Felicity reached into her tote bag again, and pulled out some computer-generated photos. “I brought you pictures of our little girl. I know how excited you are about seeing her. I duplicated the photo that came out best, and put it in a frame. It’s in your shopping bag. You can keep it right beside you on your night table.”
Linda took the photos excitedly, perusing them, one by one. “She looks so much like you!” she cooed. “And I’m so glad you have her so you’re not lonely.” A flicker of sadness. “I wish I could see her. But you mustn’t take her out. Not anywhere. You know how scary the world is. And how bad things happen.” Linda leaned even closer, placing her index finger across her lips in a gesture of secrecy. “One of the nurses tried to take me down to the lake the other day. I wouldn’t let her. I know I would have fallen in. I would have died. I don’t want to die.”
“And you’re not going to,” Felicity said adamantly. “I won’t let you. We’ll share Krissy. We’ll both love her. And I’ll keep her safe. I promise.”
“You’ve kept her inside?”
“Just like you kept me. In her princess room. I even made her a special game for the computer. She likes computers, Mama. Just like me. Maybe she’ll be a web designer someday, like I am. She’ll get money without ever having to go out. Till then, I have the money in the big gym bag to take care of her. She’ll be fine. You’ll be fine. I’ll take care of her, like you take care of me. And if anyone tries to find us or hurt us, I’ll take her away. No one will know where we are but you.”
“Oh God.” Inside the van, Hope gripped the back of the seat. She’d been watching the scene over Ryan’s shoulder. “She’s going to run away. We’ve got to stop her.” She made a sharp move toward the van door.
Casey put an arm across her, stopping any sudden movements. Even though Marc had locked the buttons, she had to take Hope down a notch. Otherwise, she could start pounding on the windows and making a scene.
“Don’t,” Casey instructed. “Please, Hope. Let us do our jobs.”
Hope whirled around. “What if she takes Krissy and runs away? My daughter would be gone forever.”
“That’s not going to happen. The task force is prepared for anything. It’s not an accident that they’re letting this scene play out. If they storm in and grab Felicity, she might never reveal Krissy’s location. The kind of maternal commitment she feels for Krissy would make her put her own freedom and safety at risk before she’d risk endangering the child she thinks of as her own. The best way of making sure we find Krissy is to follow Felicity and let her lead us to your daughter.”
“But if that’s true, how could she leave Krissy alone in that prison? Who does she think is caring for her?”
“Felicity’s not thinking rationally. She’ll convince herself that somehow she’ll get back to her baby. We can’t trust the sanity of her reactions. We have to find Krissy firsthand.”
“What if Felicity panics and Krissy gets hurt?”
“Felicity is right here at Sunny Gardens, Hope. She’s not with Krissy. Which means that your daughter’s not in any imminent danger. Don’t fall apart on me now.”
“There’s an awful lot of staff milling around,” Ryan noted with a frown. “I don’t know how much they were told, but I wish they’d go about their business. We want things to look as normal as possible.”
At that moment, Felicity rose, telling Linda that she needed to use the ladies’ room. She left everything—her tote bag, and the shopping bag with all the goodies she’d brought—for Linda to enjoy. She then disappeared in the direction of the main building.
“Good,” Ryan said. “She’s going inside. Let’s use this time. I’ll give Jeri Koehler, the head nurse, a call, and tell her to page some of her personnel. That way, when Felicity gets back, she won’t have an audience waiting for her.”
He made the phone call on the private line Jeri had given him.
Soon afterward, the area around Linda began to clear.
“Smart move,” Casey praised Ryan. “We don’t want Felicity catching on to the surveillance.”
Fifteen minutes later, Casey wasn’t so sure.
“Where the hell is she?” she muttered. “It was a trip to the bathroom, not to the supermarket.”
“She might have stopped to talk to Linda’s doctor,” Marc suggested. “She left her tote bag, so I think we’re safe. Women don’t travel without their pocketbooks.”
