Called to Account

Alex had fallen asleep while Jo had been in the room with Shannon, and so she had offered to sit with him for a little while to give the younger woman a chance to go and get something to eat and have a wash and freshen up. Her offer had been gratefully received and after assuring her that she would be back in about two hours Shannon had left Alex in Jo's capable hands.  For the next hour Jo had sat quietly watching him sleep peacefully in front of her.

She had heard Rae arrive back in her room, and had decided that once Shannon was back she would go and sit with her friend for a while. Rae couldn't talk to her, but she had missed her company. Even in silence Rae was the best friend she had ever had, and just being with her made her feel better.

After about another half hour there had been a tap on the doorframe and Jo had looked up to see Gilbert Sholte smiling in at her.

"Miss Walters, how are you?"

"Gilbert, considerin' all that is happenin' not too bad, an' yourself?"

"I am very well, my dear, very well. I wanted to speak to you about the reward you have offered for the return of the Travis's baby. We will need to draw up some legal documents so that you aren't paying every Tom, Dick and Harry from here to kingdom come. Maybe if I get that sorted out and over to Michael you would be kind enough to look it over and returned to me as soon as you can?"

"Of course, I guess I just hoped people would be honest, but if they were then we wouldn't need a reward in the first place would we?"

"No, I suppose not. Well, Miss Walters I will be getting back to the office. I trust that you will keep in touch."

"Of course, an' Gilbert, remember, all the bills for Rae's case come to me."

"Very good." Mr. Sholte smiled a friendly smile towards his client and then turned in the doorway and moved away. As he did so Alex stirred slightly in the bed, and a shadow of pain crossed his features. Jo placed her hand over his and he relaxed back into his pillow.

Louise had sat quietly in front of the parlour fire for about ten minutes before she had nodded off, safe in the knowledge that, for the moment at least, she had disappeared from sight. It was after five before she awoke, and she took a while to realise where she was. Looking down she saw that the baby seat had gone, and she got up and hurried out into the hallway. As she did so she heard 'Phil' crying and so followed the noise.

"Now, now my precious, you just take a little of this and it will help your poor cough."

Louise could see that Tilda had the child in her arms and was trying to get some sort of liquid down her throat. She moved into the room and the woman looked up. "Oh, Janine, she has such a cough, you really ought to see a doctor with her."

"I have, Tilda, she… finished her antibiotics this morning, I will go with her again tomorrow. I think she will probably need another course. What are you giving her?"

"Well, we don't have any children's cough syrup, so this is the one that Father Miles takes for his bronchitis. It says that it makes you drowsy, but I guess it will help her sleep."

The nurse in Louise shuddered. It was a good thing this woman had never had children, but at least it would mean she would get a good night's sleep before she left in the morning. Of course, there was no knowing how long the child would survive in Tilda's loving care, but it wouldn't be her problem.

Jesse, with far more fear and trepidation than he was showing, got ready to take Rae off the ventilator. She had only been on there for twenty-four hours, but he knew that it would be traumatic for her to have it removed.

"Ok, Honey, I'm gonna sedate you in a minute and then I can get rid of this machine. I have a non-invasive ventilator here just in case, but I'm sure there will be no problems. So are you ready?" Jesse had held up the mask from the second ventilator machine as he spoke.

Rae had looked at Jesse, but she hadn't blinked. She could see him waiting, and as her eyes got dry she shut them completely.

"Rae? Honey, do you understand what I just explained to you?"

This time Rae did blink, just the once.

"Ok, and do you have a problem with what I am saying?"

Rae blinked again.

"Don't you want to come off the ventilator? It will be all right, you don't need it to breathe."

Rae couldn't answer that so she just waited.

Jesse thought for a moment, and then inspiration struck. "You don't want to be sedated."

Rae blinked twice.

