by Patricia Fry
Gladys frowned and then she tilted her head and grinned. “Oh come on, Maggie. What really happened?”
“That’s what happened, Gladys. Colbi and I were kidnapped and detained in a very uncomfortable manner all night.”
“At the the old Fischer building out in the industrial park?” Gladys said.
Michael shook his head slowly. “You were right under our noses and no one knew it.”
“I guess so. I don’t know what you guys were thinking.”
“Well, your car was gone and we didn’t have a key to the building. We figured you went wherever your car went.” Michael looked toward the door and said, “By the way, where’s Max? Does he know you’re safe?”
“Yeah. I saw him earlier. We decided it wasn’t necessary for him to follow me here. Colbi and I’ll get a ride back to Hammond.”
“Where is she?” Savannah asked.
“They were still looking her over when I left the emergency room.”
“I can give you a ride home, Maggie,” Gladys said. “And Colbi, too.”
“I think Damon’s coming to get Colbi.”
Just then Michael’s cell phone rang. He looked at it and said, “It’s Iris. Oh no, I forgot to call her.”
“Michael, how is she?” Iris asked. “Is there a baby, yet?”
“Yes, Iris…a beautiful baby girl, born just minutes ago. Sorry I didn’t call. Been busy around here. Lot’s of admirers, you know.”
“Awww, a girl. How nice. Are you happy?”
“Couldn’t be happier. Here, want to talk to Savannah?”
“Yeah, if she feels like it.”
“I’m sure she’ll feel like talking to you.”
“Hi Iris. Thanks for calling.”
“Congratulations, hon. Michael says she’s beautiful.”
“She sure is. Can’t wait for you to meet her. We’ll probably be home tomorrow. Come by, will you?”
“Sure will. Hugs.”
Just then a nurse came in and said, “There are too many in the room. And there’s someone outside who would like to say hello. Okay if someone named Colbi comes in?”
“Oh yes. Please, let her come in,” Savannah said.
“Okay,” the nurse said, “but someone will have to leave.”
Gladys looked over at her sister. “Maggie, I’m sure you want to get home after your ordeal. Why don’t we go?” She looked at Savannah and Michael. “I’ll get the house ready for Lilliana and see you two tomorrow.” She gave Savannah a kiss, patted the baby through the blanket, and hugged Michael. “Good job guys—good job,” she said.
“Do you have your key, Mom?” Savannah asked.
“Sure do.”
As Gladys walked toward the door, Savannah reached out to Margaret. “Auntie, I’m so glad you’re safe,” she said through tears. “Now take care of yourself. Get lots of rest, okay? Did they get the bad guys?”
“No, but they have a pretty good idea of who they are. Oh,” she looked at Michael and then Savannah, “we found a hidey-hole and nothing was in it. Craig thinks the crooks must have found it and taken off with the goods.” She looked from Savannah to Michael and said, “But Colbi and I don’t think they found anything, so Craig is still searching.” She patted Michael on the shoulder. “We’d better go. Max is waiting for me. ’Bye, guys.”
“You walk funny,” Savannah observed as Margaret headed slowly toward the door.
Margaret turned and glared at her niece. “Ever been hogtied, Vannie?” she said without emotion. “Well, it’s not a fun way to spend the night.”
“I’m sorry, Auntie,” Savannah said trying to contain her chuckles. “I didn’t mean to be insensitive. I’m just so glad you’re okay—well, sorta okay.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Margaret said with a backhanded wave as she exited the room behind Gladys.
Just then Colbi walked in, also gingerly. “Hi there, Mommy and Daddy,” she said, hugging both Michael and Savannah. She then looked down at the baby in Savannah’s arms and just about melted into a puddle of honey. “She is…oh Savannah, there are no words to describe her. She’s…yummy. Look at how gorgeous…”
“A reporter at a loss for words…now that’s one for the books, isn’t it?” Michael quipped.
Colbi looked up at him through tear-filled eyes and he walked over and enveloped her in a bear hug. He pulled back and looked down at her. “Are you okay, kiddo?”
