Keelyn swayed the child side to side. “That’s going to blow up in the news. Did you hear who it was?”
“Yeah, the missing mother. I’m more worried about the other component.”
“A violent kidnapper with a weapon? It’s not the first or last time that’s going to happen with my work here. Boyfriends can be more dangerous than that guy.”
“He had a gun.”
Keelyn pulled the child’s head to her chest and covered her ears. “He never had his finger on the trigger. It was just a big show of bravado. Make himself seem more threatening than he really was.”
“Your interpretations are hunches. You were in a dangerous situation.”
“I understood the danger. I called for help. What else could I have done?”
“This whole thing doesn’t make sense to me. If this is all supposed to be about the ransom, why would he not hold her for money, as well?”
“One, it offers proof he has them. Two, maybe she was becoming problematic. A woman in distress over her children can do irrational things to save them.”
“The responding officer was concerned he might not drop the threat he made against you. You know, I get twitchy when someone actually threatens to kill you.”
Keelyn narrowed her eyes. “It’s a good thing I have her ears covered. Please, don’t say those kinds of words in front of her.” Keelyn let her hands fall. “They’ll find him. Your friends are very smart.”
Lee pointed a finger at her. “He threatened you personally.”
Heat rose in his chest. His shoulders ached from the tension. How could he live if he ever lost her? How could she be so calm?
She frowned at his comment and pulled the child’s dark curls away from her eyes. “Do you know much about the case?”
“It’s not our jurisdiction. I only know what’s in the news. Isn’t she married?”
“Yes, the husband reported her and the children missing, though he did wait several hours. I believe it was late in the evening. He says he had no reason to worry initially because she’d often been gone with them after school.”
“It’s your assumption the guy who dropped her off actually kidnapped her and the children?” he asked.
“Yes, an assumption. It must be someone involved with the crime. MaryAnn is talking with the mom now. Trying to get some info.”
“The police are going to want a shot at Rebecca as well. There are still two kids missing. I’m not thrilled with the position you’re putting yourself in.”
From the desk, Keelyn grabbed a ring that held primary colored plastic keys and handed it to the child. The girl immediately threw it to the floor and whimpered for her sippy cup. Keelyn placed it in her eager hands.
“What do you want me to do? This isn’t the safest job. It’s why we set up the quick-response system.”
“For one, it’s not a job. It’s a volunteer position. You could give it up anytime.”
Keelyn eyed him evenly. “You know that’s not an option.”
“How about a location for picking up the women other than an isolated park in the middle of nowhere?”
“That location has worked for years. It’s actually only a few miles from the District One station. I’m not having a knee-jerk reaction and changing a spot because of one incident. Let’s see if this man becomes a problem.”
Lee tightened his hands over the arms of the chair. “Keelyn—”
“I think you’re right anyway. I don’t have a good feeling about Rebecca. There’s something there, something she’s hiding from us. The whole thing at the park between them felt staged.”
How could he make her understand his alarm without coming across as a tyrannical, possessive fiancé? What could he say when his own job held such risk?
“What I’m trying to get across to you is we shouldn’t take this man’s threat lightly. I don’t want you traveling to and from here alone.”
She patted the girl’s back. “A police escort is going to draw attention. I’m not going to do anything that will put these women at greater risk. I do all the things I’m supposed to.”
“What about the child?”
“My niece?”
Lee gripped his thighs, then froze the movement. What did the gesture mean to Keelyn? “You’re taking her home?”
“Social services has given me custody until we figure out what’s happened to Raven. The DNA tests matched her to the sample you took from Raven’s house, and the indexes were high indicating I was related to both of them.”
“What if we don’t figure that out? What if we never find her mother? What then?”
“I’ll . . . we’ll adopt her.”
Lee inhaled sharply and closed his eyes. Why was finding the right thing to say so hard? He loved this woman. He was going to marry her. Intellectually, he understood that meant children one day. Their own biological children. He wasn’t ready to take on this responsibility now. They weren’t even married yet.
Lee reached a shaky hand across hers. “I’m not sure this is smart, Keelyn.”
She bit into her lip. His soul crushed under her glare of betrayal. The look on her face made him wonder if he had a chance at changing her mind.
Her eyes glistened. “I would ask why, but honestly, I don’t want to know. With a great brother and wonderful parents, it’s probably hard for you to imagine how messed up people’s lives can get. I know you see it at work, but living it and feeling it are two different things. I owe this to Raven for not being there for her.”
“Keelyn, it’s not as if you didn’t try.”
Red splotches rose on her neck. She drew the child closer into her chest in a crushing hug. “It’s like swimming to the rescue of a drowning person and they still die. Trying didn’t make a difference to her.”
Lee’s heart pulsed at the guilt he felt for not telling Keelyn the truth about his family. About what he’d done to his own brother. About why she’d never met Conner. If he couldn’t care for his own brother, how could he protect this little girl?
“None of us are perfect.”
“Then I hope you’ll help me do this. Even if it means she becomes your daughter someday.”
His chest felt heavy. “I just don’t know if I can.”
Keelyn’s eyes bulged.
There was a sharp rap at the door, and he turned to see Nathan in the doorway.
