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Leo glanced at him, his bushy blond eyebrows pulling low. “You took the kid shopping for bras?”
“Slippers.” Ty pointed to the image of the slipper rack beyond the lacy under things. “He wanted to buy his mom dog paw slippers.”
The security man squinted up at him through coke-bottle lenses. “How long you want to go back?”
Ty glanced at his watch. “Almost a half hour.” He couldn’t believe that much time had already passed. They had locked down the store right away. But even though patrol officers and store security personnel were all combing the area, they hadn’t found a single sign of Connor. In those precious minutes that Ty was being polite to a stranger, Connor had seemingly vanished. He prayed the video would give them an idea of where the boy had gone.
He forced himself to concentrate on the speeding images moving in reverse on the screen, not on what might have happened to Megan’s son. He spotted himself, racing around the area backward, peeking in the circular clothing racks, talking to the woman holding flannel. And there he was, peering at the lingerie, listening politely to the woman who called herself the Giftinator, barely visible on the screen. And then…
The angle wasn’t great, the camera was too far from the slipper rack to show much detail, but what he did see sent a chill down his spine. A man in a shapeless coat and hood. Then the man was gone, and Connor was there, clutching those dog paw slippers. “That’s it. Stop.”
The security tech stopped the reversing images.
“Okay. Play it.”
Ty held his breath and watched as the action went forward at normal speed. Him talking to Connor. Him drifting a few feet away to the lingerie, leaving the poor kid all alone. The figure in the shapeless coat stepping around the slipper rack, taking Connor’s hand and leading him to the exit nearby.
“Fifteen feet away. I was only fifteen feet away.” Yet he’d been so caught up in his memories of Megan, in his selfish fantasies, in being polite to that woman, he hadn’t even noticed the man in the parka. He hadn’t had a clue that Connor was gone.
Not until it was too late.
Leo leaned over the security system tech’s shoulder. “Can you save that section of the recording and get me images from the camera for that exit?” He pointed toward the one where the man in the parka and Connor had disappeared.
“Sure thing.”
“After you’re done with that, check prior footage for all the exits, starting with that one. He must have entered the store at some point. I want a face shot of him. Anything we can use to get an ID.”
The tech nodded and started tapping keys.
The lieutenant turned his laser gaze on Ty. “You know the ex-husband. Could this be him?”
Ty considered for a moment. “Hard to tell without a better view of his face. But the body type fits.” Or at least as much of it as he could see in the oversized parka.
Leo nodded. “Average height, average weight?”
“Like most of the male population.”
“It’s something. We need to have the mother take a look at whatever pictures we can get of this guy. Even if he isn’t the ex, she might know him. There’s a chance.”
A cramp seized Ty’s chest. He knew the odds of an abducted kid being found, and they weren’t good, especially if the abductor was a stranger. Either it happened right away, in the first forty-eight hours, or it wasn’t likely to end well.
This was his fault. All his fault.
Leo let out a sigh and clapped the security guy on the shoulder. “The moment you find any kind of a face shot, let me know.”
“I sure will.”
“I’m calling the feds’ CARD team to give them a heads-up. I want to be prepared, and if this isn’t the ex, we could use the help. And we need to be ready to issue an Amber Alert.”
Ty nodded. CARD stood for Child Abduction Rapid Deployment, one of ten teams of experts located across the nation. Each team member had extensive experience in crimes-against-children investigations, particularly cases where the abductor was not a family member, and Ty was glad to hear Leo wasn’t planning to mess around. The Lake Hubbard P.D. was awfully small to handle a case like this on their own. Even with help from the sheriff’s department, it would be nice to have the extra resources. “What do you want me to do?”
“Sorry, Ty. I want you to lay back a little on this. At least until I get the word on how the chief wants to proceed.”
Ty knew there would be consequences to pretending his shopping trip was an official police department program. On top of that, when the media found out about him losing Connor, the blowback would only get worse. But whatever happened, he didn’t care. All he could think about was that little boy. “You’ll need photos of Connor for the search and Amber Alert.”
“I’ll send Baker to notify the child’s mother and have her take a look at the images of this guy. He can ask her for pictures.”
Nothing against Baker. He was a good cop. But it wasn’t right that Megan hear about this from a stranger. “Can I do it?”
