Christmas Conspiracy. Susan Sleeman
the intruder could possibly know that he had manhandled her.
She eyed Jake. “How do you know what happened?”
“We accessed your center’s closed-circuit video.”
“Oh, right. The video. I should have thought of that.”
“You have quite a system.” An accusation of some sort lingered in the detective’s tone.
“I installed it for parents to be able to check on their children any time of the day. They can all log in to view a live feed.” She shook her head. “Thankfully there wasn’t a reason for any of them to watch this morning.”
Jake pulled a chair up to her bed. A hint of his musky aftershave drifted over, and she peered at him. This close, she could see striations of black and gold in his eyes, and she couldn’t pull her gaze free.
“Forget I’m a deputy,” he said softly. “I’m just Jake. The guy who held your hand in the ambulance. I’m sorry we have to question you after all you’ve been through. It’s just routine. We’ll make this as quick and painless as possible. Then I’ll give you a ride to your center.”
Detective Hunter pointedly cleared her throat.
Rachael suspected Jake was breaking the rules of questioning, or maybe he didn’t care about the rules but truly wanted to help her through a difficult time. Either way, the detective didn’t seem to like it.
“We were unable to see the intruder’s face on the video,” he continued. “But I know you ripped off his mask. Can you describe him?”
“Other than getting to see Kelly and Pam and talking to my center families, I’ve thought of little else, but I can only call up a vague image of his face. It’s too fuzzy to see in detail. I do remember his eyes though...his eyes and his breath.”
“Go on,” Jake encouraged her.
“His eyes were mean and hard. Like he enjoyed hurting us. They were gray, almost black. His breath was minty fresh, like a man who takes good care of himself.” She paused to calm her nerves. “I know it’s a weird thing to remember, but I didn’t expect a kidnapper to have good hygiene.”
Detective Hunter pushed off the wall and stepped forward. “Since you’re the only one who can identify him, I need you to keep trying to picture his face.”
“What about one of the neighbors?” Rachael asked. “Or someone on the street, or the person who called 911? Maybe they saw him before he put on his mask.”
“Deputies are canvassing the neighborhood right now, but the woman who called this in didn’t see his face.”
“Go back earlier in your day,” Jake said, changing the subject. “On your way to work, or even in the last few days, did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”
“Like I said, I expected to see my teacher waiting for me in the parking lot, but she wasn’t there. She called to tell me she had a flat tire and had to take the bus.” Guilt crowded out other thoughts, and Rachael bit down on her lip.
“What is it?” Jake asked.
“If I’d waited for her to get there before letting Pam go, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”
“If an armed man wanted Kelly,” Jake said, “he would’ve taken her even with two people present, and something bad could have happened to Ms. Baldwin or your teacher.”
“Unless, of course, Ms. Baldwin is involved in this somehow,” Detective Hunter said.
“Pam? Involved? But why? She has full custody of Kelly. She has no need to kidnap her.”
“You mentioned that she had a past drug problem. Maybe she started using again and needed money,” the detective said bluntly.
“No.” Rachael shook her head hard. The room spun, so she waited for it to still before continuing. “Pam is clean, and if you think she’d fake a kidnapping to sell Kelly to someone, you’re wrong. Pam loves Kelly, and she’s a good mother. She’d never hurt her child.”
The detective fixed her eyes on Rachael. “What about you?”
Rachael swiveled to face her directly. The room swam, but she grabbed the arm of Jake’s chair. “You think I’m involved in Kelly’s attempted kidnapping? That’s unbelievable. I would never do that. Never. Not in a million years.”
Jake stood. “I think this is enough for now.”
Rachael shot him a look. “You think I did this, too?”
“I—” Jake said, but the door opened and the nurse entered, taking his attention.
She didn’t seem to notice the tension in the room, but smiled and marched across the small space. “Let’s take that IV out so you can get going.” The nurse cocked an eyebrow at Jake and the detective. “If you’ll excuse us...”
“I’ll wait in the hall to give you a ride to the center,” Jake said.
Rachael nodded, but she wasn’t sure if she should be glad for his help or concerned about spending more time with him. Especially if he thought her capable of kidnapping an innocent little baby.
Jake hated leaving Rachael behind, but he stepped into the hallway anyway, the Christmas music playing overhead barely registering as Rachael lingered in his thoughts.
Skyler followed him from the room, grabbed his sleeve and pulled him out of the bustle of hospital staff scurrying down the hallway. They must have made a sight, the small, slender woman dragging him across the hall. People often took one glance at her stature and girl-next-door look, and then underestimated her skills as a law enforcement officer.
She planted her hands on her hips and glared up at him. “What’re you doing? You want to sabotage this case before it begins?”
He’d expected her to pounce the minute they’d entered the hallway. She was fierce at her job and worked tirelessly to close her cases. He owed it to her to do a better job of containing his feelings and not getting in her way.
Still, he would voice his opinion. “I told you before. I’m not liking Rachael for this.”
“I’ll ignore the fact that you’re choosing to call her Rachael instead of Ms. Long, but physically holding her hand? That’s going a little far, isn’t it?” Skyler sharpened her gaze, and he felt like a suspect under her watchful eye in an interrogation room.
“She was worried, and I helped her through it,” Jake said to downplay his role that had gone beyond professional.
Law enforcement officers held victims’ hands all the time, but he knew in his heart that he didn’t take her hand for that reason. They had a connection and he wanted to offer her comfort.
His need to protect her had hit him the minute he’d seen her on the video when she’d bravely stood in front of a gunman, risking her life for a helpless baby. It took a strong woman to stand up to such a threat, and yet, at that moment and even later, he’d seen an extreme vulnerability in her eyes. He wanted to do whatever it took to help her.
Maybe when the medic asked if they could call anyone for her, and Jake had learned that she had no one, he’d wanted to make sure she had support. Or maybe he’d transferred his thing for protecting kids onto her. But as a law enforcement officer, especially a supervisor who should set an example for others, he had to step back, put up a professional wall and not let her distress get to him.
And, of course, Skyler picked up on that.
“You better make sure that’s all it is,” she continued. “Because despite what we think about Ms. Long, she has to remain a suspect. Especially since she admitted to a special bond with Kelly, and she often takes care of