Stolen Child

by Jane M. Choate

  Rachel got right to it. “It’s about the reward Mrs. Gyllenskaag is offering. Both Grey and I feel that it could put Lily at even more risk, in addition to complicating our search for her.”

  “Yes, you made that plain during your interview with Roberta. I’m afraid she did not take it well. She’s not accustomed to being corrected.”

  “I’m sorry about that,” Rachel said, not caring that she didn’t sound sorry at all. “The fact remains that a reward that size can cause problems. As a lawyer, you must see that for yourself.”

  “I understand your concerns, but I’m afraid she’s dug in her heels on it. I can try to talk her out of it, but I don’t hold out much hope. Once Roberta makes up her mind, there’s not much I or anyone else can do to change it.” Michaels smiled faintly. “I’ve represented her family for over ten years and have been friends with her for nearly that long.”

  “Anything you can do would be appreciated,” Grey said.

  “Mr. Michaels, do you have any idea at all of who could be behind this?” Rachel asked. “We thought that with your familiarity with the Gyllenskaag family you might be able to provide some kind of clue as to who might have taken Lily.”

  The lawyer steepled his fingers together, his face drawn in thoughtful lines. “I’m afraid not. I can’t believe that the abduction is related to the Gyllenskaags. Of course, Roberta has made her share of enemies. She’s a hardheaded businesswoman, but those are professional relationships, not personal. I can’t see any of her business rivals coming after her granddaughter. That’s not how they operate.” He redirected his gaze to Grey. “I don’t know who your enemies are,” he said. “I can only guess that it’s someone from your time in the military.”

  Grey’s shoulders stiffened, telling Rachel he was aware of the veiled accusation in the other man’s words. However, he didn’t say anything, only folded his arms across his chest. “As we told you, we’ve identified one such man, but he doesn’t fit as the kidnapper. In fact, he seemed surprised at hearing about Lily’s abduction.”

  “Surprise can be faked,” Michaels said mildly and gave an elegant shrug of his equally elegantly clad shoulders. Everything about the man shouted elegance. “I don’t know what else to add.”

  Rachel and Grey stood. “Thank you for your time,” she said.

  “Anything I can do, please let me know. And I’ll let you know if I have any success in convincing Roberta to withdraw the reward.”

  Michaels extended his hand to Grey.

  Rachel watched as, at the last moment, Grey pulled his hand back a fraction and closed it around Michaels’s knuckles rather than his palm where the flesh was meaty. From the look on Michaels’s face, he wasn’t expecting that.

  Grey crunched the lawyer’s knuckles once, then twice. “Thanks again.”

  “What did you make of him?” Grey asked as they walked to the elevator.

  Rachel put a finger to her lips.

  They waited until they were once more in the truck and outside the parking garage before talking.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I was burned once by microphones planted in an office, even in an elevator. I didn’t want to risk talking there.”

  “Gotcha. Now tell me what you thought of Michaels.”

  “I think he was very careful not to say anything that we didn’t already know or could guess, like that whole thing about Roberta not being willing to change her mind. I also noticed that he was quick to point the finger at you as the reason for the kidnapping.”

  “Caught that, did you?” Grey asked.

  “It would be hard not to. What was all that with the hand-shaking?”

  “It’s an old trick. Some guy goes to shake your hand, all friendly-like, then crushes it as hard as he can and waits while you’re trying not to beg him to let go. I gripped his knuckles, not the fleshy part of his palm, to neutralize him.”

  “He didn’t like that.”

  Grey’s grin was quick and fierce. “No, I don’t suppose he did.”

  “Michaels doesn’t appear to have a financial need, but he wouldn’t be the first to be living the good life on credit. If I’m any judge of character, a man like that needs to have the best of everything. Second best won’t cut it. And then there’s the whole grudge thing. It’s plain he hasn’t forgiven you for marrying Maggie. Hate’s a powerful motivator.”

  “In that case,” Grey said, “Kelvin is right up there at the top of the list.”

  “I know. I still can’t see him as a kidnapper. Like we said before, he doesn’t have the brains to pull off such a smooth operation. And he doesn’t match the description Jenae gave of the man in her life.”

  “You’re right. He doesn’t. No way would he be described as ‘tall, dark and handsome.’”

  But Michaels fit the description to a T, she thought.

  “I’ve been known to be wrong before,” she said, thinking of her last case with the Bureau. “Very wrong.”

  * * *

  Grey and Rachel returned to the S&J offices and were bouncing theories off each other.

  “We have to find a lead to tug,” he said. “I feel like we’re spinning our wheels and going nowhere.”

  “I hear you.”

  “Whoever has Lily won’t want to keep her for long. I’m not an expert on child abductions, but even I know that children are a liability after more than a couple of days.”

  Rachel didn’t respond. It wasn’t hard to figure out why. She knew, just as he did, that time was running out.

  When his phone rang, the caller ID showing Roberta’s name, he didn’t know what to make of it. Their last meeting had been anything but cordial. He answered the call with a cautious greeting.

