Chapter 15
It took several minutes for Zoé to regain her composure. A middle-aged woman with short gray hair came in, and Valdieri gave her a kiss and said something quietly to her. She nodded and left the room. Zoé was still shaking when the woman returned with a glass of water.
"Calm down, Zoé," the woman said, kneeling in front of her. "Take a few sips of this before you do anything more. You've obviously had a great shock. Steve's already told me about your missing baby. I and our small team of helpers have been praying for you both, and for the safe recovery of Jack."
Valdieri smiled. "This is Lauren," he explained. "She's been out of town visiting family. She is..." His voice trailed off as Zoé jumped to her feet, spilling the water and recovering sufficiently to fling herself at Matt.
"It is Jack. I know it is Jack. The wife of the Senator has got him in Washington."
Matt looked at Lauren and Valdieri with an apologetic smile, but he said nothing. Surely they'd realize that Zoé had broken down under the strain.
"Matt, Matt, I heard him crying."
"I heard a baby crying too. Forget it. We already know Mrs. Harding has a baby. That was her baby we heard crying."
"No, no, Matt. It was Jack."
Matt sighed. With Zoé worked up like this, they were clearly in no state to take a train journey up to Boston. He turned to Lauren. "I think it would be a good idea to call a doctor," he said quietly.
"It was Jack. I know it was our baby. Do you think a mother does not know the sound of her baby crying?"
Matt felt numb. "I... I..."
"You all think I am going mad," Zoé shouted.
Lauren picked up the glass from the carpet and wiped Zoé's lap with a bunch of white tissues. "Try and keep calm, honey. Tell us exactly what happened on the phone."
"It was Jack," Zoé repeated. "Have you ever had a baby, Lauren."
Lauren shook her head. "I've helped many families with small children. I think some moms can recognize the sound of their own baby crying in a room full of other moms and babies. But I don't know if they can do it on the phone."
"Well, I did it on the phone," Zoé said, sounding calmer now. "We must tell the police in Washington, and they can go and rescue him."
Matt's phone rang, and he pulled it from his pocket. "It's Wendell again," he said. Then into the phone, "Are you sure? ... Yes, we're trying to sort things out here. ... Look, phone me back in half an hour. ... Yes, yes we're coming. Please don't be so impatient. On our way. Almost."
"That was Wendell," he repeated. "He knocked on the door of the apartment, pretending he was looking for a different family and then said he had the apartment number wrong. The young woman who came to the door was holding a tiny baby in her arms. He says she looked flustered. He's only got the photograph of Jack we gave him to go on, but he said the eye colors and dark, sticking out hair match Jack's. The baby turned up out of nowhere. So what are we going to do? My money is on Boston."
"And my money, it is on Washington," Zoé said firmly.
Valdieri looked serious. "I don't think we should rush into anything. If your friend Wendell Harris gave a convincing excuse for calling on the family in Boston, they won't be suspicious. And if Mrs. Harding in Washington doesn't realize that Zoé is the mother of Jack, she won't know that the baby's cry meant anything to Zoé. She will be puzzled why the medical center phoned her, but nothing more than that."
To Matt's surprise, Lauren got to her feet and gave Stephen Valdieri a hug. "You're a wise man of God, Steve. What do you suggest?"
Valdieri did nothing to remove Lauren's arms. He didn't even look embarrassed. "I think I should explain," he said. "Lauren is my fiancée."
Seemingly unaware of the gasp of surprise from Matt, Valdieri continued, "Marriage wasn't an option while I was at the Vatican. Now that I've left the official Church, I believe the Lord has led Lauren and me together. So now, what are we to do? We have three options."
While Zoé gave Lauren a small kiss of congratulations, Matt said, "Two options. We either go to Boston or we go to Washington."
"Or you both stay here," Valdieri said. "That's the third option. Personally, I favor you stay here. It's what the police have instructed you to do. I'll use what influence I can to get the police to visit the family in Boston, and also see if they can get access to Senator Harding's baby."
"I still think we should go to Boston," Matt said. "Wendell has seen the family with the baby that appeared unexpectedly, and it has a blue and a green eye and sticking out hair. That's good enough for me to be on the next train."
"But not for me," Zoé said firmly. "Me, I am going to Washington. I have heard baby Jack crying, and that is good enough for me. You can come with me if you want to, Matt."
Matt's phone rang. "It's Wendell again," he said. "Yes, we're still sorting things out. ... Can you get the local police in Boston to take this on? You've got a police background, and surely you can handle it. ... Just hang around and be patient. I'll phone you soon."
"That was a short call," Zoé said. "Is Wendell telling the police in Boston to call on the family?"
"He's not doing anything until we get there. He says he doesn't want to blow it. He needs us to identify the baby on the doorstep. He still thinks if they get suspicious, the family could move the baby out of Boston and we'd never trace it. He's right. They could say they'd been looking after it for a few days for a friend. You know, babysitting or something."
Zoé's sighed loudly in despair. "Matt, you are a detective who is cynical, and yet you are a detective who can be so naïve. How do you know that Wendell Harris is on his way to Boston?"
"Is that your maternal intuition again?"
"No, Matt, it is a mother who is being very careful. How do you know baby Jack is in Boston?"
"Because... Well, that's what Wendell Harris thinks. He's an ex-cop. What on earth has he got to gain by lying to us? We're not paying him any money."
Valdieri nodded. "We could check where the call came from, but it would take a few days. Is that what you want?"
"We have to go to Washington," Zoé insisted. "Now."
"Okay, okay." Matt held his hands up in surrender. "We go to Washington this afternoon. But first I have to tell Wendell Harris what we're doing. He can get the local police to call, because my gut feeling is that he's right. A teenage girl appears with a tiny baby a few hours after Jack is kidnapped, and the baby has heterochromia. According to Wendell's nosey friend, the girl wasn't even pregnant. Everything fits. It's Jack. And don't call me naïve, Zoé. I agree there's something a bit convenient about the way Wendell Harris turned up while I'm climbing out of the Pond with that old blanket. I'll tell him we're going to Washington, and he has our full authority to involve the local police in Boston and go banging on the door of that apartment."
"So we are definitely going to Washington?" Zoé said.
Matt nodded. "This afternoon. That's a promise, unless we hear anything more from Boston. I don't know what we're going to do when we get to Washington, but I'm sure we'll think of something on the way. And you definitely don't phone the Senator's house again. The last thing we want is Mrs. Harding expecting us." He paused, then, "I'd give anything to know what's happening in Boston. I'm going to phone Wendell."
Eyes of the Innocent Page 18
