by Ali Vali
“You don’t need to spend any time worrying about your mother. In a few months she’ll be counting her pennies in that frozen tundra, wishing she’d just accepted the first offer Ross made. You have my word on that, and so does Ross.”
“Can we get out of here today? I’d feel better if we were all together at home.”
“I know the two people who can help you with that, and they promised they’d be by,” Cain glanced at her watch, “in five minutes. I already asked that question and they didn’t seem too opposed to it, so we should start packing.”
“Trying to leave without paying the bill?” Sam asked as she entered with a chart. “How about you show me your credit card, and I’ll get you a ride out of here?”
“Thanks for everything, Sam.” Cain walked over with the baby and let their friend hold him. “You and Ellie are in my debt for taking such good care of these two.”
“The best part of this job is seeing the beginnings of families and when folks want to add to that. You have a beautiful family, so you’ll never owe me anything. Well, maybe let me cut the line at Emma’s when I can talk my wife into a date night.”
“That’s an easy request, so put your dancing shoes on.”
It took another two hours, but they headed out with Lou and Katlin and arrived at a quiet house. The kids were still in school, but they would be wired when they got home, so Cain took Emma up for a nap. She left the baby with Carmen, who was getting a raise for all the cooing she was doing over Billy as she carried him to the kitchen to show him off to the other staff.
“When he sleep, Miss Cain, I bring him in, so don’t worry.”
“Thank you for everything, Carmen, and thanks too for being so good to my kids and Emma. I’m glad you’ve been here through all this.”
“You and Emma are my family, so I glad too. I work for you, but you and Miss Emma, you make pretty babies easy to fall in love with.”
When Cain got back to the bedroom, Emma asked, “Think we can sleep for about an hour?”
“Carmen and the others are babysitting, so we should be good until the kids get home. Once they’re here and see that baby, all bets are off. Especially since they were up way past their bedtime last night.” She lay down and let Emma find a comfortable spot. It was strange after so long to not feel the baby bump between them, but the joy of them getting back to somewhat normal was a good feeling before falling asleep.
“Sweet dreams, lass.”
“You’re here, so that’s all I need.”
“May it always be so.”
Chapter Seventeen
“Is she in the bathroom?” Sabana Greco, the guard Cain had placed with Hannah for the moment, glanced at her watch. The kids had been up so late the night before that she’d come by a little before the bell with Cain’s blessing to take Hannah home before the traffic around the school became gridlocked. Very few children that attended Hannah’s school rode any type of bus or public transport. Either soccer moms or people like her picked them up.
“Let me check again. I’m not sure what’s taking so long.” The school secretary looked up at the wall clock to check the time, as if agreeing Hannah should’ve been escorted to the office by now.
She’d been standing in the office for fifteen minutes, and no one had produced Hannah or told her what the hell was going on. “Do we have some sort of problem here? You need to let me know now, if that’s the case.” Sabana was familiar with Cain’s temper and coughed when the taste of bile filled the back of her mouth. She didn’t want to call her boss and tell her something had happened to her kid.
“What are you talking about? What kind of problem?” Levi emerged from his office and the secretary shook her head, but it appeared like the move was more out of confusion than disagreement.
“I’m here for Hannah Casey.” Sabana handed over the papers that allowed her to remove Hannah from school. She was beginning to hope that was the reason for the delay. “I’ve been waiting, and it seems like you can’t find her. If that’s true, then you need to say so.”
“I’m sure she’s just packing her stuff or something like that, but let’s go check.” Levi pointed to the door, and Sabana followed him to a classroom close to the front office. She cursed softly when Levi visibly paled as he glanced inside. “What are you doing here?” he asked the older woman in the classroom. “The board wanted you out immediately.”
“According to the rules the school put in place, I can appeal their decision. So they had no choice but to give me my job back until that process is complete. I’ve done good work, and the board had no grounds for firing me.”
