Find My Baby (24 page)

“Do you want to get up?”

“No. Do you?”

His smile grew wider. “Nope.”

“Then kiss me.”

He did just that. Until she couldn’t take a breath, until she couldn’t think beyond the next second, the next minute.

“I need you, Kayla,” he whispered against her neck, kissing her there until she went limp with desire.

They kissed with abandon, lips meeting lips, tongue mating with tongue.

Thought left her as sensations poured through in a kaleidoscope of emotion. When he cradled her breast she let out a gasp of pleasure. Her blood bubbled up close to her skin, pumping too fast through her veins and slamming into her head.

Had she ever felt this before? Never!

She looked into the depths of green eyes cloudy with lust.

He covered her mouth with his and she lost it again, felt the bubbles, the heat, the want.

Don’t let me think of Sam right now
, she begged.

The phone pealed.

Luke drew away and moaned his displeasure. “Wake up call.”

She lay there for a minute trying to get her emotions under control, wondering what it would be like to have Luke in her bed every night. How would it feel to finish what they’d started?

Could they? Without Sam?

Her heart felt heavy as she crawled over him. “Time to get dressed,” she said.

“We’ll finish this later,” he promised, and not for the first time. “But right now, we have a lot to do.”

****

“I’m more than eager to check these people out, Luke, but I’m uncomfortable about it,” she said an hour later.

“It didn’t bother you when we barged in on the Duwalts,” Luke reminded her.

“That’s because I truly thought they had Sam. I’m not sure about the Sinclairs.”

Maybe they were totally innocent and the child they were raising was just as they claimed, Luke thought as they headed for the Sinclair estate. After all, William David Sinclair II was one of the most influential men on the coast. Odell’s computer search turned up nothing even remotely suspicious. His business dealings seemed above-board. He owned a large realty company, several office parks, washaterias, and car washes. He was on the board of three large corporations, as well as a bank. He had a finger in more pies than Odell could track down.

“It doesn’t matter how uncomfortable I am, I have to see the baby,” Kayla agreed. “Although it seems ludicrous that anyone with so much wealth would commit murder for a baby. If they are Sam’s grandparents it makes less sense.”

“Not just any baby, an heir,” Luke said. “And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my years at HPD it’s this; there is nothing a person won’t do if the motive is strong enough.”

“So what’s the motive? If they are David’s parents, why wouldn’t they just assume their rightful role as Sam’s grandparents? Killing and kidnapping doesn’t fit.”

He looked over at Kayla, at her flushed cheeks. Could anyone tell they’d come close to making love less than an hour earlier? The thought made him warm all over.

Kayla was doing her best to reason this out. And maybe she was right. The Sinclairs had enough money to buy anything they wanted. Even a child. But coming here was the right thing, he was sure of it. “If I’m wrong, we’ll be on the first plane home.”

“I so hope the baby is my Sam. I want to take him home, raise him, love him.”

Luke stopped the car a hundred yards before reaching the double iron gates. Atop the posts were security cameras. A winding, tree-lined drive led to a huge classic Georgian mansion. White stone reached to the second floor where wide pearl-white boards led up to the third floor. Impressive old trees and a wide expanse of lawn on acres of very expensive property made the place look like a magazine setting.

“How will we get in? I don’t imagine they open those gates to just anyone,” she said in awe.

“I have an idea. Let’s find the nearest car rental.” He drove away just as a black Lincoln SUV turned into the drive, the gates opening before it. “I wonder if that’s the Sinclairs?”

Kayla turned, watched out the back window as the SUV disappeared under a portico on the side of the house. “Probably,” she said. “What will they do if we accuse them of kidnapping and they’re innocent?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we have to,” Luke said.

Kayla was fighting her reluctance to face the Sinclairs with her desire to check out the baby. He could see the battle going on inside her head. Looking at the situation from her point of view, he could understand her dilemma. Her husband had convinced her he had no living relatives; therefore the scenario with the Sinclairs wasn’t possible. His cell phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. “Garrett,” he answered.

“Where the hell are you?” Richards said in lieu of a greeting.

“What’s up?” Luke asked, ignoring the question. “Any leads?”

