Sam was startled to find a high chair, infant seat and other baby equipment stored along the walls.

  He heard Becky’s voice a few minutes later. “Sam, we’re in!”

  He closed the garage and joined Becky inside the sparsely furnished apartment.

  “The neighbor has a key to let the movers in next Thursday. Somehow I don’t think she gave her two weeks’ notice to her employer.”

  “Did they know where she was moving?” Sam asked.

  “Nope.” Becky pulled a stack of photos from under the edge of the futon and thumbed through them. “Sam…is this Amy?”

  He nodded, then looked at the pictures of Amy at the shelter, playing happily. “Use this one for the Amber Alert. It’s a good close-up.”

  “Can’t take photos from here unless they have Jones in them. The warrant specified information to where they might be going. We’ll look for a picture of Amy at Jessica’s and I’ll get another warrant for these.”

  They continued to look around the apartment, speculating whether Deanne could have an accomplice. Becky called dispatch to get a finger printer to meet her as soon as possible. “Did you find anything?”

  “Garage was unlocked. Lots of baby stuff…one of those bouncy seats, high chair…”

  “Amy wouldn’t need those, would she?”

  “No. My guess is Deanne had a child of her own, or planned to have a baby. There were fresh oil spots on the garage floor. Any word on her car? Doesn’t look like a new one.”

  “Officer Mills is working on that for me. He’ll put out an APB. I’m going upstairs, you keep looking around down here.”

  Sam set the photos back under the futon and continued to look for clues. He turned on Deanne’s computer, hoping she’d made plans to visit family or friends.

  “Hey, Becky, did you include the computer in your warrant?”

  She closed the closet. “Direct correlation would cover us. Find something?”

  “Checking e-mail. Just a minute.” Sam had hoped she stored her password somewhere on the computer, but didn’t have the patience to dig. He called his old friend Jake Montgomery for help. If anyone could get him into the system quickly it would be a computer expert with the FBI.

  Sam thanked Jake after asking him to keep Jessica and Amy in his prayers. “If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to call, Sam,” Jake added.

  Sam jumped when Becky tapped his shoulder. “How’d you get into her e-mail? Hacking on your new list of hobbies?”

  He laughed. “I haven’t, just onto her browser. Had a little help from the Feds. Anything upstairs?”

  “More pictures of more kids, literature from adoption agencies,” Becky said. “Wonder if she failed to qualify? Or maybe she didn’t have the money to adopt…” Her voice faded away.

  Sam continued to peruse the recently used files on her computer. He clicked on the Web browser and hit “history.” Adrenaline kicked into high gear when he saw a map site listed. He printed off all of the recently used pages, then looked for a way to get into her mail.

  “Finding anything?”

  “Nothing solid, but based upon her search of cities, I think we’d better find a picture of Deanne Jones and get it to the airports.”

  They both searched for more photos, disappointed not to find one of Jones.

  “Let’s go to Jessica’s,” Sam suggested.

  “What’d you come up with on her computer?”

  “Several cities on her Internet map site, but nothing concrete. She’s quite diverse, or else she’s good at setting up wild-goose chases. I found a couple of possible e-mail contacts in her saved mail. No real names. We’ll have to get it to Jake Montgomery to follow up. I think there are enough leads to include the computer on the warrant. Her ‘favorites’ list includes a couple of adoption agencies, one sperm bank. Looks like she’s getting pretty desperate to have a baby.”

  As soon as a uniformed officer and the finger printer arrived, they left, and Sam led the way to Jessica’s place.

  When they arrived, Sam looked into Jessica’s car as he walked past and noticed that Amy’s car seat hadn’t been moved.

  As they walked up the stairs to Jessica and Amy’s apartment Becky reviewed what they knew so far. Sam’s mind drifted back to two nights ago, when he’d been here with both Jessica and Amy. Afterward, he had hoped Jessica would call, eager to set up a date. She hadn’t, and now he could kick himself for moving so slowly. Maybe if he’d trusted his instinct right after Adam and Kate’s party he would have been taking care of Amy today instead of looking for a kidnapping suspect.

  “Right now, this is the last place we know Amy was seen, in her pajamas,” Becky said while Sam blinked away tears.

  He recalled his pleasure in reading to Amy. Lord, take care of Amy, and help us to find her quickly. He ran a hand through his thick hair. It was about time for a cut, he thought distractedly.

  He used Jessica’s key and opened the door, memories rushing back. He hadn’t expected to feel so strongly for her.

  “I’m going to go ahead and look around,” Becky said quietly.

  The home had been so alive two nights ago. Now it seemed a lonely place. Suddenly he heard someone on the stairs behind him.

  “Excuse me. I’m the owner of this building, Herman Raney. Is there a problem?”

  Sam turned around and pulled his badge from his pocket. “Detective Samuel Vance, CSPD. Jessica Mathers reported her daughter missing. Did you see Amy today?”

  The man’s face turned ashen. “But…oh no, Jessica had surgery today.”

  “Yes, she did. The woman watching Amy never showed up at the hospital to visit this evening as planned.”

  “Oh dear, I had a bad feeling when I saw that police car pull up earlier, and then you and this other car pull in.” The gentleman leaned over the railing. “Catherine, Amy’s been kidnapped. The police need to ask us some questions.”

  “Oh no!” His wife let out a little cry. “Let me get my robe and I’ll be right up.”

  Sam interviewed the landlord while they waited for his wife to join them. Mrs. Raney arrived just as Becky appeared from the bedrooms, and Sam introduced her to the retired couple.

  “When did you see Amy last?” Becky asked.

  Mrs. Raney wrung her hands. “Must have been a little before seven.”

  “Are you sure?” B
ecky asked.

  Catherine Raney nodded. “I changed the sprinklers before the morning show started at seven. That woman loaded a bag and Amy into her car.”

  Becky jotted down notes. “Can you tell us what Amy was wearing?”

  “Oh, she was wearing her watermelon sundress. It’s my favorite. It has a green trim, then pink in the middle with little black seeds all over.” Mrs. Raney wiped her tears.

  “And the woman with Amy?” Becky asked, still taking notes.

  “She had on blue pants and a collared T-shirt, I think.”

  “What color was her top?”

  “Striped, blue and tan—horizontal stripes.” Mrs. Raney told them how much they were going to miss Jessica and Amy once they moved.

  “Where are they moving to?” Sam asked.

  “Jessica is putting a bid on a house, I think she said. These stairs are difficult to manage with a little one, especially in the winter, and with her bad back, she shouldn’t be lifting Amy at all.”

  “I imagine they would be,” Sam responded, remembering Monday night, and carrying Amy up the stairs.

  Becky asked for and received a physical description of the woman, but it wasn’t much. “Did you hear any unusual noise from upstairs this morning?”

  Mr. and Mrs. Raney looked at one another and shook their heads. “Like what?”

  Becky shrugged. “More noise than most mornings, the clunk of luggage, suitcase wheels, anything different.”

  “With a three-year-old upstairs, there are a few bangs and noises now and then. Nothing seems too unusual anymore.”

  Sam and Becky thanked the Raneys and went back into the apartment. Sam closed the door behind them, even though it was stiflingly hot. “If she planned a kidnapping, why would she hang around for at least an hour before making her getaway?”

  Becky stopped. “It would take some time to get things together. Maybe she waited to call the shelter from here, raise less suspicion,” she suggested. She glanced at the counter and the pad of paper on the table. “Think we should dust for prints?”