"Sweetheart, it will be really unpleasant if you aren't. Your neck still has the wound in it, and it took a lot of stitches to close it up. Once I start to take the tube out, there is no going back, but you will tense up, everybody does, and that won't help your other injury." Jesse stopped talking for a moment, and moved closer to his wife. "If I sedate you, you will be completely relaxed. I can just take the tube out, and you won't know anything about it. Please, Rae… I don't think I can do it the other way." Jesse went to move away, not wanting her to see the pain in his eyes, but he felt her hand over his, and as he looked at her she blinked just once and then looked at him with all the love he needed to enable him to start the procedure.

Jo wasn't at all surprised that two hours later, almost to the minute Shannon was back in the room. She did look a little brighter and fresher than she had, and she had obviously brushed her hair and applied a little fresh make-up.

"Honey, you look more relaxed. You know I am sure that he will be all right if you want to go home an' come back in the mornin'."

"No, not tonight. If he is still all right tomorrow evening I will go home, but I need to be here tonight. Do you understand?"

"I do. I haven't been in quite this position before, but I have sat with Steve after he has been injured, an' he has sat with me, so I do understand."

Shannon had smiled at her and they had hugged before Jo had got up and moved to the room next door where her best friend was. She stopped just outside the doorway as she heard Jesse trying to convince Rae to take a sedative for something. Once she was sure that he had finished talking she had been about to tap on the glass when she realised that he was giving Rae an injection. She watched him finish what he was doing, then she did knock on the window and then she waited.

"Jesse, is it all right if I come in?" Jo had seen him turn to her, but he seemed unwilling to speak.

"What, oh yeah, sorry, Jo, come on in. I was just … yeah come in."

"Do you want me to go, I can come back later?"

"No, no, it's fine. Jo, have you heard from Steve?"

"No, not a word, look I tell you what, I don't know what you are doin' but it looks medical, I will go down to the doctor's lounge for a few minutes an' give him a call, then I will come back an' let you know what is goin' on."

Jesse looked at Rae, he could see that the sedative was already taking effect and she was gradually closing her eyes. He knew that she would want to know what was going on as desperately as he did, but if there was no good news he would rather take his own time to tell her.

Jo had left Jesse, and planned to go straight down to the lounge to make her call, but as she drew level with the door to Alex's room she had heard the sound of crying, and looking in had seen Shannon, standing a little way away from the bed, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Shannon, is there somethin' wrong?"

"What? Oh, Jo, no, no, I'm sorry, I'm just being silly." Shannon had blushed as she realised that she wasn't alone in the room.

"You have been under incredible strain, no one is gonna say that a few tears are silly, now, do you want to tell me what caused them?"

Shannon had nodded, and then smiled as she felt Jo take her hand. "Alex… well, I know we haven't been together long, but, but I really like him you know, and… and I thought he felt the same way."

"Oh, I think he does. I saw his face as he was introducin' you to us all the other night, an' the way he looked at you, as you were leavin'. Yes, I would say he does. Why?"

"It's just that he stirred in his sleep, and was a little restless and then he began to talk, and he called out, he called out another girl's name."

Jo looked at her, astonished. As far as she knew it had been a while since Alex had had a steady girlfriend. He wasn't short of admirers she knew that, but Shannon had been the first girl that she thought had really gotten to him. "What did he say?" Jo wasn't sure that she wanted to know, but felt she really ought to ask.

"He didn't say much just a name a couple of times, he said, Kira… What, Jo, don't, why are you smiling?"

"Honey, have you been to Alex's apartment yet?"

"No, no I haven't. Maybe now I won't." Shannon brushed at her tears. She thought that Jo was her friend, or could be, but now she wasn't so sure.

"When you do, you will meet Kira, Shannon, she's his cat."

"Oh, my, thank you, oh, Jo, thank you."

"No, thank you, I had better get Michael to go over an' feed the poor thing, an' just to make his day I'll have him clean the litter tray too. I know that Mark still has a key. He hasn't been home for what, two days, the little creature will be starvin'."

