by Anne Hagan
“Yes I can and I’ll prove it.”
“How?”
“Let’s go hot shot. Give me all you got. You won’t get a peep out of me.”
“Yeah right!”
“Is the big bad Sheriff lady afraid of little old me?”
“Don’t even try it. You’re not going to con me into it.”
Dana knows just what buttons to push. She knows I usually can’t back down from a challenge but I vowed to myself that I was going to stand my ground on this one.
She had other ideas. She reached over her head, flipped a pillow to stand vertically and then slid her body up into more of a sitting up position than she had been in letting the sheet that had been covering her bare breasts fall away. They were creamy white and her nipples were hard and perky already.
“You play dirty.” I moved to raise the sheet. She grabbed my hand and stopped me.
“Can’t take it, baby?”
My lips felt dry. I licked them and tried to look away. She let go of my hand and raised the hand that had held it to my face.
Turning me back to look at her she whispered, “I want you now.”
“Babe,” I pleaded, “they can’t possibly even be asleep yet.”
“They’ll never hear us. That’s a promise.”
We made love and she managed to stay pretty quiet, but the bite marks on my shoulder were going to be hard to explain if anyone ever saw them.
Chapter 4 - Assistance
Dana
Monday morning, February 16th
Mel was out the door before 6:00 AM. Now, it was me, Katie and Jef rushing to get moving too so we could be at the WIC office in Zanesville when it opened at 8:00.
Katie fed Jef and was dressing him and I’d showered and was getting dressed myself when the phone rang. I debated not grabbing it but when I saw that it was my old boss Russ Young, I went ahead and picked it up.
“Russ? You’re up and at it awful early.” If he was at home or in his office in Chicago, I thought, it was just after 6:00 AM there. “Is something wrong?”
“No, no. Sorry about this but I’m trying to get a jump on a few things before my flight to the West Coast for a consult. Are you up for a background check assignment in the Columbus area? It came up late Friday afternoon and I don’t have anyone in Ohio who can jump on it right away. I know it’s a bit of a drive for you but I thought I’d run it by you.”
“Columbus isn’t too bad Russ...an hour or so. What do you have?”
“A guy, Roman Bakula, Russian it looks like, here on an H1B visa for IT. His petition with his current employer is expiring and I guess he wants to move on. A Columbus hospital wants to pick him up and renew him for the remaining three years he can be here but, in the job, he would have electronic access to thousands of medical records and all of the associated personal data. They have his history before he entered the country nearly three years ago and his current employer has told them he has an exemplary work record with them but that’s all they’ve got.”
To my surprise, I heard the kitchen door open and Hannah call out. I poked my head out of my room and gave her a wave then pointed at my phone.
“So, what I’m hearing is,” I said, picking back up with Russ, “they want to know what he’s been doing, besides working at his current employer, since he got in country?”
“Exactly.”
“What’s the timeline?”
“They aren’t in a huge rush. I can give you this week.”
“What’s his address?”
“He lives in Whitehall.”
“That’s the east side of Columbus; a piece of cake for me except, where’s his current company?”
“Actually, I’m not sure but, to be honest, I had Rosita email you all the details this morning, just in case you said yes. Will you take it?”
“You’re going to owe her, dragging her in there so early!” I laughed and then told him, “Yes, I’ll handle it.” To myself I thought, I can start right after I take care of this stuff with Katie. How long could that possibly take?
“I didn’t expect you to come all the way down here, Hannah. I figured you’d just meet us at the WIC office in Zanesville. I hate that you wasted all that gas.” She was sitting at the kitchen table, still in her coat and hat, waiting patiently.
“It’s okay. I kind of wanted to get out for a bit even though it’s pretty cold out.” She sounded a little down.
“Is everything okay at home?” I’d picked up the undercurrent of tension between her and Jamie at breakfast on Sunday but I hoped in my own mind that it would all work out now that Katie would be staying with us.
“Jamie isn’t happy that I took the day off from school to help out today. We had an argument.”
“I see. Hmm, well, I can kind of see Jamie’s point and I can handle this. If you want to just take off and head to class...”
“No. I’ve promised Katie I’d help her and I want to be with her today.”
She wanted to be with her friend. She was an adult – more or less – I couldn’t force her to leave and go to class. Instead, I said, “Okay then.”
“What else is going on? I sort of overheard some of your call. Is there something you need help with?”
“No, no, but thanks. That was just an assignment from a company that I used to work for to do a little...freelance...work for them, is all.”
“If you have something you need to do, I can take Katie to that office. I looked it up. I know where it is.”
“I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“You’ve done a lot for me and now for Katie and Jef. I want to help.”
I considered her offer while I watched Katie carry her snowsuit clad infant into the kitchen and work on buckling him into his car seat carrier.
“That suit’s adorable. Where’d you get that?” I asked her.
“I got it for him,” Hannah supplied. She beamed with as much light in her eyes as his mother did at my compliment.
