Jesse stood in shocked silence and tried to take in what the man he considered his best friend had just said. Then he suddenly found his voice. "NO! No, no, Steve, you don't mean that. You … you're talking about my baby, my little girl, I just want her back, Steve, please, get her back for me… I don't think I will be able to forgive you if you don't."
Steve could have bitten his tongue; he couldn't believe that he had actually said what he had been thinking, but Jesse seemed intent to hurt him with every word he said. "Jess, I…"
"You're what, sorry? You think that she's dead already don't you? Maybe you think that they won't find her, that there's no point in still looking. You sure aren't looking right now, are you?"
Steve put his hand on his friend's shoulder but Jesse shrugged him off and moved away. "Jess, please. I don't know what made me say that. But it is gonna be hard to find her. We should have found her by now."
Ron decided that it was probably time for him to intervene. "Ok, guys. Both of you sit! Jesse you know that Steve is doing everything he can… You do don't you?"
Jesse was feeling so much strain that he spoke without thinking. "No. He hasn't said anything to me except that he is doing everything he can think of. All I know is that she has been gone for twenty four hours and he thinks we may never get her back."
Ron tried to forget the statistics going through his mind, that not only could a kidnapped child disappear at the rate of a mile a minute but that almost 75% of those children who are going to be killed will be dead within three hours of being taken. He thought back to Mark's party and he could see Steve sitting with the little girl on his lap. He pulled himself together. "Steve, maybe you should tell Jesse what you have been doing to find his daughter."
Steve nodded. "I took the jacket that Sally had taken off Eliana when she was in the hospital, and the K-9 guys scoured this place, inside and out, but the trail went cold in the parking lot, which fitted in with what Sally said. We didn't have the registration number of Willis's car, but we do now, and it has been sent to every station from here to the border, both ways. If you had left the hospital you would have seen flyers of Eliana in local stores, and on bus shelters, in the nearby malls, and at LAX. In fact I lost count of the number I saw when I went to pick up Ron. Jesse, I don't know what else to say."
"The FBI was contacted as soon as Steve reported Eliana missing. By the time Amanda called me yesterday evening I had just been informed. Her details will have gone to all the other agencies, all the main cities, we have agents everywhere, she will be known to them." Ron paused for a moment and then began to talk again. "Jesse, I need your permission so that we can put her picture on the Internet. There are lots of sites, which have photos of missing people, children and adults on them. I think it would be a good idea to have her on there too."
Jesse put his head in his hands. He couldn't take any more information in right now. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, you have my permission, I need to get back to Rae. I'm sorry, I can't cope with all this." Jesse got shakily to his feet, but Ron put a hand on his shoulder.
"Let Steve sit with her a while, I need to talk to you some more."
"Ok." Jesse slumped back down onto the seat; he didn't feel that he had any control over his own life right now.
Steve walked back across the hallway and into the room where Rae was. As he moved nearer to his partner Steve was surprised to see that she was conscious and he wanted to turn and run back out as he realised that she must have heard every word they had been saying, the tears were running unhindered down her face, and as he looked, Steve's heart broke for her.
"Rae, Honey, I am so sorry." Steve felt the tears threaten his own eyes, but he knew that right now he had to be strong. He could let his own feelings out when he was back at home with Jo.
Rae had lain in her room listening to first Jesse and then Steve yell. She was desperate to be able speak so that she could find out what had happened to her little girl. Rae knew that she wasn't here any more, but she didn't know where she had gone, and now it appeared that neither Steve nor Jesse knew either. She had tried to stop the tears because they made her throat feel even worse that it did already. The loud words had finally ceased and for a moment or two Rae had been scared that she had been left alone, but then she saw Steve come into the room and move over towards her.
"Honey, I'll be right back." Steve felt a sudden burst of fury, and he walked back towards where Jesse and Ron where talking quietly. "Jess, you accused me of those things, knowing full well that Rae could hear every word. Have you lost your mind?" Steve made sure that this time his words were low.
