The Complete Arms of Grace Series

by Eleanor Chance

  “What are you so happy about? There’s a manhunt out for us.”

  “No, they’re looking for you. They don’t know anything about me, and we’re going to keep it that way. I’m going to dye and cut your hair tomorrow and pierce your ears.”

  Johnny frowned at her. “What if I won’t let you? I’ll be a bigger freak than I already am.”

  “You’ll let me,” she said, staring him down. “We have to change your appearance as much as possible. Too bad I can’t do anything about your height or crutches. You’re too conspicuous.”

  Johnny pointed a crutch at her and sneered. “Sorry to inconvenience you.”

  “Don’t be a smart ass. I’m your mother. You can’t talk to me that way.”

  “Whatever. I’m going to my room.”

  He left his half-eaten pizza on the chair and worked his way upstairs. He’d thought being with Mara would mean freedom from Grace’s hovering. He was beginning to wonder if being with this wacko would be worse, but he was willing to give Mara a chance. Life with her would at least be unpredictable.

  Ryan and Alec jumped up when Grace followed Scott into the living room

  Ryan said, “I’m so sorry, babe. Can we talk about this?”

  “Scott says it probably wouldn’t have made a difference, and I trust him. Let’s drop it for now,” Grace said.

  “What about me?” Alec asked.

  “Your crimes are piling up,” Grace said. “You’ll owe me. All I want to do now is figure out where Johnny is.”

  “I’ve run dry of ideas. I’m going to take one of Adam’s magic pills and sleep,” Ryan said. He kissed Grace’s cheek before she could duck out of the way and waved to the rest as he went down the hallway.

  “Since the CARD team is on their way, I sent Nichol home for a good night’s sleep. I’ll stay tonight. I’ll be in the corner with Johnny’s phone until they get here.”

  Grace nodded and dropped onto the couch next to Alec.

  Alec squeezed Grace’s hand. Without looking at her, she said, “Since you’re already mad at me, there’s something I want to bring up.”

  “You have the worst timing of anyone I’ve ever known. Can’t this wait?”

  “No, it might actually help with the search for Johnny. I think you should call Craig.”

  Grace sat forward and frowned at Alec. “He must know about Johnny by now. The FBI has Johnny’s old file. I’m sure they sent an investigator to Craig’s house.”

  “It should come from you. He may not be Johnny’s father on paper, but he is Johnny’s biological father. He deserves to know what’s happening.”

  “Craig gave up the right to know about Johnny’s life when he signed away his parental rights. I’ve given him multiple chances to be a part of Johnny’s world, but he’s always refused. I don’t owe him anything.” Grace fell back and rubbed her temples. “The last thing I want is for our first call in five years to be the news that I lied to Johnny and drove him away. Craig will blame me. He wouldn’t be wrong, but I don’t want to hear it from him.”

  “He’d hear from me if he tried to blame you. This is no one’s fault but the person who has Johnny.”

  “Then why should I call Craig?”

  “Maybe he knows something. Maybe he decided he wants Johnny after all. Who knows? It wouldn’t hurt to find out.”

  “The FBI can question him all they want.” Grace shook her hand free of Alec’s and covered her face. “I failed Johnny. I had one job, to keep him safe, and I failed. I should have pushed Craig to take him when he was a baby. It was where Johnny belonged.”

  “Drop the self-pity. Since the day Mara dumped Johnny in the ER, he hasn’t belonged anywhere but with you. There isn’t a person on earth who could have loved him as you have. A bad guy is responsible for Johnny’s disappearance. I won’t stand for you blaming yourself.”

  “Do you think a bad guy has Johnny?”

  The doorbell rang before Alec could answer. An officer guarding the door looked through the peephole before opening the door and admitting the six-person C.A.R.D team. They introduced themselves.

  While Scott brought them up to speed, Grace studied the one who had introduced himself as Special Agent Reid, the team commander. He was roughly six-three with light brown hair and a closely shaved beard. Enough muscles bulged in his arms that it looked like he’d be able to lift a car, but he had a kind face and the concern was clear in his eyes when he gazed at Grace. Something in his look told her she could trust him.

