A Different Dawn (Nina Guerrera)

by Isabella Maldonado

  She looked at Wade. “Ever have one of those points in a case where you’re cranked up with adrenaline because you’re getting closer to the truth, but you’re also dreading finding out what it is?”

  “Since I’ve been assigned to the BAU?” Wade said. “Every damn case.”

  Chapter 25

  He laid the digital player on the smooth granite countertop, adjusting the volume to replay the previous night’s audio recording from Nina Guerrera’s room. After pressing the start button, he prepared to shave while he listened.

  Eavesdropping on the FBI had been a stroke of genius. Without his foresight, the Feds would have interviewed Kirk. He couldn’t allow that. Taking Kirk’s computer had been an extra measure of security—probably unnecessary, but prudent. And he was always prudent.

  He heard Nina and the other FBI woman’s chatter as he smoothed the foamy cream over his jawline. After wiping his hands on a pristine white washcloth, he picked up the disposable razor. When the male agents joined the conversation, he was surprised to learn they were planning a trip to DC to talk to some woman named Carmen Cardona. Then a comment drew his attention.

  “Here’s another disturbing question. What if she’s the one who mistakenly switched the babies? I mean, we’re thinking it was an accident by the hospital personnel, but suppose she somehow got confused and told the staff the wrong baby was hers?”

  He became so distracted he nicked his upper lip. Switched babies? He stared at the mirror, watching the progress of the crimson rivulet sliding down his face as he listened in dawning comprehension.

  From the distant past, when he was only eleven years old, his mother’s voice rang in his ears. “Oh, sweetie,” she said to him. “Isn’t it wonderful? It’s a surprise, but a wonderful surprise.”

  He didn’t think it was wonderful. He listened in abject silence as his mother continued her bleating.

  “We won’t be able to go to Disneyland this year, sweetie, because Mommy will be in the hospital, having your baby sister.” She gave him a big smile, fake as a plastic dinosaur. “But we’ll go next year. I promise.”

  Next year, she would tell him the new baby was too young to go to Disneyland. Then she would say the same thing for the next five years. By then, he wouldn’t care. He was already eleven. Everything was going to be about the new baby. The little girl his mother had always wanted. The little sister he never did.

  He should have been enough for them. Should have been enough for his mother and his father. Now the little brat would be the center of their universe, the orbit around which they all spun.

  Or not.

  Chapter 26

  Nina stopped wheeling her small suitcase through the terminal at Reagan National Airport to glance over her shoulder at Breck, who had lagged behind the rest of the team. “Come on, chica. They’ve got a car waiting for us.”

  Breck was staring at her phone. “Every alert I have is going off.”

  Buxton, Wade, and Kent continued ahead of them.

  Nina walked back to Breck. “What’s wrong?” She watched the color drain from her fellow agent’s face.

  Breck’s eyes stayed riveted to her phone. “Crap.”

  “That’s not helping,” Nina said. “Maybe you could elaborate?”

  “Crap on a cracker.” Breck turned the screen toward Nina. A headline from Phoenix’s Channel Six News filled the top.

  SWITCHED AT BIRTH: MIX-UP AT PHOENIX GENERAL MUDDLES FBI INVESTIGATION

  Nina let go of her suitcase’s handle and tugged the phone from Breck’s hand. She swiped the screen to scroll through the story, alarm increasing with every line.

  “What’s the problem?” Buxton had doubled back, Wade and Kent in his wake.

  “The problem is James Snead,” Nina said. “That reporter with Channel Six News. He just got another exclusive.”

  “What now?” Kent looked like he didn’t really want to know.

  “I set up alerts to notify me about any stories in the media dealing with our cases,” Breck said. “Snead found out about the switched babies at the hospital. He’s gotten an official statement from Marcus Johnson, the chief legal counsel Nina met with.”

  “How could he have found out this fast?” Buxton said. “It’s not like the hospital would want to publicize it. They’d keep it quiet forever if they could arrange for an out-of-court settlement with a nondisclosure agreement.”