She nodded and wiped at her eyes with both hands. “Just so much…”
Just then they heard another voice. The trio glanced toward the door. “Damon, come in,” Michael said.
“I was looking for Colbi,” he said, his eyes quickly finding hers.
She rushed to him and he held her tightly to him as she sobbed. Michael walked back toward Savannah and reached out to touch his daughter again.
Savannah smiled and asked quietly, “Wanna hold her?”
“Sure do,” he said. He picked up the baby, cradled her against his chest, and continued to stare down at her. He then looked over at Savannah, who was smiling up at him, and reached out for her hand. She squeezed his hand briefly, saying, “Both hands on the baby, hotshot.”
“Come see the adorable baby,” Colbi said, wiping at her eyes with her jacket sleeve and leading Damon by the hand toward Michael. The proud father pulled the pink blanket away from Lily’s face a little so Damon and Colbi could look at her.
“Gosh, she’s so small,” Damon said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a new baby.”
Colbi backed away from Damon a little and looked over at him. “You haven’t?”
He shook his head. “No. It’s a girl?” he asked.
Michael nodded.
“Guys, she really is beautiful,” Colbi said, reaching out and touching a bare arm that had wriggled out of the blanket.
“She doesn’t have any clothes on yet?” Damon asked.
“Nope, she’s wearing her birthday suit. But we’d better get her dressed pretty soon, shouldn’t we, hon?”
“Yeah, we can do that,” Savannah said.
Damon put his arm around Colbi and she put hers around him as they stood looking down at the baby. He kissed Colbi on the side of the head and said, “Maybe we can have one of those some day.”
Colbi stared up at Damon, her eyes wide. “Is this a proposal?” she asked.
“Um…I mean…uh…” Damon stuttered.
Everyone laughed and Michael said, “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, buddy.” He looked over at Savannah and said, “With the right person it’s…well, pretty amazing.”
“Thanks for the recommendation,” Damon said, hugging Colbi to him.
***
In the meantime, back in Hammond, Craig pulled away from Janice Tuttle’s home in his unmarked car. “Well, that was an interesting turn of events, wasn’t it, Gonzalez?” he said. “Sure was.” He shook his head. “Imagine finding those women tied up in there.”
“Yeah,” Craig said, running his hand through his hair. “I can’t believe they were under our noses this whole time. That was a sloppy investigation we ran—the way we found them. How do we explain overlooking the obvious?”
“If it was obvious, you wouldn’t have overlooked it, Sledge,” Gonzalez said. “So where to now?” he asked.
“To the sheriff’s storeroom.”
“What for?” Gonzalez asked frowning.
“To check out some protective clothing.”
“Uh-oh, what do you have in mind?” he asked suspiciously.
“Gonzalez, I’m going to take you perhaps where you’ve never gone before.”
“I don’t like the sounds of it, Sledge.”
Craig smiled over at his partner. He then looked down, pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket, and handed it to Gonzalez. “It’s a text. Wanna read it for me?”
Gonzalez looked at the screen and said, “From Iris. It says, ‘It’s a girl.’” He looked confused.
“Oh, isn’t that nice?” Craig said with a grin. “A little
girl.” He then glanced at his partner and said, “The Iveys. They just had a baby girl.”
“Oh.” Gonzalez was quiet for a moment and then he said, “I have one of each. Wouldn’t part with either one of them, but I have to tell you, little girls are something special.”
***
After the men had checked out overalls and head covers and picked up a few face masks and other items, Craig drove back to the Fischer building. Once there, he opened the trunk of his car and motioned toward the apparel inside. “Suit up,” he said to his partner. “You know, Michael Ivey and I were going to do this and never got around to it. I kind of considered it a last-resort effort. Didn’t really want to do it, I guess. But it looks like Michael was right all along—at least let’s hope so.”
“So you think that secret compartment opens up under the building, is that it?” Gonzalez asked.
“Yeah, or maybe there’s a drop box under the flooring.” He looked at the crawl space and said, “We may know soon enough.”
“Or we’ll find nothing. Maybe that isn’t where the gems were hidden, after all,” Gonzalez suggested.
