by Ember Leigh
After an hour and a half in the truck, it shuddered to a stop. She opened her eyes and nearly cried.
A town. A real town, and there were cars on the road, and people bundled up on the sidewalks. She laughed, looking over at Wesley.
“It’s been years since I’ve seen civilization.”
“It took forever to get here, too.” He shook his head, sliding his gloves on. “Did you know that drive normally takes twenty minutes?”
She zipped her jacket and tucked the blanket around Emmy. She didn’t even know where to begin. Now she’d have a cell signal. Which meant she could have a long conversation with her boss, smooth everything out there, and then let Emmy’s mother know she’d be on her way within the hour. She’d find a rental car company, get the car, or have them find her here, and be on her way in no time.
Excitement burbled inside her. She’d never been so relieved to see a paved road or people milling around in front of the post office.
“I’ll be going to the grocery store there.” He pointed toward a building across the street. “You take your time, make your calls, and let me know if you need anything.”
Rose nodded eagerly. “Thanks, Wes. And thanks again for all you’ve done to help me…really, you saved my life. And I’ll never forget your kindness.”
He smiled. “It’s no problem, Rose.”
Wesley opened the door and slid outside, wrapping his scarf extra tight against his face. Though the blizzard had certainly disappeared, the wind blew fierce and the temperature had to be below zero—way below zero. But she needed to get out of the truck and into a quiet area, where she could look up some resources and get the wheels in motion.
Rose hopped out of the truck and pulled the car seat out. She’d spotted a library a few doors down—the perfect place to start. She waddled with the car seat in that direction, ducking her head against the frigid wind. Emmy started to fuss.
“Hang tight, Emmy,” she said, the wind swirling into her open mouth and through her esophagus. She coughed, and then added, “We’ll be warm again soon enough.”
Rose’s legs went heavy and sluggish under the relentless cold wind, but she staggered up the sidewalk of the library and pushed against the doors. A pleasant puff of hot air greeted her in the foyer. Inside the library, everything appeared calm and orderly, a regular day with regular patrons and a whole lot of working telephone lines. Rose gaped at the scene. A librarian glanced at her, unamused, and continued filing books.
The silence of the library proved a stark comparison to the howling wind outside. Rose spotted the Reference area off to the side and set down Emmy’s car seat, pausing to warm her hands before diving into the phonebooks.
The librarian at the center desk, right in front of the main doors, cleared her throat and watched Rose disapprovingly. Rose offered a small smile, unsure what boundary she might be overstepping—probably a peculiarity of east coast small towns. The librarian narrowed her eyes and returned to her filing.
“Okay, lady…” Rose pulled out a current phonebook and turned to the yellow pages, eager to find a car rental company. Once she nabbed the number, she’d go into the foyer and call her boss, then Emmy’s mother. Perfect. Finally, things were going her way. The amount of freedom before her nearly suffocated her. She’d almost forgotten about the wide world beyond after five days in that hotel.
But Garrett…
She needed his phone number. Once she took care of this business, she’d flag down Wes and grab their numbers. To stay in touch. Like a nostalgia thing. So they could call each other every six months and reminisce about their strange week in captivity…maybe send Christmas cards for a few years.
The library doors swung open and a puff of warm air greeted her. Steps approached, quiet voices in conversation, and then a tap on her shoulder.
She whipped around. Three tall, slightly overweight policemen stared back at her.
“Hello.” She struggled to swallow her surprise. “Can I help you?”
“Ma’am, are you Rose Delaney?”
“I am.” She cleared her throat, smoothing down her jacket, calculating where she might strike the first police officer in order to grab his gun and then hold up the rest. No, that would be an awful idea. Too many witnesses. It would end very poorly.
Better to play along and see what they wanted.
“And this child here?” The police officer in front nodded toward the car seat. “Is this a Ms. Emmaline Watts?”
A large number of thoughts crashed together in her skull. In a searing flash, she saw exactly where this headed. The echo of her boss’s voice appeared in her head—shit had hit the fan. And it had found her, here, in the mountains of Pennsylvania.
“That’s her,” Rose whispered.
“We’re going to need you both to come with us.” His hand hovered over his holster, and the other two policemen fanned out.
“Might I ask why?”
“This child had been reported as kidnapped and your name is listed as the kidnapper. You are reported as armed and dangerous. Ma’am, hold out both hands while I read you your rights…”
Her stomach turned into a steel nut and plummeted to her toes. She pinched her eyes shut and gulped back a wave of shame. Where could she begin? What could she say to convince these men otherwise, when they were under orders to arrest her?
She offered her hands, noticing the librarian and every patron in the building watching with slack jaws. A number of nearby patrons peeked over top of books as they sat riveted to the unfolding scene. “Sir, I know this might look a certain way, but I have to let you know I’m—”
“You have the right to remain silent,” he said. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law.”
Her heart writhed in her chest, a sick wave of failure crashing over her. The girl looked up at her inquisitively, eyes wide and innocent.