  “Someone leaked,” Kent said. “Someone in law enforcement. I’ll bet it’s Perez.”

  Nina put a hand on her hip. “Why Perez?”

  “He’s the only one outside of the FBI who knew.”

  “And his chain of command on the Phoenix police,” Wade said.

  “No one on the PPD had a reason to put this out,” Nina said. “It calls their original investigation into question and makes them look bad. I’m not buying it.”

  As Kent launched into a debate with Wade about the source of the leak, a new problem occurred to Nina. “We didn’t notify either Maria’s or Victor’s families.” A wave of guilt washed through her. “They’re going to learn about this from the news.”

  Buxton glanced at his watch. “We’re on a tight schedule.” He addressed Wade. “You and Agent Guerrera can take a cab to St. Elizabeth’s while we deal with this.” He turned to Breck. “You and Agent Kent need to contact both families and fill them in on what we’ve learned. Ask them not to speak to the media until we have a chance to meet with them when we get back to Phoenix.”

  “I still want to know who’s feeding information to that damned reporter,” Kent said.

  “Maybe no one.” Breck’s eyes widened as she spoke. “He covered the Llorona case, which means he was around back then. That would put him at the right age—”

  “To be the unsub,” Nina finished for her. “What do we know about James Snead?”

  Buxton gave Nina a brief nod of understanding. “We’ll profile Mr. Snead while you two interview Ms. Cardona.”

  “Speaking of Snead, did he identify both parties in his coverage of the baby switch?” Kent asked.

  Nina scanned the printed version of the televised news story until she spotted it. She groaned. “Not only does he mention the Llorona case and the Vega family, but he also mentions Carmen Cardona by name as the mother of the other child.”

  Wade cursed. “We need to get to Carmen before anyone else does. At least she’s in a secure facility, but someone on the staff could mention the story, even though it broke on the other side of the country.”

  “We’ll call ahead on the way over,” Buxton said. “From now on, we keep everything on a need-to-know basis. That’s the only way to control information.” He focused on Wade. “What effect will the fact that Maria and Victor’s biological child survived have on our unsub?”

  “This is going to send him into a tailspin,” Wade said. “All these years, he’s orchestrated his crime scenes like some sort of drama he feels compelled to act out. He researches his victims well in advance, arranges everything to the smallest detail. Now he discovers the very first scenario he planned was based on a mistake.”

  She imagined the killer, filled with rage when he learned the happy family he intended to destroy wasn’t a family at all.

  “He built a house of cards and then someone pulled out the very first one he set up,” Wade continued. “Everything else is going to cave in.”

  She asked the logical follow-up question. “What will he do about it?”

  “Until recently, he always operated on a predictable schedule, only killing on leap day,” Wade said. “He’s already broken his pattern with the murder of Thomas Kirk. That means he’s devolving. Given this new information, he won’t wait to correct the error.”

  “Correct the error?” Breck said.

  “I predict he will feel a strong compulsion to fix what he will perceive as the original problem with his plan,” Wade said. “Someone with his personality type won’t be able to rest until things are set right. That, after all, was the whole point of
the murders.”

  Nina made sure she understood. “You’re saying he’ll try to find the missing baby—now an adult—and kill her?”

  Wade nodded. “She’s a loose end.”

  Nina stooped to grasp her bag’s handle. “This interview with Carmen Cardona just got a whole lot more critical,” she said.

  “As has our need to keep the results confidential,” Buxton said. “If word gets out when we locate her, she’ll be in serious danger.”

  Nina had grasped the gravity of their mission. “If he finds her before we do, we’ll have another murder on our hands.”

  Chapter 27

  Nina and Wade strolled down the long white corridor as the late-afternoon sun angled through the tall picture windows along one side. It was an acknowledgment of the seriousness of the situation that the hospital director had arranged for Carmen Cardona’s treating psychiatrist, Dr. Bernice Matthews, to be present during the Saturday interview. Furthermore, they had agreed to delay Carmen’s afternoon meds by thirty minutes to be sure she was clear when Wade and Nina spoke to her.