“We may be on the heels of the man behind everything.”

“Who is he?”

“No name yet. We’re following the satellite phone calls from the attorney’s office to this 214 number. We have everyone available on it. Just wanted you to tell the mother we’re close.”

Luke waited for some sign of relief to set in. It didn’t come. “What you’re really saying is that you’re working on it, but have made little progress.”

“We’ve made more progress than you think. The Tanner woman is in custody, as is her boyfriend. We have enough to arrest her for murder, but nothing from either of them to connect to the kidnapping case. Not that we think there is anything.”

“Did you find out where she got the number for the hit man?”

“That’s where our boy Graham came in. Seems as if the attorney had a reputation for taking care of people’s problems, and they weren’t always legit.”

“Interesting. What about a lie detector test?”

“Done that. Still nothing. We’ll get them for Tanner’s murder, and for trying to bilk the insurance company. That’s it.”

“That’s enough. Did you confirm that Anatoli committed the murders?”

“Yeah, we did. That’s all we know right now.”

“That name, The Voice, written on a pad in Graham’s office, have you tracked down who it might be?”

“Could be the guy with the 214 number. There’s no way to verify it.”

“Good luck,” Luke said. At least Richards had kept his promise and called. Luke hung up before there were more questions—questions he wasn’t prepared to answer at the moment.

It didn’t take long to rent a white van, stop at a florist and pick up what he wanted. Then he sifted through the stack of papers he’d printed from the library yesterday. “Where is it?” he asked as papers flew.

“What are you looking for?” Kayla asked. “Maybe I can help.”

“A name.” Not just any name, but the name that would get them onto the Sinclair estate.

“Gotcha!” he said, waving the paper in the air. “The Vanderlights are long time friends of the Sinclairs and will host a brunch for the couple and their grandchild this Saturday at the Branding Oaks Country Club,” he read.

“How will that help?”

“You’ll see.”

A short while later, Luke pulled the van up to the gate at the estate, punched the button next to the speaker and waited.

“Who is it?” came a woman’s voice from the black box.

“Floral delivery,” he answered.

In the back of the van, invisible to the cameras Kayla hunched down between two large floral arrangements. “I feel so foolish,” she whispered.

“We’re doing a job that needs to be done. If the Sinclairs prove to be okay, we’ll apologize and leave,” Luke said under his breath.

“What if they lock the gate and call the cops? Then what?”

“Stop fretting. We’ll do what we have to.”

“We’re not expecting a delivery,” the voice said from the box.

“Just a minute, I’ll check who it’s from.” Luke waited a minute then punched the button again. “The card reads ‘from the Vanderlights.’”

“Pull around to the side.”

“Will do,” Luke said as the gates swung open. “This is it. When we get to the house, I’ll let you out. Be careful.”

“You don’t have to warn me,” Kayla told him. “I just want to see the baby.”

She glanced at Luke. He seemed so in control. So confidant. Her heart turned over. She wanted him to be right about this. She wanted Sam to be here with every fiber of her being. Then, she and Luke.... She let the thought drift.

Was Sam this close? If he wasn’t, could she bear the disappointment? Right now, she didn’t know how much more disappointment she could handle. “Are you here, Sam? Mommy needs you.” The words were a mere whisper in her head as Luke pulled under the portico and stopped. The SUV was nowhere to be seen.

“This is it,” he said, jumping from the driver’s seat and opening the side panel. “Out you go.”

Kayla stepped out of the van, took a long breath of cold air. Since she’d been here, she’d barely noted the snow banked against trees and vegetation. It lined the cleared driveway and lay against the side of the house. Any other time, she’d be excited. She hadn’t seen snow in a long while. Now, the beauty barely registered.

Luke grabbed the floral arrangements, put one in her hand and tucked the second in his left arm before he went to the door.

Without warning, a vice tightened in Kayla’s chest. She couldn’t breathe. The sky darkened. She forced air into her lungs, forced herself to stay on her feet as the trees, grass, even the house swayed around her. Why this reaction?

Sam is here.

She almost stopped breathing. When her lungs finally filled, she let out a long, hard breath. She wouldn’t unravel now.

