Т Нован - Exposure Season 3

"This is Officer O’Neal."

I gather Kels in my arms and pull her tight against me. "We’re going to get them back, sweetheart."

She doesn’t reply.

"Let me confirm, sir. Her address is 46 Willow Bark Avenue, Scarsdale, New York. She drives a 2000 Mercedes SL 600 license plate W-A-S-M-A-T-S. Is that correct?" He nods, despite the fact my father-in-law can’t see him. "We’ll broadcast that immediately."

"Tell me this isn’t happening," Kels murmurs against my chest.

I wish I could. God, I wish I could. We should have left. I shouldn’t have brought them here. This is all my fault. I should have listened to Kels. We should have taken them the hell out of town.

"Listen, you two need to go home," the cops says softly. "Once this gets out on the airwaves, the press will be swarming here. Especially given who you are, Miss Stanton. Go home. The detectives and the fibbers will be there shortly."

"We need to search the building," I protest.

"Ma’am, we’ll do that. I doubt if she’s here, to be honest. But we’ll make sure she isn’t."

"I’ll stay here," Beth offers. "Robie, you take them home."

My brother nods, hanging up his cell phone. Dollars to donuts, he was talking to Papa. "Come on. Let’s go home. Maybe she’s going to call you."

"Bitch!" Kels swears.

I kiss Kels’ hair. "Let’s go home."

"It’s not home without them."

That’s the truth.

We are all seated around the dining room table. Our house has been invaded. Detective Lieutenant Parks is seated across from us. His partner, Detective Wynn is standing against the wall. Special Agent Kyle Donovan is at the head of the table. I am glad to have someone we know here. And someone who kinda owes us a favor. Christ, we did save the whole damn city. That ought to be worth something. His partner, Special Agent Susan Sawyer, is seated at the table as well.

We’ve gone through the physical descriptions, given more photographs, made copies of their footprints. Each moment has been torture, pure and simple. How did we get here? How did I ever let this happen?

"Approximately an hour ago, we were given a warrant to search your mother’s house, Ms. Stanton," Kyle informs us.

"Were they there?" Kels asks softly.

"I’m afraid not. However, we now believe that this was a deliberate and planned kidnapping, not just a crime of opportunity. We also believe that Katherine Stanton is the one who planned it and not the social worker, Melanie James."

"What happened there? What did you find?" Robie asks.

"Out by the trash were two boxes. They were both for infant car seats."

It’s completely irrational, but that comforts me. At least my babies are safe. The bitch is insane, she stole my kids, but she cares about their safety. I will still fucking kill her. But I’ll do it quickly now.

"There was also packaging from other baby supplies. We didn’t find any of the items in the house. Further, some of her clothing was missing."

Kels blows her nose, which is bright red from crying constantly. "Her car?"

Kyle smiles. "That’s good news. It’s there. We are contacting the rental car companies. I believe we will soon have her vehicle information."

"The airports?" I ask.

"All the New York metro airports are on alert. We’ve also gone as far north as Boston and as south as Washington, DC. She won’t be flying." He folds his hands in front of him on the table. "There is a possibility that this might be a plan for her to extort money from you."

"Ransom?" Kels asks.

"Exactly. Do you know, Ms. Stanton, if your mother was experiencing financial difficulty of late?"

Kels snorts. "Always. She spent it like water. She had come to Harper and I before the babies were born and tried to get money from us."

Significant looks are exchanged among all of the law enforcement professionals. "That certainly puts a new light on this crime." Kyle addresses his next question to his partner. "Is the set up complete in the kitchen?"

"It’s good to go."

"We have installed a tape device on the kitchen phone. For the time being, only answer the phone in there. We’ll have a man stationed here twenty-four/seven in case she calls with a demand. If she does, the goal is to keep her talking for as long as possible for the trace to go through. Every second you have her on the phone, we get a closer read on her location."

We nod. If I get the call, it’ll be no problem staying on the line. I have a thing or two to take up with her.

"The press is downstairs. You need to decide how you want to handle them."

"We’ve already talked to our producer," I tell them, "that’s all the press we want to deal with." I think Langston is a bit overwhelmed by the life we lead, to be honest. Given Kels’ current state of mind, I don’t think she’d have any problems buying out her contract.

"They can bite my ass." Kelsey pushes herself up from the table and starts to head toward the kitchen. I assume she remembers that another policeman is in there and she does an about face and heads toward the living room.

It’s only six p.m.

I could swear it’s 2002.

Kels is a mess. She won’t eat. She won’t rest. One minute she’s ranting and seething, describing in great detail what she wants to do to her mother when she gets her hands on her. The next minute she’s in tears.

Right now, she quietly rests in my arms. I managed to talk her into taking a hot shower and changing into something more comfortable for the evening. I hate seeing her like this.

"They must be getting hungry," she whispers quietly. I can hear more tears behind her words. She shifts and groans a bit. "I need… I need to…"

Without another word she gets up and goes to the kitchen. With a deep sigh I get up and follow her. She is working by rote. Getting ready to prepare bottles. She has laid out everything she needs and keeps pushing tears from her cheeks as she readies the supplies.

"Kels…"

"I need to do this," she says flatly. "I have to do something."

"I know." I move closer to the counter, without invading her space. "Can I help?"

"Yeah." She turns and places herself in my arms and begins crying again. "They need me, Harper. They’ve had to have already had the bottles we sent with them. What are they eating? They’ve never had anything but my milk. We don’t even know of they can keep formula down. What if they’re sick? What if they can’t eat…"

"Shhhh… Kels, I’m sure they’re fine." I’m not sure they’re fine, but I have to tell her that. Holding her close, I rub her back and kiss the top of her head, wishing I would wake up and this nightmare would be over.

"I need to go express my milk." She moves away, collecting two of the bottles and heading upstairs for the nursery.

I lean against the counter. I want to follow her, but know she needs some time alone.

"Harper?" I look up to find Robie. He looks as tired as I feel. "Is Kels okay?"

I shake my head. "No. No, she’s not okay. I’m really worried about her. I’ve never seen her quiet like this before. I mean, if she’s mad about something, she gets mad and stays mad. If she’s upset, she gets upset and stays upset. But this is brand new. It’s scary."

He enters and takes a seat at the kitchen table. "Beth and I are still working the phones and fax lines. We’ve filed papers with everyone we can think of. I put in a call to Bennett’s office advising him that if he knows where she is and doesn’t want to be an accomplice to kidnapping, it would be in his best interest to tell us where his client is."

"Okay." I barely hear his words as I glance at my watch. I know how long it takes Kels to deal with the bottles. "I’ll be back."