Mosquito Chase (20 page)

“I don’t think I want that life anymore anyway. Even though I was hiding out, I really like staying with Caleb.”

“Reliving that high school crush a bit?”

My eyes widened. “You knew about that?”

“Of course, I did. That’s why I was so insistent about you staying away from that Steven joker.”

“I should have listened to you.”

“Well, I told ya so.” She smirked.

I laughed and rolled my eyes as any daughter would. It felt like this comfortable intimacy was something my mother and I had been missing my whole life. Perhaps the time away unknowingly repaired what was broken. I knew she still had a strict way about her, but maybe that wasn’t such a bad quality for a little boy’s grandmother to have.

My mother spread the blanket out over me and walked around to sit in the recliner. “So,” she started while getting comfortable. “You really like Caleb.”

“Yep.” I nodded. “I’m pretty much in love with him.” Warmth spread through my chest. It was the first time I’d said the words out loud. “But,” I added (because there was always a
but
). “I will always love Simon.”

“I will always love your father. You can’t forget the people you once loved. They can never be replaced.”

“But you never even dated anyone after dad.”

“That part of me died with him.” She smiled sadly. “No one could compare to your father, but that isn’t the same for everyone. Do you love Caleb just as much?”

“I think I do, but it’s so hard to trust myself anymore.”

“You haven’t always picked the best guys in the past. Maybe even Caleb wouldn’t have worked out for you before. Maybe this was God’s twisted way of bringing y’all together at the right time.”

“Mom, you know I’m not that into believing.”

“Just because you don’t believe doesn’t mean he doesn’t.”

“Who? Caleb?”

She shook her head and pointed up.

Whether it was fate, karma, or God, I was glad I had Caleb in my life now.

My mom was about to say something when we heard commotion in the hall. The yelling came closer to the door, louder; I clearly heard the word “fuck.” My mother turned her head to me, her eyebrows rising in shock as she stood up to go to the door. It opened before she got there. Caleb came in, his eyes full of tears and his face beet red. My eyes widened as I reached out my hands to him. Parker was out in the hallway yelling about something, but I didn’t hear anything he said as I watched Caleb’s silent sobs.

“They took him. They
took
him.”

I shook my head. “No. No. You’re wrong. They’re wrong.”

He squeezed me to his chest, pressing my face against him. I pushed him away. “Why wasn’t anyone watching him?”

“That nurse took him last night before we could even react. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.” He squeezed my hands, his eyes begging me not to push him away. I squeezed them back.

“Find our son, Caleb.”

He nodded and cried with me. He wrapped his arms around me, and I sobbed into his chest.

“Find our son.”

“I will. I promise, I will.”

My tears dried against her hair. I held Angie close, using her for strength as she poured out the little she had left. My heart felt torn in two: stay with her or find our son. I cradled her head to my chest. I couldn’t leave her. Her body shook in my arms, her sobs muffled against my chest.

Why would they want to kidnap a baby? What use would an unknowing newborn baby be to them?
Angie was never alone, so they couldn’t get to her. Simon was their only shot at turning the tables on us. I blew it. I should have demanded for Simon to stay in Angie’s room. I should have had officers guarding the child. I blew it. I fucked up. He was gone because of me and my stupidity. I failed as a cop and as a father.

“Nobody leaves this hospital. Lock it down!” Parker yelled from the hallway. “Bring back everyone who’s already left the premises after their shift. Whoever doesn’t come back, we’ll hunt them down.”

Within a few seconds, a bell rang over a loudspeaker three times. An automated voice carried over the PA system.

“Code Pink. A total hospital lockdown is now in effect.”
Bing
. “Code Pink. A total hospital lockdown is now in effect.”
Bing
.

I closed my eyes and fought back the tears, knowing code pink meant Angie’s son had been abducted.
Our
son. Someone took him away from me. I needed to find some sense of strength. I needed to focus. I needed to find our son.

Angie went slack in my arms. I eased her head away from my chest and looked at her face. Her eyes closed, her chest rising slowly with each breath. I didn’t think the pain pill would have knocked her out cold, but she was completely out. I eased her back as Dr. Cooper arrived, standing inside the doorway.

“It wasn’t supposed to make her drowsy. She’s out cold.”

“I ordered dilaudid. She would struggle to stay in bed and we can’t have her moving around too much. In this kind of stress, she could rip the sutures or worse. I’ll probably get fired over that, and frankly, I don’t care. I will do whatever I need to in order to make this right.” His hands hung down on either side of his white coat as his dark brow wrinkled in concern.

I rose from the bed, clenching my fists. It wasn’t Dr. Cooper’s fault. I knew that. I breathed deep as I tried to separate my life from my career. I didn’t know if I could do it, but I had to. I had no choice.

“Mrs. Butler, please stay here in case she wakes up. If she tries to get up or struggle, push the button and
two
nurses will be in.”

Angie’s mom stood frozen at the foot of the bed, caught between Dr. Cooper and me. She was slowly registering what had happened. She appeared in a state of shock, and I felt sorry for her. First, her daughter had come back without her knowledge, and now her grandson had been taken. She barely acknowledged my instructions, nodding slightly as the words slowly sunk in. She moved absently back to the chair.

I passed by Dr. Cooper and he followed me out into the hall. The nurses’ unit was fully staffed with a few moving to and from the rooms on the floor. The nurses whose shift had already ended were lined up against the far wall. Parker and another officer stood in front of them.

