Abducted by Janice Cantore Read Free Book Online

arrived, Joe would tell her it was a terrible mistake and A.J. was safe and sound. But the obvious media presence in the parking lot killed all optimism. To avoid the media, Carly parked on a side street and entered the hospital through the emergency room. In spite of the heat, she shivered when she remembered Joe’s voice on the phone. In almost eleven years on the force, Carly could not recall a single kidnapping in her city. And she wondered, What do you say to someone whose son was just kidnapped?
    Four uniformed officers hovered around the emergency admitting desk. One of them saw her and hailed.
    “Hey, Carly, what’s the deal with your partner’s wife? Why were she and the kid here in the first place?” Tina asked.
    “Don’t know. Earlier this morning the doctors couldn’t say.” Carly sighed. “Have you guys heard any more?”
    Tina shook her head. “No, no one is saying much. But they’re giving out overtime like candy for guys to watch the entrances and talk to potential witnesses.”
    “Witnesses?” Hope sprang into Carly’s chest. “Did someone see A.J. being taken?”
    “We’ve heard rumors someone saw a volunteer leave with a baby earlier, but nothing is confirmed. They don’t want false information going out, so we probably won’t hear anything official until all their ducks are in a row. You know how it goes.” Tina shrugged.
    “Lieutenant Jacobs is planning a press briefing soon,” one of the guys added. “Our orders are to watch people leaving. Initially, the hope was that the baby was still inside the hospital. But I think now they know the kid is gone.”
    “How long ago did they discover the baby was missing?”
    “We’ve been watching this entrance for an hour. If Joe called 911 right away, the baby’s been gone about an hour and twenty minutes to two hours.”
    “Thanks for the information. I pray we find A.J. soon.”
    They all nodded in agreement, and Carly continued into the hospital. Over an hour, maybe two. A.J. could be halfway to Santa Barbara by now. A shroud of dread and fear enveloped her as the reality of the kidnapping sank in. She stopped at the elevator to gather her thoughts. I need to encourage Joe, support him, not scare him.
    The elevator doors opened, and Lieutenant Jacobs and Sergeant Nelson stepped off.
    “Hey, I’m glad to see you two.” Carly greeted the men and felt her gut unclench slightly. She wanted an update from Jake before the press conference. And the lieutenant wouldn’t miss a thing.
    “Hey yourself, Trouble.” Jacobs smiled, but his eyes told her he was intense and focused. Ever since the murder of Las Playas’s last mayor, when for a time there was an all-points bulletin out on Carly, Jacobs had called her Trouble. She rolled her eyes at the nickname and fell into step with the lieutenant.
    “I wondered where you were,” he said. “I know you and Joe are close.”
    They stopped at an open waiting room that had obviously been turned into a temporary command post. A tactical unit was poring over diagrams of the hospital, and Soto, the public information officer, was on the phone. From the sound of it, he was giving a statement to a news radio station. Nelson sat down to use the phone. He was the new sergeant in charge of homicide, and homicide handled all kidnappings.
    “When I went home to sleep, it was only Christy we were worried about, and Joe’s parents had just arrived. What happened?” Carly asked.
    “I wish I knew. We just don’t have much.” Jake rubbed tired eyes. “There were cops all over this hospital. Guys were stopping by all morning, checking up on Joe and Christy. The best we can tell is, between one and two hours ago, someone walked into the nursery, picked up A.J., put a doll in his place, and walked away.”
    “We’re not sure about the time?”
    “Yes and no. One or two of the parents who were upstairs with newborns remember a volunteer walking around. We’re looking hard at this because there