His Secret Christmas Baby

by Rita Herron

  Derrick’s jaw clenched at the look of panic on Natalie’s face. Brianna had been right—Natalie had been afraid. But he could easily see why she would have dismissed that fear as worry over labor.

  Guilt assaulted him again. If he’d been there, maybe things would have been different. He narrowed his eyes, searching for anyone suspicious who might have followed Natalie and Brianna inside, but saw nothing. Just a couple of patients being brought in. A man with a child. A woman with her mother.

  “Do you have feed in the exam room?” Derrick asked.

  “No, the exam rooms aren’t monitored to protect the patients’ privacy. But the halls and corridors and elevators are.”

  Derrick watched Brianna pacing the waiting room, then time lapsed, and Dr. Thorpe came out to break the news that Natalie had died.

  “Let’s see the surgery,” Dr. Lake requested.

  Butch scrolled through until he found the clip, and they watched as Natalie was rolled into surgery. She was alert, frightened-looking, but the anesthesiologist gave her an epidural and soothed her nerves, then Dr. Thorpe raised the scalpel.

  Derrick had missed being there when his son was born, but emotions clogged his throat as the doctor lifted the baby from Natalie’s womb. Tears of joy flowed down Natalie’s cheeks as they quickly examined the baby, cleaned him, wrapped him in a blue blanket and handed him to her. Nuzzling the baby to her, she whispered her love.

  “She did get to hold him,” Brianna said softly. “I had wondered if she did.”

  Derrick glanced sideways and saw the tears swimming in her eyes. He had to look away so he wouldn’t pull her into his arms and comfort her.

  The next few minutes passed as Dr. Thorpe finished with Natalie, but just as he’d claimed, Natalie was alert and even smiling as they moved her to the recovery room.

  “See, I told you she was fine.” Dr. Thorpe gestured toward the tape.

  “Scan the halls and corridors between recovery,” Sheriff Cramer ordered.

  Butch did as requested, but Derrick saw no one suspicious entering or leaving, only medical personnel. Then for a fraction of a second, the camera blanked out.

  “What was that?” Dr. Lake inquired.

  “I don’t know,” Butch said. “Sometimes when the power flicks off, the cameras lose a few moments until the backup generator kicks in.”

  “Did you lose power that night?” Derrick questioned.

  Butch shook his head. “Not that I remember.” He glanced at Dr. Thorpe.

  “No,” Thorpe agreed.

  The camera flashed back on and caught the image of a figure clad in surgical garb exiting the recovery room. Derrick glanced at Thorpe but the man in the video appeared taller than the ob-gyn.

  “That’s him,” Derrick confirmed. “Whoever killed Natalie disguised himself as a doctor. That’s why no one saw him or thought he was suspicious.” He frowned up at Thorpe and Dr. Lake. “That is, unless he’s really on staff here.”

  “You’re crazy,” Dr. Thorpe said. “No one in this hospital would hurt a patient.”

  “Pull all the employee records,” Sheriff Cramer said. “I’ll need to look over them, anyway.”

  Derrick shot him a look of approval. “I want to send this tape to GAI. The tech team can enlarge it and get a better look at the man’s face.”

  Dr. Lake’s cell phone rang, and he connected the call. “All right, tell Janie to come to the chief security office immediately.”

  He disconnected and drummed his fingers on the chair edge just as Dr. Thorpe had done in his office earlier. A tense silence vibrated through the room, the tapes only creating more questions.

  Five minutes later, Nurse Wilkins appeared, her brows pinched. “Dr. Lake, Dr. Thorpe. What’s going on?”

  Dr. Lake recapped the circumstances.

  “Oh, my God,” Janie gasped. “That poor woman was murdered. How in the world did that happen here?”

  Cramer gestured to the tape. “Just watch.”

  Janie patted strands of her hair back into its bun as she watched, then leaned forward with a frown when she saw the man in the surgical garb leaving the recovery room. “Oh, God, that was only a few minutes before I discovered Natalie in cardiac arrest.”

  “Do you know who that man is?” Dr. Thorpe asked.

  Janie shook her head. “No. I don’t recognize him but I can’t see his face.”

