“I don’t know,” Nick replied, opting for honesty. “We talked to her mother. The woman lives four hours away and had no idea her daughter was missing. She was so upset we could barely make out what she was saying. We have a call in to the sister, too.”
“But no one has seen or talked to her in at least four days,” Maddie argued. “That’s … ridiculous.”
“At first I thought so, too, but now I’m not so sure,” Nick hedged. “Let me ask you something, Mad, when you were in Detroit, how long would it have taken someone to notice you were missing?”
“What do you mean?”
“You only talked to Olivia once a week.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because, while I was miserable and pining for you, Olivia and I talked here and there,” Nick explained. “I did things around the house for her and your name came up a time or two. I think she was trying to get me to open up, but I was too bitter to do that.”
Maddie instinctively gripped Nick’s hand and gave it a good squeeze. “I’m sorry.”
“No apologies.” Nick wagged a finger in front of her face. “We talked about this, Mad. I don’t want you to spend all your time apologizing. It’s not necessary. It makes me uncomfortable. I know you’re sorry. I’m sorry, too. It’s in the past.”
“I know but … .” Maddie broke off and chewed on her bottom lip.
“You know what, if you keep bringing it up I’m going to start implementing a series of punishments,” Nick said, changing course.
“Punishments?” Maddie was flabbergasted. “Like … spanking?” Her cheeks were so red Nick worried she might combust.
“That’s not exactly what I was talking about, but if you want to play that game I … nope. I really can’t even talk about it. I was not referring to spanking. You have a filthy mind, though, Mad. Don’t stop thinking outside of the box.”
“I’ll do my best,” Maddie said dryly, rolling her eyes.
“For punishment, I was referring to the fact that, from now on, whenever you apologize about us being apart after high school, I’m going to make you give me an hour-long massage.”
Maddie made an exaggerated face. “That’s not fair.”
“Life isn’t fair, Mad.”
“Oh, well, when do I get to punish you?”
“That depends.” Nick shifted on the vinyl booth seat. “Do you want to spank me?”
The color flooded back into Maddie’s cheeks and she stared at her placemat. “This conversation has taken an odd turn.”
“It really has,” Nick agreed, grinning as he patted her knee under the table. “We’ll finish it up at home. How does that sound?”
“Better than finishing it here.”
“Good.”
Maddie let loose with a weighted sigh. “So, back to Jennifer Cook. Her mother doesn’t know where she is and you think that’s perfectly normal?”
“Oh, right.” Nick shook himself out of his reverie. “My point was that the only people in Detroit who would’ve missed you are your co-workers. You said you didn’t have any friends so if you disappeared for four days, the only people who would’ve reported it are co-workers. Jennifer didn’t have co-workers.”
Maddie worked her jaw, intent on arguing, but ultimately she could do nothing but agree that he was right.
“I didn’t say it to upset you,” Nick prodded. “It’s just … they were new in town. Jennifer hadn’t made any friends yet. Peter said that he allowed her to call him because he was afraid of waking the baby.”
“A little boy?”
“P.J.”
“For Peter, Jr., right?”
Nick nodded. “The thing you carry the baby in … that plastic thing with the cushion and the handle, kind of like the baskets at the grocery store, but for a baby … well, that was gone.”
“That would seem to indicate that she took the baby somewhere,” Maddie noted.
“Except her car was in the garage and her purse was on the bedroom floor. The contents were strewn about and there was no cash in the contents.”
“How much cash would a mother sticking close to home with a newborn carry?”
“That’s a good point,” Nick said. “Plus, if it was a break-in, the only room ransacked was the bedroom. Every other room was pristine.”
“That makes no sense,” Maddie said. “So what are you left with? Could it be a kidnapping?”
“I’ve never heard of a mother and child kidnapped together like this,” Nick replied.
“Maybe someone wanted a baby.”
“Maybe. It’s not exactly a common occurrence, but it does happen. Where is Jennifer if someone broke into the house to steal P.J.?”
“I don’t know.” Maddie ran her tongue over her teeth. “Maybe he or she wanted her, too.”
“Why?” Nick wasn’t trying to be difficult. He worked through all the possible scenarios this afternoon and came up with a very uncomfortable truth. The odds of Jennifer Cook being alive were slim.
“Maybe Jennifer herself staged the break-in and took the baby so she could start a new life,” Maddie suggested.
“That is a possibility,” Nick conceded. “And, while that’s not something that I would wish on any father and husband, that is the best possible scenario right now. Jennifer’s mother said she was … distant and a little depressed.”
“Postpartum Depression?”
Nick shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“You’re worried that Jennifer staged the break-in so she could do something to the baby and claim she was kidnapped or something, right?”
“That’s one of the things we’re considering.”
“What are the others?”
“That someone stole the baby and took Jennifer to cover his or her tracks,” Nick replied. “If it looks as if Jennifer left with P.J., that might allow someone time to escape with the baby. If that’s the case, then Jennifer is probably already dead and we simply haven’t discovered her body.”
