Two mornings later, Nathan took a sip of his stale police station coffee and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. His tousled hair indicated that he had been doing that often over the past few hours. Nathan sighed and looked over at Gabe's desk. He had been researching nearby rental car locations hoping for a break in this kidnapping case.

Chloe Wesley was five years old and had gone missing just under forty-eight hours ago. Her father Craig had reported her missing after he had gone to pick her up from her Sunday morning dance class. Craig and his second wife Anne had full legal and physical custody of Chloe after Craig had gone through a bad divorce from Chloe's mother just after the little girl turned two. Chloe's mom had decided that being married with children was not for her so she had picked up and left Craig and Chloe. Up until the last six months or so, they hadn't heard from Claire Foster at all.

According to the interview Nathan and Gabe had conducted with Craig and Anne Wesley, Claire Foster was a marketing executive for a cable tv network based in NYC. She had always been career driven but getting married and having a child seemed to reaffirm to herself that she wanted to focus on her career and not family. It also turns out that their marriage was less than ideal as there were frequent arguments between the two. Claire had up and left Craig heartbroken one day and soon after had him served with divorce papers. Craig had healed his broken heart by focusing on raising his daughter for the last three years and now had been happily married to Anne for the past year. Anne was six months pregnant with their first child. Little Chloe had been thriving under the love and care of her dad and stepmom.

While Claire hadn't signed away her parental rights to Chloe, she also had made no effort to maintain a relationship with her daughter since the divorce. Six months ago, she had started texting Craig asking for information about Chloe. Thinking that it would be best for Chloe to know her mom, Craig had cautiously answered Claire's questions and had allowed her a couple of visits with Chloe with him and Anne present. Apparently, Claire wanted more of a relationship with Chloe than he thought because she kidnapped her own daughter from dance class Sunday morning.

Nathan and Gabe had questioned everyone working at the dance school that morning and they deduced that a brand new and overwhelmed receptionist had been the reason for the kidnapping. Claire had managed to slip in about fifteen minutes before class ended and convince the receptionist to let her take Chloe home. As soon as class ended, Claire scooped up her daughter and left quickly right before Craig arrived. Young Chloe was excited to see her mother again and easily went with her. Craig had never expected something like this to happen since they had a set schedule for visits. So, he had never put protocols in place at the school for pick-up. He was beside himself now and was currently at home with Anne and his parents and brother as they waited for news about Chloe.

"Gabe, we have to find Chloe Wesley. And soon."

"I know Nathan. We've been saying this since we came in on Sunday. I feel like we are missing something here."

"Grant, Kinslow! My office now!" barked Chief Bill Avery.

Nathan and Gabe quickly walked into Bill's office, shut the door and sat down in front of Bill's desk. Bill stared at his two haggard looking detectives before speaking again.

"You know that I consider you two to be my best detectives?"

"Yes Bill." said Gabe while Nathan just nodded.

"It has been forty-eight hours now and we are no closer to finding Chloe Wesley than we were on Sunday. She is in potentially dangerous hands as we don't know if Claire is armed or mentally unstable. I know Craig told you guys that this all caught him completely off-guard so who knows what her state is now?"

"Bill, we know she couldn't have gotten very far on cash alone. Her credit cards haven't been used since Saturday. Claire's address is on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and we've already had the NYPD interview her landlord and they searched the apartment with a warrant. It's a one bedroom apartment that wasn't child friendly at all. No relatives are in the area and we've got her passport and driver's license flagged. Her bank accounts are now frozen. We've had an Amber Alert issued since Sunday and we've gotten no tips whatsoever. That leads us to believe that she's hiding somewhere and most likely somewhere locally. Claire grew up in Hope Valley so I'd guess she is staying somewhere that's familiar to her." said Nathan.

"She doesn't own a vehicle so we've been questioning local rental car agencies for anyone who may have rented a car with cash. She also likely does not have a booster seat for Chloe so that may make them easier to spot." added Gabe.

"That's a good start. I just feel like we are on borrowed time and we need to find this little girl before something terrible happens. We must consider Claire to be unstable and dangerous."

Both Nathan and Gabe nodded.

"Have you questioned other parents at the dance school?" asked Bill.

"Yes, we have. But she left with Chloe just before the others started to arrive. Claire orchestrated that part very well. She knew that parents like to show up right at class dismissal time and not a minute earlier so she took advantage of that." said Gabe.