As the officer continued reading her rights, fury built. Five days, and the police knew her whereabouts? She could figure Emmy’s mom reported a kidnapping. But how did they know to find her here? Emmy’s mom certainly didn’t have any idea of where she’d called from—her cell phone number had a California code, and their three-second connection days ago couldn’t have proven any useful information.
So how the fuck had they found her?
When the police officer finished the rights, she sighed. “Listen, seriously, this is my job. I’m hired to bring this girl back to her mother. I know it sounds ridiculous, but—”
“Ma’am, I am in no position to believe you or disbelieve you. I’m here to take you to the police station where we can begin processing.”
The police officer led her out of the library. Another officer hoisted the car seat and followed.
“I have been trapped for five days in a hotel because of this snowstorm. My car was wrecked, it’s on the side of the highway in God knows where, and if we can go find it, I can show you the papers proving I was hired.”
The police officer’s facial expressions didn’t waver.
She sighed again, bracing herself against the cold as they re-entered the morning air. “Listen, how did you even find me? For God’s sake, I don’t even know where I am.”
“An anonymous tip, ma’am.” He pushed her a bit quicker toward the police car, lights still flashing and making a spectacle.
The information churned inside of her as she struggled to make sense of it. Who had even seen her during the five-day stay in Pennsylvania who could possibly know Emmy wasn’t hers?
The only answer making sense pointed toward someone at the hotel—but it was impossible. To them, she was Emmy’s mother. No reason to send the police after her. How would they have known Emmy’s real last name? The more she thought, the more the questions multiplied. Her head spun heavily, and she wanted to lie down.
“Can we stop at the grocery store?” she asked. “A friend of mine is there, he’ll explain to you this is a really big misunderstanding. I’ve been stuck in their hotel—”
<
br /> “No, ma’am, that won’t be possible. We’re going straight to the police station.”
The officer helped her into the car and then slammed the door shut behind her. She watched as they carried Emmy into a squad car down the street.
When the officer slid into the driver’s seat, she asked, “Where are they taking Emmy?”
“To protective custody. Her mother will be informed, and the child will be delivered.”
Rose pinched her eyes shut and leaned her head against the dividing wall between the back seat and the area up front. “Jesus. That is my job.”
“Sorry, ma’am?”
“I was supposed to deliver her!” She sighed deeply, catching the acrid sting of steel as her breath condensed on the divider.
The officer didn’t respond, and the car kicked into gear.
Rose stared sullenly out the window, hoping for a chance glimpse of Wesley. Maybe he’d spot her and follow them to the station, demanding answers. But the swirling lights drew onlookers, and the amount of curious eyes forced her head downward. The surprise and shock on stranger’s faces only reinforced the shit show.
Though she’d never been arrested before, she knew enough about the legal system to count on her one call when they got to the station. And she didn’t know whether the call should be to her boss, to Emmy’s mother, or to a damn fine lawyer.
****
Garrett’s abnormally early morning came to a natural close when his belly began rumbling louder than the belt sander. He checked his watch—time to get breakfast ready for the troops.
The impromptu morning sanding session had proven helpful for calming his careening mind. It had helped him think a little less about how Rose was perhaps only hours away from permanently exiting his life.
In the kitchen, Garrett prepared all the regular options: baskets of fruit, re-filling the tubs of cornflakes, setting out milk, ample napkins for the team of men who seemed to spill more crumbs than a troop of elementary kids. At eight thirty on the dot, workers trickled in.
“Mornin’, boss.” Some tipped their hats, other nodded their greeting. Garrett smiled at each in turn as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
By eight forty-five, Wesley still hadn’t shown up, and neither had Rose. While all the workers munched happily, Garrett strolled back to the rooms in search of Rose. He knocked quietly on her door, smiling at the thought of seeing her again.
Nobody answered. He knocked again.
He waited.
No answer.
He furrowed a brow and turned on his heels. Maybe Wesley had seen her. He burst into their shared room and found it empty. Garrett returned to Rose’s door and knocked again.
When nobody came to the door for a third time, and upon listening closely he heard no signs of life, he decided to peek inside. Just to check.
The air hung eerily still inside her room, and the car seat was missing. Rose’s sparse things were gone, and his own mesh shorts were the only article of the clothing in the room.
His stomach jerked, and a wild idea sputtered to life. Had Wesley and Rose already left for town?
Garrett raced toward the foyer and heaved open the door. If Rose was gone, she wouldn’t come back. Which meant they hadn’t even had a chance to say good-bye, or exchange numbers, or even look at each other one last time.
Crystalline snowflakes fluttered and swirled around the parking lot, where wide tire tracks led away from the hotel. His heart sank in his chest, the confirmation of this fear settling strangely in his body. They’d been together less than a week, but he felt somehow slighted. Like, there had been something between them. Something worth saying good-bye to, at least.
He shoved the door shut, his mind churning. And why hadn’t Wes said anything? Their early morning discussion about Rose had to be involved. Did Wes distrust her so much he’d carry her to town on his own the first chance he got?