"Yeah, well, it had to be said, and she needed to know just what her partner was doing. Did you tell her yet that you thought she was …
"Jesse that is enough!" Steve stood in front of his friend. "Does Rae know about Eliana?"
"No, I just talked about inconsequential things, nothing important … I, I couldn't …"
"Want me to do it?" This time Jesse just nodded and Steve turned to walk back into his partner's room.
"Steve." Jesse called to him and Steve turned hoping that things would be better between them, but was disappointed when all he said was, "Rae will blink once for yes, and twice if she really means yes. If the answer is no she does nothing."
"Ok, thanks." Steve took a deep breath as he entered Rae's room once again, and then as he approached the bed began to speak. "Rae, do you want me to talk to you about Eliana?"
Rae blinked twice and looked intently at Steve. She couldn't turn her head so that she was looking straight at him, but she knew that he would be able to see her blink.
"You know what happened to her?" Steve waited for Rae to blink, but after a minute he realised that she wasn't going to, and with a heavy heart he knew that would have to give her all the details. "You know that she isn't here, right?" Steve saw Rae blink, just the once. Each time she shut her eyes the tears escaped, and Steve knew that he was just going to make things worse and worse.
Remembering that Rae hadn't even known she had a daughter the previous day, he tried to imagine how she must be feeling, and realised that it was beyond his comprehension. "Ok, I need to just tell you. If you want me to stop or say something again, blink."
Rae shut her eyes just the once and then with her undivided attention on him Steve began to talk.
Louise had left her car at the motel and taken the Greyhound to Fresno. She had changed buses just the once, but was pretty sure that she hadn't been recognised. More of her hard earned money had gone when she had bought a carry seat for 'Phil', because she didn't want anything to make her noticeable in a crowd. She didn't think that she would be picked out, but she was still a little jumpy for the first part of the journey. She had placed 'Phil' in her seat by the window so that she could see the world go by, and this seemed to work for most of the first hour. Now that she was back in the warmth the baby was a little happier, although she was still racked with coughing regularly. As another fit of coughing stopped, 'Phil' decided that she needed breakfast.
The greyhound bus station in Ventura didn't open until eight in the morning, and their bus had left twenty minutes before that. So once they had been travelling for that hour Louise was ready for the sandwiches she had bought for herself the day before, and she handed over the bottle of formula which the little girl took from her and sucked happily away at it until it was all gone. As she sat there munching on her sandwiches Louise thought about how her plans had changed in an instant the night before. Now there was no chance of the car being followed, and she knew that once she arrived at her destination she would have effectively disappeared off the face of the earth.
Louise sighed as she remembered Father Miles. He had been a far better father than her brutal drunken oaf of a dad. When she had been beaten once too often she would make her way quietly and carefully to his church and he would get one of the sisters, or if she was really lucky, his housekeeper Tilda, to bathe her wounds and mend her spirit. She knew that they would ask no questions about how she happened to have a young baby, and that cop and her husband would never see the child again.
'Phil' had finished her bottle and as was her usual practice she had just let go of it. The empty container lay in her lap, and she sat contentedly gazing at the fast moving scenery once again. Occasionally she coughed, but when she was sat up it didn't seem as bad as when she was lying in a crib, or next to her in bed. Both of them had had a disturbed night thanks to the coughing, and in the end 'Phil' had been sick, but she couldn't shut her own eyes, somebody might notice something, and she needed to be on her guard all the time. 'Phil' began to cough again, and this time to Louise's surprise she moved her hand and ran her finger down the child's cheek. Then she rummaged around in her bag and handed her a pacifier.
Steve had spoken quietly to Rae for over an hour, and by the time he had finished she had as much information as he had. As he had related the part where Sally had seen Eliana in the parking lot she had blinked rapidly, and he had tried to convince her that although she had been crying, Eliana hadn't appeared hurt to her sitter. Just as he was coming to the end of what he had planned to say Steve felt his phone begin to vibrate in his pocket.
