A Cop in Her Stocking Read online

  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 wa
ited 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.

  Not that it mattered. He’d been absorbed in his own world, his own concerns. He hadn’t been focused on her son. He deserved all the blame she could heap on him.

  “A moment…” She buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders jerked, a silent sob shuddering through her body.

  He wanted to touch her, soothe her, promise it would be okay. But he doubted she would accept his touch, and right now even he had trouble believing that promise.

  “I want to go to the mall. I have to go to the mall.” She pushed herself up from her chair. “I need to find him.”

  He stood and reached out. But instead of grasping her arm, he let his hand hover in the air.

  Baker stood, as well. “We have officers all over the store. People from our department. From the sheriff’s department. Store security. They are professionals. Let them handle this.”

  She shook her head. For a moment, Ty thought she might bolt for the door, then she focused on him. Her eyes shifted back and forth as if she didn’t know where to look.

  If Ty knew anything about Megan, even after all these years, it was that she was not good at accepting anything from anyone. Not help, not reassurance, not promises—regardless of whether those promises were likely to be kept. But she was comfortable doing. “There’s nothing you can do there that they can’t. But here, there’s a lot only you can do here.”

  “Only me…like what?”

  “First, you need to stay by the phone.”

  “You think there might be a phone call? Like a ransom call?”

  “Maybe. Or someone might find Connor or see him and give you a call. You need to be here to answer.”

  She stared past him, focusing on the twinkle lights and colorful jumble of decorations covering her Christmas tree, her eyes unseeing, her expression blank.

  “There’s more, more you can do.”

  She returned her gaze to his.

  “We need recent pictures of Connor to release to the media and use in the search. Can you compile some?”

  “Of course.” Taking a deep breath, she turned away from him and half ran toward the bedroom. A few moments later, she came back with a wad of photos cradled in her hands. “I have a lot of them. I printed them out to make a collage for my mom as a Christmas present.”

  She shuffled through the stack of pictures as if they were playing cards. “School pictures, some from his birthday, Halloween. No. What am I thinking? He’s in a costume on Halloween. That’s not going to help.” Except for a few stray tears, she hadn’t cried since he’d broken the news, but now tears swamped her eyes and gushed down her cheeks.

  “I’m so sorry, Meg,” he said again. He could never say it enough. He took a chance and grabbed hold of her hand.

  Her throat moved as if she was swallowing emotion, preventing it from further breaking free. Finally she looked him in the eye. “I know you didn’t mean to lose him. I’ve had him wander off when I was shopping with him, too.”

  The fact that she would think about reassuring him in the midst of all she was facing made him feel worse than he already did. He rubbed his hand up her arm, as if simple friction would warm the chill that he knew was running through her. “We’ll find him. We’ll get him back to you.”

  “I should have told him to stay next to you in the store, to hold your hand. I should have known something like this could happen. I meant to remind him to stay close to you before he left, but it slipped my mind. God, I’m so stupid.”

  He couldn’t stand this. “No. I’m stupid. I wasn’t paying attention. I lost Connor.”

  She shook her head, but the tears didn’t stop flowing. She pushed the photos into his hands. “Here. I’ll see if I can find any better ones.”

  He set the pictures on the
table and took both her hands in his. He looked down into her wet green eyes, eyes that were so desperate. “I will find Connor. I will make all of this okay. I promise.”

  Maybe an impossible vow. But God help him, he had never meant anything more.

  MEGAN WAS EXHAUSTED, frustrated and more than a little panicky by the time Ty’s lieutenant arrived at the apartment to fill her in on the search and ask her to repeat everything she’d already discussed with Ty. At Ty’s direction, she’d written a detailed description of her son and everything he’d been wearing down to the Hot Wheels sneakers on his feet. She’d also compiled a list of names, addresses and phone numbers of family, friends, babysitters, anyone she could think of who had come in contact with Connor, both in Lake Hubbard and Chicago.

  Ty had made copies of all the photos she’d dug up, ready to send them to every law enforcement agency in the vicinity and nonprofit organization that helped find missing children.

  She knew Ty would be helping her find Connor even if he didn’t feel guilty about his role in losing him. He was a police officer, after all. This kind of thing was his job. And more than that, it was the kind of person Ty was, the kind he’d been raised to be.

  But although she felt plenty angry that he’d lost her son, she couldn’t see what good anger and blame would do. Not now. There wasn’t time. All she could focus on right now was getting her son back, and she badly needed to trust that Ty and the Lake Hubbard police department could help her do that.

  “Ms. Garvey?” Ty’s lieutenant perched on the edge of a chair and leveled her with an officious look. “With your permission, we would like to put a trap and trace on your phone.”

  Lieutenant Leo Wheeling had to be the squarest man she’d ever met. His attitude, his blocky chest and short legs, his cropped blond hair and carefully trimmed mustache, everything about the man was right angles. And although she’d learned from experience not to rely on anyone but herself, the sheer regular nature of the guy made her want to trust he’d come through. “You think the kidnapper will call?”

  “We hope he will.”