Ann Peterson - A Cop In Her Stocking

But she knew things weren’t as simple as that. They never were. To get her son back, she needed to be strong. She couldn’t rely on anyone else to make things okay. She’d known that most of her life. She couldn’t let herself forget it now.

She wiped her cheeks with her fingertips. Pulling in a shuddering breath, she turned around and searched his face, his clear blue eyes, the creases around his mouth, the shadow of stubble beginning to show on his chin. But as much as she wanted to see relief in his eyes and the joy of good news curving his lips, they weren’t there.

She braced herself. “Have you gotten hold of Doug?”

“Still no answer.”

“You tried the cell number?” He nodded.

She dropped her focus to the carpet. Large, colorful Duplo Legos scattered the worn Berber. She had the urge to drop to her knees and fit them together, to fit something together, anything. The minute hand on the train clock clicked forward.

How long she stared at those blocks, she wasn’t sure, but she heard another tick. Then another. She could feel Ty watching her, but she couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes.

Connor. Out there somewhere. With a stranger.

She felt sick. She felt weak.

She felt angry as hell.

She folded her arms tight across her chest and hung on. “A few years ago, Doug got in some trouble with the law.”

Ty’s brows arched upward, as if he was surprised, but something in his eyes told her the expression was more acting than truth. Of course she’d be naive to think that the news of Doug’s embezzlement and the hell she’d gone through hadn’t reached their hometown. Lake Hubbard had grown a lot over the years, but it still had the feel of a small town. And in small towns, gossip traveled fast.

Gossip or not, she was grateful he didn’t ask questions. She didn’t want to get into the story. Especially with Ty. “He got out of it with a slap on the wrist and swears he’s a model citizen now, but he might not be eager to answer a phone call from police.”

“I see. Would you be willing to give him a call?”

She nodded. She prayed he had taken Connor. At least then she’d know her little boy was safe. She couldn’t rely on Doug for much, but for all his faults, he was truly fond of his son.

“It’s worth a shot. I’ll let Leo know. We can put your phone on speaker.”

“No. I want to make the call alone.”

His lips flattened into a line.

“I’ll use my cell. Please, Ty. This is all…too much.” She gestured to the officers down the hall in the living room. It appeared as though the mayor had left, but the lieutenant, Detective Baker and another detective she didn’t know still milled around the Christmas tree.

She didn’t want any of them listening in on her call to Doug. Whether Doug had Connor or not, he would blame everything on Ty, chalk up everything to their past relationship, as distant a memory as it was. Doug had always felt threatened by Ty, even though she and Ty had broken up long before. Even though she’d married Doug in the end. Sometimes his comments were very hurtful, and she didn’t want them on the speakerphone for all to hear.

Ty finally nodded. “Don’t let him upset you. Tell him it was all my fault. After all, it was.”

She’d seen the video, and she wasn’t so sure of that. Of course he would say the same thing if it wasn’t. “If you’ll excuse me?”

Ty spun around and headed back down the hall. Her cell phone started ringing before she could get the door closed. She fished it out of her pocket with shaking fingers and flipped it open. “Doug?”

“Get the cops out of your apartment.”

Megan shuddered at the low, brutal voice. Not Doug. The kidnapper. It had to be. Somehow he’d gotten the number of her cell phone. And he was watching her apartment.

“Tell them someone you trust has your son.”

She wasn’t sure she could push a single sound from her throat, but somehow she managed. “Who?” There weren’t many people she trusted. And the police had probably checked with everyone she’d put on the list by now.

“A friend. The boy’s father. I don’t care who. Just convince the police they no longer have to look for your son.”

She could hardly breathe.

“Do you want to see your son again?”

“Yes. Okay. I’ll get rid of the police.”

“Then I want you to go to work tonight.”

She couldn’t have heard him right. “Work?”

“You do work for Brilliance Cleaning?”

“Yes.”

“You are scheduled to clean Keating Security tonight?”

He knew everything about her. “Who is this?”

“That’s not your problem. Your problem is that I have your son, and if you don’t do everything I say, you won’t see him again. At least not alive. Understand?”

A scream built in her throat. She pushed it back. “Yes. I understand.”

“While you are cleaning tonight, you will copy their client files off the secure server, including all the specifications of each client’s security system. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” She understood perfectly. He was asking her to steal sensitive files. Files that could be used to get into any of the security company’s clients’ businesses and homes undetected. Files that would work like a magic key, allowing him to walk in any of those places he wanted, take anything he wanted and never get caught.

But although she felt a pang of guilt at the idea of stealing the information for him, she wouldn’t let it stop her. In the end, it wasn’t much of a choice. Connor was the only thing she cared about. She would do anything to get him back. “Then what?”

“I’ll tell you after you have the files. Do what I ask, Ms. Garvey. I mean it. Or Santa won’t be coming to your house this Christmas.”

“So you’ll do it? You’ll call the lieutenant and tell him you took Connor from the mall?” Megan held her breath. Doug had reacted to the news just the way she’d thought he would. A lot of blustering about Ty’s role, a lot of blaming. But in the end, he’d been just as worried about the ransom call as she was. She just needed to know that he’d hold up his end—she needed to hear him swear it—before she went out to talk to Lieutenant Wheeling.

“And then what happens? I take the blame for this? I get arrested?”

“I’ll back you up. I’ll tell them it was a misunderstanding, that we’ve worked everything out.” She wasn’t sure if that would be enough to protect him, but she hoped it would at least convince him to go along.

“And I’m supposed to stick my neck out and trust you to explain things?”

“I will explain things.”

“Right. If I had a more devious mind, I might think you and Davis set this up. That he faked the kidnapping so you could trap me with some kind of kidnapping charge and take full custody.”

She closed her eyes. She’d only needed Doug to come through for her twice in all their time together, after Connor was born and now. He’d failed her the first time. She had to make sure he came through for her now. “I will make sure you don’t get in trouble for this, Doug. I promise. But I need you to do this. Connor needs you to do this. Please.”

“I suppose.”

She recognized the smug tone in his voice. She could picture him right now in her mind’s eye, all inflated and self-important. The strange thing was, she didn’t care. She’d tell him anything he wanted to hear, just as long as he came through on his end. The only person she cared about was her son. “Thank you. You’ll call him now?”

“Yes.”

“You have his phone number?”

“He’s called me a dozen times in the past hour, I swear. All I have to do is call him back.”