“Either way, we’ll get a new slant on things from down below. Are you ready?”
Gonzalez took a deep breath. “I’d rather be golfing, boating, hiking, parachuting, getting a root canal…”
Craig laughed. “Oh come on now, this might be more fun than you think,” he said, slipping on a headband flashlight.
Gonzalez smirked. “Sure, let’s go.”
“Back off, kitties,” Craig said, his voice muffled by his face mask. “Through poop, barf, and whatever, we’re comin’ in.”
“Yuk.” Gonzalez said. And then he remarked, “At least there’s enough room to crawl—glad you got these knee pads.” Suddenly, he stopped. “Whoa! What was that?”
“What?” Craig turned and looked at his partner, who had been following his knee prints.
“I guess a cat—a big cat. It came from somewhere above. Creepy.”
“Well, you’re scaring them as much as they’re scaring you.”
“Yeah, them and their friends the spiders, snakes, and other creepy crawlees.” Gonzalez said. “Yeow, I think I got bit.”
“By what?” Craig asked.
“A rat maybe.” In a few seconds, he said, “Naw, I just crawled across a rock—a pointy, sharp one.”
“Tsk-tsk,” Craig said shaking his head as he continued to crawl on gloved hands and padded knees. “Ahhh, if my calculations are correct, I think we’re getting close.” In a few more seconds he said, “Yes, that looks like the place. There’s a tube angling down beneath the floor over there. Do you suppose that’s where the gems are?”
“Criminy,” Gonzalez said using his own head flashlight to scrutinize the situation. “That’s quite an elaborate setup. What do you suppose it was originally designed for?”
“It’s hard to say,” Craig said, pushing up to a sitting position. He then reached over and began examining the tube. “It’s solid. There doesn’t seem to be an opening,” he said, removing one glove and feeling along the sides and bottom of the tube.
“It’s at a strange angle, don’t you think?” Gonzalez observed. “What’s it made of—could we saw into it?”
“Yeah, we probably could, actually. Good idea. But I think there’s something between this tube,” he said, tapping it with his knuckle,” and the compartment we saw on top. If I’m not mistaken, there’s another chamber between the two.” He scowled, “…like a maze. And it appears it’s on purpose—intentional.”
“But why?” Gonzalez asked.
“My guess is that Anson Fischer was either brilliant or crazy.” He motioned to Gonzalez, “Let’s go find us something that will cut into this thing.” He looked around using his head flashlight and said, “Looks like an easier way out over there. Let’s see if we can jimmy that screen off.”
A few minutes later, Gonzalez said, “I guess we owe them a new crawl-space cover, you damaged that one pretty bad when you kicked it out.”
Craig looked at him and said, sarcastically, “Yeah, we really hampered their beautification efforts didn’t we?”
“Who’s that?” Gonzalez asked as he removed his protective gear.
Craig looked around. “Where?” When he spotted a uniformed officer, he said, “Oh, I’ve ordered security out here until we know where those damn gems are—here or on their way across the border with Chandler.”
“They haven’t caught up with him yet?”
“Not as far as I know,” Craig said. “I think we would have gotten the memo.” He slipped out of his overalls. “But with those guys on the loose and no bead on the gems, I’ve ordered security here, and there will be no more trapping out here, either. We’ll allow staff from the Iveys’ clinic to come out and feed the cats once a day. That’s it…at least until we catch up with Chandler and the gems.” He folded up the gear and shoved it into the trunk of his car. “Now let’s go see if we can find a saw that’ll cut through that metal tube.”
***
The following afternoon as the Iveys drove home from the hospital with their daughter, Michael said, “Boy, you weren’t kidding about all the stuff it takes for a baby. Our family would have never fit in your old Honda.”
“Well, we won’t always be hauling around vases of flowers,” Savannah said with a chuckle. “But yeah, babies come with a lot of baggage.” She looked over at the sleeping baby in the infant car seat next to her and smiled.
“Welcome home,” Gladys greeted as the little family entered through the front door, baby Lily secure in Savannah’s arms.
