“Oh, it's you.” She rubbed her eyes. “You get off early?”
“No, it's five-fifteen. Is the baby still asleep?”
“I guess so; he must have needed the nap as much as I did.”
Michael went over to the open door and peeked in. He couldn't see his son, so he stepped over by the crib.
“Tammy!”
She rushed to the room.
“What?”
“Where's Kristian?!”
“He was nap—” She didn't finish the sentence, as the empty crib came into view.
“My baby! Where's my baby?!” She was running from room to room. Michael was already dialing the police.
“911, what is your emergency?”
“My son, he's missing! Please send help.”
“Okay, sir. Stay calm. How old is your son?”
“Three months, he's just a newborn.”
“Is your wife there?”
“Yes, she's looking everywhere. He was taking a nap and now he's gone.”
“All right, sir. The police are on their way.”
She confirmed the address in west San Antonio and let him off the line to go to his wife.
Tammy was standing in the front yard, looking down the road as if someone might show up with her baby at any moment. Tears were running down her cheeks and her body was shaking. Michael put his arm around her and watched with her as the first police car arrived. It was a uniformed officer, closely followed by an unmarked car.
****
Detective Jason Strong stepped into the sunlight, tall and thin with dark sunglasses. The uniformed officer immediately went to him. After a brief discussion, the uniform seemed to have his orders and the detective headed towards the Barton’s.
“Mr. and Mrs. Barton?”
“Yes, I'm Michael and this is my wife, Tammy.”
“Okay, will you take me inside and tell me what happened?”
“Sure, follow me.”
Michael led the detective through the entryway and into the living room. He and Tammy sat on the couch while Detective Strong walked to the back door and tried it.
“Was this unlocked?”
“Yes. I never lock it during the day unless we leave.” Tammy didn't look up when she answered. She was staring at a pacifier in her hands, turning it over and over.
“And what is on the other side of the fence?”
“Just an alley.”
“Where was the child when you last saw him?”
“I laid him down in his room for a nap and closed the door. That was at about two. I fell asleep on the couch and didn't hear anything until Michael came home.”
Her eyes were red and she still hadn't stopped shaking.
Michael watched the detective walk to the nursery. He heard him try the window. It was locked but Michael already knew that. He had checked it when Tammy was running around the house. The detective left the nursery and came over to take a seat opposite Tammy and Michael. He took out his notepad and stared at them intently.
“Okay, I want you to tell me everything that you can think of from the moment you woke up this morning. Everything, no matter how small you think it is.”
For nearly an hour, they recalled every detail they could for the detective. While they did that, their house was invaded by crime scene techs and police photographers. Yellow crime scene tape around the front yard, manned by officers in uniform, kept the neighbors at bay.
****
Detective Jason Strong obtained a picture of the baby from Tammy Barton and issued an Amber Alert. He knew that the kidnapper had at least a three-hour head start. He was leaning towards kidnapping because his gut told him that the parents were not involved. He hadn't ruled them out, but he was going with his first instinct.
The Amber Alert would have every law officer in the state and surrounding states looking for a newborn child. The problem was they didn't know whether the child was taken on foot or by vehicle, or if he was being kept locally or moved out of state. They needed luck, or for the kidnapper to make a mistake, if they were going to be able to narrow the search.
A stranger abduction was rare, and the parents were not wealthy enough to warrant a ransom. He ordered a trace put on the phone anyway.
Nothing he had learned from the Barton’s had given him a lead and their story had not varied despite him making them repeat it numerous times, both together and separately. Officers were canvassing the neighborhood but had not come up with any leads. It seemed that most people were at work.
He didn't like his chances of finding the child, but nothing would stop him from trying everything he could think of.
****
It had taken nearly six hours instead of the four that Zeb had promised, but Benny was finally crossing into Oklahoma. He hadn't run into any trouble so far, but he needed gas and stopping made him nervous. Someone might hear the kid and, with Texas plates, he would stand out even more in Oklahoma.
He tried to concentrate on driving, which was hard since the baby would cry every half hour or so until it fell back asleep, only to reawaken and start bawling again. He couldn't wait to get this over with.
He saw a truck stop ahead and decided it was time to use a bathroom and fill up the tank. He didn't see the Oklahoma State Trooper car parked on the far side of the diner.
Pulling in next to the pumps, he filled up and went in. He grabbed a couple of snacks and settled up with the clerk.
“Where's the bathroom?”
“Just around to the left.”
“Thanks.”
As he rounded the corner, two state troopers were sitting in a booth finishing their coffee. Benny nearly pissed his pants. He nodded at them and continued towards the bathroom. If the kid cried and they noticed, he was done.
When he came out of the bathroom, the troopers were gone. They weren't over checking out his car, but they hadn't left, either. The two stood chatting by their car. Benny wasn't sure what to do.
“Stay and take a chance that the kid cries, or go and possibly have them notice your plate,” he said to himself, under his breath.
“Pardon?”
Benny realized that the clerk was looking at him.
“Oh, nothing, just thinking out loud.”
He decided he had better chance it and leave.
He pretended to be on his phone and kept his head down as he walked to his car. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the troopers getting into their car. When he reached the old Bonneville, the baby was still asleep. He got in, fired it up, and drove off. The troopers pulled out behind him, flipping on their flashing lights. Benny's heart skipped a beat. He was about to flee, when the troopers raced past him into the night.
He didn't know whether to laugh out loud or faint. He mopped at his forehead as the baby started crying again.
“Shut up, kid. Just shut up!”
****
Benny had gone east and caught I-35 north to Paul’s Valley. He was to meet his contact, Zeb's sister, in the parking lot of the Days Inn, and she would approach him. He just needed to park in back and wait. He found it easily enough, and slowly cruised through the lot, parking in one of the last spots. No one appeared to be watching him, so he was startled by a knock on his back window immediately after he parked.
He got out to find a middle-aged lady with red hair standing there. The hair must run in the family, he thought. The startling thing was her height. Benny guessed that she was no more than 4’8”, maybe 4’10”, but certainly not five feet. She had a tattoo of a tiger on her left breast, and Benny had no option but to look down at it. She was almost 2 feet shorter than him.
“Where's the baby?”
He refocused.
“Backseat. Where's the money?”
She slid open the side door of van and motioned at two large duffle bags. He unzipped one, finding bundles of neatly wrapped hundred-dollar bills. The second contained similar piles of bills. He picked up one and ruffled it.