Shannon wiped her tears away and smiled sheepishly at the lady who was, she realised, already her friend. "I think we will keep this little conversation to ourselves, what do you say?"

"Conversation, now what conversation would that be?" Jo winked at her, and then remembering her errand, placed her hand gently on her arm, and was gone.

Steve sat fuming in his car. The helicopter that they had used to get to Ventura had been returned to base because there had been a jail break and it was needed to transport men and heat seeking equipment nearer to the scene. They had tried to hire a civilian helicopter but the wind was still strong and they hadn't found a pilot willing to take them up. The pilot they had used to get to Ventura had gone back with his chopper and that meant that he and Ron were now faced with about a six-hour drive, add in the rush hour traffic and they would be lucky to get there before midnight. As he and Ron watched the stationary cars all around him his cell began to ring. "Sloan here, oh, hi…. No, nothing, I have to go to Fresno, and the helicopter is now tied up, so I am sitting in traffic hoping that everybody else will miraculously decide to turn off at the next exit ramp… I don't know, she took the bus to Fresno. She could have gotten off earlier, but that is the main stop. We are going to start there, if we don't get the answers we want, we'll work backwards…. No, the bus terminated there. If she went on she will be on the video film… Yeah, I love you too."

Ron looked at him. "Jo?"

"Yeah. Dammit, every minute that passes is a minute wasted."

"Steve, there is nothing we can do. We have contacted the Fresno division, they have the photo we have, plus the pictures of Eliana, and they are making their own enquiries. It's not as if we are just sitting on our hands."

"No? Well it sure as hell feels that way to me. She's eight months old, Ron, she isn't very well, and we have no idea where she is."

Ron looked away; he couldn't face his friend, because he knew just how desperate the situation was getting. If anyone asked him if he thought they would find the little girl alive he would have to say no, but it was more than that, he didn't think they would find her at all.

Louise put her knife and fork down neatly on her plate; the meal had been just as she remembered them. Watery vegetables, tough meat and potatoes that turned to mush as soon as you touched them, and she hadn't had a meal she had enjoyed so much in ages. For a short while she wished that she could confess all to the kindly man across the table from her, and live out the rest of her life in this sanctuary, but she knew that was impossible. 'Phil' was fast asleep in her child seat, as she had been since about ten minutes after she had been given her medicine.

"Tilda, can I help you with the washing up?"

"Janine, that is mighty kind of you, but we have a dishwasher now. About eight years ago, one of our parishioners was getting a new machine, and offered us the old one. Well it might have been old to them, but it has done us proud ever since. But you can come help me load it. Father, you'll be all right with Janine's baby while we do the dishes won't you?"

"Yes, yes, I have a sermon to write, I can practice on the little mite, seems to me she is one step ahead of most of my congregation in that she is asleep already."

The two women had smiled and headed towards the kitchen, carrying plates and serving dishes. It didn't take them long to put everything in the machine, and Louise could see that it was only switched on every other day or so. There was already a set of dinner plates and dishes in there, along with two sets of breakfast and lunch things. By the time they got back to the dining room there were two sleeping people, and the women retired to the parlour and the warmth of the fire.

Jo had called through to Mark and told him what Steve had said, then she had spoken to Michael and asked him to get the key to Alex's place and go feed the cat. Once that was done, and she had made sure that Tony had gotten home safely, she left the doctor's lounge and went back up to tell Jesse that she had nothing new to report.

Jesse had been sitting for a while when he heard Jo tap on the glass. Rae was now breathing normally, although he'd had to use the mask for a few minutes when he had first removed the tube. But gradually her body had realised that it had to breathe on its own, and now he could see the rise and fall of her chest as she lay in her medication induced sleep.

"Honey, did you finish what you were doin' yet?"