“Hi Sis,” Brianna said, rushing in from the dining room. “Let me get a look at my niece.”
“Let’s let Savannah get comfortable,” Michael said. “Here, I’ll take the baby and you cozy down in the big chair.”
Savannah chuckled. “Yeah, I guess there’s room for all of us,” she said motioning toward the chair and ottoman, which already accommodated two members of their cat menagerie.
“Come on, Rags,” Gladys said, lifting the large cat. “Make room for Mama.”
“Hi Ragsie,” Savannah said, reaching out with one hand and ruffling the fur on his cheeks. “Buffy’s fine—leave her there on the ottoman, Mom.” After handing the baby bundle to Michael, she settled into the chair.
Brianna, in the meantime, had walked over to Michael and was staring down at little Lily. “Oh Sis, what a doll!” she said. She choked back emotion and said, “You did good, girl.”
“What about me?” Michael said feigning hurt feelings.
Brianna laughed. “You too, Michael. Good job.” She softened her demeanor as she peered down at the still-sleeping baby girl and said, “She is really something—perfect. I just love her. Can I hold her?” she asked expectantly.
“Uh…well…” Michael stammered. He looked over at Savannah, who had a wide smile on her face.
“Sure, you can hold her, Sis.”
Brianna started to reach for the baby when Savannah added, “But I think Nana should have first dibs, don’t you?”
Brianna stepped back as if hurt. She looked at Gladys and then Savannah and said, “I suppose so. But I’m next in line. Hurry, Mom—get your turn over so I can have mine.”
“Oh, go ahead Bri,” Gladys said. “I’ll go finish dinner. I can hold her later.” She ran her hand over the baby’s head. Lily made a face and Gladys and Michael laughed. Gladys then started to walk away when she said, “Can I get you something to drink, Vannie?”
“Oh yes, Mom. Thank you. Water would be great.”
After Michael had handed over his daughter to Brianna, he carried in the rest of the baby’s things. With Savannah’s guidance, he placed the flowers around the living room. He had just set a teddy-bear-shaped vase with pink baby roses on the coffee table when his phone rang. He pulled it from his jeans pocket and said, “It’s Iris.”
“Hi Iris,” he said into the phone
“Hi Papa. How’s the baby?”
> “Spectacular,” he said with a wide grin.
“Uh, can I come see her?”
“Sure, Iris. You can come any time. We just got home. Gladys has everything under control here; we’re just hanging out. Sure, come on over.”
“Okay. And Michael…Craig says he wants to talk to you about something. Okay if he comes along?”
“Of course.”
“We’ll see you in a few, then.”
By the time Iris and Craig arrived, the baby had awakened and began to cry in Brianna’s arms. “Now what?” Brianna asked looking perplexed.
“I’ll take her,” Gladys said. “She may have a wet diaper.” She waved quickly to Iris and Craig as they walked in through the front door and then she rushed toward the nursery with the baby in her arms. When Gladys returned, she handed the pink bundle to Savannah.
“Oh, there she is,” Iris said, walking over and staring down at the baby.
Craig joined Iris. “Look at all that pink,” he said. He watched Iris coo over the baby for a few minutes and then he said, “Now that is one pretty little bundle you got there. So…so…girlie.”
Savannah looked up at them. “Neither of you have had a girl-type, have you?”
Both Craig and Iris shook their heads.
“No, I had the one boy who didn’t live to be a man,” Craig said solemnly.
“And I have three boys—gave birth to only one of them, of course.” She smiled down at Lily and said, “I always wanted a little girl.”
Craig snapped, “Well don’t look at me.”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m finished with kids—once this batch is grown, that’s it for me. I’m too old,” the attractive fifty-seven-year-old said. She leaned toward the baby, touching her little hands as they curled into fists toward her mouth. “But how fun it will be to watch you grow up,” she said softly.
“Yeah, it will be a kick, won’t it?” Craig said. He then glanced briefly at Savannah before saying to Lily, “And if you’re half as savvy as your mother, you’ll make a fine detective.”
“Yeah, with that and what your cat-brother can teach you…” Iris said, laughing.