“No, they don’t.” Casey was scooting over to the door, her reaction the antithesis of Marc’s. “Not even to the bathroom. Marc, unlock the buttons. And sit here with Hope.”
He complied at once, looping around and sliding in on the opposite side of the car, so Hope had no chance of following Casey.
“Where are you going?” Hope asked Casey in alarm.
“To make sure I’m not overreacting.” She wasn’t.
Because before Casey had taken her first step out of the van, she saw Peg jump out of her car and head over to Don’s, leaning in the window and waving her hand as she spoke. A minute later, a handful of agents and cops got out of their cars and scattered, some scrutinizing the parking lot, others making a beeline for the front door.
The top brass met Peg there, the hospital administrator clearly distraught.
Casey raced across the street and through the gates, charging up to the front door. “What’s happened?”
Peg turned to her. “One of the nurses was knocked out in the ladies’ room,” she replied tersely. “Her cap and uniform are missing. So are her car keys. And Felicity is nowhere to be found.”
As she spoke, Bob and Hutch flung open the doors and exited the building. “The nurse’s car is gone,” Bob reported. “Our offender must have used the electronic button on the key fob to find it. She took off out the back door. I’ve got the car’s make and model and the license plate.”
“Dammit.” Peg turned to the group of agents and cops around her. “Divide up. Guy, call the locals to cover the immediate area. Don, call the state police to patrol the highways. Will, check the closest car rentals, in case she does a dump and run like last time. And Jack, assemble a team to check the train and bus stations. She’s not getting away.”
Casey’s features tightened. “Peg, let me collect scent samples from the tote bag and chair in the garden for Hero to sniff. He’s a former Bureau dog. He’ll become familiar with Felicity’s scent. We might need it.”
Peg gave a hard nod. “Go.”
As Casey turned, a restraining hand clamped down on her forearm. She turned, staring into Hutch’s blazing eyes. “You can do your thing,” he bit out. “But that’s all. No creative tactics. Not this time. As for Hope Willis, keep her in that van. We don’t want her to leap out and screw this up. And we don’t want any of our people being put in the position of having to figure out who’s Hope and who’s Felicity.”
“I hear you loud and clear, Hutch.” Casey glanced down at her arm. “Now if you’d let me go, I’ll get to work.”
He released her at once.
Casey turned and sprinted back to the van, yanking open the door and giving this assignment to her Navy SEAL. “Marc, take Hero and get over to the garden,” she directed. “Very carefully, collect scent samples from everything Felicity touched.” She made brief eye contact with Marc. They understood each other perfectly. “Go now.”
“Done.” He was out of the van and around back, harnessing Hero and taking off. Simultaneously, Casey jumped into the backseat, and Ryan climbed out of the rear and ran around front, sitting in the driver’s seat and locking the buttons.
Hope was only frozen for an instant. Then, she turned to Casey. “Felicity’s gone?”
“Yes.”
“You said this couldn’t happen. Your promised me that…”
The rest of Hope’s sentence was swallowed up by the screaming sound of an ambulance, which raced by and veered into the entrance of Sunny Gardens.
“Who’s hurt?” Hope demanded.
“A nurse. Felicity did to
her the same thing she did to Ashley. Then, she stole her uniform and her car and left through the rear entrance.” Casey seized Hope’s hands. “I know what I promised you. And, yes, Felicity was more clever than we expected. She either spotted an agent, or noticed the unusual number of staff members nearby. I don’t know. What I do know is that we’ll find her. The entire task force is on it, plus every state and local cop within the three neighboring counties. She’s only been gone five or ten minutes. She couldn’t have gotten far.”
“Oh, dear God.” Hope shifted in her seat. “I’ve got to do something.”
“Yes, you do. You’ve got to fight the urge to act. If you interfere, it could blow this entire rescue. Especially if you try to take on Felicity. The agents won’t be able to tell you two apart. That could have horrible results. Just follow my instructions. We’ll get Krissy back.”
They watched as the lineup of unmarked law enforcement cars took off, traveling in different directions.
