“It’s just—”
“Next door.” Memphis held up a hand. “That’s what you said last time.”
Without another word, she swept up Drake’s car seat and his diaper bag from his hook, then she marched to the center’s office, where two older women were chatting.
I stood at Memphis’s back and watched her read the riot act to the ladies and immediately pull Drake from their facility. Both claimed they had no idea Memphis hadn’t given her approval.
“Jill said you didn’t mind. That he could go with her.”
“I did no such thing,” Memphis barked. “We’re done here. You will not see us again.”
“We require a thirty-day—”
“Finish that sentence and I’ll call my sister-in-law, the chief of police, and let her know that your staff is taking children off premises without parental permission.” I leveled the women with a glare. “I believe they call that kidnapping.”
Both blanched.
Memphis turned and walked out the doors, looking both ways. Her hands were shaking. “I don’t know which house is hers.”
“Hang tight.” I stormed into the center and demanded Jill’s address.
When I came out, Memphis was standing on the sidewalk, the car seat and diaper bag at her feet and her eyes full of worry.
“It’s this one.” I steered her to the home next door, a small, single-level home with blue siding and a green door. Every window was dark. The porch light was off.
There was nothing but silence as I rang the doorbell over and over. Then I pounded my fist on the door, but it didn’t matter. No one was home.
“Are you sure it’s this one?” Memphis asked.
“They said blue house next door.” Every other home around the daycare was a shade of tan.
I pounded on the door again with no answer.
“What the fuck?” I backed away, scanning the street.
The color drained from Memphis’s face. “Where’s my son?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
MEMPHIS
In just minutes the street had filled with police cruisers. Winn pulled in last, getting out of an unmarked SUV, and rushed over to where we stood. Her officers followed, crowding in close to form a blockade around us.
My entire body trembled as I stood tucked into Knox’s side.
Winn took my hand, giving it a squeeze. “Tell me everything. From the beginning.”
The idea of saying the words—she took my son—made my throat close. Like he knew I wouldn’t be able to do it, Knox held me tighter and spoke for me.
He told her how we’d come to pick up Drake. How we’d gone to Jill’s house only to find it empty. How we’d both raced for the center, panicked and frantic, and demanded information from the owner and other caregivers—there hadn’t been much to share. No one in the building, not the women in the office or the girl in the nursery, had a clue where Jill would take Drake.
All we knew was that Jill had left with him, promising to return soon. And then she’d disappeared.
With every word Knox spoke, the tremors in my limbs amplified until I was sure that if not for his arm around my back, I would have buckled to the icy sidewalk.
Winn soaked in his statement like a sponge, listening without comment until he was finished. Then she began issuing orders to her officers. “Get Jill’s information. Start with her car. Description. License plate. Make and model. Push an AMBER Alert immediately. Then run her plates and get it out around town. Dig into her phone after that. See if we can track her to a cell tower.”
“You got it, Chief.” One of the men took off running for the center’s front doors.
“Search her house,” Winn ordered two other officers.
They rushed off and only seconds later, I flinched at the boom of a door being kicked in.
“Has this ever happened before?” Winn asked.
I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. “Once. She took Drake with her to run home. But she was only gone for a few minutes. I told her she couldn’t do that again.”
“What’s her relationship with Drake?” Winn asked.
“She loves him. She acts like she loves him.” Maybe she loved him too much. My head was spinning. My legs began to crumble.
“Breathe.” Knox held me tighter. “Breathe, Memphis.”
I filled my lungs, the sting in my nose bringing a new set of tears. “Do you think she might have taken him? That she wants to keep him?”
“This is most likely just a miscommunication,” Winn said. “Maybe she had to run to the store or something. You were here early today, right?”
I nodded. “Yes. I usually don’t get here until after five.”
“Okay.” Winn squeezed my hand again and locked her gaze with Knox. The message passed wordlessly between them made my stomach knot tighter. There was dread there. Fear. And sympathy.
He was holding it together for me, but I wasn’t the only one who stood shaking, numb from the cold and panic.
“Why don’t you both wait in the car?” she suggested. “I need to ask more questions and make some calls.”
“Come on, honey.” Knox escorted me to the car, our steps slow because he must have known I didn’t trust my feet. He helped me into the passenger seat, then rounded the hood for the driver’s side. The moment the door was closed, he pulled out his phone and put it on speaker.
Harrison answered on the first ring. “Hi, Knox.”
“Dad.”
One word and Harrison heard the tremble in Knox’s voice. “What’s wrong?”
“We came to get Drake from daycare. He’s gone. Jill, the woman who watches him, took him.”
“Oh, God.” Harrison sucked in a sharp breath. “Call Winn.”
“Already did. They’re pushing an AMBER Alert.”
“I’ll make some calls too.” Without another word, Harrison ended the call.
Knox’s fingers flew across the screen, pulling up another contact. Again, he left it on speaker.
“Thank you for calling The Eloise Inn. How can I help you?” Eloise answered.
“Eloise. It’s Knox.” He repeated the same message and when Eloise gasped on the line, I had to squeeze my eyes shut to keep from crying.
“What can I do?” Eloise asked.
“Help us get the word out. The more people looking for them, the better.”
“On it.”
Knox sighed and stared at his phone, like he wanted to make more calls but couldn’t find the strength to repeat the truth again.
“Is this a bad dream?” I whispered.
He set the phone on his thigh and looked to me, his own eyes full of unshed tears. “It has to be.”
“What if we don’t find him?”
“Don’t go there.” He took my hand, gripping it so fiercely that it hurt my knuckles. But I clung to the pain, clung to him, so that I stayed here, in this car, and didn’t take a step down an unthinkable road. “We’ll find him.”
“We’ll find him.” There was no confidence in my voice. Only fear.
The two of us sat together in the cold car, watching as Winn and her team rushed back and forth between the daycare center and Jill’s house. A crowd was gathering outside the daycare’s doors.