The Truth About Toby

by Cheryl St. John

  Baldwin stared him in the eye, a muscle ticking in his cheek. He’d obviously been given orders from someone with more authority than Austin, because he folded himself into the chair behind the desk and checked the tape, starting the recorder.

  He opened one of the envelopes that he’d brought with him and reached inside.

  “Don’t touch it.”

  His provoked gaze flew to Austin’s.

  “Just hand the envelope over or dump it out on the desk.”

  Baldwin looked inside, then spilled a small doll onto the desktop.

  Austin got only a few hazy impressions from the doll. The name Catherine kept coming to him, and he wondered if that was the child’s name.

  Shaine did better, getting a clear sighting of a small-town grocery store. She got the name of the store and read the captions from a row of candy and gum machines.

  The next envelope held a small thin blanket. Austin had an immediate impression of the kidnapper, the same one who’d taken Toby. The broadening vision showed a vicious assault on the child’s mother. Her purse lay on the cement, its contents spilled into a heap. A credit card lay in plain view. Austin read the name and numbers.

  Shaine couldn’t get an impression from the blanket, but she didn’t look frustrated. He’d tried to teach her she couldn’t pick up a channel on everything, and apparently she understood that better now.

  They continued through the remainder of the envelopes, until they’d held all of the objects hopeful parents had sent.

  Austin signaled for Baldwin to shut off the recorder, and he complied. Baldwin placed the envelopes back in the box they’d been in, closed his notebook and stood. “Thanks for the show.”

  Austin didn’t bother to watch him leave. He turned right to Shaine. “We’ve done everything we can now.”

  She nodded, then looked aside briefly and pointed toward the door. “Are you used to that?”

  “I don’t know if you ever get used to it. I was prepared for it. What we can see makes a lot of people nervous.”

  She shook her head in disgust.

  “He was probably cheating on his wife or something,” he said lightly. “Didn’t want me to read his mind and expose him.”

  She grinned. “You’re terrible.”

  “Well? I’m not too optimistic about most people’s character anymore.”

  “There are a lot of great people in the world,” she argued. “You’ve just seen more than your share of the rotten ones.”

  “So, you’re a great person. Who else?”

  “Ken. Audrey. Nick. Samantha.”

  “Don’t exactly need a calculator to count ’em, do you?”

  She covered a yawn with the back of her hand. “Well, don’t count them out.”

  “Okay. You win. You gonna fall asleep?”

  She shook her head. “I’ll make it.”

  “I’ll get us coffee.”

  A half hour later Ken poked his head through the doorway. “I have something, but I have to run a couple of checks on it. Sit tight.”

  It was another thirty minutes before he returned with news. “They delivered a blond boy fitting Toby’s description to a couple in Columbia.”

  Shaine’s stomach hit rock bottom. “South America?”

  “No, Missouri.”

  “Oh.” Feeling foolish, but relieved, she sat forward.

  “Apparently this couple had tried to adopt by conventional means, but the woman has a history of alcoholism. She’d cleaned up her act, but none of the agencies would take a chance on her.”

  “This is just incredible,” Shaine said, exasperation lacing her tone. “So what do these people do to get a stolen baby? Advertise in the personals? Ask around at the mall? If I wanted to buy a baby, I wouldn’t have the least idea how to go about it.”

  “Of course you don’t,” Ken answered. “But if you were desperate enough, you’d find a way.”

  “They should all be locked up,” she said fiercely. “They’re just as much to blame for Maggie’s death as the man who pushed her car into the river!”

  “Rossi had a real slick operation going here,” Ken said. “He preyed upon young single mothers, poor, without family support, so they wouldn’t have the means to hire private investigators or continue a search for long.”

  “He’s scum,” Shaine said scornfully.

  Austin reached over and placed his hand on her arm. “I think you need some rest.”

  “What about this boy in Missouri?” she asked Ken.