"Rae, I have to go answer this, but I'll be back." Steve moved over and started towards the door, but then he stopped and turned. "Where? And this was found when? Ok, I'm on my way." Steve put his head round the door. "Ron."
Rae knew that something had happened, and she laid there, eyes wide open waiting for somebody to tell her what was going on. Finally after Ron and Jesse had come into the room Steve began to talk.
"She has been seen again at a motel in Ventura. The owner just went into one of the rooms and found the clothes that Eliana was wearing when she was taken."
"Then we need to go, now, Steve, I'll come with you." Jesse was halfway across the room before he had finished speaking, but he found his way blocked by the immovable force that was Ron Wagner.
"No, Jesse, I told you what I want you to do, Cheryl and Martin are going to help you arrange it. It has to be done, you know that."
"Jess, Eliana isn't there. Just her clothes." There was more, but he didn't want to tell his friend, not yet.
Ron looked at the young doctor. He had managed to persuade him to meet with the media himself as soon as possible. The press conference that Captain Newman had held in his office, although small, and very short, had resulted in some media awareness, but unless Jesse spoke to them as well, they were going to lose interest very quickly.
"I guess I don't have a lot of choice. I just want her back, but what am I gonna say? I will get upset and cry, and … and that won't help will it?"
"You'll be surprised, a bit of pathos might work wonders." Ron knew he sounded cold and uncaring, but he had worked kidnap cases before, and a picture of a grieving parent sold papers, and if a paper was sold somebody would read it, and then put it down, or leave it on the train, and maybe someone else would pick it up and read it too. Also, radio coverage was vital, you couldn't watch the TV in your car, but you could listen to the news report. The sounds of a grieving parent also made people remember.
"Jesse, I'll keep in touch, I hope you know that." Steve moved over to Rae and took her left hand in his. He saw the pain as it filled her eyes with tears, but he didn't let go. He needed her touch as much as he hoped she needed hers. "Rae, I won't stop looking until I find her, you know that don't you?" He was rewarded by two blinks and then Rae shut her eyes.
It was a two and a half hour drive to Ventura, and Steve didn't want to take that amount of time out of his day, so he had arranged to use a police helicopter to get himself and Ron there in a fraction of that. The weather was rough, and windy, but as they sat in their seats, the city buildings beneath them seemed small and calm. Steve turned to his friend and current partner, "they found some other things in the room, but I didn't want to upset Jesse, or Rae."
Ron tried to listen to what his friend was saying, but the helicopter seemed extremely loud, and the wind seemed very strong and he hated travelling in them so he shook his head, touched his ears and then looked down at his feet.
A black and white was waiting for them as they disembarked, and ducking down to avoid the rotor arms they raced over to where it was standing, its engine already running. The two men sat in silence until the sign for the Freedom Inn came up in front of them, and then as the car slowed to a stop they got out and moved into the office.
"Good morning, Ma'am, I'm Lieutenant Sloan, LAPD, this is Agent Wagner, FBI. You reported seeing the missing child, Eliana Travis?"
"Yes, Sir, that's right. I didn't even know there was a child in the room until my husband was preparing ready for new guests. But there were diapers in the trash, and some baby clothes and there was milky vomit all over the bed covers."
"I understand that nothing was touched, we need to get a K-9 team into the room so that they can sniff out any clues that may be there."
"Of course. Anything we can do to help that little mite get back to her mom. I only wish we had known she was there earlier. We could have got Ralphy to come and pick her up."
"Ralphy?" Steve was delighted that they were getting some help, but he was just itching to get to the motel room and see for himself what was going on.
"He's my brother-in-law, and a local sheriff. Still the time's past now. You'll meet him in a minute I expect you will be wanting to get to see the room and that's where he is, you will won't you?"
"Yes, Ma'am. Thank you. Oh, did the lady leave her key at the desk?" Ron looked at all the room numbers behind the lady whose badge said 'Madge Parker' Manager.
"She did, but I didn't know then what I know now, and I just picked it up and put it back on its hook. Room number twenty."