“I need you out here.”
“Can’t it wait?”
“No, now.” Nathan’s eyes challenged him to disagree.
Lee put a palm up toward Keelyn to calm her as he eased from the room and followed Nathan a few paces down the hall.
“What’s so important?” Lee challenged.
“I know we’re not close, but I’m going to try and help you here.” Nathan leaned his shoulder into the wall. “You need to step up and help her.”
“This is none of your business,” Lee said through clenched teeth.
“Your peace of mind is my business if we’re going to be working together.” Nathan took a step toward Lee, his height adding weight to his words. “And if she leaves you because of this, then I have a stressed-out partner in a volatile situation, and that’s a bad mix.”
“I never wanted to be responsible for other people’s problems. Kids from bad situations are always messed up. We see it every day.” Lee leaned back against the wall.
“All of this goes with the territory. If you love her, you’ll stand by her. If you don’t help her now, she is going to leave you, and I’m not going to blame her.”
Lee stroked his jaw and looked back at Nathan. “It’s a kid, not a puppy. How are we going to manage?”
“I’ve noticed you often have a book in your hands.”
“What does that have to do—”
“It doesn’t seem to bother you when the guys rib you about it being literary fiction or the Bible.”
Lee shrugged. “Your point is . . .?”
“I’m wondering if the things you read have any real meaning. If you espou
se Christian principles, this is the time to show you mean it.”
Lee clenched his jaw and broke Nathan’s gaze. Tightness constricted his lungs, and he unbuttoned the top of his shirt in an attempt to breathe more easily.
Nathan continued. “The point is, there’s a time when your ideal and real life meet. This is it. The two of you need to figure it out together. Loyalty and honesty. It’s how Lilly and I survived.” He laid a hand on Lee’s shoulder. “I need to finish up here. Let’s make sure Keelyn knows about what else we found at the scene. Then I’ll leave you two to finish your talk.”
The two men reentered the room. Keelyn was spreading a coloring book in front of her niece.
Lee cleared his throat to draw her attention. “There’s something I haven’t told you about the woman from the vehicle.”
Keelyn worked to place a blue crayon in the young girl’s fist and didn’t look up. Instead of taking the crayon, the girl reached up and tugged at Keelyn’s hoop earrings.
Lee wiggled his fingers at her. The child returned an easy smile. Why did they have to talk about such dark things? “There was another body found in the car. A young, white male.”
Her eyes widened, prey sensing a predator close. “Shot?”
Nathan’s phone pinged. He turned to take the call.
“No,” Lee said.
“Then what?”
“The medical examiner’s not sure. All she found was a rash on his neck. No other findings of trauma. She’s going to send tissue samples for micro and toxicology reports, but it could be weeks before we learn anything definitive.”
“Do you know who the second victim was?”
He watched for her reaction. “Clay Timmons.”
She shrugged her shoulders. No hint of recognition. “You’re looking at me as if I should know him.” With a sharp intake of breath and sputtered cry, the realization hit full force. The child startled in her lap. A groan uttered from her lips as she exhaled. “The note at Raven’s . . .”
Lee edged forward. “He was there that day. Another responding officer.”
“Both victims were involved in my family’s case?”
“This is why I don’t want you caring for her . . . your niece. We don’t know who the actual target is. It’s probably better if you’re apart.”
Keelyn’s eyes narrowed as a brief look of contempt crossed her face. “I didn’t realize it was standard SWAT procedure to split resources to protect people. I don’t remember you ever doing that before.”
Nathan pocketed his phone. “Keelyn, you’re going to need to stop by the station tomorrow to work on a computer-generated sketch of the man who approached you in the diner.”
Lee nodded and turned back to Keelyn. “What are you going to do with her when you have to work?”
“There are a couple of older women who come here during the day as volunteers to help look after the children so the women can go to work or school. They’ve offered to help me. It’s a short-term solution until we know what’s going on.”
Lee turned back to Nathan. “I’ll be sure Keelyn gets to the station. Say, ten?”
“I have an officer watching Freeman’s residence. We’re going to Dr. Freeman’s house early in the a.m. and see if that provides any clues. Also, I have an appointment to interview her practice partner around 1700 when he’s done seeing clients.”
“Lee, I’ll get myself to the station. I’d rather you focus on finding out exactly what’s happened to my sister.”
He pointed to the child, who’d fallen asleep on her shoulder. “Do you have what you need to take care of her?”
“I have a car seat.”
He turned back to Nathan. “Looks like I’m going shopping.”
“Do you want to touch base with Lilly?” Nathan offered. “Maybe she could help you with a list of what you’ll need.”
Heat rose on Keelyn’s cheeks. “Just because I haven’t been a mother doesn’t mean I don’t know what a child needs.”
“All right. Of course. Keep in mind it’s always Nathan that doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I have faith in you. I’ll just hold onto her while you install that car seat,” Lee said.
Doubt filled her eyes. “Nathan, you do car seat checks, right?”
He shook his head. “Detective, not patrol.”
“Well, you can read the instructions for Lee.”