  “You gave me Toby’s birth certificate,” he said. “I entered his footprints into the computer. I’m having someone go to the house, make sure the child is there and take the boy into protective custody to process him. Just like we did with the Cutter baby. There’s a lot of red tape.”

  “I should be there,” she said, sliding to the edge of her chair as if ready to leap up and run out.

  “You can’t be there,” he said calmly. “If and when he is identified as your nephew, then you can have custody of him.”

  “How long will that take?”.

  “Just as long as it takes the agency to find him, take him into custody and print him.”

  “Today?”

  “I can’t tell you that, Shaine.”

  “What would they do with him overnight? I should go there.”

  “Baby,” Austin said persuasively in her ear, “nobody’s going to do anything to frighten him any more than he’s already been frightened. If this is him, you’ll be the first one notified.”

  He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and guided her out of the chair. “Let’s wait at the motel. Or take a drive.”

  She knew staying here wouldn’t make the time pass any faster. Nor would it hurry the events taking place three states away. She just felt closer to the investigation here. She felt closer to Toby.

  But she didn’t want to hinder Ken or his work. He would call as soon as he had something. She gathered her composure. “Let’s go for a run,” she said to Austin.

  He stopped and stared in surprise. A run?

  Shaine lay on her stomach in total exhaustion, her cheek pressed against the spread of one of the beds. “Why didn’t you warn me it would be so hot?”

  “This is Arizona,” he replied dryly, toweling his hair.

  “I don’t have the energy to shower.”

  “You’ll feel like a new person.”

  “You said that before we ran.”

  He chuckled.

  He had run, sprinting ahead, and then coming back to wait for her time and again. She had huffed and puffed and cursed him for encouraging her insanity.

  “I can’t get up.”

  He gripped her arms, hauled her to her feet and left her in the bathroom doorway. “I’m going for ice.”

  “Good idea, bring enough to fill the tub.” After her shower, she padded to her suitcase, a towel wrapped around her. He hadn’t returned.

  The red light on the phone blinked.

  Shaine scanned the directions, buzzed the desk and got a message to call Ken. She hung up in frustration. She didn’t know the number.

  She finished dressing just as Austin let himself in.

  “Ken called while I was in the shower,” she said. “What’s the number?”

  He told her and she called.

  “That’s his pager, so he’ll call you right back,” he added.

  She replaced the receiver and stared at it.

  Austin carried a cup of hot water and a tea bag he’d brought from the lobby and set them on the nightstand beside her.

  She dunked the tea bag idly.

  The phone rang and she snatched up the receiver. “Yes?”

  “Shaine? Ken.”

  “Well?”

  “Are you sitting down?”

  Her heart did a back flip in her chest. She groped for Austin’s hand and squeezed it unthinkingly. “Yes.”

  “The prints match.”

  Her heart stopped: An enormous swell of emotion rose up inside her like
a tidal wave. This was what she’d yearned for, prayed for, begged for. Her self-protective shields raised and gave her a moment’s doubt. “Are you sure?”

  “We’re sure. They took a Polaroid and faxed it to me. He looks just like the picture you gave me. Older. The footprints match, the description matches, the blood type matches. We’re a hundred percent sure this is your nephew.”

  Exhilaration and relief pressed up in her throat. She grew light-headed.

  “Shaine?” Austin said, when she swayed where she sat.

  In shock, she thrust the phone at him.

  Austin exchanged a few words with Ken and hung up.

  Promptly she burst into tears.

  “Hey,” he said, scooting beside her. He cupped her face in a palm and rubbed her back.

  Shaine leaned against his chest. “When—when can we go? I didn’t ask.”

  “It looks like we’re going to Kansas City again,” he said.

  Shaine leaned back and looked up at him. Wiping her face, she got up and hurried over to her suitcase.

  In its hiding place in a pocket, she found what she was looking for and pulled it to her chest.

  Bear.

