The Cradle Files

by Delores Fossen

  "So am I. I'm almost positive that I remember the other man saying his name that night when I gave birth."

  Good. Those were exactly the kinds of memories they needed. It was enough to validate whatever he had to do to get Darnell to confess.

  Garrett shifted in the seat so he could make eye contact with her. "What else do you remember about that night?"

  "About the delivery…I've recalled a few things. Not so much about the days following it. But the blanks are filling in, and it seems as if every hour I remember something else."

  "Like the coffee table," he commented. Best to leave out the whole sex incident on that coffee table. "And, of course, you remember that I'm a jerk for not telling you about your father."

  She dodged his gaze and looked out the window. She also dodged his comment. "I went into labor at the home for unwed mothers. I was staying there because money was tight, and I didn't want to tap into my bank accounts because…well, just because."

  "Because you thought I'd find you." Ironic. While she was worrying about him finding her, he hadn't even been looking. Because he had no clue that she was carrying his child. The SAPD had been searching for her, but only because she was a missing material witness. Their search had had nothing to do with what had happened personally between Lexie and him.

  "Someone at the home took me to the Brighton Birthing Center," she continued. "And Dr. Darnell was there. He gave me something, to speed up the labor, he said. The pains started coming fast, and I didn't even have time to catch my breath before another one started."

  This was hard to hear. Mainly because he could almost feel what she'd been going through. Alone. Frightened. In labor. And Darnell had taken full advantage of that.

  "The baby came," she continued. "And I had this overwhelming feeling of…love. I wanted to hold her, but then the other man came in. He took her, and that's when Darnell gave me that shot."

  Garrett wished he could go and undo that. Not just the shot, but everything Lexie had been through. "Did Darnell say anything when he gave you the drug?"

  "Only that I needed some rest." She shook her head. "I didn't want to rest. I wanted to hold my baby, and the other man was wrapping her in a blanket. That's when he called Darnell by name. I knew he was about to take the baby away, but everything seemed out of focus, and I was dizzy. I tried to push Darnell away and get out of the delivery bed, but he held me down. I had to do something, so I pretended to pass out. It worked. Darnell left the room. I got up and went to find the baby."

  "I wish I could have been there to help." If he had been, that goon wouldn't have gotten out of the room with their child. And Lexie wouldn't have had to go through hell. "I'm sorry."

  "Yes. Me, too." She reached out and touched his chin. "There's no need for you to beat yourself up about any of this. I left you of my own accord."

  "You left because I gave you no choice."

  "Oh, I had choices, Garrett, and just like you, I didn't make very good ones. I loved my father, and I didn't handle his death well. I didn't handle a lot of things well."

  He wasn't going to let her beat herself up, either. "Hey, I had sex with an adrenaline fatigued, highly stressed witness who was in my protective custody. Talk about crossing lines. Breaking rules. Doing impulsive things."

  "I think that's what I like about you."

  "You like me?"

  "Parts of you, anyway." She actually blushed. Smiled. "I keep trying to imagine going through this investigation with your brother. All that logic. All that calmness. After an hour or two, I'd want to scream."

  "You don't want to scream with me?" he asked jokingly.

  "Oh, I still want to scream. For a lot of reasons. Including the things that drove us apart."

  Yes. There was always that. "And that kissing, groping session didn't help."

  "No. But I think we're driven by Mother Nature, or simply hormones, when it comes to this weird attraction. We're in our prime reproductive years, and I was obviously ovulating during the coffee table incident."

  So, the attraction was just physical. Garrett gave that some thought and decided she was probably right. Mere attraction. A fire so hot that they'd tried to burn it up with a round of sex.

  "But if that's true, why do I still want you?" Garrett asked.

  "Because we're connected with this camaraderie over finding our child?" She paused. "Or because we still have the hots for each other?"

  "Or both." Though he liked the second option best. Lust. Plain and simple. He could deal with that, especially since he already had so much to deal with. He needed to figure out how to be a father, and maybe then he could figure out how Lexie fit into his life.