A few minutes later, Marc ran Hero back to the car. He’d brought one of Felicity’s scent pads from the garden so her scent would remain under Hero’s nose. “Let’s go. We’ll navigate the local roads, and cover a five-mile radius. The streets are curvy and narrow. She couldn’t have gone far.”
“I’ll use my new GPS,” Ryan said. “It’s sophisticated enough to register even the small local streets.” He’d already turned on the ignition and was shifting gears, waiting only until Marc was inside the vehicle before roaring off.
As Marc had predicted, the country roads were winding and narrow. If Felicity was familiar with them, then she had a definite advantage.
They’d covered a half mile of territory, when Casey’s phone rang.
She glanced down at the number as she answered. “Hutch?”
“They found the car she stole,” he reported. “It was abandoned in the woods across from the railroad station, two miles west of Sunny Gardens. I figured you’d want to know.”
“Thank you.” Casey got it. Hutch was extending an olive branch after his harsh display at Sunny Gardens. Last time, he’d passed on the task force’s update to Marc. This time he was going directly to her—furious or not. “We’re on our way.”
Casey hung up and shifted forward on the seat, staring at the GPS. “Head for the Garrison train station. About a mile and a half from here. There.” She pointed at the railroad tracks on the GPS monitor. “She dumped the car and hopped a train.”
Ryan nodded, taking off like a bat out of hell.
They arrived at the station along with a bunch of agents and cops.
“The train left ten minutes ago,” Hutch informed them. “It goes from Garrison to Poughkeepsie, and makes three more stops along the way. There’s no way we can reach each of those in time—the first is four minutes from here. The next is eight minutes farther. And the last, seven minutes from the previous stop. After that, it’s seventeen more minutes to Poughkeepsie. The roads suck. Peg is having the transit authority hold the train in Poughkeepsie. Some of us are heading straight there. Three cars are driving, one each, to the three local stops. The agents will show photos around, hope that someone recognizes Felicity. It’s a long shot. It’s midday on a Wednesday, and very few people are around. But we’ve got to cover all our bases.”
“You’re going to Poughkeepsie?” Casey asked.
“Yes.”
“We’ll do the local stops and let Hero sniff one of Felicity’s scent pads. He’ll sniff out each of the areas and tell us if she got off the train. If you call and tell me that Felicity’s on the train in Poughkeepsie, we’ll drive straight there and let Hero take over. Hope brought along one of Krissy’s T-shirts. And, as I said, we have Felicity’s scent pads. This is it, Hutch. Felicity didn’t just take some arbitrary train. She’s going home. She plans to grab Krissy and run.”
“That’s not going to happen. I’ll call you.” Hutch strode back to his car.
Casey ran over to the train station and grabbed one of the schedules that was hanging outside. She glanced down at the locations of the stops as she returned to the van. Cold Spring. Beacon. New Hamburg.
She gestured for Ryan to lower his window. He complied. Casey leaned inside, thrust the schedule into his hand and pointed. “Map these three stops.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Hero had finished sniffing out the station at Cold Spring, and the team was racing to Beacon when Casey’s cell phone rang.
“We’re in Poughkeepsie,” Hutch updated her. “She’s not on the train. We manned every exit, searched every car, questioned every passenger. No one noticed her. She’s gone. So she had to have gotten off somewhere between Garrison and here.”
“I doubt it was Cold Spring. I know you have agents here, doing their thing. But Hero hit a dead end. And we took him everywhere—inside the station, up and down the stairs, across every platform—you name it. We’re on our way to Beacon.”
“That means it’s probably either Beacon or New Hamburg. We’ve got agents at both stations. They’re showing Felicity’s picture around, and asking questions. I’m sure you’ll run into them there. Either way, keep me posted.”
“You do the same.” Casey ended the call and filled in her team.
A minute later, they pulled into the Beacon station.
The place was deserted, with just one person and no employees in sight. The members of the task force were walking around, trying to do their thing.