"Thank you. Please don't touch it again; we will take some prints just in case. Did she pay by cash or card?"
"Cash. I guess you fellah's can't get a break right now, can ya?"
Steve shook his head and they moved out and down towards where they could see frantic police activity. There was a sheriff on the door with the name 'Parker' on his badge. They showed Ralphy their ID and went into the small tidy room.
"Guess Madge's husband still felt he needed to clear up in here." Steve looked at the surfaces. Everything except for the bed was just as it should be for a new set of guests to occupy the room.
"They should have gotten you to do it. There would have been clues left all over!" Ron moved towards a young lady taking pictures. "Ma'am, what have you got?"
"Well, there were three diapers in the trash, baby food jars, and wipes. But the most worrying things are the vomit on the bed, which was very milky, but had some blood in it, and this." Ron looked down to where she was aiming her camera, and there in the metal basket was a pile of light brown wavy baby hair.
Jesse had called Jo after Steve had left and asked her to come see him. She had arrived just over half an hour later, and made her way up to the ICU. She saw Shannon still sitting with Alex, and before she went to see Jesse she moved into the room and placed her hand on the nurse's shoulder.
"Shannon, Honey, has he shown any signs of comin' round yet?"
"No, but Doctor Collins said that even though he had thought it might have happened by now, that he wouldn't start worrying until the morning, so I have decided that is what I am gonna do too."
Jo could see that Shannon was trying to be very strong, and she admired her for it. "I have to go an' see Jesse, but if you want anythin' from a break upwards you just holler, y'hear?"
"Yes, Ma'am, and thank you."
"Ma'am, now don't you dare!" Jo smiled. "My name is Jo, an' if you are gonna be stickin' with this dashin' young doctor, we will be seein' a lot of each other, an' I just don't think I can cope with bein' called ma'am!"
"Jo, thank you. I think that Alex is very lucky to have friends who care for him so much."
"He sure is, an' if you care for him, then we will care for you, that's how it goes with us, ok?"
Shannon just nodded her head. She was touched by what she was hearing, but she couldn't be sure that her voice would last long enough for her to get that across. She felt Jo squeeze her shoulder, and then watched as she left the room. As she did so Alex began to move his fingers under her waiting hand and she called out. "Jo, Jo, he's coming round, he just moved his hand."
"Then he probably would thank you not to yell too loudly. I'll just press this, an' I'll wait with you until Wil gets here." Jo moved back over and she could see the muscles working in Alex's arm as he flexed his fingers. She leant over, pressed the call button, brushed his blond hair back from his face and realised that she was mighty relieved that by the end of the day both her friends would be back in the land of the living.
Mark was sitting in his chair on the patio, wrapped up so that the chill in the air wouldn't affect him, trying to think of any way that he could help his friends. As he sat there he heard a noise behind him and turned to see Tony come walking out, two cups of steaming coffee in his hands.
"Doctor Sloan, I thought you might like some company, I hope I was right."
"Yes, you were, and it's Mark, so how was your trip to Seattle?" Mark looked up at Rae's ex-husband and smiled. He took his drink from him. "Thank you. How did you persuade Michael to let you bring these out?"
"The phone rang, and I just walked away with them. It was Miss Walters brother." Tony didn't usually eavesdrop on calls, but he knew that Doctor Sloan would wonder whether there was any news or not and so he had just waited to see who was calling.
"Oh, right, so how was Seattle?"
"Interesting. It's a lovely city, and I felt right at home, it rained the whole time I was there! I was having a very successful time until I heard the news yesterday, and then I knew that I just had to get back here." Tony had arranged with this company in London that he would remain in Los Angeles until Rae had been either freed or jailed. The only way that his firm had said they would agree to this was if he visited his contacts around the area while he was there, and so he had spent the last few days in Seattle. John had been old enough to care for Mara, and Patrick was also old enough to be left for a few days too.
"You know what happened to Rae don't you?" Mark looked concerned.