Nathan ran his hand through his hair yet again. "Claire is a smart woman. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had as successful a career as she's had. She had to have been planning this for a while. Why risk everything and not just take the legal route for joint custody? New York courts are notoriously biased towards the mother in cases like this. She would have likely been successful."

"Truly mind boggling." added Gabe.

"Nathan, Gabe you both know these kidnapping cases usually are. They usually don't make much sense until you question the culprit." said Bill. "I know this has been a trying couple of days for you both being away from your families but know that we are helping to reunite another family."

The two detectives nodded. Even though the department had six active detectives, Nathan and Gabe always tended to take the lead on major cases such as this one. So the work had been pretty much around the clock save for a few hours of sleep when they could. A knock at the door interrupted their thoughts.

Bill's assistant, Dottie Ramsey, poked her head inside the office and handed him a handwritten phone message. Bill took it and quickly looked at it. He nodded at Dottie and she quickly left the office.

"Well gentleman, we may have the break we've been looking for. A woman fitting Claire's description rented a home over on Maple Ave. and arrived on Sunday afternoon with a little girl fitting Chloe's description. Apparently, they've been seen playing in the backyard and the neighbor just called in the tip. Neighbor had been away until today but had seen the Amber Alert with Chloe's photo. I think you should go question the neighbor first and try to confirm that it's them. Then we will formulate a plan for getting Chloe back."

"Let's not contact the Wesleys until we are certain. Let's go Gabe." added Nathan.

Fifteen minutes later, Nathan and Gabe were standing in the entryway of the home of Mary and DeWitt Graves.

"Detectives, please come in and have a seat." said DeWitt as he led them into the living room.

"Can I offer you something to drink?" asked Mary.

"That's very kind Ma'am but no thank you." said Gabe.

"Mr. and Mrs. Graves, can you tell us exactly what you saw next door?" asked Nathan.

"Certainly. We returned from our honeymoon this morning and decided to get settled at home before picking up my son from my parents' house. He's just now starting to accept my marriage to DeWitt so we wanted to ease him into the new living situation."

"That's understandable and Congratulations to you both." said Nathan.

Mary continued. "Anyway, I went outside to check on the firewood out back. It has been getting chilly at night from what I've heard. While I was out there, I heard laughter coming from the empty home next door and I saw Ms. Foster tossing a ball around with Chloe Wesley. I am certain it was them as I had just read a couple of articles about the kidnapping while we were on the plane. As a mother, a local kidnapping story immediately piqued my interest as you can imagine. That house had been empty for almost a year now so the activity caught me off guard."

"Did you know the prior occupants of the home?" asked Gabe.

"Yes! It was a lovely older woman named Pearl. She owns a bakery here in town as well. Maybe you've heard of it? It's called Pearl's Bake Shop. Anyway, owning both the house and the business became too much for her so she downsized to a condo but had trouble selling the house. So, she eventually just started offering it for rent. As I said, it took about a year for her to find a renter. I'm surprised she didn't give us a heads up about it."

The sound of nearby laughter interrupted Mary.

"Is that coming from next door?" asked Nathan as he and Gabe quickly stood up.

Mary and DeWitt both nodded.

"Is there a window that's visible to their backyard?" asked Nathan.

Mary nodded and motioned for everyone to follow her. She led them into the master bedroom which had a large window facing the home next door. Nathan and Gabe quickly went to the window and confirmed what Mary had seen earlier. Claire Foster and Chloe Wesley were playing ball in the backyard.

Thirty minutes later, Nathan and Gabe were in the conference room at the police station along with Chief Bill Avery, their four fellow detectives, and Sergeant Charles Spurlock. After Nathan briefed the group on what they had found at the Graves home, they immediately began formulating a plan for rescuing Chloe.

"Detectives Hickam and Wolf, you two head over to Pearl's Bake Shop and find out everything you can about this rental. We are going to need that information for the courts." said Bill.

The two detectives nodded and quickly left. The rest of the group formulated a plan to rescue Chloe late that evening. They didn't want to give Claire the chance to run and they also didn't want to scare Chloe. So the plan was to go to confront Claire at home after Chloe had gone to sleep. Nathan and Gabe used the slight lull in the schedule to reach out to their loved ones and grab a quick dinner.