Ryan took off to start looking around. Marc harnessed Hero and began their search. And Casey, reluctantly, stayed behind to babysit Hope. She had no choice. Despite the warning Casey had given her, Hope was at the edge of her seat, craning her neck to see a signal from anyone indicating that Felicity had exited the train here. And if she got that signal—well, that would be a nightmare waiting to happen.
Casey fidgeted in her seat, wishing she could get the hell out of there and assist with the investigation.
As she contemplated her dilemma, a slew of teenagers came sauntering along, laughing and drinking sodas. It looked as if they’d been there for some time. So they’d have to be questioned. Ryan was at the other end of the station. And the kids were about to leave.
Talk about being careful what you wished for. Casey was screwed.
“Hey, you stay put,” a muffled voice called from outside the van. “I’ll talk to them.”
Casey’s head whipped around, and she blinked as she saw Patrick standing beside the van.
He gave a half smile at the stunned expression on her face. “I might not be Claire, but I have a sixth sense for knowing when I’m needed. Besides, I wanted to be a part of bringing this thirty-two-year nightmare to a close. So I drove up here. You hang out with Judge Willis. Just lower the window on her side. I’ll interview the kids.”
You’re a lifesaver, Patrick. Casey mouthed the words, but Lynch got them. He turned and waved down the teenagers in that authoritative way of his that made people stop in their tracks. Pointing at Hope’s side of the van, he fired some questions at the teens. Clearly, he was asking if they’d seen a woman who looked like the blond lady sitting in that van.
They all looked over. But there wasn’t a shred of recognition on any of their faces.
Ryan had no better luck, returning to the van and shaking his head, adding that the agents and cops he’d run into were drawing the same blank as he was. A few minutes later, Marc and Hero returned, and Casey could tell by the grim expression on Marc’s face that they, too, had come up empty.
Leaving the task force to continue their work, the Forensic Instincts team left the station for New Hamburg, with Patrick following behind in his car.
“This is our last chance.” Hope’s desperation was a palpable entity. Hysteria was bubbling up inside her and the dam was about to burst. “What if we come up with nothing in New Hamburg? What if Felicity found another way, another train, or car, or direction, to go? What if Krissy isn’t even in this vicinity, and Felicity was just trying to throw us off track?”
“That’s not the case, Hope.” Casey spoke with as much conviction as she could muster. “Felicity’s prime consideration is Krissy, not playing cat and mouse with the FBI. She’s not going to leave Krissy unattended, especially not now, when she knows we’re onto her. We’ll be in New Hamburg in fifteen minutes. Have faith.”
“Faith,” Hope replied bitterly. “I’m not sure I know what that is anymore.”
Krissy heard the commotion from upstairs. It was louder than it had ever been. It scared her.
She curled onto the bed, pressing herself as hard as she could against the wall, as if its solid presence could protect her. She hugged Oreo and Ruby fiercely, her terrified gaze fixed on the door.
More banging and crashing.
Was the woman angry at her? Had she done something wrong? Had the woman figured out that she’d been trying to twist off the doorknob every time she was left alone?
Was she going to hurt her?
Trembling violently, Krissy cringed farther away.
The door swung open, and the woman raced down the stairs, her heels making quick, loud clicks on each step.
“Krissy, get up,” she ordered. Her voice wasn’t gentle and nice the way it usually was. It was high and shrill. Her face looked strange.
“Why?” Krissy asked.
“We’re moving to another house right away.” The woman reached over and grabbed Krissy’s hand. “Come on. We have to hurry.”
“Ow, that hurts.” Krissy held back, clutching Oreo and Ruby even tighter. “Where are we going?”
“Don’t ask questions,” the woman snapped, although she did relax her grasp. “Not now. We don’t have time. I’ll explain everything later. And I’ll create another princess suite later. But not here.” She pulled Krissy off the bed and onto her feet. “Let’s go.”
“No!” Krissy wrenched her hand with all her might.
It paid off. The woman wasn’t ready for Krissy to fight back. Her grip had loosened. Krissy’s hand was free. And so was she.
She’d run up the stairs so many times. But the door had always been locked.