"Yes, Jesse was kind enough to call me, and I told him I would get back as soon as I could, I hoped she would be safe until after her trial, I'm sorry I was wrong. But when I heard about Eliana as well, I just couldn't stay away any longer."
"She will be glad you're back. Are you planning to go see her today?"
"Yes, once I have drunk this. At least when I am only travelling LA to Seattle and back there is no jet lag."
"Ah, excuse me, Mr. Yeager, Sir, did I hear you say you were going in to see Mrs Travis?"
"Yes, that's right."
"That was Madam's brother on the phone, I wonder if you could just check with her when you get there to see if I have been in contact. If I haven't been able to reach her, could you ask her to call me?
"Of course, Michael, unless you want to go yourself." Tony smiled as he spoke, he had an idea that asking favours didn't come easily to the English butler.
"No, Sir, thank you all the same, but I need to be here with the Doctor."
Mark just smiled. He knew that nothing he could say would convince Michael that he was happy to be left, so he didn't say a word.
"If you will excuse us then, Mark." Tony saw him nod, and so he followed the butler into the house. Ten minutes later he was in a cab and on his way to Community General.
Rae had heard Shannon call out to Jo and so had Jesse. He had turned to his wife, and placing his hand over her left one, smiled and began to speak. "Honey, I am just going to go in to Alex, is that all right?"
Rae had blinked, just the once and then even though it caused her pain she had moved her right hand over and squeezed his hand.
Jesse felt as if his heart would break. All he wanted to do was take her in his arms, and try to take all the pain away, but he couldn't, even a simple hug was out of the question. He leant over and kissed her gently on the cheek. "I won't be long, ok?"
Once again Rae blinked and then Jesse left the room, and Rae was left to herself. She began to explore the memories that had been coming back, she still had no idea why she was in the hospital, but she knew that most of the things that she had forgotten were now back with her. Rae felt the tears well up again as she thought about how she had tried to shut Jesse out of her life. She had been so scared for him, that he would get hurt, or worse, that it had clouded everything else. She could hear her harsh words to him in her head right now, and wished that she could take every one of them back. But she could also hear Jesse's words to Steve earlier and she knew that once her daughter was back with them, there would be some very big fences to mend.
Alex could feel a hand holding his, and a crushing pain in his chest. Slowly he opened his eyes, and as he did so he became aware of his breathing, and the fact that he felt like gagging. The feelings of panic came up instantly, and he grasped hold of the hand next to his and looked wildly around to see who it belonged to.
Shannon had been talking slowly and softly to Alex as he began to come around, but as his eyelids flickered and began to open she found that the words would no longer come. She sat quietly, checking the monitors and making sure that everything that she thought should be happening was. Just as Shannon was beginning to relax, safe in the knowledge that Alex was coming round gently she saw the fear rush into his eyes.
"Shhh, Alex, it's Shannon, it's all right, just relax. Doctor Collins is on his way up…" Shannon looked round as she heard a noise and saw Doctor Travis standing in the doorway. "Alex, Doctor Travis is here, Honey, it's all right." She could feel the tight grip that Alex had on her hand, and so she didn't move away as she had planned. She felt nothing but relief as the other doctor came closer, and she saw him begin to check the monitors, just as she had.
"Alex? It's Jesse, you need to relax and let the machine breath for you, just for a little while longer. Just relax, that's better, easy does it." Jesse purposely let his voice take on an almost hypnotic tone, and he could see that Alex was doing as he instructed. Because of his position it was easy to see Alex relax back into the bed, he was almost sitting up, and so wasn't at the disadvantage that Rae had been of seeing only the ceiling. His eyes locked onto Shannon, and as he realised that she was there for him, his relaxation became complete.
Jesse looked round the room and saw Jo standing over out of the way by the window. He moved over and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Jo?"
"Jess, I'm real sorry, I have been here for a little while, but I came in to see how he was doing, an' just as I was leavin' he started to come round. I didn't want to leave Shannon alone so I just sorta stayed."
"That's ok, I am going to go back to Rae, when Wil gets here, could you come in?"