  It was entirely possible that she didn't want to fit.

  During the time she'd been in his protective custody, she'd said several times that she wasn't the relationship type. She'd had a failed engagement and just didn't see herself fitting into a traditional role. So that meant they'd have to work out some kind of nontraditional shared custody arrangement—whatever that was.

  First, though, they had to find their baby.

  Garrett glanced around them. The streetlights had popped on. It was time to get to work and do some close surveillance of Darnell.

  "Stay put," Garrett advised Lexie. "If something goes wrong, call my brother for backup."

  She checked her gun again. "You think something will go wrong?"

  It was a distinct possibility, but Garrett kept that to himself. "Everything will be okay. Once I've verified that Darnell is alone, I'll go in and have a chat with him."

  The words had hardly left his mouth before the doctor's garage door opened. A lanky man walked around the back of a black sports car.

  "That's him," Lexie verified.

  "You're sure?"

  "Positive."

  Dr. Darnell had a rather large suitcase in his hand. He opened the trunk and placed it inside. He glanced around—the kind of glance a person made when he was checking to see if he was being watched. But if Darnell noticed them, he certainly gave no indication of it.

  "He's leaving," Lexie said, lowering her voice to a whisper. "We have to stop him." She reached for the door handle, but Garrett clamped his hand over hers.

  So, it was decision time. They could follow the doctor, see where he was going. But maybe he was going to the airport, where he could slip away and never be seen again. That was too huge of a risk to take.

  "I'd rather you stay here," Garrett said.

  But he was talking to the air, because Lexie was already out of the car. Thankfully, she kept her gun tucked away in her waistband. He figured that was best, since they were going to attempt to talk to Darnell. If bashing or shooting was required, Garrett would be the one to do it.

  He hurried out of the car and caught up with her. Grabbing her arm, he positioned her behind him as they made a beeline for the doctor. Darnell must have detected some sound or movement because he whirled to face them. His hand went in the direction of his jacket.

  "Don't," Garrett warned. To make his point, he pulled back his own leather jacket so he could flash his Glock and the badge he had clipped to the waist of his jeans. Both certainly got the doc's attention. His watery gray eyes widened. "Going somewhere, Dr. Darnell?"

  "Not that it's any of your business, but I'm leaving for my vacation. Now, who are you, and what the hell do you want?"

  "I'm Sergeant Garrett O'Malley, SAPD. And what I want is information. I'm going to ask questions, and you're going to answer them."

  He volleyed uneasy glances from Garrett to Lexie. "Am I under arrest?"

  "That'll all depend on your answers."

  He turned to finish putting the suitcase in the trunk. "If I'm not under arrest, then you can contact my attorney. He'll answer those questions."

  Lexie stepped out from behind Garrett, much to his frustration. She basically put herself in the line of fire. "Remember me?" she asked. "Because I remember you. You tried to kill me."

  Darnell looked at her. An
d dismissed her. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I've never seen you before in my life."

  "Liar. I want to know where you took our baby."

  Now, there was a reaction. The icy facade melted in a puddle of exposed nerves.

  "I want names," Garrett insisted. "I want the location of our baby. And I want those things now."

  Garrett detected some movement from the corner of his eye. He made a split-second assessment to determine that it wasn't Lexie.

  It wasn't.

  The hulk of a man came right at them. He easily outsized Garrett by sixty, maybe seventy pounds. Garrett went for his gun, but it was too late. The man launched himself into the air, tackling them. All but Darnell went sprawling onto the concrete floor of the garage.

  Garrett tried to push Lexie away so that she wouldn't get hurt, while at the same time trying to retrieve his gun. The guy had different plans. He backhanded Lexie, then bashed his fist into Garrett's jaw. A second later Garrett registered the metallic taste of his own blood.

  That really pissed him off.