I walked over to him. “Are these just the nurses for the mothers or the prenatal nurses too?”

“These are all the nurses from the third floor,” Parker answered.

“Who are the unit nurses?” I asked, facing the people.

Two nurses from the row raised their hands. They both stood on the far side of the line, one person separating them. I walked over, looking into both of their faces. One looked to be in her mid-twenties, the other well into her thirties; both shaking and shifting anxiously under my gaze. I took a breath and tried to soften my approach, but it was a hard task to accomplish given all that had happened. “Who’s missing?”

“Bridget and Keith,” the older of the two answered.

Before I could holler for their information, Dr. Cooper placed two files in my hand: one small and one thick. “Keith Mackey has been here for five years as a tech.” Dr. Cooper paused and exhaled. “Bridget Sweeny has been here for two months.”

I took Keith Mackey’s file, shoved the thick folder under my arm, and then opened Bridget Sweeny’s file. The dark hair and eyes in the picture matched that of the nurse last seen with Simon. I turned to Parker and instructed, “Send the picture to the station and have Devon start a cross-reference in the system.”

I took Keith Mackey’s file over to the desk and opened it. The picture showed a pretty average looking guy. Dr. Cooper hovered over me, pointing out the information regarding vehicles and residence. I pulled out my phone and called Devon. He answered in one ring.

“Olde Town police department.”

“Devon, it’s Caleb. Send two units to fifty-seven Second Street. We need a search warrant and an arrest warrant for one Keith Mackey. Alert the highway patrol of a red Ford Mustang year 2009. North Carolina plates.”

“He got a new car,” said a small voice.

I turned, looking up and down the line of nurses. A curvy brunette with glasses and a ponytail tail raised her hand and lowered it. “He bought a Nissan Z about two weeks ago.”

“Color?”

“Silver.”

I switched to the phone. “Devon, a Silver Nissan Z. No plates.”

I hung up, slipping the phone back into my pocket. I walked to the ponytailed nursed. “How can a tech afford a brand new Z?”

She shrugged her shoulders and said, “That’s what I would like to know. We dated for four months and he never had that kind of money. He dumped me about six weeks ago, right after Bridget showed up.”

I held up a finger for her to pause and called over one of our female officers. “Start questioning her.”

She nodded and escorted the nurse to an open room. If there was anyone that could help us the most, it would be a woman scorned.

I placed my hands on my hips and looked down the line of nurses. There were now seventeen. I exhaled and joined Parker by his laptop.

“Where is Sherriff Harmon?” I asked.

“He’s on his way. He has the flu,” Parker answered, not tearing his eyes away from the screen.

“Hell, he won’t be of any use. Tell him to stay home and we’ll call.” I wiped my hands down my face, not knowing what to do next.

Parker turned away from his computer and dug out his phone. He looked up at me before making the call and placed an encouraging hand on my shoulder. “We will find him. We can do this.”

I nodded. My phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket as I stepped away from my partner. Paul’s name flashed on the screen. “Paul this isn’t—”

“We found a letter on the doormat.” He said, interrupting me. “Teague got to it first, so his prints are on it. I haven’t touched it.”

“What about Ellie? Did she see it?”

“No,” Paul answered. “She’s outside the hospital in the parking lot. When she heard about the lockdown, she called me to see if I’d heard anything. We assumed the worst.”

“They took Simon.”

He exhaled a sigh. “Jesus Christ. How’s Angie?”

“Knocked out,” I leaned my elbows on the counter, staring at the file of Bridget Sweeny. “They gave her a strong narcotic before I found out about the abduction.”

“Oh my God, does she even know?”

“She knows. Passed out right after I told her.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Paul asked, helplessness in his voice.

“Stay put and keep Teague inside. I don’t know what else they’ll do or what their end game is. Tell Ellie to go to Tom and Jordan’s; not back to the house. I’m sending a unit over now to retrieve the letter. I’ll have them bring you and Teague over to Tom’s. Did you see a car or anything?”

“No, I was giving Teague a bath. I found the letter afterward.” He exhaled. “I’m sorry, Caleb.”

“Can you do something, though?”

“What do you need?”

“Call Dad and get him down here. Sherriff Harmon has the flu, and I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“You know what you’re doing.” He paused to let that sink in. “But, yeah, I’ll get them down here. They were headed this way tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“Christmas is in a few days, Caleb.”

I glanced around me, noticing the garlands lining the nurses’ station for the first time and the decorated tree in the middle of the unit. I hung up on Paul. Relief flooded over me knowing that my dad, the former sheriff, would be here within a few hours. He had retired a few years back per the doctor’s request; the stress of the job was the probable cause of a heart attack. He was too young to be having stress related heart attacks so he took his pension, packed up my mother, and retired to the mountains of Tennessee, not too far from the North Carolina border.

I called Devon back. “Send a unit to Paul’s house. They found a letter on the porch. Have them fingerprint my nephew.”

A long silence filled the space before he said, “You want them to fingerprint a toddler?”

“To distinguish the prints, yes. Hopefully, there are a second set of prints.”

“Okay, they’re on their way.”

Parker ran over to me. “Keith Mackey was apprehended in Lincolnton. The highway patrol is transporting him to our station for lock-up and questioning.”