Baby Love (Baby #2)(40)
“How so?”
“Because I hadn’t even found out yet that you’d had a baby girl. This must have happened the day after you delivered the baby because my next day back you were already out of the hospital and that’s the first I would have known about you having a girl if it hadn’t been for the doorman. I figured Mr. Sinclair had told him.”
“Jean which doorman was it that asked you these questions?”
“I don’t know Tylar; I never saw him after that. You know there’s a fairly high turnover there so I guess I never thought much about it.”
“Could you describe him after all of this time?”
“I’d be hard pressed to I’m afraid. About the only thing that I recall is that he was young and had sandy-colored hair. He was average height, average build, and a nice looking boy.”
That description didn’t narrow anything down. Since Tristan was getting the names of the security and maintenance personnel at the building we could hopefully pin down the identity of the man that Jean remembered.
I certainly didn’t recall anyone fitting that description during the time that I had lived there with Trey, but then I didn’t pay a lot of attention to them either. It was mostly just a voice I heard over the intercom.
When I got back to the apartment, Tristan was already there; so was Trey. Trey was pacing. His face visibly relaxed as I walked through the door. Within a moment, he was pressed against me, hugging me close. I was scared. I was not sure if this was good news or bad. I pulled back from him immediately, searching his face for a clue.
"The Mississippi State Police just phoned baby," he said to me calmly.
"They found the white SUV abandoned at a truck stop about fifty miles north of Jackson. The vehicle matched the same VIN number as what Daniel provided you; they are fairly certain it is the vehicle that Maggie was driving and ditched once she knew she had been made on the news."
I wasn't sure what all that meant, but Trey seemed pleased.
"Where's Preston?" I asked, hopeful that he had more to tell me.
"Well for right now - we don't know, but the authorities have verified that Preston was in the vehicle and the investigation has really heated up."
"In the vehicle? What exactly does that mean, Trey?"
"Baby - it means that we are getting closer, I promise."
I trusted my husband. I could read him well enough to know that he was encouraged by this latest chain of events. That was enough for me.
CHAPTER 14
I had slept restlessly in my husband's arms that night. I had pumped my breasts but having been without Preston for the past several days, I could tell that my milk supply was diminishing. I hoped and prayed I would still be able to nurse her when she got home.
Trey was very optimistic that she would be back with us very soon. I felt cautious knowing that if Maggie had ditched the vehicle it was because she was fully aware of the magnitude of search efforts being made. The fact that a large sum of money was being offered for someone to divulge anything they might know, with no questions asked, certainly opened the door for anyone who was in cahoots with her to nark her out and take the money.
Trey had pretty much cleared his calendar for the next week so that he could be home and focus on any other avenues we might pursue to expedite our baby’s return. Leah’s surgery had gone well; Trey had assigned Tonya to Harmon’s area since he was out for the next week. After that he said we would play it by ear.
Tristan and I had shared with him the information we had gleaned from Sheila Bradley’s interview. I shared what I had learned from my visit with Jean. Tristan had met with the building management. Unfortunately, identifying the doorman that had initiated the conversation with Jean around the time Preston was born was not going to be as easy as we had hoped.
Apparently the building manager used a temp agency to fill doorman slots because it was cheaper and presented less headcount to the corporate board who oversaw maintenance and operating costs. The temp agency was one of questionable repute being that many of the doorman candidates were found to be illegal citizens; the background and reference checks on these individuals were non-existent.
Trey hit the ceiling when Tristan provided this information to him. He vowed to raise this as a major issue with the tenants association. Unfortunately, that would be too little and too late to make a difference as far as Preston’s well being was concerned.
Tristan had gone to his room earlier to call Libby. Trey and I had busied ourselves folding laundry and loading the dishwasher. I had taken the last load out of the dryer and was folding it when I came across several of Preston’s sleepers and tee-shirts. Tears had immediately streamed down my face. Trey came into the laundry room to ask me something and stopped when he saw my emotional meltdown.
He had immediately pulled me into his arms and consoled me. Later in bed, Trey had made love to me again very slowly and lovingly. Afterwards he had held me in his arms assuring me that our baby girl would be home soon.
It was just past dawn when my Blackberry chimed on the nightstand next to the bed. I disengaged myself from Trey’s arms quickly grabbing for it. The caller I.D. was not recognizable simply showing 'Indiana Call'.
It was Daniel’s voice on the other end.
“Tylar – it’s Daniel Henderson. I’ve heard from Maggie. I think I can help you.”