Something horrible occurred to Maddie. “What does Jennifer Cook look like?”
“She’s brunette. Tiny. She’s only five-foot-two. She’s extremely pale and looks almost fragile. She’s twenty-four but looks a bit younger.”
Maddie pictured the ghost she saw on the running trail. “Nicky … .”
“Mad, I don’t want you getting yourself worked up over this,” Nick said, missing the furtive way she looked at him. “It’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“I’m not sure that’s true.” Maddie’s eyes were earnest as she turned them to Nick. “The way you described Jennifer Cook … um … is exactly what I saw in the woods when I was running.”
Nick stilled. “You think you saw her … you know … spirit thing?” Nick glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. He didn’t care about Maddie’s ability – other than how it affected her, of course – but he knew she didn’t want a lot of people to know what she could do.
“Her ghost?” Maddie made a face. “Yeah, I think I did.”
“Does that mean her body is out there?”
“I can’t say for sure, but probably.”
Nick blew out a resigned sigh. “How would you like to go for a stroll after dinner?”
Maddie considered her knee injury. “I can make it.”
“We’ll make it together and I’ll carry you if I have to,” Nick said. “We’ll get some food in us first. After that … well … I guess we’ll see.”
“Yeah. I guess we will.”
“IT WAS RIGHT around here.”
Maddie wasn’t thrilled when Nick insisted on giving her a piggyback ride, but she didn’t have a lot of choice once her knee started throbbing. She needed to rest her injury – at least overnight – and Nick needed her help to find the area where she saw the ghost.
“Here?” Nick gently lowered Maddie to the ground and directed her toward a big boulder at the side of the trail. “Sit here, love.”
Maddie wasn’t thrilled about being left behin
d – especially since she had a sneaking suspicion what Nick would find – but she refused to hold him back. “I’ll be here.”
“I won’t be far.” Nick kissed her forehead. “If you hear something … or see her … call to me. I swear I won’t be out of earshot.”
Maddie pressed her lips together and nodded, solemn. “I’ll be okay.”
“I know.” Nick forced a smile as he moved toward the nearest crop of trees. He did his best to maintain a sense of bravado as he searched, but he was legitimately worried Jennifer Cook’s body would pop up in the woods behind his house. Then, because she was a giver and couldn’t help herself, Maddie would throw herself headlong into the investigation and perhaps put herself in danger.
It was the way she operated, after all. Nick loved her big heart, but she never saw trouble until she was already in the middle of it.
Nick was careful to make sure he didn’t trample too much of the foliage, sticking to untouched dirt whenever possible. He’d managed to search three different areas before he caught a flash of color through the trees. He remained impassive as he headed in that direction, grinding his molars together as moved closer to the pink … whatever it was.
As he stepped closer, Nick’s stomach revolted and he had to hold back the urge to lose his dinner. He knew suggesting they eat before conducting the search was probably a bad idea, but he remained hopeful that they wouldn’t find anything.
Now, in the waning light of day as he looked down at Jennifer Cook’s lifeless face and what several days being abandoned in the woods had done to it, he knew that was a mistake.
Nick exhaled heavily to steady himself. He didn’t rush to the body to offer aid. It was clear Jennifer was dead, her sightless eyes staring at the sky as the mottled bruising around her throat gleamed under the setting sun.
Nick cast a look over his shoulder and met Maddie’s gaze. She remained on the rock, but he could tell she read his body language and understood what he’d found. Resigned, Nick dug in his pocket until he found his cell phone and pressed it to his ear.
Kreskin picked up on the second ring. “What’s wrong?”
“You need to get the medical examiner to the woods behind my house,” Nick replied. “I found Jennifer Cook.”
Kreskin swore under his breath. “Do I want to know how?”
“I was out for a walk,” Nick lied.
Kreskin was well aware of Maddie’s abilities so he knew Nick was covering for her. “Is Maddie with you?”
“Yes, and she has a bad knee.”
“I’m on my way,” Kreskin said. “I’m going to need specific instructions on how to find you.”
“Don’t park at the house,” Nick instructed, flicking his eyes to the area he knew led to the main road. “Get out at Simpson Park and follow that small trail as far back as you can. Then yell out. I should be able to hear you.”
“So close to the park?”
“Yeah. I find that interesting, too.”
TRUE TO HIS WORD, Kreskin found his partner within thirty minutes. He marked his way back with bright strips of tape on tree branches so the medical examiner could easily follow, shooting Maddie a sympathetic look as she remained on the rock before heading straight to Nick.
“What about the kid?”
“There’s no sign of the baby.” Nick had been expecting the question. “I did a cursory search, but we’re going to lose the light.”
“Yeah, and I don’t think we should have people out here messing up the area in the dark,” Kreskin said. “There’s no way the baby is out here?”
“I would say there’s a ninety-nine-percent chance the baby isn’t out here,” Nick clarified. “The thing is, she’s clearly been here for a few days. Even if the baby was left out here, there’s no way he’s alive. He couldn’t have survived the cold nights.”
“So we’re potentially looking for another body,” Kreskin mused.