  Chapter 20

  Ken McKade had double-checked and assured her a dozen times that the identification was positive. The child the agency was bringing to her was Toby. Her self-preservation instincts wouldn’t let her get her hopes too high until she saw him for herself. There had been too many obstacles and delays already. Another would devastate her.

  Unwilling to miss the events taking place, Ken met them in the Kansas City airport restaurant that morning. “How are you doing?” he asked Shaine.

  “I’m okay.”

  “She’s a wreck,” Austin corrected.

  Ken reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out a Polaroid.

  Shaine accepted the photograph, awe and elation mixing with a healthy dose of trepidation in the pit of her stomach. The blond-haired boy in the picture stared at the camera. His hair was cut shorter than it had been a year ago. He had Maggie’s familiar eyes and the Richardses’ look around his mouth and chin. He was older, of course, but he looked like Toby.

  Was she just wishing so hard that she saw what she wanted?

  No. No, everything had been verified. This was Maggie’s son. And he would be here within the hour.

  “Can you tell us anything more?” she asked shakily.

  “As a matter of fact I can. We’ve taken the Missouri couple into custody. They’re Dave and Pauline Gilbert.”

  “That’s right,” Shaine interrupted. “I’d forgotten all about it, but I heard her say that name. In my dream she told Toby that Dave left because Toby was a bad boy.”

  “Dave left because she was a drunk.” Ken went on to explain. “We’ve questioned family and neighbors. It seems Pauline has had a drinking problem since before anyone can remember. Their marriage was on the rocks about two years ago, and she went to a clinic and dried out.

  “That’s when they started looking for a baby. After being denied a child through the agencies, they obviously found a corrupt way to get one. Apparently it was a last-ditch effort on Pauline’s part to save the marriage. They told everyone they’d adopted this little boy they called Brandon.”

  “He must be so confused,” Shaine said, thinking of the year the child had been away. But there was more she had to know. “Was he abused?”

  “No. He’s been examined, and there’s no sign of abuse. He’s well nourished and physically healthy.”

  “Thank God.”

  “Of course, buying a child wasn’t enough to save the marriage. Dave moved out and filed for divorce about two weeks ago. Last week Pauline started drinking again.”

  It sounded like a story on one of those prime-time news shows. Shaine would no doubt be approached for her input on a movie of the week. She stared at Ken. “Will the media hear about this?”

  “I’m sure they will eventually. We’ve kept a tight lid on it, but as soon as our men are out of the homes we’ve been guarding, the story will be out and the press will follow a trail straight to you. We’ll do our best to keep it quiet as long as we can, but I can’t make you any promises.”

  “I know. I’ll deal with that when the time comes.” She sat with her chin in her hand, her elbow on the table, piecing together all this information with her dreams. A waitress refilled Austin and Ken’s cups, and for the first time she noticed the coffee in front of her.

  “So the dreams I had about Toby, the really bad ones, those events haven’t happened yet.”

  “I don’t believe they have,” Austin confirmed. “Everything you saw about Toby, Amy Cutter, the other children, that was all in the future. Some of those sightings, like the woman picking up Amy Cutter from the day care, were in the near future. That could have happened the same day. Others, like the dreams of Toby and Daisy, were in the more distant future. Your visions of the woman at the cemetery and the man at the piano could be either, because they’re such normal everyday events.”

  Austin gave her a look she couldn’t read. “One of the reasons I had to get away from this,” he said, “was because I couldn’t change anything I’d seen. I saw so much horrible stuff in the past.”

  “I know that,” she assured him. “I’ve seen what it does to you, and I understand now.”

  “But you changed things, Shaine. Because of you, all these children are being returned to their parents and their homes.”

  “Not just because of me. You helped.”

  “I helped, but it was your intuition that led us in the first place.”

  “My motivation was selfish.”

  “You two make a great team,” Ken inserted, reminding Shaine he’d been listening to their exchange. “Think you might want to do a little part-time work with me after this is over?”