  “Greyson,” she said, “I would appreciate it if you could visit this morning.”

  “All right. Rachel and I can be there in thirty minutes.”

  “Please come alone.” A delicate cough. “What I have to say concerns Ms. Martin and is best kept between the two of us.”

  Grey wanted to refuse but couldn’t. He made an excuse to Rachel. “I’ve got something I have to do. I’ll be back shortly.”

  She sent him a curious look but didn’t say anything.

  The drive to Ansley Park took longer than it should with roads torn up, detours and traffic reduced to the pace of an arthritic turtle. Grey didn’t mind; he wasn’t looking forward to another meeting with Roberta. She had a way of making him feel like he should apologize for something he hadn’t done.

  He’d thought he’d grown out of those feelings, but it looked like he hadn’t.

  He rang the bell, and the maid showed him to the parlor.

  Roberta was as immaculately turned out as ever with every hair in place, dressed in the soft colors she preferred. The tremulous smile on her face was in stark contrast, though, to her usual confident bearing.

  “Greyson, thank you for coming so quickly. I felt what I’ve learned was important enough to share with you immediately, and I didn’t want to do it over the phone.”

  She gestured to a chair. After he was seated, she sat opposite him and folded her hands in her lap. “Thanks to a talk with Wingate, I realize that my offer of a reward was ill-advised, and I’ve ordered him to withdraw it. I hope you realize I made it with the best of intentions.”

  “Of course,” he murmured. “But thank you for withdrawing it. I think that’s for the best.” But he knew that wasn’t why she’d called him.

  “After our last meeting, I did some research on your Ms. Martin. As you know, I had concerns about her from the beginning.” Roberta’s hands fluttered uncharacteristically before she calmed them once more. “She had an admirable record with the FBI. That is, up until her last case.”

  Grey resisted the urge to lean forward, knowing Roberta was saving the best...or worst...for last.

  “That case involved a child abduction.
She led the assigned unit. There’s no easy way to say this—the child died while Ms. Martin was in charge. She resigned from the Bureau rather than being dismissed. As you can guess, she left under a cloud. There were rumors of incompetence and negligence. I was reluctant to tell you this, but I thought you deserved to know.”

  He digested what Roberta had said. He’d already surmised that there was a mystery concerning Rachel’s leaving the Bureau. “Where did you get your information?”

  “As you know, I have friends in both the public and the private sectors. I asked one with connections to law enforcement to make a few discreet inquiries concerning Ms. Martin’s background. I wanted to make certain that the person you hired to find Lily was competent. What I learned is concerning, at least, wouldn’t you say?”

  Grey wanted to deny any criticism leveled against Rachel, but he’d seen for himself her refusal to talk about her time with the FBI. He remained silent, earning a frown from Roberta.

  Roberta waited, obviously expecting more. When he failed to say anything, she stood. “I’ll let you ponder this. I trust you’ll make the right decision. For the child’s sake.”

  “Thank you for your help,” he said and stood also. “I know you have Lily’s best interests at heart, and I appreciate all you’ve done for her and myself. We wouldn’t have made it through the past year without you.”

  Whatever his feelings were for Roberta, he had to acknowledge that she’d helped him out of an impossible situation. Without her, he would have had to leave the rangers early, which would have ripped the heart from him.

  “You’re welcome. I know things haven’t been easy between us at times, but you must know that I want the same thing you do, to bring our dear girl home safely.”

  “I know you do.”

  “If anything happened to the child, I’d never forgive myself.” She dabbed at tears with a handkerchief. “Losing Margaret last year was difficult enough. I don’t think I could bear it to lose her child, as well.”

  She called her maid to see him to the door.

  Grey left Ansley Park with relief. He’d never felt at home in its rarefied atmosphere, but his discomfort was the least of his worries right now. He had no reason to doubt the information Roberta had shared, although he did doubt her motives in doing so. It had been clear from the moment Roberta and Rachel had met that the two women didn’t like each other.

  He also had no reason to doubt Rachel’s commitment to bringing Lily home. She had risked her life to save his, and, he knew, would do so again if necessary.

  Could he afford to ignore what Roberta had told him? Could he afford not to? If he did bring it up, what would Rachel’s reaction be? As always, he had more questions than answers.

  * * *

  When Grey returned, Rachel waited for him to tell her where he’d gone, but he didn’t oblige. She had the impression that he wanted to tell her but didn’t know how.

  For now, she had another objective.

  “What’s our next move?” he asked.

  “A mentor at the Bureau used to say, ‘If you don’t know where to go next, go back to the beginning.’”

  “Back to the park where Lily was taken?”

  Rachel shook her head. “Before that. To the house you shared with Maggie. I keep thinking we’re missing something that would explain what’s happening, something that would make the pieces fall into place.”

  “Okay,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

  Grey kept his thoughts to himself for the first part of the ride, and she didn’t press him. He was a private kind of man. When he was ready to share, he’d do so. Until then, she was content to wait.

