Five

by Blythe, Jane

  “Maegan said she didn’t know Malachi’s last name, so we can't do a background check on him,” Xavier announced, breaking the tension by focusing them back on the case.

  Paige shot him a grateful smile. She liked Xavier, considered him a good friend. She and Ryan had met Xavier shortly before she was attacked when their two cases had suddenly morphed into one. Now Xavier was Jack’s partner—because Rose was dead. Paige gave herself a mental shake. She wasn't going to start thinking about Rose again. If she did, she’d wind up all emotional and then everyone would be pestering her all night about whether or not she was okay.

  “Do we even know that Malachi is his name?” she asked, forcing herself to focus.

  “You think the name’s a fake?” Xavier asked.

  She shrugged. “Maybe. Supposedly, he’s given the girls other names. Maybe he gave himself one, too,” she suggested.

  “Maybe,” Jack nodded. “But Maegan said the names he gave them were his daughter’s names, so I think Malachi is his real name.”

  “Let’s assume for the moment it is,” Ryan continued. “We know what he looks like, we could attempt to ID him through his driver’s license.”

  “That could take a while,” Jack protested.

  “Malachi isn’t that common a name,” Ryan reminded him. “We know approximate age. If one of his daughters was sixteen when she died, and that was approximately five to six years ago, he has to be at least mid-thirties, probably no older than mid-forties. We can eliminate everyone too old and too young. We know he has blue eyes, and we can get an approximate height. I think it’s worth a try.”

  “Okay, I guess it’s worth a try,” Jack agreed.

  “And we have the daughters’ names,” Paige added. “We know approximately when the fire was, so we should be able to find something on it. Even aside from anything official, four girls killed in a fire would have made the news. If we look it up, we may be able to get an address and an ID on this Malachi.”

  “Plus, we know Maegan’s name—first, at least—and when and how she was abducted. We should try and find her case file. That might help us identify her, which might help us to identify Malachi, or at least prove who’s telling the truth.”

  “All right, you guys work on that,” Jack said. “I'm going to go and talk to him, see what he has—”

  “Detectives?”

  A woman in her fifties approached them. She was short and too skinny, wearing scrubs, and her hair was pulled back in a messy brown ponytail. Her brown eyes looked small behind a pair of oversized glasses.

  “Dr. Roma, do you have the results of Ariyel’s blood work?” Jack asked, having spoken with the doctor earlier.

  “Drug overdose,” Dr. Roma replied.

  “What drug?” Paige asked. If these girls were really kidnap victims who hadn’t been allowed to leave the house they’d been taken to in five years, it seemed unlikely that they would have access to illegal drugs. Unless, of course, this Malachi was a drug dealer, which was theoretically a possibility.

  “Barbiturates,” the doctor answered.

  “Sedatives?” Paige clarified.

  “Yes,” Dr. Roma confirmed.

  “Is she going to be okay?” Paige wondered if the girl had attempted suicide.

  “She’s going to be fine,” the doctor smiled reassuringly. “At least physically.” She turned to Jack. “You said you believed she was a kidnap victim?”

  “We believe she and three other girls were abducted five years ago by the man who brought her here tonight. What can you tell us about him?”

  “Not much. He said he was her father. I didn’t see any other girls; it was just him and Ariyel. He said he went into her room after dinner to ask her something and found her passed out and unresponsive, so he rushed her here,” Dr. Roma explained.

  “He didn’t say anything else?” Jack pushed.

  “Nope, I asked him a few background medical questions like did she have any known medical conditions or allergies. He said no, then mentioned that she’d been complaining of headaches recently. That was it. I ordered some tests and moved on to other patients. When I came back to check on Ariyel, the man was gone, and you were there,” she said.

  “Did he give a surname?” Xavier asked.

  “Smith,” the doctor answered.

  “I'm going to guess that was a fake,” Ryan noted wryly.

  “We’re going to need to know when she’s conscious so we can speak with her,” Jack informed Dr. Roma, who was already looking distractedly around the emergency room. She, no doubt, had several patients awaiting her.