  She met Austin’s eyes and knew his thoughts because she knew him so well. He’d only done this for her. She’d shown him hope in this case, but he’d extended himself as far as he was able.

  “No.” Austin gave Ken a serious look. “My stand hasn’t changed.

  “Yeah, well, I knew that, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask. You?” he asked, turning to Shaine.

  “I don’t think so,” she answered with a shake of her head. There were still many more nuances of the gift she could learn from Austin, among them the ability to turn it on and off at will. She had questions for him, but this was neither the time nor the place.

  Their conversation had momentarily steered her thoughts away from the plane they awaited, but once again, she found herself looking at her watch.

  The plane ended up being twenty minutes late. Austin and Ken sat in the molded plastic chairs in the waiting area, but Shaine paced before the floor-to-ceiling glass, watching, praying.

  At long last a plane landed and taxied to the terminal. The men in jumpsuits took forever to stretch the ramp out and secure it.

  Shaine stood at the front of a small crowd awaiting the passengers. Austin and Ken stood to her right. She met Austin’s eyes, and he gave her a smile of encouragement. A million butterflies danced in her stomach.

  The door opened and a man in a gray suit carrying a briefcase walked past. Two women with canvas bags followed. An older woman appeared and a man and woman greeted her.

  Several more men filed past. A young girl whose parents hugged her.

  Where were they?

  The crowd around them had thinned. A few more passengers came through the doorway.

  Austin’s hand touched her waist.

  Shaine’s heart pounded. They had the right flight, didn’t they? She almost turned to ask Ken, when a dark-haired woman stepped through the doorway. In her arms she held a little boy with blond hair.

  Eagerness surged in Shaine’s chest. Is it him? Is it him? Is it him?

  The woman looked toward them and Ken moved forward, flashing his badge. She met him, took papers from a slim case and handed them over.

  The boy was looking over her
shoulder and Shaine couldn’t see his face. He wore tiny jeans, a red turtleneck shirt and a miniature pair of suede boots.

  Ken said something to the woman and she replied.

  The child turned around, bringing a finger to his mouth, and wide blue eyes assessed Ken, then flickered to Austin and finally Shaine.

  It was him.

  Oh, dear God in heaven, it was him! Uncontainable joy bubbled up inside and Shaine covered her mouth with her fingertips to keep from blubbering. Toby! This was Toby!

  Ken and the female agent had finished their confirmations, and Ken stood back expectantly.

  Legs trembling, Shaine stepped forward, afraid to frighten her nephew any more than he’d already been frightened. She’d imagined this moment a hundred times since the day before, and still she didn’t know what to do or how to act.

  “Toby?” she said softly.

  His enormous eyes looked from her to the woman holding him and back. The finger remained securely between his bow-shaped lips.

  “He doesn’t remember me,” she said, and glanced at the woman for the first time.

  She wore a pitying look for both of them. “He’s a good boy,” she said, patting him on the arm. “He took a nap on the big airplane. Didn’t you?”

  He nodded somberly.

  “This is the lady I told you about. This is your aunt Shaine.” She shifted and unhooked a bag from her shoulder. “His diapers are in here.”

  Shaine reached for the bag, but Austin took it.

  “Hi, Toby,” Shaine said tentatively. “Are you ready to come with me?”

  Those enormous blue eyes blinked.

  He didn’t know her.

  Over the PA system, the echoing voice of a woman announced a departure, and he glanced around wonderingly.

  Shaine opened the small bag she’d brought and pulled out the worn terry-cloth toy. “Look, Toby. Look what I brought. Do you remember this?”

  His eyes locked on the bear. The finger popped out of his mouth. “Bear!”

  Jubilant relief flooded Shaine. “That’s right. Bear. I’ve been keeping him for you until you got home.”

  He reached out.

  The dark-haired woman used the opportunity to place him in Shaine’s arms. Oh, but he was big!