“Where’s Hannah Casey?” Levi asked, his voice loud enough to make the children stop playing and sit quietly.
“Right at this moment I have no idea,” the woman said and smirked.
“Mr. Levi,” Lucy said, holding her hand up like the children had been taught in order to be recognized. “She let Hannah go at recess with this lady that came. I don’t think Hannah wanted to go, but she made her.”
“Fuck me, I’m dead.” Sabana struggled to get her phone out of her jacket pocket, her fingers almost numb from fear. “Lou, we need to get people to Hannah’s school. She’s gone.”
“Gone? What the fuck does that mean?” Lou screamed, and she knew her life would never be the same. The only luck she’d have left would be to have a life at all when Cain found out, even though she had nothing to do with this.
“Hannah’s friend Lucy said the teacher made her go at recess with some woman. The school is under strict orders on who can take her off these grounds, so I’m not sure who that could have been.”
“Find out when, so we’ll know what kind of head start whoever this was has on us.” Lou was breathing hard. It sounded like he was running to the school, but she sensed the same fear that was making her want to puke. Cain forgave many things, but anyone who would harm Emma or her children had very little wiggle room. “Sabana, it’s really important you gather as much information as you can before we get there.”
“Lou, she’ll be okay, right?” She hadn’t wanted this assignment at first, but you couldn’t spend time with Hannah and not fall in love with the little girl so full of joy. She wanted her relationship with Hannah to be like the one Mook had with Hayden. Her involvement with the next generation would eventually help her be close to the top of the family’s power structure.
Even if she hadn’t fallen in love with Hannah, she owed Cain a lifetime of loyalty. She would never forget Cain taking her to the cemetery one afternoon. The two of them had stood in front of a grave with the name Juan Nadie carved into the stone. The name translated to John Nobody or John Doe, but it was in fact Juan Luis, the man who’d ordered her brother to be killed. Under that name, “Not soon enough” was carved in Spanish.
She’d begged to work for Cain to have the opportunity to kill him, but his death was enough, even though she hadn’t pulled the trigger. Cain had given her that gift, so she’d do whatever it took to find her daughter and bring her home.
“Whoever took her won’t be okay, but we’ll find Hannah.” Lou paused. “Don’t worry. This isn’t on you, and I’ll make sure the boss realizes that. You’ll be okay too.”
Sabana put her phone away and took a deep breath. “Who did you let her leave with?” she asked the teacher.
“I’m not at liberty to say,” the woman said and laughed. “Stop worrying. She’s safer now than with you or her family.”
Sabana’s phone rang again, and she answered it immediately when she saw it was the house. “We’re on our way, but tell me what happened.” Recognizing Cain’s voice, she walked into the hallway and explained all she knew and what the woman had said. When she described the teacher for Cain, she could’ve sworn that her boss growled into the phone. “Make sure that old fucker doesn’t go anywhere, and when the police get there, tell them I intend to press charges.”
“Do you want me to call the cops?”
“I’ve already taken care of it,
so make sure no one leaves. I’ll be there in five minutes.”
Sabana stepped back into the classroom. “If you want to help yourself out, tell me who she left with,” she said to the teacher. “Cain’s on her way, so why not make this easy for everyone involved?”
“I told your boss when she was here that threats don’t work with me. More importantly, I didn’t do anything wrong. I followed the rules this school loves to enforce.”
“We’ll see about that,” Sebastian Savoie said as he entered with Sept and another young man with a gold shield clipped to his belt. “Let’s go to the office and have a chat.”
“If I’m not under arrest, I’m not talking to you. I know my rights,” the woman said.
Sabana wanted to punch her hard enough in the face that she’d lose teeth.
“Detective Blackman, please read the legal genius her rights as you escort her to the office, and make sure you don’t skip any words. We wouldn’t want it to be said later that we didn’t cross every T and dot every I.” The young man left with the teacher, and Sept followed him out.
They both stopped by Cain, who appeared a little undone with her mussed hair and a wrinkled shirt.