  “No other surgeons would have been in recovery?” Sheriff Cramer asked.

  “Not in labor and delivery,” Janie said. “Just the team of nurses. And there was only one other delivery that night.”

  “How many nurses worked recovery?” Derrick asked.

  “Two of us,” Janie said. “Myself and Mark Larimer.”

  Derrick grimaced. Larimer’s name again.

  “We need to talk to him,” Sheriff Cramer said.

  She nodded. “Mark’s here now. He’ll be off duty soon so you need to catch him before he goes home.”

  Derrick stood abruptly. “Send a copy of that tape to GAI.”

  “I’ll send it to our crime lab,” Cramer said.

  Derrick and he exchanged wary looks, but Derrick finally conceded. “Just don’t let anything happen to it. We’ll need it for evidence.”

  Cramer glared at him but nodded.

  Now he definitely wanted to talk to Larimer. He was one of the science geeks eight years ago. One of the guys he suspected might have caused the hospital explosion.

  The fact that he worked at the hospital seemed too coincidental.

  And he didn’t like coincidences.

  BRIANNA’S EMOTIONS BOUNCED all over the place as they went to meet Mark Larimer. Seeing Natalie deliver Ryan had touched her heart.

  And seeing the expression on Derrick’s face had moved her even more. It was obvious how much he loved Ryan and that Natalie’s death affected him. But she had no idea how to comfort him because they couldn’t bring Natalie back.

  She would give up Ryan without a battle once they found him. Ryan deserved to have his father.

  She only wished she could be a part of that family, but she could never fill Natalie’s shoes.

  Oh, Natalie, why didn’t you come to Derrick or me? We would have helped you.

  She should have pushed Natalie to confide in her those last few weeks. They could have gone to the sheriff and gotten help.

  Why hadn’t Natalie confided in Beau?

  Because she’d been afraid for herself and her baby.

  Janie and Dr. Thorpe returned to work, so Dr. Lake led them to the nurses’ station where he asked for Mark.

  The nurse nodded, then went to find Mark. A few seconds later, she returned, a thin guy with curly brown hair, wire-rimmed glasses and a goatee behind her.

  “Mark, let’s go the break room,” Dr. Lake said. “We need to talk.”

  Alarm flashed in Mark’s eyes, but he gave a jerky nod and they all retreated into a small room containing sofas, chairs and tables, a microwave, refrigerator and coffeepot. At Dr. Lake’s gesture, they seated themselves around one of the round tables.

  “What’s going on?” Mark twisted his hands together in his lap, but not before Brianna noted that he’d chewed his nails down to the quick.

  Mark’s eyes were two different colors, one pale green, the other hazel. Brianna shifted as he flicked them around the table as if he was dissecting them under a microscope.

  “Did you know Natalie Cummings?” Derrick began.

  Mark shook his head. “Who?”

  “She taught at the high school,” Brianna explained.

  “She also attended high school with you, Mark,” Derrick elaborated. “She was a couple of years younger.”

  Mark shrugged. “I wasn’t into girls back then.”

  Derrick raised a brow. “You mean they weren’t into you. Didn’t you belong to the science club with Harry Wiggins and Wilbur Irkman?”

  Mark scooted forward in his seat. “What if I was? Science is a good thing.”

  “Is that where yo
u learned to build a meth lab so you could sell drugs on the street?” Derrick pressed.

  Mark leaned his head on his hand. “Are you kidding? I thought this was about Natalie.”

  “It is.” Dr. Lake steered the conversation back to the original question. “An autopsy proved that Natalie Cummings was murdered here the night she gave birth. We’ve just viewed tapes of the delivery and recovery room.”

  Mark’s odd eyes twitched sideways. “You think one of the docs killed her?”

  “Why would you say that?” Derrick asked.

  “I don’t know.” Mark shrugged. “I barely remember that night. Janie was in charge of the recovery room. We weren’t very busy, so I went to help out in the nursery. They were short-staffed.”

  “You weren’t in the recovery room when Natalie was there?”

  “No, check with the neonatal unit.” Mark stood. “Now if that’s it, I need to finish my shift.”

  Brianna frowned. Something about Mark disturbed her.