"Yeah, I am so glad she gave in and let me sedate her. I don't think either one of us would have been able to cope otherwise. Oh, God, Jo, I am so tired, I don't know what to do, I know I should be here with Rae, but I should be with Steve too, trying to find our baby, every minute that passes she is getting further and further away from us, and she is sick, she has a chest infection, and she hasn't had any medication yet, nothing."

Jo moved around in front of Jesse and placed a hand on each arm. "Ok, now I want you to listen to me. I know that there is no way on this earth that I could persuade you to go home an' get a good night's sleep, but you need to go to the sleep room an' shut your eyes for a while."

"No, no, I can't do that."

"Yes you can. I will page you the moment I hear anythin', but Steve an' Ron are stuck in traffic on the road to Fresno, Rae is in a sedated sleep an' won't be wakin' until the mornin'. Jesse there is nothin' more you can do tonight. But if you don't go an' get some sleep you will make yourself ill, an' in a while Rae an Eliana are gonna need you. Rae especially is gonna need you when she has to go to court. She won't be able to be as strong if you aren't there for her."

"Jo, I am so sorry, I didn't tell you. Sholte has got the Assistant DA to agree that there is no case to answer. The next time she goes to court the charges will be dropped."

"Oh, thank God, an' she knows, you did remember to tell her?"

Jesse smiled. "Yeah, Sholte told her. Jo, I am so sorry."

"Honey, that's all right, it's been a crazy day. Now, go, get some sleep, an' I will see you in the mornin'."

Jesse didn't have the energy to argue. He knew that what she was saying was true. Rae would sleep all night, so would Alex who was being given something to help him sleep. Steve and Ron were miles away, and he could do nothing to help them, and Eliana, he swallowed hard and said a silent prayer for the safe return of his daughter, until she came back there was nothing he could do for her either.

It had been eleven at night before Steve and Ron had arrived in Fresno, and they had both been so tired that once they had checked that there had been no sightings they had crashed in an interview room at the main police station. By seven the next morning though both men were awake, almost alert and in search of breakfast.

There had still been no sightings, but Steve wasn't surprised, he hadn't expected there to be. As he and Ron sat in the squad room drinking coffee a young man with curly red hair and a happy smiling face approached them. "Ah, which one of you is Lieutenant Sloan?"

Steve stood up, "That would be me, what can I do for you?"

"Hi, I'm Detective Burrigan, I've been coordinating the search efforts here in Fresno, and my officers are about to go out door to door again. We didn't know if you wanted to speak to them before they left. I've got most of them in plain clothes."

"Yeah, ok. Thank you." Steve and Ron stood up and followed the young man out of the room. "Y'know, I think I'm getting old."

Ron smiled a half smile at him, not wanting to admit he had been thinking the exact same thing, and then they found themselves entering a room where ten young men and women were sitting. Steve stood in front of them and smiled. "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Ok, I hope I don't need to go into too much detail as to how important time is in this. The little girl has been missing for almost two days now, and we really need to get her back. You all have pictures of the believed abductor, but we know that she has coloured her hair, and she may have coloured the child's hair also."

One of the young women in the front row put her hand up. "Does the baby have any identifying marks, Sir?"

"No, unfortunately she doesn't have any birthmarks, or anything like that. She did have soft brown curls, but they have been cut off, so she may be dressed as a boy. If you suspect a child of being Eliana Travis then you stay where you are and contact us. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Does anyone have any other questions?" Steve saw another hand go up. "Yes?"

"If we see the suspect, Louise Willis, how should we go about apprehending her, Sir?"

"You don't, you contact us, and then you keep her in your sight. I know most of you are normally uniformed officers, but some of you are plain clothes for this so that we don't spook her. If you think you spot her, once again you contact us. If she has the child with her, then you make damn sure you don't lose her, is that clear?"

"Yes, Sir." If the young officer was shocked by the tone of Steve's voice he managed to hide it well.