Sebastian gestured with his chin for the two detectives to keep going. “Cain, let it go for now.”
“Levi,” Cain said, her voice so low Sabana barely recognized it. Cain’s anger seemed to consume her and make her appear larger since her shirt was tight in the shoulders and her breathing was heavy. “You gave me your word you’d look out for her,” she said, pointing her finger at him.
Radiating fear, Levi backed up and put his hands out to his sides as if that would explain everything. And he should be afraid, Cain thought, because if something happened to Hannah, killing Levi would only be the beginning of her rampage to find everyone responsible.
“Cain, Hannah’s friend said the teacher made her leave with a woman at recess,” Sabana said.
“How long ago?” Cain said, and Levi took another step back, getting closer to the door. “Levi, you’re never going to run fast or far enough away, so how the hell long ago was that?”
“Okay, kids. Let’s all go next door except for Lucy,” Levi said. The kids practically ran out of the room to escape the agitated adults. He turned to Cain. “The last recess was about an hour ago, and no one came to the office to check Hannah out, so we had no way to know our protocol wasn’t followed. I didn’t walk the halls today, so I had no idea Hannah’s teacher was back. The board doesn’t always share its decisions with me right away.”
“Lucy,” Cain said, sitting in the tiny chair and taking the little girl’s hand. “Did Hannah tell you the woman’s name?”
“Are you mad I didn’t say nothing?”
“I’m not mad at you at all, but I need to find Hannah. If she told you the woman’s name, please tell me what it is.” Cain could feel her phone buzzing in her pocket. She didn’t have to look to know it was Emma calling. Her wife had no choice but to stay home with the baby, and that was driving Emma mad. Still, Cain kept her eyes on Lucy.
“Mom,” Hayden said as he ran in with Mook, his tone making it obvious he knew what was going on.
“Just a second, son,” she said, putting her free hand up. She smiled at Lucy. “Did she tell you who the woman was? Was it someone you’d ever seen before? Someone at our house or at the club when you two get to dance there.”
“I wanted to go with her because I thought they were going to your house, but Hannah didn’t want to leave.” Though Lucy spoke in a rush of words, Cain wanted to shake her to get them out even faster. But she’d come to truly like the little waif who Hannah loved, so she listened intently. “Our teacher took her hand and made her go. Hannah was crying and saying no.”
“Did you see the woman?” Cain lifted Lucy up to her lap.
“We saw her at the front fence. Hannah said her name was Grandmother Carol and she wasn’t nice. Not like you and Miss Emma and Hayden.”
Cain’s vision seemed to dim, and she thought her heart would hammer out of her chest with anger, but she stayed perfectly still for Lucy’s sake. “Are you sure it was an hour ago?” she asked no one in particular.
“We can go to the office and check,” Sebastian said. “In the meantime, where would this woman take her, if that’s who we’re talking about?”
“Carol Verde is Emma’s mother. We didn’t know she was in town, but if she plans to leave with Hannah, we need to flag any flight heading north. This might have simply been a whim today, or she might’ve been planning it for months.” Cain kissed Lucy’s forehead and set her down. “Thanks, Lucy. You were a real big help.”
“Mom, you can’t let Hannah leave with her,” Hayden said as he combed his hair back a few times, trying to keep it completely off his forehead. “She’s our grandmother, but she’s totally crazy.”
“Cain, there’s someone here to see you,” Levi said.
Cain hadn’t noticed he’d come back into the classroom after moving the children. She turned on him, frowning. “Later on, I’m going to have a talk with you and with the board. Pray that we find her and she’s fine when we do.”
“Can you tell me what’s going on?” Shelby stepped around him, and Levi took the opportunity to leave with Lucy.
“I don’t have time for your bullshit, Agent. You spend all that time watching me, and you completely fail when it comes to someone harming one of my children.”