  “We studied the records on the way here,” he said. “We’ll work from here tonight, but since it appears unlikely that Johnny’s in the immediate area, we’ll move to the Richmond field office in the morning. We’ll have access to better resources there. I alerted Agent Shepherd, and I promise to keep you in the loop, Mrs. Walker. We’ll be calling on you for additional information as evidence comes to light. We have a ninety-percent success rate. I won’t stop until I find your boy.”

  She noticed that he didn’t say he’d bring him home alive, but she understood that wasn’t a promise he could make.

  “Thank you, Agent Reid. We’re placing Johnny and ourselves in your hands,” Grace said.

  Alec shook his hand and introduced herself. “We’re thrilled you’re here, but Grace needs to rest, and my husband’s been asleep downstairs for two hours. I’m going to join him.” She kissed Grace’s cheek. “See you in the morning. Don’t forget what I said.”

  Grace watched her go before reluctantly going to face her demons for another night.

  Johnny admired himself in the full-length mirror. He’d resisted letting Mara give him a makeover, but he had to admit he liked his new look. It had taken months of pestering to get Grace to let him grow his hair longer, and he’d been reluctant to see Mara chop off his hard work and dye it black, but she’d done a decent job. She spiked it with gel and dyed his eyebrows black, too. Without his crutches, even his friends might not have recognized him.

  Piercing his ears had been a different story. He’d tried to talk Mara into using clip-ons, but she insisted on poking holes in his ears. She used ice to numb his lobes, but it still hurt like hell when she stuck the needle through. His ears had been throbbing ever since. Mara assured the pain would be gone by morning. She showed him how to take care of them to avoid infection. At least she was a nurse and had disinfected his earlobes before starting.

  When she came at him with the nostril ring, he fought her off, refusing to let her stick a needle through his nose. She laughed and told him to relax. He was relieved to find out it was a fake that clipped to his nostril. When she finished, she handed him a black hoodie and a pair of ripped jeans. He changed and nodded in satisfaction.

  He joined Mara downstairs and said, “I look like a gimpy badass.”

  She laughed and gave him a fist bump. She was wearing her nurse’s uniform and said she had to go to the hospital.

  “I thought you weren’t working until tomorrow,” Johnny said.

  “I have to get your prescriptions filled. You only have enough left for a day and a half. Since your mom, I mean Grace, never got them filled where I work, I shouldn’t have a problem. Remember what I said, don’t contact anyone and stay away from the windows. Your textbooks and my laptop are on the table. Get started on your homework while I’m gone.”

  “Can’t I have one more day? Who’s going to know?”

  “I don’t want you to get behind, so you’ll be up with your classes when we get to Portland. Don’t get on your school website. Just do your best to figure out what you should be studying.”

  He rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. Mara went sort of nuts whenever he disagreed with her. He had no intention of doing schoolwork, but he’d be able to fake it easily enough.

  She left through the front door and locked the double-sided deadbolt from the outside. He’d never seen a lock like that. He checked the door that led to the backyard, but it had the same kind of lock. The few windows on the first floor had bars on the windows,
but it wouldn’t have mattered if they didn’t. There was no way he could climb out with his bum legs. So much for his plan to just walk out the front door and call a friend to rescue him. He’d have to come up with a better strategy.

  He bristled at the realization that he was Mara’s prisoner. He felt like the victim in one of those real-life crime dramas about kidnapped teenagers he’d seen. As unpredictable as Mara was, Johnny was grateful that she wasn’t as terrifying as the kidnappers in those stories. When the search for him calmed down, he’d talk to her about giving him a key and gauge her reaction. Maybe she was locking him in for his own protection?