  “Sure, I’ll make sure someone lets you know when she wakes up. If you need anything else, I'm around all night.” Dr. Roma gave them a quick smile and then headed off.

  “Okay, I'm going to go and find Malachi, see what he has to say about this,” Jack announced once the doctor was gone.

  “Before you do, Jack, you may want to check on Laura. She had more nightmares earlier,” Ryan told his brother.

  “This is ridiculous,” Jack muttered. “I might call Mom or Dad to come and get her and take her back to their place. I shouldn’t have let her stay here this long.”

  As Jack headed for Sofia and Laura’s hospital room, Paige decided she better make her own quick getaway, or she was going to be stuck alone with Ryan who would no doubt be jumping into digging for answers to his questions.

  “I'm going to go to the bathroom and then check on Maegan,” she announced, and without waiting for a response, turned and all but fled to the bathroom.

  Paige thought she heard Ryan call her name, but she ignored him and thankfully he didn’t follow her. Inside the bathroom, she splashed some cold water on her face. The cold felt fresh against her skin and helped to calm her a little.

  Then her phone rang.

  * * * * *

  11:19 P.M.

  The first thing Jack saw as he opened the door to Sofia’s hospital room was his wife in a bed with an oxygen mask on her face. “What happened?” he demanded, quickening his stride as he headed for the bed.

  Laura’s eyes opened, and she pulled a hand out from under the blankets to tug the mask from her face. “Nothing. I'm fine.”

  “She had a panic attack,” Sofia informed him.

  He just managed to catch a growl before it escaped. This was ridiculous. He knew Laura wasn't coping. He should have insisted on driving her home and not taken no for an answer.

  “It was nothing,” Laura muttered.

  Perching on the bed beside her, Jack pulled the oxygen mask from her hand and placed it back over her mouth and nose. “What happened?” he repeated, this time directing the question to Sofia.

  “She went to go to the bathroom, walked out the door, saw all the people and had a panic attack. The nurse who found her is a friend of Mark’s. She called him, and he came down and saw her,” Sofia explained.

  It had been a while since Laura’s agoraphobia had caused her to have a panic attack. She’d had them frequently when they’d first gotten back together, but over time, they’d faded. This ridiculous desire to push herself was going to wind up with her going backward instead of forward. And now she was having nightmares again after months without a single one. Jack was about to open his mouth and unleash his frustration on Laura when she looked up at him with teary eyes.

  “Jack, don’t,” she whispered.

  “What am I going to do with you?” he said instead, kissing her on the forehead. “Ryan told me you had another nightmare earlier. I don’t want you to leave this room until we sort out what’s going on with Maegan and I take you home. Mark say she was okay?” Jack asked Sofia.

  “Yeah, he just reiterated that she needs rest,” Sofia replied.

  “Okay, both of you should be asleep, I don’t want to see either of you out of bed again tonight. I don’t want to, but I really have to go and talk to this Malachi man, so please, please, Laura, just stay in bed and try to sleep. Promise me.” He didn’t want to worry about her all night. He
was going to anyway, but if he at least knew she was in bed asleep, he’d worry less. A little less.

  “I promise,” Laura agreed.

  He didn’t want to, but Jack doubted the sincerity of her promise. If Maegan came in here and asked Laura for help, then his wife would more than likely do whatever Maegan asked her to. If Laura weren’t eight months pregnant, he’d be tempted to get someone to sedate her so she had no choice but to rest.

  Laura must have read something in his expression because she pulled the oxygen mask from her face again and said, “Jack, please don’t be angry with me.”

  “I'm not angry with you, angel,” he promised, easing her off the pillows and holding her close against his chest. “I'm concerned about you.”

  “I’ll stay here, in bed, and try to sleep, I promise. Even if I have nightmares,” she added. “Really, Jack, I promise. I don’t want you to worry about me anymore.”

  “I know you don’t, angel, but I can't help it.” Jack felt Laura sigh, but she didn’t say anything. He knew that she hated that what she’d been through changed how people saw her.