  Not his blood. Not even the fist in his jaw. But the fact that this jerk had slapped Lexie.

  Garrett heard a feral growl come from his own chest, and he somehow flipped the man off them. It was time to do his own launching, and he went right after the guy, and didn't spare his fists.

  "Darnell's getting away," Lexie shouted.

  Garrett heard the car engine start. He glanced up and saw that she was going after the doctor, but he also noticed something else. With Lexie's position, Darnell would likely run her over.

  Because Garrett's attention was diverted, the hulk got in a wicked right hook. Garrett ignored the pain that slammed through him, and scrambled away from the guy. He gripped Lexie's shoulder and dragged her out of the way just as Darnell gunned the engine.

  His car screamed out of the garage, leaving the stench of burning rubber. But Garrett couldn't watch him drive away. He had a more immediate problem. The hulk was reaching for a gun, no doubt intending to shoot them.

  Garrett beat him to the punch.

  He drew his Glock and aimed, and even though he preferred to keep the guy alive, he was willing to shoot to kill. He must have conveyed that with his glare, because the big man lifted his hands in surrender.

  "Darnell got away," Lexie said, the frustration in her voice obvious. "We need to go after him."

  Garrett couldn't. It was too huge of a risk with Lexie's life. And he'd already put her in mortal danger tonight. Best not to repeat that. Plus, going after Darnell would mean letting this big woman-slapping thug go. The guy would likely come after them, and if Garrett took the time to tie him up, Darnell would be long gone, anyway.

  "Call for backup," Garrett told her. "We'll get this slime to headquarters for questioning."

  "But Darnell—"

  "There'll be an APB on him. They'll find him. I promise."

  Garrett couldn't guarantee that promise, but he knew one thing for sure. One way or another, Darnell's hired gun was going to give them answers.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lexie couldn't take her eyes from the video feed on the computer screen. Why, she didn't know. Dr. Darnell's bodyguard wasn't saying a word. In fact, the only thing he'd said in the past hour was that he wanted his lawyer. A call had been made, and the lawyer had arrived. The bodyguard still hadn't issued one comment.

  "I want to go to headquarters," Garrett mumbled. "I want to talk to this guy."

  Lexie wanted the same thing. The problem? Garrett's brother, Brayden, had ordered them to stay away. And he'd meant it, too. Both Garrett and she were just too emotionally involved in the case to do anything rational. Brayden was right. Garrett wanted to beat the information out of the guy, and Lexie probably would have assisted. She could still feel the sting of the guy's hand on her face, but the worst sting of all was the pain in her heart.

  "Maybe they'll find Dr. Darnell," Lexie said. The police had to find him. Or maybe they'd find something in his house—especially since the baby obviously wasn't there. Darnell's house was yet another place they'd been ordered not to go. Brayden had said it would compromise the investigation, that any evidence found there might be considered tainted simply because Garrett and she were in the vicinity.

  So they had returned to the safe house, and the only consolation was that Brayden had arranged for them to receive video feed of the bodyguard's interrogation.

  For all the good that'd done them.

  They were at a standstill.

  Or were they?

  Lexie grabbed the phonebook and located the number of the Brighton Birthing Center.

  "Mind telling me what you're doing?" Garrett asked.

  "I'm calling the clinic director, Dr. Linnay Blake. I want to know why she lied to us when she said no one fitting Dr. Darnell's description had ever worked there."

  "Good idea. You want me to talk to her?"

  Lexie shook her head, pressed in the number and turned on the speaker function so that Garrett could hear. She got the receptionist, who asked her to hold, that Dr. Blake would be on the line shortly. "I'd rather not pull any punches with her if you don't mind."

  "Go for it," Garrett agreed. "I'm all for anything that will get this investigation moving in our favor."

  "Dr. Blake," the woman answered. "How may I help you?"

  "I'm Lexie Rayburn. My friend, Garrett O'Malley, and I were at Brighton Clinic yesterday, and you lied to us. You said Dr. Andrew Darnell had never worked there, but I know for a fact that he did."