  Ignoring Mara’s orders to stay away from the windows, he looked out the one by the front door to see what the neighborhood was like. Mara’s house was on the corner. The houses on the adjacent corners were rundown and in need of paint jobs, but the yards were in decent shape. One house down the block had a beat-up car parked on the grass and a sagging porch, but the rest Johnny could see looked fine.

  He left the front and went to check out the backyard. The door had a small window, but he had a view of the whole block. It was a good size yard with a six-foot cedar fence like the Walker’s had. It needed a good power-wash, but it looked sturdy. Three bare old oak trees stood in the middle of the lawn, which was mostly dead weeds and leaves, but it was a nice space. Ryan would have had it looking great in an afternoon. A whitewashed shed stood in the far corner. Johnny could see junk piled high through the windows and wondered why Mara had a shed full of rusty metal.

  He went to his room next to get a wider view of the area. Most of the yards and houses were like Mara’s, but the yards were in better shape. A narrow ally ran behind her house to the end of the block. That would be a good way to escape without being seen if he could get a key to the back door and find a way to open the lock on the gate. He’d had more time to search for a key when she went to work the next day.

  He gave up his reconnaissance and went to the kitchen to cook another pizza. It was easier to carry his food to the recliner than it had been the night before. He settled into the recliner and turned on the TV. He flipped through the channels making sure to avoid the news networks. The last thing he wanted was to see the dopey picture of him holding the Thanksgiving pie staring back at him from the screen.

  Mara clipped her hospital badge to her uniform pocket and took the elevator to the Internal Medicine floor. She hoped for a busy day so no one would notice her moving around the floor, but all was quiet.

  Deciding she had no choice but to risk it, she went to a computer at the far end of the nurses’ station and logged into the system. She was hoping to find patients on medications similar to Johnny’s. She wished she’d been able to get there earlier when doctors were doing rounds so she’d be less conspicuous. The next best choice was to go at lunchtime when most patients would get their midday meds. She’d checked the patient boards and computers until she found what she needed.

  She scanned the barcode on her badge at the door to the med room. The door popped open, and she looked both ways before entering. Her hands shook as she logged into the med dispenser. She wished she’d practiced getting the drugs out while she was on duty. She didn’t know how the system would respond if she didn’t have patients assigned to her that day, but the finger pad lit up. She pressed her index finger onto the sensor, and the patient drug list showed on the screen. She blew out her breath and looked at the patient names and room numbers she’d written on the palm of her hand.

  She was about to press the screen to dispense the drugs she needed when the charge nurse walked by and glanced at Mara through the glass door. She would know that Mara wasn’t on duty since she was in charge of scheduling, so Mara casually signed out of the system and walked to the closest patient room. Fortunately, that room was empty. Mara held the door open a crack to spy on the charge nurse. She sat down at the nurses’ station and stared at the computer. Mara would be in her line of sight if she tried to get to the med room.

  She waited thirty more minutes, but the charge nurse didn’t move. When she finally turned away to speak to another nurse, Mara exited the room and started in the opposite direction, but the charge-nurse saw her and called her name. Mara pasted on a smile when the charge nurse waved her over and walked to the nurses’ station as casually as she could.

  “Hi, Candice. What do you need?”

  Candice crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “What are you doing here, Mara? You’re not scheduled until tomorrow.”

  Mara chuckled. “I know that now. I got my days confused. Since I was here, I decided to stop in and say hello to a few of my patients. Do you need me to stay and help out for the rest of the shift?”

  Candice shook her head. “What were you doing in the med room when I came back from break?”

  “Med room?” She tapped her chin in fake confusion and pretended to consider for a moment before grinning. “I left my sweater in there during my last shift.” She hooked her thumbs in the pockets to show Candice for emphasis.

  “Then why were you at the dispenser terminal?”

  “I was checking to see if Dr. Barrett uped Mr. Patterson’s BP meds. We were having trouble keeping his BP stable last week. How’s he doing, by the way?”

  “He was discharged yesterday,” Candice said and eyed Mara with suspicion.

  “That’s great. Explains why I couldn’t find him in the computer. See you tomorrow,” she said and waved as she turned to leave.