  “I'm not a helpless victim, Jack. I kept myself alive for four days while Frank and Francis Garrett tortured me. And I shot Axel Christenson when he tried to rape and murder me. I know I messed up before by hiding, but I'm not doing that anymore.”

  “I know, angel, I know,” he soothed. Jack was worried that Laura’s sudden intense drive to prove she wasn't hiding anymore was going to wind up causing her more pain and anguish.

  She took a deep breath, “I'm okay, Jack. Go and help Maegan. Sofia and I will stay here and sleep.”

  Reluctantly, he stood. “All right, I'm going. I love you.” He pressed a quick kiss to Laura’s lips, laid her back against the pillows and replaced the oxygen mask. “Remember, you two, don’t let that Dr. Daniels come in here,” he reminded them.

  “We won't,” Laura assured him. She caught his hand as he turned to leave. “I love you, too.”

  Outside the room, he shrugged off his concerns. Laura was safe and sound for the moment. There was no point in obsessing over her emotional well-being right now. In the morning, once they'd sorted out this issue with Maegan and Malachi, and Laura had gotten a proper night’s sleep, they'd talk about her going back to see her therapist.

  It didn’t take him long to locate Malachi.

  The man was standing in a corner of the waiting area, his gaze circling the room over and over again. Standing ramrod straight, his hands clenched into fists at his sides, he looked on edge.

  “Malachi?” Jack asked as he approached.

  Immediately, the man schooled his features to calm, cool, and collected. “You're not a doctor.”

  “No, I'm not,” Jack agreed. “I'm Detective Xander. We need to talk.” He gestured toward a door just down the corridor a little. When he’d explained to the head of the ER what was going on, the man had offered him a couple of offices to do his interviews in.

  For a moment, it looked like Malachi was going to refuse, but then he smiled and nodded. “Sure thing,” he agreed and followed along as Jack led him to the office.

  “Who was that woman you were with earlier?” Malachi asked, taking a seat at the table and looking much too comfortable for Jack’s liking.

  “Which woman?” Obviously, the man had pegged them as cops and been watching them.

  “About your age, pretty, curly brown hair, big brown eyes.” Malachi’s eyes went dark with lust as he explained.

  “That’s a colleague of mine,” Jack replied, not liking at all that this man was lusting after Paige.

  “I’d be happy to talk to her,” Malachi suggested.

  No way was Jack letting this sleazy man around Paige. Not that he was going to tell her that; she would think that was extremely overprotective. She’d probably be right. But that was just too bad. Jack did feel protective of Paige.

  Even though they’d both known from the beginning that it wasn't going to work out between them, Jack didn’t regret dating Paige. They had decided to remain friends once they'd broken up and he’d been pleased when she and Ryan became partners.

  Despite Paige’s protestations that she was fine, Jack knew she wasn't. She’d been on an emotional roller coaster the last few years. Knowing that the man who had tried to kill her—who had nearly succeeded in killing her—was still out there, had taken its toll. As unobtrusively as they could, all of them had been attempting to ensure that Paige was on her own as little as possible. No one wanted to risk the stalker getting to her again.

  He’d already lost Rose; he didn’t want to lose anyone else that he cared about.

  Losing Rose had been hard. Really hard. And just like Paige, he was still grieving. There were lots of times that something funny would happen and he’d want to text Rose and tell her. Or when he needed to talk, he’d go to call her and ask for her opinion. And there were so many things in his life he’d missed out on having her there for. His wedding, the birth of his son, the impending birth of his second child. Not to mention all the things Rose had missed out on: falling in love, getting married, having kids of her own.

  Jack tried not to talk about Rose too much since he knew Laura blamed herself for her death. Which was completely untrue—as he’d told her many times—not that it made much difference. He understood the feeling of blaming yourself for something that you knew intellectually wasn't your fault, but he didn’t like seeing it in the woman he loved.

  As much as Laura had issues to work through these last few years, he had, as well. The depression he experienced following being held hostage in a bank robbery had grown steadily between then and the three years until Laura came back into his life. But having Laura, who so badly needed him to be strong, had been the push he needed to work through his own feelings of helplessness, inadequacy, and failure.

