Always Watching by LS Sygnet Read Free Book Online Page B

And Florence was the
nanny for this diplomat’s children?”
    “ I think so,” Ferrite
said.  “This is based on what I can recall from Florence’s
profile being published in the hospital newsletter for her many
honors as an exemplary employee.”
    “ I don’t suppose you
remember the name of this alleged diplomat,” a little venom seeped
into my voice.  Ferrite was really beginning to annoy me with
her attitude.  Couldn’t she put a missing newborn ahead of the
hospital’s reputation?  Perhaps she didn’t comprehend that we
could destroy public confidence in the place.  I glanced at
Devlin.  “Did you call Chris about that press
conference?  We need to get the pictures of the baby plastered
all over the country, Dev.”
    “ I’ll have Crevan get
right on it,” he said.
    Ferrite sighed heavily.  “He’s in
Montgomery.  Every year, he gives the hospital an
endowment.  His name is Sherman.”
    “ Hang on, Crevan.” 
Devlin pressed his phone to his chest.  “Eugene
Sherman?”
    “ Yes, I see you’ve heard
of him.”
    Devlin turned his pointed stare on me. 
“Helen, we need to talk right now.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 6
     
    I let him drag me out into the
hallway.  “What I need to do is bitch slap some sense into
that woman.  What’s so important that it couldn’t wait for ten
minutes?”
    “ Eugene Sherman is very well known in
political circles in Montgomery.  He also died in
February.”
    “ Shit.”
    “ He’s been a staunch
supporter of Collangelo.  We can’t possibly think some woman
whose mother used to care for his children, probably grew up with
them, is guilty of kidnapping a baby from a hospital.”
    “ Why can’t we think
it?  She’s the only person who ran when the police showed
up.  An innocent person doesn’t run, Devlin.”
    “ Let’s just… not get
carried away until we’ve got the facts.”
    “ Yo, Eriksson!”  Tony
Briscoe barked from halfway down the hall.  “We got us
somebody that ought to talk to you sooner rather than
later.”
    “ Go back in there. 
Get them to print the personnel files we need and hand them off to
Darnell.  He’s gonna have to divvy up the workload with all
these cops from Darkwater with Charlie Haverston.  I’m gonna
go see what Briscoe thinks is such an earth-shattering
statement.  Meet me downstairs in twenty minutes.”
    “ Where are we
going?”
    “ To see Danny
Datello.”
    My eyes darted around the crowded space
looking for Crevan.  He was nowhere in sight.  “Who am I
talking to?”
    Briscoe grinned.  “Good to see you too,
Helen.  She’s right in there.  Name’s Kelly
Robards.  She was working with the babies earlier with the
missing nurse.”
    “ Excellent.”  I
pushed the door open and stopped short.  The nurse was sobbing
on Crevan’s shoulder while he patted her back
soothingly. 
    “ There now, just tell Dr.
Eriksson everything you remember this afternoon.  You’re not
in any trouble, Kelly.”
    She gazed up at him with doe eyes.  It
explained Tony’s glee. 
    “ Ms. Robards?”
    She nodded and sniffled, offered one hand
and thought better of it.  “You’re Dr. Eriksson.  I
remember reading about you with that shooting last fall.”
    Yeah, didn’t we all?  “Tell me what you
observed this afternoon.”
    “ I didn’t think anything
of it, you know?  We all have to run to the bathroom from time
to time.”
    “ You’re telling me about
Nurse Payette’s bathroom breaks?”
    “ I went to lunch late, you
see.  I came back to the nursery and Flo was just… gone. 
The babies were all screaming bloody murder.  She said she had
to run to the bathroom, but when she came back, she seemed like she
was out of breath.”
    “ Don’t you have a staff
bathroom inside the nursery?” I asked.
    “ Sure we do, but the
keypad has been broken for a week or so, and we’ve had to leave the
nursery to use the one down the hall.”
    “ I’m told that Ms.