Baltimore [3.5] Broken Silence by Karen Rose Read Free Book Online

ponies and sell them, but mostly the ponies run and play in the ocean. And . . . her mama wanted to see the ocean before she went to heaven. She’d never seen the ocean. And she wanted to see the ponies.’
    ‘Did they see the ponies?’ Heidi asked.
    ‘Yes,’ Sophie translated. ‘Then Svetlana looked for shells while her mama sat in the sun and the nurse watched the baby. Her papa watched her mama. She was so sick. Skinny. It was too cold. He was afraid she would get sicker. She said she would go to heaven soon and to please let her sit and look at the ocean. So he did.’
    They were quiet for a moment, Joseph able to imagine the husband’s pain at watching his wife waste away. ‘It takes a real monster to kill a dying woman and her husband,’ he said, keeping his voice level for the sake of the child. ‘We need to find that nurse.’
    ‘The sand on her boots,’ Daphne said suddenly. ‘I know the place she’s talking about – Chincoteague Island, off the coast of Virginia. The ponies run wild on the next island, Assateague. The locals do a roundup every summer, swim the ponies across the channel to Chincoteague and auction them to raise money for the fire department.’
    ‘There’s a story about it,’ Heidi said. ‘I read it when I was a little girl.’
    Daphne nodded. ‘I read it to Ford when he was small. Misty of Chincoteague . It made me want to see the ponies run too, so one day I packed a lunch and took Ford. It’s lovely there.’
    ‘You lucked out when you picked the My Little Pony coloring book, Daphne,’ Heidi said. ‘Russian for pony sounds the same as English. “Pony,” “mama,” and “Sissy,” may have been the only things we said that Lana understood.’
    Joseph texted his office. ‘I’m having my team check the Chincoteague hotels to see if they recognize Lana’s photo and had her parents registered as guests.’
    ‘What about the hospital her mother went to for treatment?’ Maggie asked. ‘Does she remember which one?’
    Sophie asked, but Svetlana shook her head no. ‘She says it was cold and there was snow.’
    ‘That could be anywhere,’ Heidi said grimly.
    ‘Maybe not.’ Daphne continued to rock Svetlana. ‘Her folks were probably wealthy, based on her clothes and the fur coat. If they came all the way from Moscow to a U.S. hospital, it would have to be one of the best. NIH here in Bethesda, Cleveland Clinic, maybe Mayo in Minnesota.’
    Svetlana looked up. ‘Minnesota,’ she whispered. ‘ Da .’
    Daphne gave her a quick hug. ‘Can we get her photo sent up there too, Joseph? At a minimum they may know who the nurse was who traveled with them.’
    Joseph texted the order. ‘Sophie, ask her if the people demanded anything. They went to a lot of trouble to hide the identities of her parents. They planned this. They had to have wanted something in particular.’
    Sophie asked. ‘She says her mother had a pretty necklace and the man wanted it. He kept asking her father where it was hidden, but her father didn’t tell.’
    ‘They would have killed them anyway.’ Joseph said with a sigh. ‘They came too prepared not to have planned to murder them all. We’ll put Lana into protective custody. Heidi, can you stay until we get her settled into the safe house? Sophie, thank you for your help.’
    ‘It was my pleasure,’ Sophie said. ‘Please let us know how it ends up.’
    Joseph gently pulled Svetlana from Daphne’s arms. ‘Tell her we’ll bring her back soon.’ He kissed Daphne quickly. ‘See you at home. You knocked it out of the park, sugar .’
    Tuesday, December 24, 11:45 A.M.
    Joseph and Heidi left with Svetlana, leaving Daphne standing in the barn with Sophie and her husband Vito.
    Vito checked his watch. ‘We have to go, too, Soph. You’re not missing that appointment. Daphne, where would you like the guitar? Here in the barn or in your car?’
    ‘Here in the barn would be great,’ Daphne said. She wasn’t yet certain she was ready to take it