They arrived at the Montecito with a few minutes to spare. Mary left Elizabeth and Danny at the elevator to the surveillance room, kissing her baby repeatedly. Danny walked into the room to great applause from the technicians.
"Let me have that girl." Mike declared.
"I don't think so Mike." Danny laid Elizabeth on a blanket in the playpen, tickling her softly. "So, what's going on?" He walked back to the screens.
"Not much. We've got a couple of big winners but nothing suspicious."
They got down to work. The day passed simply, a few purse and chip snatchers. Mary graced the surveillance room several times to take Elizabeth for feedings. Other arrivals in the room during the day were surprised by Mitch rolling Elizabeth around in his chair and Danny holding her while pointing people out on the screen.
At eight, Mary was off-duty, not having any major events planned for the evening so she collected Elizabeth in the stroller to take her home. Danny promised to be there in two hours, when his shift ended, and watched his girls on the monitors as they headed home.
Mary was near the reception desk when Delinda caught up to her. She turned to talk and Danny watched in horror as a pair of hands reached into the stroller, unbuckling Elizabeth and pulling her out. He radioed to the security guards who should have been nearby and took off running. By the time he reached Mary, she had collapsed in sobs on the floor, one hand holding the stroller.
"Mary!" He raced to her side, nudging Delinda out of the way.
"Danny," she cried, "where is she? Where is she?"
The security guards joined them. "We couldn't find them, Mr. McCoy," they panted.
Mary turned to them in anger. "How could you not find her? Where is she?! Where's my baby?!" Danny hugged her to his chest. "Danny, where is she?" she sobbed.
"We'll find her." He whispered. "I promise."