  “Wait,” Candice said. Mara held her breath. “Check with me the next time you come in when you’re off duty and stay out of the med room unless you’re getting prescriptions for a patient.”

  “Sure, Candice,” Mara said and grinned at her.

  She left as quickly as she could without arousing suspicion and headed for the exit to the stairwell. She went down two flights before stopping to kick a metal trashcan. It tumbled to the ground floor, making a deafening racket all the way to the bottom. Mara cursed and held her breath again as she waited for someone to check out the cause of the noise.

  When no one came after half a minute, she sank onto the stairs to get a grip and figure out her next move. She had no chance of getting Johnny’s drugs from the hospital thanks to Candice. She’d considered trying the following day when she was on duty, but Candice would be watching her. Her only other option was to get refills at Grace’s usual pharmacy. That move carried a risk of alerting the authorities, but after years on the run, Mara was expert at avoiding detection.

  She was furious as she drove home for not taking Johnny’s need for prescriptions into account when planning her strategy to get him out of Richmond. She’d been careful to consider every factor, except the one most likely to derail her plan.

  The house was too quiet. After two days of chaos, the FBI had pulled up stakes and returned to their field office but left two uniformed police officers behind to guard the house. Grace was left wondering how to occupy herself.

  Alec had gone to the school after they called to tell her Rosie had been pushed off the slide and may have broken her wrist. Grace would have gone with her, but she didn’t dare leave the house again in case Johnny miraculously came home. Ryan had suffered another sleepless night despite Adam’s magic pills, so he was in the room with his noise-canceling headphones trying to take a nap.

  Grace took her laptop to the dining room table and opened her notes for a lecture she’d been scheduled to teach before Johnny’s disappearance. The university had supplied a long-term substitute for her just in case the situation dragged on longer than they hoped. She’d need her notes for the next time she taught, so she had to keep them updated. She only typed three words before stopping to stare at the screen for long minutes before remembering what she was doing. “This is hopeless,” she announced to the empty room.

  She closed the document and opened a video app to look for a movie to watch. She found a classic Jerry Lewis comedy and carried her laptop to the couch. Her phone rang two minutes later.
She let it ring for ten seconds before getting up the courage to answer. Every call in the past two days had been nothing but terrible news. She peeked to see who it was and frowned at the name on the screen.

  “Hello, Craig. I’ve been expecting your call,” she said and closed her eyes. Here it comes, she thought.

  “Why didn’t you call me? I saw the news about Johnny on CNN last night and got a call from the FBI five minutes later. I told them I hadn’t seen or heard from Johnny, but they came and interrogated me and searched the house anyway. The investigator just left. Melanie and the kids are terrified, except for Sam, who thought it was cool. What the hell is going on, Grace?”

  “The FBI didn’t tell you?”

  “No, all they did was ask questions and refuse to answer our questions. They treated me like a criminal. I would have appreciated some warning.”

  “It didn’t occur to me to call you,” she said and crossed her fingers for lying. “You’re nothing to Johnny. He doesn’t even know you exist, which is what you requested.”

  “My son, who was kidnapped on the day he was born, goes missing. I need to know that, even if just as a courtesy.”

  Grace rubbed her temples and toyed with the idea of hanging up on him. He had no right to question her actions, and she wasn’t obligated to listen to him rant, but she explained the story in full detail despite her reluctance. He’d hear it eventually. It was better coming from her.

  “Why did you lie to him? What would the truth have hurt? You used to say you’d tell him about me when he was old enough. What were you waiting for? His college graduation?”

  “If you wanted Johnny to know you were his father, you should have been a father to him all these years. This was your choice. We honored your wishes.” She hovered her thumb over the button to hang up but didn’t have the heart to do it. She knew that deep down, Craig loved Johnny.

  “Clearly, I made the wrong choice,” he continued. “What kind of mother have you been? You’ve lied to him, and worse, allowed him to be taken right out from under your nose.”