“Katie, Dana has some work she really needs to do...”
I started to interrupt her but she interrupted right back.
“Would it be alright if it’s just me and you today? I know where we need to go.”
“Sure,” the younger woman said.
“See, it’s settled,” Hannah told me.
“Not quite. I do appreciate the assist but you at least need to let me give you some gas money. You’re going to have to take them all the way to Zanesville and then bring them back here.”
“Okay, fine.”
“And, before I forget, I need to talk with you later about how you got high school finished yourself so we can get Katie started on that.” I smiled over at the younger girl and she smiled back, seemingly very open to the idea.
“Do you want me to explain about it to Katie on the way there?”
“Sure. That’ll give you two something to talk about besides babies.” We all smiled at that.
They left right after that exchange. I put Boo’s little booties and doggy sweater on her, grabbed my coat and we headed out to the writing shed turned office Mel and I had set up for me.
After I cranked up the little heater and got Boo settled near it, I opened Rosita’s email and started doing the basic research on my new assignment.
###
Hannah
8:20 AM, Monday, February 16th
Muskingum County WIC Office
The woman behind the sliding glass window picked up the sign-in clipboard and called out, “Katie Hershberger?”
We got up from the molded plastic chairs in the waiting room and moved back over to where Katie had signed in.
“What can we help you with today?”
I, uh...” Katie looked to me. I nodded.
“She needs to apply for WIC and a medical card for her and her son.”
“Do you have an appointment?” She looked at Katie instead of me.
“No. I didn’t know I needed one.”
“Have a seat again and fill out this form bu
t, before you do that, let me get a copy of your photo ID and Social Security card. A counselor will be with you as soon as one is available.”
“I don’t have a photo ID.”
“She just left Amish,” I whispered to the woman, feeling self-conscious on Katie’s behalf. “They don’t take photographs.”
“You’re going to have to get a photo ID, Miss. If you go over to the BMV today, they can issue you a state ID card for a fee.”
“What will they need from her to do that?”
“Proof of her identity like a birth certificate and her Social Security card...do you even have either of those?” She looked pointedly at Katie.
“I’m not sure. Not...not with me.”
“We can get a copy of your birth certificate for you here but you’ll want to get Social Security to issue you a duplicate card...if you’ve ever had a number in their system. If not, you’re going to need to apply for one. How about the baby? Do you have a Social Security card for him or did you apply for it when he was born?”
“No.”
“Okay, so before we can do anything, you’re going to need to take his birth certificate to the Social Security office and apply for a number for him as well as going and getting the ID and the card we need for you.”
“Okay...thank you.” Katie handed the blank paperwork back to the woman.
As we moved back toward the chairs we’d temporarily vacated she said to me, “I don’t have his birth certificate either. When was I supposed to get that?” She looked like she was about to cry.
“The midwife should have done some paperwork with you and sent for it or told you where to send it. I guess I never thought about it.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I don’t remember doing any sort of paperwork with her.” She put Jef’s carrier back down on a chair and started zipping the outer cover back over it for our trip outside while I stood by thinking about our best course of action now.
Jef was delivered right at our house by an ex-Amish midwife that I knew. Katie didn’t have any sort of complications so she never went to the hospital.
I tried to sound positive, “Lucy hasn’t been doing deliveries for a while. She probably just forgot to give you the stuff you needed to get Jef’s birth certificate. It’s okay; we’ll find her first and get her to give you what you need then we’ll figure all the rest out.”
Katie picked up the carrier and I grabbed the diaper bag from the next chair and we headed outside.
I shivered when the blast of cold air hit on the other side of the double doors and I hustled to my car so I could swing the backseat door open for Katie. I thought it was bad enough that we had to go chasing around in the chill but it would be worse if Jef got sick because of it.
She swung the carrier into the car seat base with a little effort and got it latched down. We’d gotten the set from Jamie’s oldest brother and his wife. It had been used by both of his kids but it was free and it did the job.
“Do you think I should unzip the cover, Hannah?”
“Can he even breathe in there?”
“I think so but maybe I should at least unzip the flap.” She worked the zipper and lowered the flap down. “Oh, he’s already asleep.”
“Well, you put him in total darkness when he’s all zipped up like that.”
“His blanket isn’t around him. Is it in the diaper bag?”
I looked at the bag still looped over my shoulder. “No. You never even opened this.”
“I must have dropped it inside. I’ll go and get it.”
She hustled back toward the building. I put the bag on the floor below his seat, closed the door for the time being, got in and started the car so I could turn the heater on. I was still fiddling with that and the radio a few minutes later when I realized Jamie should have been back.
Figuring she must have had to use the restroom or something, I just leaned my head back and waited. When a whole song played on the radio and then half of another, I began to worry. She’d been gone ten minutes into a building that was only steps away.
The dashboard clock said it was 8:51. I decided to wait a few more minutes for her before I went looking for her because I couldn’t leave Jef alone and I didn’t want to take him out in the cold again.