"Of course, we have things to talk about don't we?" She saw Jesse nod as he left the room, and then Jo moved back closer to Alex so that she could make sure for herself that he was all right.
Wil had just been finishing in surgery when he had received the message that Alex was coming out of his sedation. It took him another half an hour before he could get away and head up to the young doctor's room. By the time he arrived Alex had drifted off into an uneasy sleep, and Wil could see that Shannon was trying to sooth him by gently talking to him and stroking his hand.
"Nurse?"
"Oh, Doctor Collins, he… he came around about an hour ago, maybe less, he was scared, and seemed to be in a lot of pain. He's drifting in and out now, I'm not sure if it is sleep or whether he is unconscious."
"Thank you, Shannon. Every patient should have a nurse for a girlfriend, makes my job much easier." Wil smiled at her, and was relieved to see her relax a little. He knew that she was under no misapprehension as to how difficult the road Alex had to travel would be, but she didn't seem to be planning on leaving him any time soon.
Wil noticed that there was another person in the room as she moved over closer to them.
"Wil. Shannon, I'm gonna go an' see Jesse an' Rae now. If you need me you just call an' I will come right back, ok?"
Shannon let go of Alex's hand for a moment and stood up. "Thank you, Jo. I'm glad you were here with me." The two new friends hugged for a moment, and then Jo left the room.
As Louise drew up at the end of the street where the house everyone knew as The Manse was she suddenly wondered whether the good Father was still alive. He had been old when she had left, at least sixty, and, just for a moment, her confidence wavered, then she got out of the taxi, took the child from next to her and smiled. Things would be all right.
"Hey, lady, that will be thirty bucks."
Louise was bought back from her wanderings by the voice of the cab driver. "Oh, sorry, there you go." She only had two twenties left, but it would have taken her all day to walk here. She took the ten-dollar bill she was offered and then turned away, having no intention of providing the man with a tip.
"Yeah, have a nice day!" The man's voice was just dripping with sarcasm as he started up his engine again and drove away. Louise sighed and began the walk up towards the end of the road. She hadn't wanted to be dropped to close to her destination, and so she now had about a five to ten minute walk ahead of her. By the time she arrived at the Manse her arms were aching, and so placing 'Phil' on the ground she rested for a few moments before she opened one of the gates, picked the seat up again and began the long walk up the driveway. Louise had always been grateful for the distance between the road and the house. Most of her visits here in the past had been when she was fleeing her dad, and she would try to compose herself as she walked through the overhanging trees and shrubs. Today though she just wanted to get her visit over with, so that she could disappear into the life she thought she had left behind.
When she'd finally found the courage to leave her father's house and start out on her own she had been sixteen. The day she shut the door for the last time, she left her real identity, past and future in the dirty, flea infested hell hole that he had, most of the time, been to drunk to even notice. Janine Reeves, Louise shuddered, she hadn't been called that name for almost ten years, but when she got to the front door of The Manse and introduced herself that was the name she would have to use.
These days it wouldn't have been so easy to just cast off one name and start to use another, but the 'usage' way of changing your name had still been the most popular way to do it in California ten years ago, and if you disregarded the fact that she had still been a minor and could have been in trouble it had all been ridiculously easy.
She had a drivers licence in the name of Louise Willis, all her nursing certificates where in that name too, so she would have to start again from scratch, but she still had her original birth certificate so she would just re-register, take a crash course, and who knows maybe end up nursing some rich old biddy into her grave. With a laugh Louise realised that she had reached the main garden of The Manse, and so with a deep breath she moved up to the door and pulled the bell.
The atmosphere in Rae's room had gotten a little chilly for a while, and in the end Rae had done the only thing she could do when she was fed up, she had shut her eyes. Jo and Jesse had looked at each other, and they'd had to laugh.
"You know, it's a pretty effective way of ending a conversation isn't it?"