  He’d claimed innocence, but he could be lying. He could have easily donned surgical garb, and slipped into the recovery area unnoticed.

  He had medical knowledge and could have known about Natalie’s heart murmur. He’d also know exactly how to kill her without bringing attention to the crime or himself.

  But if he’d killed her, why hadn’t he taken Ryan that night?

  Sheriff Cramer’s cell phone jangled, and he stepped aside to answer the call. A second later, he snapped his phone closed. “I have to go.”

  “What is it?” Derrick asked.

  “One of the county deputies spotted a fire in the mountains near an abandoned cabin and shed. He says it looks like a meth lab.”

  Derrick jumped up, and Brianna stood. If this was the meth lab they’d been looking for, they might find answers at the site.

  CRAMER LED THE WAY THROUGH THE mountain roads with his siren wailing. Night had fallen, the dark clouds obliterating the moon, the hint of more snow on the way scenting the frigid air.

  Derrick drove Brianna’s car, the revelations of the day weighing heavily on his mind. Twenty miles deep into the Blue Ridge Mountains, Cramer veered off onto a side road that wove through the trees and hills.

  Hidden by the forest and jutting ridges, it was isolated, the perfect spot for an illegal lab.

  “Look,” Brianna said, pointing toward the woods ahead. “I see smoke.”

  He nodded. The thick plumes swirled upward through the spiny branches of the trees rising to the heavens.

  Cramer screeched ahead, and Derrick shifted gears, the tires churning over the graveled road. They drove another mile, then rounded a curve and he hissed at the sight of the flames shooting from the old cabin and woodshed.

  If this was their meth lab, someone had set it on fire. Someone who’d known they were onto them and wanted to get rid of the evidence.

  He lurched to a stop behind Cramer, and they climbed out. Cramer was on his phone, and Derrick heard him asking for a fire engine and crime unit to be dispatched to the address.

  Heat seared his face as they walked closer, and Brianna gasped. “Derrick, oh, my God, there’s a baby blanket on the porch.”

  Panic stabbed at him, and Brianna suddenly screamed and started running forward. He grabbed her by the arm. “No, stay here.”

  She tried to pull away, but he jerked her to him and forced her to look at him. “Dammit, Bri, it’s too dangerous. Stay here.”

  He released her abruptly, the sound of the crackling wood and roof collapsing echoing in the air as he ran toward the fire.

  Dear God, he prayed. Please don’t let Ryan be inside.

  And if he is, let him be alive.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Brianna’s heart pounded with fear as she watched Derrick rush into the burning cabin. The woodshed beside it was completely engulfed in flames.

  “What the hell is he doing?” the sheriff yelled.

  “There was a baby blanket on the porch,” Brianna cried.

  Sheriff Cramer jerked his head toward her, his eyes widening. “He thinks Ryan might be inside?”

  Brianna released a sob and nodded, then Beau ran toward the cabin, as well. Beau dashed through the front door, covering his mouth with his hand to stem the smoke.

  Brianna coughed as it invaded her lungs, then closed her eyes. The thought of losing Derrick and Ryan sent an ache through her that made her nearly double over.

  “Please let them be okay,” she whispered. “Please, God. I’ll let Derrick have Ryan and raise him. Just don’t let them die.”

  Heat scalded her face and body as she inched closer trying to see inside. The back rooms were raging with fire, wood snapped and part of the roof caved in. Then she saw one of the men fall.

  She screamed and ran forward, but her cell phone trilled, catching her off guard. Inside, she saw a man pushing himself back up—was it Derrick or Beau? The flames were spreading inside the room now, more wood splintering and falling. The window suddenly exploded and glass sprayed the ground and porch.

  Her phone trilled again, and she jerked it up and stared at the caller ID. Unknown.

  She started to ignore it, but a sliver of panic shot through her, and she punched the connect button.

  “I warned you,” a deep male voice said. “Now it’s too late.”

  DERRICK SEARCHED THE FRONT room of the house and the kitchen, heat searing his skin as he dodged falling debris and flames. Wood popped and crackled, the flames hissing as they climbed the walls and ate the dried rotting wood. The rickety kitchen table was ablaze, the sofa smoking as fire consumed it, smoke billowing in a suffocating cloud.

