Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill
Title: Never Better
Author: ReadingRed
Chapter Ten: Kidnapper Caught
The weeks following Bailey's return were interesting to say the least. The Scott family readjusted to being a family again. Although it had only been a couple of months, life had changed since Bailey had been taken and getting back into their old routine was taking some time. Bailey herself was struggling to readjust. She would wake up at all hours of the night and cry inconsolably. Gone were the days of her sleeping all through the night.
Lucas and Brooke had talked to the best child psychologists in the field and all of them had similar suggestions. Hold her, love her, make sure that she knows that she will not be taken away again, that her parents would always be there for her. Honestly, neither one of them felt that it needed to be said. Their parental instincts told them to do those same things.
Still, it wasn't just becoming a family again that preoccupied the thoughts of the Scott parents. Whoever kidnapped Bailey was still out there.
The video of the ambulance bay showed nothing. The area of the bay that the kidnapper chose to leave Bailey was conveniently in the camera's blind spot. The fingerprints left on the note were smudged beyond recognition. The paper itself was a common brand available at many local stores.
It seemed like every time they caught a break in the case it turned out to only lead to a dead end.
Finally, it was Brooke that gave them the biggest break of all.
Lucas and Brooke were lying in bed, both curled around their young daughter. It had become their habit to keep her in bed with them, both to ease their own fears of her being taken again, and to give her the constant reminder that she was not alone. Brooke gently ran her fingertips over the raised scar on her baby's chest. Thanking God for the defect, as it was the reason the kidnapper brought her to the hospital in the first place. Suddenly it hit her.
"Lucas," Brooke whispered, something in her voice communicated to Luke that it was important.
"Pretty Girl?"
"How did he know about her HCM?" Brooke looked into her husband's eyes intently; both knowing that she was onto something important.
"Luke, we didn't even know that she had HCM. How in the world would he know? The only way I can think of is if he knew that you had it and that it was genetic."
"So you think it might be someone that I know? That would make sense. I can't imagine that any of my friends would have taken her though. Brooke, you know my friends, none of them would have done this." Luke laid his head back down on the pillow. The thought that it was someone that he knew that had done this to his family was crushing him. He didn't want to admit that it could be true, even when his heart told him it must be.
"I would never accuse any of your friend of this. I love Mouth and Skills. I know it wasn't them, but who else have you told? There have to be others who know" Brooke wouldn't give this idea up. She knew she was onto something important.
Lucas thought back to everyone he could remember having that conversation with. It wasn't as if he brought it up with random strangers.
"Well, after collapsing on the court during high school, lots of people who went to school with us know."
"Most of them have moved to different areas though. After college few of our classmates have returned. I just don't think it was anyone who we went to school with. People would have noticed if someone who had graduated with us came back and then left just as suddenly." Something told Brooke it wasn't anyone they went to school with. She couldn't put her finger on it exactly but it just didn't feel right to her.
"Well, I have a conversation with all of my players about taking care of themselves, playing clean and playing safe. I tell them the story about Nathan juicing up and I tell them about me playing even when I knew that it could hurt me. All of my players know that I have HCM." Luke stopped, his heart broke at the thought of any of the young men he had coached hurting his family in this way.
"Brooke, it could have been one of my boys."
"Luke, we need to call the police and let them know. They can question the boys who have played for the Ravens the past few years." Brooke reached over Bailey and took Luke's hand.
"Does anyone come to mind? Anyone who you a particularly difficult relationship with?" She knew the question would be hard for him to hear, but if it meant that they found the person who stole her baby, she was willing to ask even the most difficult of questions.
"Brooke, I think I may know who did it. I don't think it's someone who hates me. Call the police. I have the name."
In the end Brooke had been right. The note, and the kidnapper's knowledge of Luke's HCM, had been his undoing.
The kidnapper had been a player on the Ravens from years ago. Tommy Reilly had been on the team the year that Brooke and the kids had come to live with Lucas. Tommy had a rough home life. His father had walked out on him and his mother when he was young and his mother had died two years after he graduated. Tommy had continued to come to the Ravens games even after he graduated. He stuck out to Luke because he would, without fail, find Luke after each game and ask about the family. To Luke it had just seemed like the kid was trying to brownnose his way into a job. After hearing Brooke's suspicion, it all fell into place and Tommy's interest in his family began to look a bit different.
The police had followed the Scott's lead and decided to look into Tommy Reilly. It had been simple enough to go by his apartment. Once they were there they found plenty of evidence that a baby had been living in the man's small quarters.
After just a few minutes of questioning, Tommy had admitted to everything saying that he had only wanted to have a family.
Knowing that the kidnapper had been caught and that he would never be able to come after one of their children again was the spark that the Scott's needed to truly move on. Sure, they would have their ups and downs but ultimately, they were a family and nothing would be able to tear them apart.