Chapter 9
IT WAS LATE. The night was bitingly cold. Small, pellet-like disks of ice fell, melting on the window ledge. Inside Keelyn’s house, the light was low. Only a small lamp illuminated the living room. Lee was upstairs, assembling a toddler bed.
The little girl slept on a pad of blankets, curled up with her little legs tucked under her belly, back side up. A small, decorative pillow cuddled her head. Keelyn’s efforts to get the child to sleep on her back had failed. When was SIDS no longer a concern?
What could Raven have named her child?
“What am I going to call you?”
As Keelyn softly massaged her niece’s back, a faint sigh escaped her tiny pink lips. Peacefulness washed over Keelyn. Of all the girls, Raven looked most like her mother and this child followed that genetic link. “I think, Sophia.” Her mother’s name. A smile played on Keelyn’s lips as she remembered her mother and better times. Keelyn closed her eyes and saw her mother’s face as she whisked by on the merry-go-round, her dark hair streaming out behind her.
Earlier, after a solid hour putting together the crib they’d purchased, Lee had put the child in it, and she’d climbed out in two minutes flat.
Strike one in figuring out a toddler.
After that feat of gymnastic ability, she refused to sleep. Lee dismantled and reboxed the crib and took it back to the store. Then she sat in a corner, wailing. Was she missing Lee? Keelyn wanted to join her, but knew she needed to figure out the issue. When would Lee make it back?
“Not tired. No dirty diaper. What else?” Keelyn sat at the table mumbling and staring at the child. “Food. Food. Are you hungry?” Keelyn jumped up and rummaged through the grocery bags on the table.
Keelyn had no idea what toddlers liked to eat. She guessed the child’s age somewhere from eighteen months to two years. Raven looked late in her pregnancy when she last saw her, but it was always difficult to tell how far along a woman was based on the size of her belly. Keelyn pulled out the baby food jars and tiny spoons, hoping they might soothe her. Within ten minutes, the highchair in the kitchen was a splattered canvas of ten different types of pureed fruits and vegetables. Orange mixed with purple mixed with brown. It was a blessing children were unaware of how much baby food resembled certain types of body excrements. Keelyn’s gag reflex had kicked in a few times, particularly at the smell of crushed peas.
That’s the point when Lee returned from the store, for a second time, with a toddler bed, and his laughter still rang in her ears. At her wits end, she’d grilled a cheese sandwich and cut it up with some quartered grapes. The child scarfed the food so quickly, Keelyn feared she would choke. Keelyn added taking a CPR class to her child to-do list. Just after a visit to the pediatrician.
Clearly, she was past the baby-food stage. Keelyn dropped her head to the table and took a deep breath.
Strike two.
Sophia was sitting contentedly in her high chair, pushing crumbs off the edge, when she suddenly started screaming. About that same moment Keelyn smelled the dreaded stench. And that’s when Keelyn hit the third leg of her trifecta of incompetence: finding the right size diapers.
She looked at the two open bags from where she sat on the floor. Both choices had been too small. She didn’t have the heart to send Lee back to the store for a few more sizes. Instead, she’d grabbed masking tape from her junk drawer and used it to secure the tabs. Unfortunately, the tape didn’t stick well to the cloth-like material on the front of the diaper, but too well to the child’s skin. Keelyn dreaded the moment when she’d have to remove it. Would the child’s fragile skin tear?
She
chewed on her lower lip. Trepidation kept her heart beating at a slightly increased rate. Lee was right. Thoughts of her incompetence pulled her forward like a chained weight around her neck. Clearly, she wasn’t prepared to be this child’s caretaker.
Keelyn gazed out her front picture window. With the low interior light, she could see stars between the tufts of clouds. The moon nearly full, a faint yellow-blue halo surrounded the gray, pocked circle. It was one thing she shared with Raven—a love of this celestial body. When they were separated, they would often talk on the phone and stare at it together, an object that drew them closer.
Keelyn wished she could go back.
From the corner of her eye, she saw movement to the right of the window. An arm reached forward and quickly disappeared. Doubt convinced her otherwise, and she scooted toward the girl and placed her hand gently on the child’s back and felt the slow rise and fall of her breathing.
Was the toddler bed Lee’s attempt at reconciliation after he’d voiced concern about wanting to help with the child? Keelyn wasn’t sure if she wanted to ask.
Lee’s boots on the steps caused her to sit up straight. Keelyn placed an index finger to her lips as he swung around the banister. He stopped and smiled.
“How long’s she been out?”
“Not too long. Is the bed ready?”
The doorbell rang, the child stirred but stayed in dreamland.
“Are you expecting someone?”
Keelyn stood, her feet numb blocks as she took a step toward the door. Spindles of fire shot through them. She leaned against the back of her chair to rub the feeling back in. Lee passed her and opened the door.
“There’s no one here.”
“Probably some kids playing a prank.”
“Then what are these?” He reached forward and grabbed a package on the stoop. “Did you call someone and tell them to bring diapers?”
“What?”
Keelyn crossed the distance on deadened limbs and took them from Lee. Size 4 diapers.
“Lee, I didn’t pick the right size.”
“So?”
“I didn’t tell you. Didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t want to bother you to go back.”
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