  "I'm not sure what you mean." Dr. Blake sounded convinced of it, too.

  Lexie, however, obviously wasn't convinced. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, probably because SAPD has already contacted you to set up an interview."

  "What do you know about all of this? What do they want?"

  "They want to know why Dr. Darnell and you are up to your necks in illegal adoptions."

  "But I'm not. I had nothing to do with any of that."

  "So, why lie?" Lexie demanded.

  There were several long seconds of silence. "Because I was scared. Look, I don't know what's going on, but I asked Dr. Darnell to resign when I got complaints that he was pressuring women from the shelter and the home to give up their babies for adoption."

  "And you didn't think to turn this information over to the police?" Garrett asked.

  "I couldn't. I got these letters. Probably from Dr. Darnell, though he didn't sign them. They were threats that if I didn't stay quiet, something bad would happen to me."

  "I want to see the letters," Garrett insisted.

  "I shredded them."

  "Oh, that's convenient."

  The doctor gave an audible huff. "Look, I don't know what you're accusing me of, but I'm the victim here. I had my life threatened when I tried to do the right thing."

  "The right thing would have been going to the police with your suspicions about Darnell," Lexie pointed out.

  "As far as I know, he hadn't done anything illegal. Pressuring women into adoption is unethical, but there was no reason to get the cops involved."

  "They're involved," Garrett assured her. "And you're going to be one of their prime suspects in the disappearance of a baby girl who was born three and a half weeks ago."

  "What baby?" Dr. Blake demanded.

  Lexie was getting so tired of the denials. Either Linnay Blake was putting on a good act or else she truly was innocent. "A baby that Dr. Darnell had kidnapped so he could use her for an illegal adoption."

  "I didn't know. I swear I didn't know."

  "Well, someone there did," Lexie countered. "Someone had to have assisted him."

  "Not me. I wouldn't do anything like that. I love children. Look, I don't have any proof, but if you're looking for suspects, look at Alicia Peralta, a nurse who works here at Brighton."

  That sent Lexie searching Garrett's eyes. "Why her?" she asked, skeptical of what she might hear.

  "Because she quit her job this morning. No
notice. No explanation. When I got to work at nine, her resignation was on my desk."

  That could mean nothing other than the fact that Alicia Peralta was scared. Maybe she'd even gotten some threatening notes. Of course, the flip side was that the nurse could be guilty. But if she was, why had she told them about Dr. Darnell?

  "Where would Dr. Darnell have taken the baby that he stole?" Garrett asked.

  "I have no idea."

  "Then think of one," he demanded. "Think of any and all possibilities."

  "Maybe his house?"

  "Not there. Try again."

  "I don't know. I honestly don't." Her denial sounded frantic and tearful. But were either of those emotions sincere? "Dr. Darnell and I weren't close. We rarely had contact with each other."

  Garrett moved closer to the phone. "Think hard and try to figure out where he would have taken that baby. Because you see, the police might not think you're innocent, and information like that might be a good bargaining chip that'll keep you out of jail."

  With that warning, Garrett ended the call.

  He scrubbed his hand over his face and groaned. "Hell. I feel like we're running around in circles."

  "Well, we're better off than we were two days ago," Lexie decided. "We have a suspect, and the police are looking for him. Plus, his bodyguard might talk."

  "Yeah, maybe."

  "There are also Dr. Darnell's files and computer records that the P.I. copied. Those should be here sometime before morning. We can go through them and maybe find something."

  She hoped. And right now, hope was all they had. Oh, and they had each other. That shouldn't have given her much comfort, but it did.

  Garrett sank down on the sofa next to her, and as if it was the most natural thing in the world, pulled her into his arms. Mercy, it felt good to be there. It felt even better to lean on someone.

  It also felt dangerous.

  Like something they should be trying to avoid. Except she could no longer remember why avoidance was necessary.