"Ok, then off you go, and please keep your eyes and ears open, and be careful." Steve turned to Ron, suddenly aware that he hadn't asked him if he wanted to say anything, but he could tell by his friend's appearance that he didn't.

Five minutes later the station had a quiet and almost eerie feel to it. "So, where do you think we should be going?"

"The bus station. I want to check the security videos and the cab drivers. The ones who were there when the bus arrived will probably start their shifts in the morning, so if Louise used a cab then the driver may already be there."

Steve and Ron headed out to the parking lot, and as they walked Steve heard his phone. "Sloan, here… Hi, Honey, no, we're just starting out now… oh that's wonderful, she will be relieved about that… yeah, I will don't worry, you and Jess will be the first to know, I promise… ok, bye."

Ron had heard Steve's words and looked at him. "What, what's wonderful?"

"The D.A. is gonna drop all the charges against Rae." Steve smiled, at last something had gone right. Now all they had to do was bring her daughter home to her and she could begin to get her life back to where it was just after she had got married.

After Jo had called through to Steve she had felt Rae begin to stir, and her hand moved underneath her own. Jo moved quietly away and put her head round the door. "Could you get someone to let Doctor Travis know that his wife is comin' round, in about five minutes, please?" Then she sat back down and watched carefully as Rae began to wake up.

Rae was instantly aware of the fact that something was different. She tried to move her hand towards her throat, but the burning pain that was becoming so familiar to her was still there. The sensation made her gasp, and then she opened her eyes wide as she realised that the ventilator tube had gone. She tried to speak but no sound came out, and feeling the panic well up inside her she tried to see if there was anyone with her.

"Shhh, Rae, it's ok, it's Texas, I'm here, Honey. Now, breathe slowly, an' carefully, an' you will start to get your bearin's. That's it." Jo could see that her words were getting through to her friend, and she slowly moved her eyes until she could see her. For the first time in far too long, Rae smiled a small smile. She tried to speak again, but still no sound would come out. "I guess maybe a little water would help you. Hold on a moment." Jo leant over and picked up the beaker from the nightstand. She held it close to her friend's mouth, and directed the straw in so that she could take a mouthful. Jo was about to tell her not to gulp it down, but she smiled as she saw her take just a small amount and then stop. "Better?"

Almost as if by habit, Rae blinked, just once, but as the beaker was removed she began to speak. "Thank … you."

"You are welcome. I have had Jesse paged an' he will be up in a few moments. Would you like me to do your hair an' brush your teeth so that you are a little bit more comfortable when you see him?"

Rae tried to nod, because speaking still hurt, but found that it hurt more to do that. "Yes … please." Jo rummaged around in her purse and took out a plastic case. Inside it was a comb, some perfume a toothbrush with paste and a pack of wet wipes.

By the time Jesse came racing into the room five minutes later, Rae had a clean, fresh face, neat hair, minty breath and she smelt better than she had for days. By giving Jo a few instructions they had managed to raise the head of the bed, and she was able to see her husband as soon as he arrived.

"Jess, have they found her?" Rae felt the tears in her eyes straight away as she asked the question that had been burning at her since she had seen her daughter taken from her.

"No, I don't think so, Jo have you spoken to Steve? I just tried and couldn't get a signal."

"I have, an' no, nothin' but now that the day is startin' again, well, who knows, I'm sure that today will be the day she comes home." Jo tried to sound positive, but she had heard the desperation in her fiancés voice, and she knew he was very worried.

By the time Steve and Ron had got to the bus station and looked through all the security videos for the previous day at around two o'clock it was almost eleven. As they had thought there was no sightings of Louise Willis in the bus station itself, and they were about to start on the taxi rank films.

It was Ron who spotted her first, "Look, there, she's getting in to a cab… can you rewind the film and stop it so we can see the cab?"

Slowly the film was played out again, and the two friends and the station manager peered at the screen. "Hey, that's Fred."

"Fred? You know the cab driver?" Steve looked at him; hope building as he heard the words.