  During Wade’s previous phone conversation with Dr. Matthews, she had insisted he could only bring one other agent and recommended a female, then also warned that Carmen would lapse into Spanish when she became distressed. Nina had been the logical choice.

  They had conferred with Dr. Matthews before the interview, but offered her no more information than she could have learned from a Google search of news reports from Phoenix. Dr. Matthews told them Carmen favored art therapy, spending her days painting and drawing. She was known to be withdrawn, often retreating into the recesses of her own mind. According to the psychiatrist, reality was mutable for Carmen, who could not reliably discern the year, much less the date.

  Based on that assessment, Nina doubted any criminal admissions on Carmen’s part would result in prosecution. This would be strictly a fact-finding mission.

  Dr. Matthews had agreed to help as best she could, warning them to treat the patient with care before escorting them to Carmen’s private room.

  After they entered, Dr. Matthews approached a frail woman whose salt-and-pepper hair tumbled down past her hunched shoulders.

  Whatever Nina had expected about Carmen’s living quarters, it hadn’t been this. Every surface and wall space seemed crammed with artwork featuring dolls of every size and shape. Watercolors, charcoal drawings, oil paints—all juxtaposed in an unnerving hodgepodge, their glimmering eyes staring at Nina from every direction.

  “Good afternoon, Carmen,” Dr. Matthews said, gesturing toward Nina and Wade. “These are the visitors I told you about earlier. This is Agent Wade and Agent Guerrera from the FBI.”

  Carmen peered up at them with owlish eyes but said nothing.

  Nina had seen Carmen’s date of birth in the police report and could hardly believe the fractured shell of a woman in front of her was only forty-seven years old. Her troubled past seemed to have taken a toll on her body as well as her psyche, giving her the appearance of someone two decades older than her true age.

  Dr. Matthews took a seat in the chair closest to Carmen and tipped her head toward two empty folding chairs, indicating they should sit. Nina figured the staff had rearranged Carmen’s room, adding the extra seating to conduct the meeting in her own personal space so she would feel more comfortable. Nina was more than happy to let Wade take the lead and follow up with any questions that came to mind.

  Wade opened the discussion on a gentle note. “Ms. Cardona, do you know why we’re here?”

  A silent shake of the head was Carmen’s only response.

  “Did you ever live in Arizona, Ms. Cardona?”

  Nina recognized the technique. Ask the interviewee something you already know to assess how truthful—or in this case, how lucid—they were likely to be going forward.

  Carmen looked down at her hands, which were clasped in her lap. “Ages ago, I lived in Phoenix.” A slight Spanish accent tinged her words. “That was not a happy time in my life.”

  “How so?” Wade’s tone was deep, calm, and caring.

  “I was nineteen years old.” She chewed her lip. “I was pretty messed up.”

  “We’re aware there were some difficulties,” Wade said. “Ms. Cardona, can I call you Carmen?”

  “Sure.”

  “Carmen, when did you leave Arizona for Maryland?”

  Her eyes returned to her hands. “I don’t remember exactly when.”

  “Do you recall why you left?”

  She picked at her sleeve in silence for a long moment. “I . . . had . . . a baby.” Her palm touched her chest. “Una niña. I called her Linda because she was so beautiful.”

  A little girl. Niña meant girl in Spanish, which was how Nina had gotten her own name from social services in Fairfax County. Carmen had named her baby Linda, the Spanish word for beautiful.

  “All of this must weigh on you,” Wade said. “It’s time to talk about it.” He paused before beginning the main part of the interview. “Why don’t you start with the baby?”

  Carmen continued to pick at her sleeve, not making eye contact. She was silent so long Nina was afraid she would never answer.

  Finally, in a small voice, Carmen began to tell her story. “I was seeing a man named José, and I got pregnant. I used to do all kinds of things like that—I took drugs, drank too much, got mixed up with the wrong men.”

