Т Нован - Exposure Season 3

We nod mutely and follow her to the elevator. Waiting behind for us are Robie and Beth in the reception area. Kels reaches over and grabs my hand, squeezing it hard. The elevator seems to be powered by two tired hamsters.

Finally, we arrive at the third floor and step out into the hallway. The room where we dropped off Brennan and Collin is about forty feet to the left of the elevator, near the end of the hallway. When we get to the room, she knocks on the door and announces us. Without waiting for a reply, she opens the door.

Two of the longest hours of my life are over. I can’t wait to stroke Fuzzy’s hair and get a big smile from my girl. We are then going to take them home, bathe them, and dote on them the rest of the day. A plan I can get behind.

I look around for my babies. They’re not in the room. No one is.

"Huh?" the guard grunts. "I thought we dropped them off here. It must have been the next room."

"It was here," Kels says, her voice flat.

"Can’t be, no one’s here. Let’s get them next door." She walks out and heads toward the next room.

"We left them here, Harper," Kels whispers, her tone now urgent.

I nod mutely. "I thought so too." I look around for another door in the room. Is there a closet? A bathroom? But, other than a window, there are no more entrances or exits.

"She took them," Kels expresses my deepest fear.

What did that case worker look like? Jesus, I wasn’t paying any attention to her. I was so focused on my babies. Think, Harper. She had red hair, I remember that. And she was heavyset.

Oh, God. I can’t remember.

"Let’s check the rest of the floor." Maybe, since there isn’t one here, the social worker took them into a bathroom to change their diapers. I voice this theory to my wife. She says nothing, which is so not a good sign.

When we step out into the hallway, the guard is moving much more quickly. She hustles as fast as she can to the next several rooms. All of which confirm our children are nowhere to be found.

"Harper," Kels says.

I understand. I pull my cell phone off my belt and hit Robie’s speed dial. "What’s up?" he asks, recognizing my number from her caller ID.

"They’re not here."

"Mon Dieu! Are you sure?"

"Is she sure of what?" Beth asks in the background.

"The babies are gone," he replies.

"We’re making sure right now. I’m going to fucking tear this building apart brick by brick. Call the police, Robie."

"Beth’s doing it right now." I hear him move across the room, nearly colliding with a few people along the way. "How many floors in this building?" he asks someone.

"Ten."

"Did you hear that, Harper?"

"I did. We’re searching the third floor right now."

"I’ll get this building locked up so no one can go out except through the front door and past Beth and I." To the person he’s speaking to there, he says, "Are there any exits on upper floors? Bridges to other buildings? Roof access to another one?"

"No."

Beth’s voice. "Police are on their way. Ask if they know what type of car the bitch drives."

"Kels, do you know what type of car your mother has?"

Kels’ expression is unlike any I have ever seen before. "A fucking hearse when I’m done with her."

"We don’t know, Robie."

The guard comes huffing back over to us, the exertion too much for her. "I don’t know what to say, Mrs. Kingsley. The social worker should have been there the whole time."

"Fucking bitch probably kidnapped her too," Kels growls. She stalks over to the door marked ‘Stairs — Emergency Exit, Alarm Will Sound’ and pushes it open. No alarm sounds. "Jesus Christ!" she mutters. "Where does this go?"

The guard confirms my worst fears. "It goes down a protected stairwell to the back of the building and leads outside."

Kels and I immediately start heading down the stairs. The stairwell is dimly lit and is colder than the rest of the building; it smells damp. We go down one flight and see a door marked ‘No Re-entry’. We try it, but this time the sign is accurate. We go down another flight and come to a small hallway. At the end of it is a door. Opening it, we find a small courtyard behind the building. There are three exits from the courtyard between buildings. Two lead to the street, one to the avenue.

The sound of sirens is welcome. I hope they brought the whole brigade. And that they have orders to shoot on sight.

We go around the building and re-enter through the front door right into the middle of the chaos. Robie is explaining what has happened and is startled to see us coming in the building. "How the hell —? Never mind. Officer, here are the twins’ parents, Harper and Kelsey Kingsley."

He turns around and gives us a look. Great. I don’t need this right now. "Ma’am," he says, politely, surprising me. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Kels looks to me. I find my voice and try to be as calm as possible. "We brought our children here for a court supervised visitation with their maternal grandmother. The visit was scheduled to begin at 10 am and last until noon. At noon, we turned here, went upstairs with the guard and found the room empty. We had been assured that Collin and Brennan would not be removed from the premises."

"She took them," Kels adds.

"Jerry," the cop says to his partner and lifts his jaw toward the front desk. Jerry ambles over to talk to them. "What’s the name of the grandmother?"

"Katherine Stanton."

"Are you in a custody battle with her, ma’am?"

"No. Kelsey is the birth mother and I adopted both children about a month ago."

He takes notes in handwriting that I doubt even he can read later. He looks up from his pad. "How old are they?"

"They were born November 23. So almost two months."

Kels shudders. Since she’s leaning against me, I can feel the tremors as they go through her body. "They need me. They’re breastfeeding."

The officer looks a little uncomfortable with that thought. He looks at Kels for a long moment and squints. With the blunt end of his pen, he scratches his sideburn. "You look familiar, Miss."

Langston is going to shit a brick. But, of course, I don’t care. We might as well use Kels’ celebrity for our good. Kels seems to have the same thought when she replies, "I’m Kelsey Stanton."

Now it clicks for him. "You’re on that TV show, right? The news one?" When Kels confirms this, he continues. "I remember when you left to have your baby. I didn’t know it was twins."

"Collin and Brennan," I say, wanting them to be real to him. I reach into my pocket and pull out my wallet. I proudly pull out the pictures of my babies. "Collin is the one with the fuz — " I stop, too choked up to speak for a moment. "Fuzzy hair. Brennan is the blonde."

"Can I take these, ma’am?"

No! "Yes."

Jerry comes back over. "Guard confirms. The children weren’t to be taken off the premises. The social worker is missing. They have two lawyers here," he indicates Beth and Robie, "who showed me the paperwork. The grandmother doesn’t have custody."

"Issue an APB on the grandmother and the babies. Also on the social worker. Get the gold shields here pronto. Notify the FBI." He directs his next question to Kelsey. "What’s your mother’s date of birth?"

"God, it’s not like I celebrated her birthday. I don’t know. Is it important?"

He nods. "I need it to move the DMV search faster."

Kels takes my cell phone from me. She only punches in two numbers, so I know she’s calling someone on speed dial. Matthew. That makes sense. "Dad? Thank God, I found you at home! I need to know mother’s date of birth." She pauses while Matt must naturally be questioning her as to why she needs it. "She took the babies, Dad. She took them! And now the police need her birthday so they can look her up with the DMV." Kels begins sobbing. She extends the phone to the cop.