“Sir,” Shelby said to Sebastian. “I recently had a conversation with one of your detectives because she wanted my advice on something. Someone by the name of Elton Newsome had approached her and asked her to join a task force he was putting together. It had something to do with Cain and her business. Out of curiosity, she went to the meeting and found out then that Detective Newsome alone was the task force. But he told her he had what he thought would be a secret weapon.”
“Let me guess. Carol Verde?” Cain squeezed her hands together to keep from punching someone. “That bitch tried this once before, so you’d think she would have learned something, because Detective O’Brannigan sure as hell didn’t.”
“You don’t know that,” Sebastian said, but his words lacked conviction.
“That’s who came to talk to me,” Shelby said.
“I want Carol Verde found and arrested for kidnapping. She in no way had permission to remove my kid from this school, and if you let her play the grandmother card and weasel out of this, I’m going to have every one of you bastards in court.”
“Cain, calm down a minute, okay?” Sept said. “The kindergarten teacher from hell said Verde had some kind of court papers from a Wisconsin court, so she gladly turned Hannah over. It seems you’ve met with this teacher before, because I get the impression she didn’t look real close since this was her chance to put one over on you.”
“Where is she, Sept?” Cain didn’t care what papers Carol showed the teacher. No one should have handed her daughter over unless she’d gone through the school office, and someone there would have called her and Emma. Hayden felt like a lifeline in rough seas when he stood next to her so he could put his arm around her waist.
“Let’s all go to the station, and I’ll call Newsome and O’Brannigan in. If they met and he introduced her to Verde, then he must know where she is,” Sebastian said. “Go ahead and tell Blackman to cuff this teacher, and we’ll sort it out at the precinct.”
“Sebastian, as a favor to me, please have Newsome waiting when we get there.” The invisible band around Cain’s chest loosened slightly since, no matter what, she didn’t think Carol would hurt Hannah. Carol wasn’t exactly a friend, but she was infinitely safer than someone like Nunzio or another enemy.
“We’ll find her and have her home in no time,” Sept said.
“Let’s hope, because there’ll be hell to pay if she’s got a scratch on her.”
“It’s not wise to threaten physical violence in a room full of law-enforcement personnel,” Sebastian said, but his smile contradicted his warni
ng.
“I seldom make threats that I don’t intend to carry out, but in this case the one you should be worried about is the pissed-off woman I left at home. Emma’s hormones haven’t leveled out yet, and in the mood she’s in right now, she’d skin and filet you without a thought.”
*
“Won’t it be fun to be back on the farm with all the animals again?” Carol said as she and Hannah sat in the first ice cream parlor she found. Looking at Hannah through that fence, holding that little girl’s hand, had been the first warning she might already be too late, so she had no choice but to act. “All the cows and chickens missed you. They told me so,” she said, trying to ease the tension between them.
She’d been talking since they’d left the school, but Hannah hadn’t lifted her head once or said a word. It was too late to get a flight home, so she’d have to stay out of sight for one more day. Then they’d be free to go. She had to win Hannah over before then, though, so she wouldn’t be a problem when they went through the security line or on the flight back. “You know it’ll be for the best since your parents don’t want you anymore. Your mama just wanted that boy back, and now she has a new baby too, so there’s no room for you anymore. I’m the only one left who loves you.”
“That’s not true. Take it back.” Hannah screamed the words, and everyone around them stared. “I want to go home…now.”
“Hannah Marie,” she said in a scolding whisper. “You keep your voice down or you know what’ll happen.” She held her hand up, and Hannah cringed back into her chair. At least the child remembered something of their time together. A smack with the hand was a good learning tool for a precocious child like Hannah, who seemed to have a free will that always led her in the wrong directions.
“Is there a problem?” The teenaged girl who’d scooped their ice cream came over as soon as Hannah started crying. “Are you okay?” She crouched down next to Hannah.
“I want my mama and she won’t take me home,” Hannah said between hiccups and sobs. “I don’t want to go with her. I want to go home.”
