Chapter 26

Hello!

I just wanted to say a big thank you to all the reviewers. You're a very welcoming community and your words of encouragement make me want to write. I'm glad you enjoy the stories and feel I've created an original storyline, minus the clichés or eye-rolling predictable plots. Please encourage your friends to read my story, pass it on if you think it's worth the read – and encourage them to review if they like/don't like it.

Maybe one day I'll be among the top red R&I stories. Who knows.

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The body has five senses. Sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing. When the body loses agility in one of those senses, others compensate.

Maura's head felt like it was going to explode. She tried opening her eyes but that made the throbbing in her head increase. Taking a breath, Maura listened. Slowly different sounds began to flood her eardrums. Some she could recognize. Dripping water. Creaking wood. Street traffic. She inhaled. Paint thinner. She moved her cheek and felt painted floorboards underneath her. Loft? Above ground. Maura slowly opened her eyes. Staring back at her was Stacie McMaan.

"Sit up, Doc."

Maura weighed her options and decided it best to comply given the circumstances and sat up. Her hands were bound so she did her best to lean up against the wall behind her. She looked around. The stacks of acrylic paints, rows of drying busts and half-dressed mannequins told her she was in a studio. Looking over Stacie's shoulder, Maura could see the top of a gothic arch on the building across the street. Maura recognized it. She was near Davis Square in Somerville.

"You and Dana shared a studio."

"Good guess, Doctor.

"I don't guess." Maura shifted to allow better blood circulation to her hands. Her head started throbbing and her vision blurred a little. Whatever Stacie had hit her with had a lasting effect. Maura licked her lips and tasted blood. Bitch. "Where's Amy?"

Stacie smiled. "Ethan's apartment."

So she has no idea his alibis checked out. Maura decided to play along and prayed Jane would make the connection between Stacie, the Green's and the adoption papers before... "Won't Amy's testimony incriminate you?"

Stacie walked up to Maura slowly and cocked her head. "A blindfold and digital voice scrambler go a long way." Stacie smiled. "Technology makes anything possible. It helps little people do big things. Ethan taught me that." Stacie picked her gun and held it.

Maura's heart ached for Amy and what she must have gone through during the past four days. Blindfolded, alone and her only human contact was a nightmarish voice. Maura could feel tears burning in her eyes and looked away. She felt something prick her forearm. Metal? Maura slowly started rubbing the tape binding her hands against the metal object. The best thing she could do to disguise the sound was talk.

"Did he teach you how to be a notary public too?"

Stacie hesitated, "That was before Ethan. Paid the bills so I could keep studying." Stacie got up and feathered one of the tailored jackets pinned to a mannequin. "Know much about the adoption process, do you Maura? It is Maura isn't it?" Stacie pointed at Maura with the gun each time she mentioned her name, then sat back down. "Doesn't prove anything except I was a witness to my best friend officially becoming a mom. Happiest day of her life."

"Was that before or after you heard Ethan was cut out of the will?" Maura felt the first row of tape snap apart between her wrists. "Did it upset you when Roger swapped Ethan's name for Amy's?"

"She was his kid, it made no difference to me. But Ethan. Ethan was fine with it. Ethan was always fine with everything Roger did. You know he worshipped Roger even after the business was sold? Ethan knew he'd lost out on millions and still loved that sonofabitch. Said he was happier fixing bikes. He didn't care about our life, what that money could have meant for us."

"So now you're framing him with a niece he's never met."

"Quiet."

"Do you know what you've done to Amy?"

"I said, quiet."

Maura felt the second and final piece of tape snap and separate her wrists. Everything in her mind was telling her to be quiet, to stay and wait for help but she couldn't stay still. She kept thinking of Amy, orphaned twice and likely emotionally scarred in the process. She thought about Jane and how this woman had nearly taken away the woman she loved – all because she wanted money. Maura's head throbbed and she felt sweat break out on her temple as she slowly rose to her feet.

"Keep still, doctor. Consider that your final warning."

No.

"Violence. Kidnapping. Isolation. Abuse. Neglect. It might be years before we know what your actions have done to Amy. My hypothesis would be you've eliminated any chance she had at a normal life."

Stacie rose and cocked the gun, then pointed it straight at Maura's chest.

"Detective Frost said you knew a lot about the adoption process and that you were looking at the certificate for clues. I knew you'd know. Staging Amy at Ethan's has bought me time. Time is up. You do know that I'm going to kill you, right?"

Not if Jane kills me first.