Leo gave him a frown, lines digging into his forehead, deep as trenches.
“You got to let me do it, Leo.”
“You really want to?”
Of course, he didn’t. Not one bit. “I have to.”
“All right. Go with Baker.”
“Thanks. I couldn’t live with myself if she heard it from someone other than me.” Truth was, he wasn’t sure he could live with himself even now.
WHEN THE DOOR BUZZER SOUNDED and Megan glanced out the window, she was expecting to see a police car in front of her building. She wasn’t ready for the tremor that seized her stomach and made her head swirl like she’d just climbed off a carnival ride.
It was so strange, seeing Ty again after all these years.
She pushed her hair back from her face and ran her fingers through the ends. Man, she was pitiful, but she couldn’t help it. She’d even put makeup on this morning before he’d stopped by to pick up her son. Not because she hoped for something between them. Any hope of that had fizzled out years ago, during that awful summer and in the fall afterward when Ty had left to attend a police academy in Madison.
Not that it mattered. She’d done marriage, and there wasn’t a chance she was gullible enough to try it again. But there was just something about the way Ty looked at her that made her want to show him the fabulous woman he’d lost all those years ago. Rub his face in it a bit. Silly, vain, and more than a little vengeful, she admitted, but there it was.
Much more important than old feelings between her and Ty was whether the shopping trip with Connor had gone well.
A stronger jitter gripped her stomach and climbed into her chest. Her little guy had been through so much with the divorce. And now that they’d left Chicago and moved back across the Wisconsin border to Lake Hubbard, she could tell he missed his dad. That was the reason she’d let Ty talk her into taking him on this outing when he’d told her there were leftover donations to the Shop with a Cop program. Connor needed some time with a man, and that was something she couldn’t provide. And this morning he’d been so excited…it was almost as if the opportunity was tailor-made.
But that didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous about it. She was nervous every time Connor was out of her sight. At least today he was with a police officer. She just hoped his experience was a positive one.
The outside buzzer blared again through her apartment.
Running her fingers through her hair a couple more times, she crossed the living room and hit the button unlocking the building’s main door, a low buzz humming through the halls.
She couldn’t wait to see Connor’s face. Please, let him be happy. She opened her apartment door and stepped out into the long corridor.
A man’s steps thunked up the stairs and echoed in the open stairwell and lobby below.
Leaving her door ajar, Megan started down the hall, hurriedly padding on stocking feet to meet the sound, eager to see her son’s face.
A blue-clad leg and black shoe crested the top step. Ty Davis stepped around the corner and into the hall.
She focused on Ty’s face, and for a moment, her heart felt like it fluttered, just like it had when she’d first laid eyes on him back in high school. Then it occurred to her that he didn’t look happy.
She glanced down the staircase. A cop in full uniform climbed the staircase behind him but no little boy. She hurried toward Ty. “Where’s Connor?”
His face appeared tighter the closer she came. Lines etched his forehead and cupped around the corners of his lips.
“Where’s Connor?” she repeated. Hadn’t he heard her? What was wrong with him? “Is he hurt?”
“We need to talk, Meg.” He cupped a hand under her elbow and steered her away from the stairs. “Let’s go back inside your apartment for a moment.”
Her breath seemed to clog her throat. Something had happened. That much was clear.
“Meg?”
Now was not the time to lose her head. She couldn’t let her mind race off in a panic…not until she knew what it was she faced. “Oh…okay.”
Without releasing her, he moved her hand into the crook of his arm and guided her back to her open door.
Possibilities whipped through her mind. Was Connor hurt? Had he tried to steal something? Had her mother wandered off from the nursing home? Or had she died, and Ty hadn’t wanted Connor here when he broke the news? She moved one foot in front of the other, reaching the apartment, stepping inside. She stopped and angled her body to face Ty. Her hands were shaking and she gripped them together to keep them still. “What happened?”
“I think you should sit down.”
Sit down? Like hell. “What happened?” Panic shrieked inside her, but her voice became quieter the louder her fear.
He paused, searching for words or still waiting for her to take a seat, she didn’t know.
Clearly something had happened. Something she hadn’t seen coming. Something she’d missed. “Tell me, Ty. Please.”
He gave a slow nod. “I’m so sorry, Megan.”
Her lungs contracted. She couldn’t breathe. “My mother?”