"I sure do…" the station manager stopped talking as he heard a phone ring, and Steve watched as Ron pulled his cell out of his pocket.

"Wagner… ok, stay where you are, keep her in sight but don't be seen yourself, is she alone…? Ok." He flipped shut his phone. "She's in a bank; she used her ATM card and then went into the building, I'm sorry, Steve, but she doesn't have Eliana with her."

"Dammit." Steve turned to the station manager. "Ok, see if you can find Fred, we'll be back." With that the two men raced out of the building and didn't stop running until they were back in the parking lot and climbing into Steve's car.

As the car screamed along Broadway, Steve saw a bank fly past his window. "Why couldn't she have chosen that one? How long is this gonna take?"

Ron had his map book out, and was checking through to find the address. "1st Street, oh, right, down the next left, and then it's about five minutes I would say if the traffic is light, which it should be this time of day." His phone rang again. "Wagner… we're on our way… oh, ok. Are you plain clothes…? Go in then, make a withdrawal, pay in some cash, I don't care but get in the bank."

Louise sat at the desk filling in the forms to open a new bank account. She had hoped to do it all over the internet, but computer technology hadn't reached the Manse yet, and so she had come into town, she planned to get her finances sorted out, go to a travel agency to get some fare prices and then she would leave. Slowly she wrote down the name she would have to get used to using again. She put her address as her childhood home; it would serve for now, when she got to wherever it was she decided to go she would change that. Nobody would ever connect Louise Willis with Janine Reeves; she would quite literally get away with murder.

The young officer who had spotted the child abductor was Simon Albright. It was his first time in plain clothes, and he couldn't believe his luck in spotting the woman they were all searching for. He had taken his wallet out and discovering that he only had ten bucks on him decided that drawing out was a better option than paying in. He took his ATM card out and made his way over to the machine with the longest line. His partner was waiting just a few feet away from him; she had been over and kissed him gently on the cheek so that they appeared to be a normal couple. If he was honest he would love to be a normal couple with April Nox, tall, with brown ringlet curls, he found it extremely difficult to keep his mind on his work when he was paired with her.

April could see their suspect filling out a form, and she wandered by her picked up a pamphlet on opening a savings account and then walked slowly back towards her partner. As she did so she managed to get a close look at the form and for a moment her confidence wavered as she saw the name Janine Reeves, but then she realised that the woman was probably using an alias. A bank official came towards the woman and so April moved back to where Simon was almost at the machine. He had been queuing for just over five minutes, and now he had just one person in front of him.

Steve slowed down, and drove past the bank, pulling up into the first parking space he found, which was two stores down from where they wanted to be, unfortunately it was also on the wrong side of the street, and it took them a few moments to get across as they manoeuvred the early lunchtime traffic. Ron entered the bank first, with Steve right behind him. The bank had two sets of exterior doors, and as the two men moved further into the building they saw a younger man and woman move over to block the other exit.

Louise had filled in all the person details, and was turning to see if she could catch the eye of the bank official that had just spoken to her when she saw the cop from Los Angeles come striding into the building. Cursing her bad luck she stood up quickly and looked round her, there were two exit signs, but she could see two people who were obviously cops standing by one of them, so if she wanted to get away she was gonna have to get past Sloan out into 1st Street and away. Suddenly darting towards the main doors she ran round the first man, who she knew she had seen with that Bentley woman, and then she pushed at Sloan, knocking him just off balance enough for her to get past him. There were still people in her way, and for a second she panicked, but she seemed to speed up and pushing at any and everybody she encountered she got to the doors. She knew that the person she could feel almost immediately behind her was that cop, and as she pushed her way through, she could feel him breathing hard behind her, and then she heard his voice.

"Willis, stop. This is the police, give yourself up." There was a screech of brakes and Steve looked away for a second. He knew from the sound, that Louise Willis would now never be able to tell them where Eliana was.