  “McKinney, you need to get out!” Cramer shouted.

  “I have to see if the baby is in here!” Derrick shoved him aside and ran to the back rooms, but the ceiling had crashed, a wall of fire raging around him.

  He started to make his way through it, but Cramer grabbed his arm. “It’s too late, the back is totally engulfed.”

  Derrick slammed him aside, choking on the smoke and trying to find a way around the flames. Another part of the ceiling crashed down, and he jumped back to keep it from hitting him in the head. A falling beam slammed Cramer in the back, and he went down, flames eating at his shirt.

  Derrick cursed, and reached for Cramer to help him up. Cramer was beating at the fire on his sleeve, and Derrick slid an arm around his waist and helped him outside.

  Cramer leaned against his car, trying to catch his breath, and Derrick started back toward the house, but the entire structure exploded as if a bomb had gone off. It was the chemicals reacting, the end of the meth lab.

  And maybe his son.

  Brianna screamed and ran toward him, and he pulled her up against him, shielding her from the flames as the house and side building crumbled into the fire.

  “No, no, no…” Brianna cried. She gripped Derrick’s arms. “Was the baby inside?”

  “I don’t know,” Derrick said in a hoarse whisper. “He wasn’t in the front rooms, but I couldn’t make it to the bedrooms.”

  She doubled over on a sob. “He was. I know he was, Derrick. The kidnapper called while you were inside.”

  Cold fury raced through his blood. “What? What did he say?”

  Tears streamed down her ashen cheeks as she looked into his eyes. “He said he warned us…that it was too late.”

  She broke into hysterical sobs, and Derrick yanked her up against him and buried his head in her hair. Emotions choked his throat, his body shaking with the effort not to scream his rage and grief.

  A siren suddenly wailed in the distance, and Cramer ushered him and Brianna back, away from the blaze.

  “Hang in there, McKinney,” Cramer said. “I’ll get CSI to check for a body once the fire dies down.”

  Derrick glared at him. Cramer was obviously trying to help, but the image his words painted sent Brianna even deeper into sobs, and his own eyes filled with tears.

  THE NEXT TWO HOURS PASSED IN a blurry daze as the fire
fighters and crime unit finally arrived.

  Brianna held on to Derrick, afraid if he released her, she’d drop to the ground and never be able to get up. His big body shuddered against hers, and she knew he was battling his own panic and fear.

  “Brianna, shh,” he said softly. “Listen to me. We can’t give up hope. Ryan may not have been in that house at all.”

  “But the caller…he said it was too late.”

  Derrick punched in Ben’s number. “Ben, a call from the kidnapper just came through. Did you get a trace?”

  Brianna held her breath and leaned close to the phone to hear his response.

  “Sorry, but the call was too short.”

  Derrick cursed and thanked him, then disconnected.

  Tears blurred her vision and Derrick lifted her chin, his own eyes full of turmoil. “It’s possible he just wanted to make us think Ryan was gone so we’d stop looking.”

  She latched on to that suggestion. “How could anyone be so cruel?”

  His jaw tightened, then he crushed her against him and kissed her hair. “I don’t know, but I’m not giving up.”

  His words bolstered her courage, and she swiped at her eyes. The sheriff walked over to them, his expression bleak. “McKinney, why don’t you drive Brianna home? It’s going to take time for the fire to completely die down and cool so the crime team can sort through the mess.”

  Derrick glanced back at the dwindling flames and ashes. “I should stay.”

  “No, you’re too close,” Cramer said. “Besides, there’s nothing you can do here.” He glanced at her. “Standing here, torturing yourself in the freezing cold won’t do either of you any good.”

  Her lungs constricted at the thought of leaving, then she shivered as the wind picked up, ripping through her with an icy chill that bit all the way to her bone.

  “The temperature is dropping again.” Cramer patted Derrick’s shoulder. “I’ll phone you if the guys find anything.”

  Derrick hesitated, stroking Brianna’s back as the wind shook snow from the branches like rain. “All right. As long as you keep me posted.”

  “I will,” the sheriff vowed. “You have my word.” He glanced at Brianna. “Try not to give up, Brianna.”