“It’s Connor. He was abducted from the store.”
She shook her head. It didn’t make sense. “But he was with you.”
He flinched ever so slightly, as if the statement caused him pain. “The entire department is looking for him. Store security, too. We’ll find him, Megan. We’re going to find him.”
“No. No.” She couldn’t stop shaking her head. She hadn’t seen this coming, all right. She hadn’t seen it, because it was impossible. “He was with you. This can’t happen.”
“I’m so sorry.”
She swayed. Her knees felt like they were going to buckle, but she willed herself to stand on her own. This couldn’t be happening. There had to be some kind of explanation. Some kind of sick joke. She waited for him to tell her that he was kidding, to take it all back, to…something, but she knew deep inside that something wasn’t going to come.
Her baby was gone.
Chapter Three
Ty didn’t know how much Megan was absorbing. She stared at him, green eyes wide and a little glassy. And although she nodded at the appropriate times, there was a blankness to her expression that felt hard and brittle at the same time, like the face of a porcelain doll.
“Doug.”
“Officers are trying to reach him.”
“Could he…could he have taken Connor?”
“We’re looking into it. Believe me.” Ty wanted to go question the bastard himself, but the lieutenant wouldn’t allow it. Probably a good idea. If Doug did sneak Connor out of the store under Ty’s nose, Ty wasn’t sure he could leave the interview without beating the tar out of him.
Still, compared to the alternative, Doug being the kidnapper would be a huge relief. “You can help us determine if Doug took him.”
“How?”
He motioned to Baker. Even though the detective was supposed to be in charge of this notification and interview, he’d hung back and let Ty take the reins. Todd Baker was a good guy.
Baker set up his laptop on the coffee table and recalled the pictures they had downloaded from the security footage. The first image of the kidnapper came on the screen, a shot of the parka-clad man approaching Connor. Ty was also visible just a few feet away.
Megan gasped.
“You recognize him?”
She shook her head. “No. Not really. I mean, it could be Doug, but…” Her eyebrows pulled low over worried eyes. Her chin trembled. “I can’t really tell.”
“We have a few different angles.” Ty glanced at Baker.
He rolled the snips of video and magnified the kidnapper. “Better?”
Megan shook her head. Tears wound down her cheeks, but she didn’t make a sound.
Baker stopped the video on an image. A sliver of the kidnapper’s cheek peeked from beneath the hood. “That’s as good a shot of his face as we could come up with.”
It was strange, Ty had to admit. In each bit of video, the kidnapper had averted his face at just the right angle and pulled up his hood in just the right amount to avoid security cameras.
Megan shook her head. “I don’t know. It could be Doug. It also could be almost anyone.”
Ty stared at the image, comparing it to his memories of Doug Burke’s face. She was right. It could be almost anyone.
“You lost him…how did you lose him? You’re right there.” Her voice was only a whisper, yet it cut into him like a whip crack.
He met her eyes. They glistened in the muted light of the window. A few tears spiked her lashes and escaped down her cheeks.
He could understand her frustration, understand her fear. Scratch that. He couldn’t truly understand. But he could imagine it. And if he were in her place right now, he imagined he would be furious. One thing was certain. He more than deserved her fury. “I’m so sorry, Meg.”
She didn’t answer. She looked back at the image on the computer.
“The department is working on finding him,” Baker said in a steady voice. “We are searching every inch of the mall. We’ve contacted the FBI, in case we need their help. We are prepared to issue an Amber Alert. Everyone is on this.”
Ty had already told her all this, but he was grateful for Baker’s calm, reliable recitation. Maybe Leo was right. Maybe Baker should have broken the news to Megan instead of him. He had a steady influence Ty couldn’t come close to matching. But the thought of not being there when Megan needed him wasn’t acceptable. Not again.
“How did it happen? What were you thinking? What were you doing that you weren’t watching him?” She hadn’t looked up, but it was clear she was talking to him.
He opened his mouth, then shut it tight. What could he say? That he was looking at lingerie? That he was fantasizing about how she’d look in it? Imagining taking it off her? “I was…shopping. I only took my eye off him for a moment.” He decided not to mention the Giftinator. Megan would only think he’d been flirting instead of paying attention to her son. It hadn’t been like that, not at all. But he wouldn’t be able to convince her.