“We would be if he died out here or in the house the night he was taken,” Nick agreed. “I think it’s far more likely that Jennifer Cook was killed so someone could steal that baby.”
“Which means, hopefully, that he’s still alive.”
“That’s definitely my hope.” Nick rolled his neck until it cracked. “I say we let the medical examiner take Jennifer, search the immediate area, and then put off the rest of the search until morning. Traipsing around out here in the dark isn’t going to help anyone.”
“We need to call the husband.”
“We do.”
“I’ll handle that.”
Nick balked. “That’s part of the job description … and we both signed on for the job. You don’t need to protect me.”
“I’m not protecting you,” Kreskin said. “You found the body. You’ve done your duty. Besides … I’m guessing you want to spend some time with Maddie.”
Nick flicked his eyes to the woman he planned to spend the rest of his life with. “She saw something this afternoon. That’s how she hurt her knee.”
“Do I want to know?”
“Let’s just say she saw something to make me believe that Jennifer Cook might be out here before I suggested an after-dinner walk,” Nick replied. “She’s going to be obsessed with finding the baby, though. I can promise you that.”
“I think we all are,” Kreskin said. “The thing is … this changes our investigation tactics. We were split before and thought there was a chance she took off on her own with the kid. That’s obviously not the case.”
“No, and we know the statistics,” Nick said. “We’re probably looking for a woman instead of a man.”
“Unless the husband had something to do with it.”
“And I’m definitely not ruling that out,” Nick said. “For now, though, we need to take advantage of the little light we have and then start fresh in the morning. We need to find that kid.”
“That’s definitely our top priority.”
5
Five
Maddie insisted on walking back to the house even though Nick could tell she was struggling. Finally, despite her protests, he swung her into his arms for the final leg of the trip.
“Mad, it’s dark,” Nick pointed out. “You could trip over something, which will only make matters worse.”
She snapped her mouth shut, acknowledging his point. By the time Nick had her inside, another cold pack in his hand, the urge to argue had completely evaporated.
“Where do you think the baby is?”
“I don’t know, love.” Nick settled her on the window seat next to him, pressing the cold pack to her knee as he considered the question. “The good news is, in most cases, when an infant is taken it’s because someone desperately wants a baby of his or her own. The baby will probably be taken care of, and well.”
Maddie was smart and observant. She understood what Nick was trying so hard not to say. “Do you think it’s a woman?”
Even though he didn’t want her involved in the investigation, Nick knew completely shutting her out would make things worse. “Well, I’m not sure. There are two ways to look at this.
“The first is that a woman somehow lured Jennifer out of the house and killed her to take the baby,” he continued. “I’m not sure why Jennifer would willingly go into the woods, though. She’s small, but if a woman is behind this, carrying dead weight isn’t easy. The perpetrator would have to take care of the baby and drag a body into the woods – and pretty much at the same time – if she killed Jennifer somewhere else. Otherwise she would’ve had to lure her into the woods with a baby … which is messed up, too. Neither one of those scenarios makes a lot of sense to me.”
“It’s not out of the realm of possibility, though.”
“No.”
Maddie pursed her lips. “Maybe it’s a team of people.”
“That’s also a possibility,” Nick conceded. “A husband and wife who want a child might have done it together. The thing is, more often than not, in situations where a mother is killed and baby stolen you almost always ha
ve a female perpetrator and she usually pretends she’s pregnant herself.”
“The baby isn’t a newborn, though. I mean he is … but not completely new.”
“No, but in a town the size of Blackstone Bay, that’s probably the only option this individual has,” Nick noted. “I can’t think of any other newborns in the area. Can you?”
Maddie shook her head. “What about pregnant women? Will you seek them out and try to find someone who suddenly has a baby?”
“You have a mind like an investigator, my Maddie.” Nick smiled. It was true. That didn’t mean he wanted to give her ideas. “We will see if we can track down pregnant women. We’ll have to go to area hospitals because a lot of times an action like this is triggered because the woman in question lost a baby, had a miscarriage or a stillbirth, and is suffering from a mental breakdown over the loss.”
“Oh.” Maddie hadn’t even considered that. “If there wasn’t a dead mother involved, I would almost feel sorry for whoever took the baby.”
“That’s because you have a good heart.” Nick rested his cheek against Maddie’s forehead. “We don’t know that a woman took the baby, though. We need more information from the medical examiner. Jennifer Cook was obviously strangled. That takes strength.”
“And you don’t think a woman has strength?”
“That’s not what I said,” Nick chided. “Don’t try to trip me up.”
“That’s not what I was doing.”
“I know but … you didn’t see the body. The bruises around Jennifer’s neck were pretty big.”
“Which means big hands,” Maddie mused. “You think it was a man.”
“I don’t know what I think,” Nick countered. “The bruises could’ve easily been made by a woman who couldn’t get the right grip. If she kept adjusting, even though she has smaller hands, she could’ve left big bruises.”
Grave Paths (A Maddie Graves Mystery Book 11) Page 4