  His family, his friends, and his job were all important to him and he didn't like anyone threatening any of them.

  “Detective Hood is otherwise occupied at the moment,” Jack informed him.

  “Too bad.” Malachi looked disappointed. “So, did something happen here at the hospital? Is that why you wanted to talk to me?”

  “Did you see something happen?” he asked, wanting to get a read on the man.

  He shook his head. “No, I just didn’t know what else you'd want to talk to me about. Unless you're not here about some sort of crime. I mean, I just assumed, since you said you were a detective, but are you here about a family member?” Malachi feigned confusion.

  “Actually, I am, but one of your family members.” Jack watched the man closely to see how he’d react.

  “Ariyel?” Malachi asked. “I thought she was still unconscious?”

  “No, not Ariyel. Maegan.”

  The confusion didn’t leave his face. “Is that some sort of trick? I don’t know anyone called Maegan.”

  In his gut, Jack believed that Maegan was telling them the truth. Laura wasn't usually wrong about people. If she believed in Maegan, then he did, too. “Oh.” It was his turn to feign surprise. “She identified herself as your daughter. Long black hair, blue eyes, skinny, about fifteen,” he listed.

  “You mean Alice?”

  “She said her name was Maegan. She also told us a very interesting story.”

  Seemingly unfazed, Malachi’s brow creased in concerned understanding. He nodded slowly. “Sometimes Alice has a very overactive imagination. She’s not quite well, you know. In the head,” he added.

  Exactly what Maegan had predicted Malachi would claim. “She seemed quite sane.”

  “It’s sad, isn’t it? She’s often quite convincing; sometimes if I didn’t know better, she’d almost convince me.” His blue eyes crinkled sadly.

  “She says she's not your daughter. She says that you kidnapped her—her and three other girls. She says that was five years ago. She says that you haven’t let her and the others out of your house in all that time.” As he spoke, Jack watched for signs of stress, but Malachi showed none.
Only disappointment.

  “Poor little thing. It just breaks my heart when she gets like that. I’ll have to call her doctor in the morning, try and get her an appointment as soon as possible. Perhaps her medication needs changing.”

  “So, Maegan—I’m sorry, Alice—is really your daughter? This story she told us about you grabbing her at a gas station five years ago is all just … lies?”

  “Delusions,” Malachi corrected.

  “Are just delusions?” Jack played along. “You never abducted her? You never abducted Ariyel? You never abducted two other little girls?

  He chuckled grimly. “I can assure you, Detective, Alice is my daughter. I can show you photographs of her as a baby, if you’d like.” He pulled his wallet from his pocket, opened it, and showed him some photos of a smiling, dark haired, blue-eyed toddler. The little girl could have been Maegan, or she could have been anyone.

  “Maybe we could talk to your two younger daughters, let them clear things up. What were their names again?” Jack asked, knowing the names Maegan had given them and wanting to see if Malachi offered up the same names.

  “What two other daughters?” Malachi looked baffled. “I only have two daughters, Alice and Ariyel.”

  “So, Angela and Abby are just figments of Alice’s imagination?”

  “I guess so.”

  “And she’s currently under the care of a psychiatrist?”

  “Yes, she is, for over a year now.”

  “Is she on any medication?” Thinking of the fact that Ariyel had been drugged, or drugged herself, with sedatives.

  “Yes, she is.”

  “Would you be willing to let us do a blood test on her to confirm that, clear everything up?” That could be the simplest way to prove who was lying. Not that Jack had any real doubts, but proof meant that they could put Maegan’s fears to bed and get more answers and information out of her.

  “Sure, whatever.” But for the first time uncertainty flashed through his blue eyes.

  “Did you know that Ariyel suffered a drug overdose?”

  His eyes grew wide—too wide—fake wide. “Is that why you're talking to me? Do you think that Alice tried to kill her sister? She would never do that. Ever. Let’s go and find her and clear all of this up right now. If Ariyel suffered a drug overdose, it would have been an accident. I didn’t kidnap anyone, and I haven’t done anything wrong. And neither did my daughter. I'm sorry Alice caused you so much trouble. I’ll talk to her.”