Chapter 3
The paramedics took Lucy, Leo, and her mother to Children’s Medical Center.
I rode in the ambulance because Lucy would not let go of my sleeve.
Her mother’s name was Sarah Miller.
She drifted in and out, mumbling one name.
“Emily.”
At the hospital, nurses rushed Leo into an exam room.
Lucy stood barefoot on the tile, wrapped in my police jacket, shaking so hard I could hear her teeth click.
A nurse brought socks.
Lucy would not take them until I nodded.
“Is Leo going away?” she asked.
“He’s getting help.”
“Brent said help means people disappear.”
I crouched.
“Not with me.”
She studied my face like she wanted to believe me but did not know how.
Detective Karen Holt arrived an hour later.
She worked missing children cases.
I briefed her outside Lucy’s room.
“She said the baby isn’t her brother.”
Karen’s expression changed.
“Houston bracelet?”
“Yes.”
She pulled out her phone.
“A six-month-old boy was reported missing from Houston four days ago.”
My chest tightened.
“What name?”
“Leo Whitmore.”
I looked through the glass.
Lucy sat on the bed, eating crackers with both hands like someone might snatch them away.
Karen continued.
“Mother is Emily Whitmore. Wealthy family. Husband says baby was taken from a parking garage while Emily was loading groceries.”
I looked back at Leo’s room.
“Then why does Lucy’s mother have him?”
“That’s what we find out.”
Sarah woke just before midnight.
I stood at the doorway while Karen questioned her.
Sarah cried before she answered anything.
“I didn’t steal that baby.”
Karen said, “Then how did he end up in your apartment?”
Sarah covered her face.
“My sister brought him.”
“What sister?”
“Madison.”
Lucy stiffened.
“No,” she whispered.
Sarah reached for her daughter.
Lucy did not go.
That hurt to watch.
Sarah broke harder.
“Madison said she was babysitting for a rich woman in Houston. She said the baby’s father wanted him hidden for a few days.”
I stepped closer.
“Why?”
Sarah looked at me.
“Because the mother was trying to leave.”
Karen wrote faster.
“Where is Madison now?”
Sarah swallowed.
“Brent took her phone. He said the baby was worth more than all of us.”
Lucy started crying.
I looked at Sarah.
“What did he mean?”
Sarah whispered, “There was supposed to be a pickup tonight.”
My radio crackled.
Reyes’s voice came through.
“Daniel, we found something in the duplex crawl space.”
“What?”
“A second hospital bracelet. A woman’s driver’s license. Name Emily Whitmore.”
May you like
The hallway seemed to tilt.
Then Reyes added, “And blood on a child’s blanket.”