  Thanks to the road construction that was taking place all over the city and its suburbs, they chose a roundabout route that took them through country back roads.

  Rachel had always been drawn to the primitive, which evoked the feeling that this was the world as it was first created. The pockets of forest gave way to fields of long rows of low bushes—belly crops like peanuts.

  “You’re probably wondering where I went this morning,” Grey finally said, giving the truck extra gas to get them over a hill as the road steepened.

  “I figured you’d tell me when you were ready.”

  “Roberta wanted me to pay her a visit. She had something to tell me. About you.”

  Rachel had an idea where this was going and let out a tired sigh. “Let me guess. She found out why I left the Bureau and couldn’t wait to share it with you.”

  “Something like that.”

  She’d known this was coming, and still she’d put off telling him what he had a right to know. “I should have told you when we met. If I had, you could have asked Shelley for a different operative from the get-go and been spared all this.”

  “Shelley said you were the best. I have no reason not to believe her. Tell me what happened. Please.”

  She didn’t respond immediately. When she did, it was with heavy reluctance. “I’ve grown so used to not sharing what happened during that time of my life that it’s become ingrained.”

  “Roberta said that you left the FBI because a child died on your watch.”

  “She’s right.” Rachel glanced at his profile, saw opposing emotions play across his features. “You didn’t want to believe it, did you? I get it. You wanted to think that you had the best possible person looking for your daughter, only you ended up with a washed-out agent who left the Bureau with a stain on her record that is never going away.”

  “I have Roberta’s version. Now I want yours.”

  “A three-year-old girl had been kidnapped. Her father was CEO of a tech firm and her mother came from old family money. They were in the top one percent of the one percenters. Their little girl, Amber, was stolen right out of their home.

  “I was put on the case because I was the best the Bureau had. Or so the bosses thought.” She swallowed over the lump in her throat. “I was good. But it didn’t make any difference. A child died because I wasn’t smart enough to see the truth and find her in time.”

  Her voice hitched. She was grateful that Grey pretended not to notice. Even after three years, she was unable to talk about that time in her life without her emotions rising to the surface.

  “I’ve watched you in action. I can’t believe the child’s death was your fault.” His words melted one of the layers of ice that had formed around her heart over the past years.

  “Thank you for that, but I’m afraid you’re being too generous. I didn’t pull the trigger of the gun that shot her, but I might as well have. I was off chasing another lead, one the kidnappers laid down with that in mind, when we learned that the little girl had been killed. My team and I were raiding a different location when we got the news.”

  She waited to see the revulsion in Grey’s eyes, but it didn’t come. Instead, there was compassion. That was almost as bad.

  “I didn’t disgrace myself by getting sick in front of them, but it was close. It was my job to break the news to the parents. I’ll never forget the look on their faces. Disbelief. Horror. The mother kept saying it couldn’t be true. Finally, she had to be sedated. The father thanked me for telling them. They never blamed me. I often thought it would have been easier if they had.”

  They’d told her she’d done all she could, but they’d looked at her with such abject grief that she had nearly crumpled beneath the weight of it. She’d have preferred that they had lashed out in anger. Anger, she could have dealt with. Anger, she could have understood. But their kindness had only heaped on more guilt because she couldn’t absolve herself.

  No, they hadn’t condemned her. The condemnation had been all on Rachel’s part. She’d lived with it for over three years. And would continue to live with it. She accepted it as her penance.

  “When I got home, I spent the night retching my guts out over the toilet.” She laughed hollowly. “It
wasn’t pretty.” She paused, wondering if Grey could handle the truth. “Too many kidnappings don’t have happy endings. But this one was especially bad because I’d failed to follow up on a lead that could have brought us to the truth sooner and possibly saved the little girl’s life.

  “I had to report to my superiors the next day. I know I must have scared them, looking the way I did.”

  She recalled every detail of that day, right down to the drizzly rain that had turned the sky as dark as her self-loathing. “They asked for a full explanation, and I did my best to give it to them. I’d had children die on my watch before. Most agents who work in abductions have, but, as horrible as it was, I always knew my bosses had my back.”

  “But not this time?”

  “No. Not this time. Like every other government entity at the time, the Bureau was touting transparency. Somehow, it was leaked that I had been following the wrong lead. Eventually, I was cleared of any wrongdoing, but the damage was done.”

  Grey made to reach for her, but she held up a hand, warning him off.

  “I could read the handwriting on the wall and resigned. I was broken.” And she was the first to admit it. Losing a child was bad enough; losing her career, as well, had shattered her, with bits and pieces of her scattered so far that she had doubted she’d ever be whole again.

  “After I resigned, I didn’t look back.”

  Immediately, she shook her head, negating the last words. “I looked back plenty of times, wondering what I could have done differently. Down the road, it came out that the chauffeur was in on the job and had let the kidnappers inside the house. One of the few friends I had left at the Bureau told me. If I’d picked up on that earlier, maybe it would have changed things. Maybe that little girl would still be alive. I’ll never know.”