"It sure is. I hope she quits rememberin' to do it when she's talkin' again… Jesse, you know why I am doing what you don't want me to do…Sorry that sounds a bit garbled, but you know what I mean, an' I'm not changin' my mind, so please let me do this, let me feel I am helpin', really helpin'… She's my goddaughter Jesse, an' I just want to get her back." Jo turned away as she felt the tears flood her eyes, she hadn't wanted to cry because she knew it would only make Rae and Jesse feel even worse than they already did.
"Ok, I won't argue any more, and Jo, thank you. I know a reward will make a big difference, I guess it just affects my pride that I can't do it myself." Jesse moved over and kissed Jo on the cheek, and when they both turned back towards the bed they were relieved to see that Rae had her eyes open once again. "Honey, I have to go over to the station, and Jo is coming with me, there isn't anybody to sit with you right now, but the policewoman is still on your door, and we will be back as soon as we can." Jesse looked up, as there was a knock on the glass.
"Well, would I do?" Tony stood, slightly bent over so that he could get in the door.
Jesse looked over at Rae and saw her blink, twice.
"Madam says yes, so I guess you're hired… Tony, thank you. We have to get over to the station, and we're late already, so I'll explain everything when I get back."
"Have they found her?" Tony leapt at the fact that Jesse was going to the precinct.
"No, no, nothing like that, although Steve and Ron are following up a lead out in Ventura right now."
"Jo, did Michael get in touch with you?" Tony remembered just in time to relay his message.
"Yes he did, an' I told him I had already thought of the reward, but thank you, Tony."
Jesse moved over to where Rae was lying and kissed her gently on the cheek. He could see the tears leaving her eyes and so he gently brushed them away with a finger, remembering Steve doing the same thing for him as he did so. "I love you, Rae, and I will be back as soon as I can, ok?"
Rae blinked, just the once, and another tear escaped. Jesse brushed at that one too, and then with a deep breath he turned and taking Jo by the hand left the room.
Louise heard the footsteps as they echoed back down the hallway, and then the door opened. She had always expected it to creak, but it never did. The face in front of her was as familiar as her own, and she couldn't stop herself from letting a huge grin spread across her face. "Tilda."
"Yes, that's me, do I know … wait a minute I do know you, it's Janine, oh my goodness it must be what five, no ten years since I've seen you, you look wonderful."
Louise couldn't believe how much she had missed the woman standing in front of her, and she flung her arms around the lady in front of her and hugged her tightly. Eliana, however, was not impressed to still be out in the cold. She was wet, hungry, and grumpy and she kept coughing, she let out a loud wail and both women stopped hugging and looked down, although with two completely different reactions.
"Janine, you have a baby?"
The woman's immediate acceptance of the child in front of her made Louise's task ridiculously easy. She just nodded, and picking up the seat looked back at her old friend. "I do, can I bring her in?"
"Of course, of course, the poor little mite must be freezing cold, now you come down to the parlour, there is a lovely fire going in there, and I will go and get the Father, he will be so pleased to see you again."
Louise followed the woman down the long hallway, which was just as she remembered it. The house had always been a cold place, and there had never been much money for decorating or doing up the place, but as long as the roof didn't leak, then Father Miles was happy with his home just as it was. As she sat down in one of the chairs next to the fire Louise looked down at the child in the seat. Just for a moment her resolve wavered, and she felt for her. She was leaving her to a life without her parents, just as she'd had to face the last ten years. Louise sighed and wondered, not for the first time, whether her mother was still alive, she had felt guilty leaving her to put up with her father's drunken rages by herself, but she could have done as her daughter did and just walked away, and Louise had never understood why she couldn't do it.
Eliana gave another cry, and Louise was shaken from her memories. Stupid creature, well, if she were lucky someone would love and care for her, but it wouldn't be her real parents, not now, not ever. She had no idea where Phil's grave was so that she could visit it, and that cop and her husband would be even worse off than that. They wouldn't know whether their daughter was alive or dead, and every time a child was taken, or an unidentified body was discovered they would wonder, and wait, and their agony would be there for them to suffer, over and over again, and they would deserve every painful moment.