I stared at the digital clock while I prayed she’d hurry. At 8:55, she still hadn’t come back. I’d parked across the little side lot from the building in the first space I’d found. The place was already busy when we’d gotten there so I felt fortunate that I didn’t have to park in the bigger back lot. Getting out and looking over at the building, I realized most of the people we’d seen come in when we were inside had come in through the back.
Thinking maybe Katie got turned around when she went back inside, I got back in my car and drove around behind the building. She wasn’t back there.
Resigning myself to the idea of going back inside myself, I parked, climbed out of the car, got Jef’s carrier zipped up and lifted it out of the base then trudged toward the back door. A woman coming out held the door for me and soon, I was back in the waiting room that was now even fuller than before.
It wasn’t a big room. It was easy to see at a glance that Katie wasn’t there.
There were different people sitting in the chairs where we had been. Nervous about approaching total strangers but worried about my friend, I did what I needed to and asked if they’d seen her. They told me they’d just gotten there.
I went to the window and waited behind an older woman and a pregnant younger one while they went back and forth with the worker we’d talked to.
Jef’s carrier was getting heavy. I switched hands and held it with the other for a minute, then switched back. Finally, the two people in front of me moved away and I stepped up to the window.
“Hi, remember me?”
“From a little bit ago? Where’s your friend with the no ID?”
“I was hoping you saw her come back in.”
“No ma’am. As you can see, it’s as busy as always.”
“Where’s your restroom?”
She pointed to a hallway off the opposite side of the waiting room. I thanked her and went to the ladies’ room. Katie wasn’t in there. I walked, carrying Jef in his carrier and growing even more tired, out the front door thinking maybe I’d just missed her and she was out there now, looking for me in the side lot. She wasn’t.
Cutting down along the side of the building to shorten my path, I went back around to the back hoping to find a confused Katie and have a good laugh at all the confusion.
She wasn’t there either.
I buckled Jef’s carrier back in and got in again. After cranking the heat up, I did something I hadn’t done much since I’d left the order myself more than 18 months before: prayed.
It was after 9:00 AM now. I decided to wait in place another five minutes, all of which time I spent wishing Katie had a cell phone of her own.
“Where could she be?” I said aloud and pounded the wheel in my frustration. Five minutes came and went and still she didn’t return.
My mind was running in circles. Maybe she got confused, came out the wrong door and, still not being used to looking for a car, wandered too far from the building and got turned around somehow.
Putting my car in gear finally, I pulled slowly out of the back lot, drove down a side street next to the building on the opposite side and came back out on the opposite side of the front to the way we’d originally come in. I looked up and down Putnam Street. There was no sign of her.
The WIC office was only a half dozen blocks from my house. Mentally kicking myself, I realized Katie really must have gotten confused and, when she didn’t find my car in the small side lot, she must have figured out she was close to the house and walked there.
I drove as fast as I could back to the little house built like what Jamie’s mom had called a salt box. Katie wasn’t on the porch. I knew Jamie would still be home, she didn’t have to be at work until 10:00, but I wondered why she h
adn’t called me after finding Katie on our doorstep.
Once Jef’s carrier was unbuckled again, I lifted it out, reached for the diaper bag and looped it over my right should and I hustled for the door. It was locked. I knew that wasn’t a good sign.
I shrugged the bag off and held it between my knees so I could juggle my keys around and find the right one then let myself inside and called out, “Katie?” when I didn’t see her right away. No one answered me.
The shower was running in our room. I walked in there with Jef and, this time, called for Jamie. She screamed.
“It’s me, Hannah. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She shut the water off grabbed a towel and wrapped it quickly around herself in the chill. Why are you here? Where’s Katie?”
“She didn’t come here?”
“No. You’re supposed to be with her, remember.”
“I was but somehow we got...separated. It’s hard to explain. I thought for sure she’d be here.”
“She bolted, didn’t she? She left you with that baby and she bolted. I knew this would happen!”
Chapter 5 - Gone
“No! This is all just a mix up!” I was furious at what she was implying but I didn’t have time to argue with her. Katie was lost out there somewhere and it was cold.
“Can you keep an eye on him for a few minutes while I drive around the neighborhood and see if I can find her?” I hoisted the carrier onto our bed.
“Are you crazy? I have to leave for work soon.”
“He’s sleeping and it will just be a few minutes. I don’t want to take him out in the cold again. Give me ten minutes,” I pleaded.
“It better be no more than that.”
She was muttering something as I left but I ignored it. I had to find Katie.
I drove around the neighborhood in a couple of circles looking for her. It was so cold, hardly anyone was out and about so she should have been easy to spot but she was nowhere to be found.
My dashboard clock showed it was after 9:30. Reluctantly, I headed back to the house. As soon as I parked at the curb, Jamie bolted out the front door, yelling, “He’s all yours,” toward me as she went. I was shocked that, seeing I didn’t have Katie with me, she wasn’t going to stay and help me try to find her.