The longer she stood there, the more convinced she was. David had lied to her.

Luke rang the bell and waited. “Hang tight, Kayla. It won’t be long now.”

The door flew open, and a woman, her white hair disengaged from its topknot, her appearance slightly disheveled, stood before them. Even in her disarray, she looked regal. Tall; her skin smooth despite her age, a look on her face that would quell any delivery person, sent Kayla’s stomach plunging.

“Here, I’ll take those,” she said, reaching for Luke’s arrangement.

“We can bring them inside if you like,” he responded.

Too savvy by far, she took the vase from Luke, looked disdainfully at Kayla whose face was partly hidden behind mounds of flowers. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

She shut the door with her foot. Kayla caught it before it closed and stuck her head inside. “I hear a baby crying,” she said.

“I hear it, too,” Luke agreed.

“He’s upset. I have to get to him—see him.”

“Just remember what happened before, Kayla,” Luke reminded her. “We can’t rush into this again. We have to take it slow.”

“He sounds just like Sam.” Her hands shook so hard she couldn’t hold the vase of flowers and shoved them at Luke.

Her stomach twisted into painful knots. She wanted that crying baby to be Sam. But David had loved her. He wouldn’t lie.

For a moment, she shut her eyes and listened. The baby sounded just like Sam when she’d been a hostage in one room, and he was crying in another.

Dear God.

Luke’s voice brought her back. “She’ll see your face, Kayla.”

“I don’t care.” The baby howled louder. Kayla’s nerves tightened. Was it Sam? Or did all babies sound the same when they cried?

She listened closer. Sam made that same little hiccup when he cried.
Oh, Lord, please let this baby be my Sam.

She had to know. Just as she started inside, the woman returned. “Here, I’ll take those,” she said, grabbing the vase from Luke. She barely gave Kayla a passing glance.

The baby screamed again, his cries turned into hiccupping sobs. When the woman started to close the door, Kayla pushed past her.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The woman cried out.

Entering the kitchen on the run, Kayla barely glanced at the bowls of fruit scattered on the large island. Even the bowl of oranges didn’t slow her down. Though the sight of them made her stomach clench, she continued through the house, followed the cries.

Maybe he wasn’t Sam. Maybe he was the Sinclair baby. Regardless, it was child abuse not to attend to the needs of a helpless baby.

The house was huge. The cries came from upstairs. She hunted for the staircase, passing a dining room as large as her small apartment, an expansive formal living area as large as Aunt Nester’s entire house. With so much money, why didn’t they hire someone to care for the baby? Did they intentionally let this child cry until he was hoarse?

“Stop! Now!” The woman screamed behind them.

Anger propelled Kayla forward.

Reaching the staircase, she ran up them to find a maid in the hall, a dust rag in one hand, a bottle of polish in another. The woman didn’t look up until Kayla ran past her.

“Bella, call my husband and the police. Hurry.”

The maid dropped everything and ran.

Kayla didn’t slow down. Luke was close behind. “Find him, Kayla. See if the baby is your Sam.”

They faced a corridor with rooms on either side. “Which room?” Kayla cried out.

Luke took one side, Kayla the other, opening doors until they found the right one. In a room that had to be at least twenty-four by thirty feet, they found him. He was in a crib that dwarfed his tiny body. Stuffed animals lined the walls, a carousel sat in a corner, supposedly waiting until he grew into it.

Kayla’s breath came in gasping sobs. She saw little of the surroundings, her focus entirely on the child. The longer he cried, the tighter the knots in her stomach. Reaching the bed, she picked him up and held him tight. “Shh,” she whispered, rocking him back and forth. “It’s all right now.” His cries stopped immediately.

“How dare you?” The woman sputtered behind them. “Put the child down.”

Kayla ignored her and pulled the blanket away from his face.

“Put him down this instant. The police have been called. They’ll be here any minute.”

Kayla’s breath caught in her throat as she looked at the tiny face. It was blotched and reddened from crying.
Let the cops come
, Kayla thought. She’d turn the woman in. She should be punished.

Then Kayla looked again.

The woman tugged at Kayla and reached for the child. “Give him to me.”