  Nina knew better than to interrupt once the floodgates had been opened. She listened intently as Carmen continued.

  “José beat me bad when he found out I was pregnant. Put me in the hospital.” She gave her head a rueful shake. “I didn’t want him anywhere near my baby. A police lady helped me, and I pressed charges. The judge gave José six months, but I knew he’d be out soon after the baby was born. He would come home, and he would be real mad at me.” She winced at the thought. “He would blame me for putting him in jail.”

  As Nina had suspected, Carmen had fled Phoenix to escape her abusive boyfriend.

  “I had my baby at home in my apartment,” Carmen said. “One of my neighbors heard me screaming and called the cops. I had my little Linda right there on the kitchen floor, then an ambulance took me and her to the hospital.”

  When she trailed off, Wade gently prompted her. “What happened at the hospital?”

  Carmen’s voice grew even quieter. “The nurse told me they had to do some tests. I had used when I was pregnant. I was scared they would take my baby away and throw me in jail.”

  Nina put herself in Carmen’s place, imagining her fear of the authorities, of her violent boyfriend, and of losing her baby.

  “So I found out where the nursery was,” Carmen went on. “And I went to get my daughter before they did any tests. The nurse stopped me, but I walked right over to the bed where she was sleeping and demanded my little girl.”

  When she lapsed into silence again, Wade gave her a verbal nudge. “Carmen, how did you know the baby you took from the nursery was yours? Was there an identification band on her?”

  Carmen scrunched her eyes closed, trying to remember. After a long moment, she straightened and looked at Wade. “There was one of those plastic things around her ankle, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Did it match the one on your wrist?”

  “I didn’t look,” Carmen said. “I knew which baby was mine.”

  “How could you tell?”

  She gave Wade an exasperated frown. “A mother knows her own child. Plus, she was the only brown baby girl in the nursery. The rest were all white or black.”

  Nina and Wade exchanged glances. Carmen hadn’t considered the possibility that her baby might have been taken to another room for testing.

  During her research, Breck had found data about thousands of newborns being switched at hospitals over the years, especially in the past. Nina had been shocked to learn that nurses and parents sometimes didn’t double-check the bracelets before being discharged from the hospital.

  “The nurse wanted me and
Linda to stay overnight,” Carmen continued. “But we were both healthy. They had to give her to me. I carried her straight out the door and called a friend to take us back to my place.”

  “You mentioned substance abuse during pregnancy,” Wade said, keeping his voice free of judgment. “Your baby could have been born addicted.”

  “The nurse said she was fine, and I hadn’t used for at least two months before I delivered.”

  Nina wondered if Carmen realized she was contradicting herself. She claimed to fear discovery of trace amounts of narcotics in her daughter’s system, but then justified taking her from the hospital because she felt certain Linda had no risk of going through withdrawal.

  Wade dropped the subject. “What did you do next?”

  “I knew I had to get out of Phoenix. As far away as possible so José wouldn’t find me. I had a cousin who lived in Bethesda, so I loaded up my car and headed east a few days later.”

  “Did you get to Bethesda with the baby?” Wade asked. “Did something happen along the way?”

  Nina held her breath, half expecting to hear about a deadly car crash Carmen never reported.

  “We made it all right,” Carmen said. “Traveled across the country over four days in an old Chevy. After the trip, Linda and me stayed with my cousin for a couple of weeks until the baby’s crying got to him. I was looking for a job. I really wanted to go straight. My little girl was depending on me.”

  Carmen stopped talking again. She scrunched down and seemed to fold in on herself. Nina knew the next part of the story would be critical to their investigation but also heartbreaking for Carmen to relive.

  Wade edged closer to her without making physical contact. “What happened to Linda?”

  Silence met his words.

  He inched closer still. “Carmen?”

  “My cousin said we had to leave. Said the baby was ruining his life.” Carmen began wringing her hands. “So I went to a shelter. One where I could take Linda too.”