Garrett paced the foyer, stomach in a freefall like going over the first hill of a rollercoaster. He had no idea where to go from here. Was he supposed to spend five magical and very intense days with someone and then pretend like it hadn’t happened? Fat chance. Already the withdrawal effects directly linked to the essence of Rose had begun, or the beginning stages of insanity. Both were equally likely.
Garrett went to the dining room. “Any of you guys seen Wes this morning?”
“Naw,” said a worker. Other shook their heads. “Why, he not show up for work? Maybe a bear got him in the night.”
A couple chuckled. Garrett cracked a grin, but he couldn’t squash the waves of anxiety crashing over him. But what to do? With Wesley and Rose gone, he couldn’t do anything but wait.
****
Outside the police station, Rose watched with a taut throat as an officer carried Emmy’s car seat into a separate building. The arresting officer opened the cruiser door and guided her to standing.
“She needs to eat soon.” The cold made it hard to speak. “She only had a banana earlier this morning, and she needs a mid-morning snack, or else—”
“Ma’am, she’ll be taken care of.”
The officer held open the station doors. A wave of hot air greeted them as they walked through a small waiting room, past some security guards, and into a holding area. The station looked to be made entirely of cinder blocks, somewhere in the late seventies. Orange and puke green tiles were the decorative foundation. He directed her to sit down in front of a small desk, where another officer sat at a computer.
“Once we get all your information in the system,” he explained, “you can make your phone call, and then we’ll put you in the holding cell.”
She sighed. “Excellent.”
The officer across from her raised his eyebrows. “Full name?”
“Rosalind Ellis Delaney.”
He prompted her for her date of birth and social security number then and after typing all of the information, paused for an exceptionally long time. The hum of the small room grew the longer they sat in silence. Her knee bounced wildly as she waited, eyes careening over the various shades of white comprising the cinder blocks of the walls.
“Your mailing address?”
“Five Fifty Birch Lane, Santa Monica, California.”
The officer nodded. “What brings you so far from home? Especially with this kidnapped baby?”
Rose’s breath disappeared in her throat. The question had been posed casually enough, but the nature of it made her do a double take. Should an officer ask her that? Couldn’t this sort of thing be used against her?
“I didn’t kidnap the baby,” Rose said finally. “I was bringing her back home.”
“From Santa Monica?” The officer didn’t even look at her as he clicked around on the computer.
“No. From Detroit, Michigan. Her mom hired me. She filed a complaint with Child Protective Services six months ago about her delinquent ex-spouse. Since Emmy was being kept in a different state from where her mother lives, responsive action was limited. That’s why they called me.”
The officer nodded and clucked his tongue. “Right.”
Her nostrils flared as she watched him. Was this some sort of small-town bullying tactic? She didn’t need to be quietly mocked by a guy who she could easily take down if it weren’t for the handcuffs. A station so small probably didn’t come across a lot of child-protection cases like the one’s Rose got involved with. Maybe he really did think she spewed a load of crap.
“When do I get my phone call?”
“In just a minute, little lady.”
Her ear twitched at the sudden pet name. Her eyes narrowed as she continued watching him. He hadn’t even glanced at her once.
“Who told you guys where to find me?”
“I can’t share that information. We received an anonymous tip.”
She wanted to slam her head against the desk. No matter how many times she ran the situation through her head, the math didn’t add up. If they’d received an anonymous tip, it meant someone at the hotel had to
have turned her in. But how would they know?
The question had circled her mind so many times she wanted a nap.
After typing in a few more things and taking her fingerprints, the officer stood and stretched awkwardly in front of her, his groin at eye level as he did so. Rose looked away, fighting the urge to put her handcuffed fists right into the bulls-eye.
“So, little lady. You ready for that phone call?”
Chapter Fourteen
When the front door creaked open later, Garrett shot like a rocket to greet Wesley. He’d been admittedly hovering near the foyer as much as possible, waiting for the first sign of Wes, or maybe even Rose.
Wesley entered the foyer, hands full of bags. He set them down inside the door and, spotting Garrett, called out, “Hey, put on your jacket and come help me.”
“Where is Rose?”
Wes’s face darkened, and he didn’t reply right away.
“Wesley, where the fuck have you been? Why did you disappear with Rose this morning without even telling me?”
“She was in a hurry, and I took her into town.” He avoided Garrett’s eyes.
“But why didn’t you tell me? Why did you guys escape like a couple of convicts?”
Wes’s face grew red and he set his jaw. “Because I found out she was one.”
Garrett couldn’t hide the look of incredulity on his face. “What?”
“She’s a fucking con artist, Garrett. You’ve been sleeping with a con artist. I found out about her dirty scam last night, and I figured I’d take the matter into my own hands since she did a fine job of blinding you during her stay.”
Garrett blinked as the information sunk in. “What…okay, listen. I have no idea what you are talking about—”
“She was on the news last night. I literally saw Emmy on the news. She was reported as kidnapped, by an unidentified woman. Well, guess who that woman is, Gare? Rose. And I made sure she went where she needed to go.”
“You mean…”