Nathan called Elizabeth and hoped that she'd answer. She did.

"Hi!" Elizabeth said almost breathlessly.

"Hi yourself. We finally found Chloe so we have a plan to get her back tonight. If all goes according to plan, I should be seeing you very soon."

"Oh I'm so glad. That little girl must be so terrified. I've been praying for her and her dad and for all of you on the force."

Nathan smiled to himself as Elizabeth continued.

"Will this mission be dangerous, Nathan?"

Nathan took a deep breath before answering. "I don't know. What I can tell you is this is a domestic case so Chloe was taken by her own mother. But we don't know how dangerous she might be."

Elizabeth gasped. "Promise me you'll be careful, Nathan. Will you be wearing a vest?"

"I promise you I will be careful so that I can do everything in my power to come home safely to you as soon as possible."

Elizabeth seemed satisfied with that answer for now. "Ok, my love. Please be safe and I hope you're wearing a vest. I look forward to seeing you soon."

"I love you, Elizabeth. I'm going to grab a quick bite to eat before we get ready to get Chloe."

"You need your strength. I can hear the exhaustion in your voice but I'm sure Chloe's dad and stepmom are most grateful. You're all heroes. I love you too and I'll see you soon." Elizabeth said with tears in her eyes as she bravely hung up the phone. She was trying so hard to be strong for Nathan that she hoped he didn't notice her voice cracking right before she hung up. Elizabeth was glad that she had Allie and Little Jack to focus on and hoped that the evening would pass quickly.

Meanwhile, Nathan was counting his blessings. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have found someone like Elizabeth. He knew that she was terrified for his safety right now but she was so brave on the call. Nathan couldn't wait to have her back in his arms again. He and Gabe quickly ordered some sandwiches and sodas from the local deli and they ate them while they went over the plan repeatedly with Bill and the others. This operation would be all hands on deck so it would include Bill, all six detectives, Sergeant Spurlock, and several of his uniformed officers. Nathan and Gabe were the lead detectives so they and Bill would give all the necessary orders.

At 10pm that night, Nathan took a deep breath as he stood outside the front door to Claire Foster's rented home. Gabe was standing next to him, content to let Nathan take the lead in talking to Claire. Bill Avery and a couple of uniformed officers were standing on either side of the front door but leaning up against the house so they were out of Claire's view. Their colleagues were spread out all the way around the house in case Claire tried anything funny.

Nathan patted a hand against the lightweight bulletproof vest under his shirt and then rang the doorbell. He watched as a light went on just inside and then the door opened slowly. Claire didn't even bother to look through the window at who it was this late at night.

"Claire Foster?" Nathan asked.

She looked nervously at the two men on her front doorstep but didn't seem scared at all.

"Can I help you gentlemen? It's awfully late and I have a young child asleep in the other room."

"Are you Claire Foster?" Nathan asked again.

"Yes! What is this about?"

Nathan and Gabe both produced their badges and held them up for Claire to see. Nathan held up an arrest warrant in his other hand.

"Hope Valley Police! Claire Foster, you are under arrest for the kidnapping of Chloe Wesley." said Gabe as he turned Claire around and handcuffed her.

"Ms. Foster, where is Chloe?" asked Nathan.

"She is my baby girl. They were trying to steal her from me!" Claire shouted at Nathan.

"Ma'am, we will let the courts work that out. But kidnapping is a felony that they don't treat lightly. Now please tell me where Chloe is so I can go get her."

Claire was now crying hysterically. "Go find her yourself, Detective!"

Nathan was taken aback by Claire's sudden change in attitude regarding Chloe. He nodded at Gabe who proceeded to read Claire her Miranda rights and then Gabe pushed her off to Bill and the two uniformed officers who had quietly entered the home behind them. Nathan and Gabe proceeded to search the house for Chloe. Nathan quickly found the little girl asleep in the bedroom adjacent to the master bedroom. He turned on the bedroom light and then he gently sat on the edge of the bed and tapped her shoulder.

"Chloe sweetheart, please wake up."

Nathan made sure he had his badge visible as the little girl slowly blinked into wakefulness. She looked at Nathan wide-eyed and quickly noticed the badge he held up.

"My name is Detective Grant. I won't hurt you-I'm here to help you. Chloe, your mom took you without permission from your dad. He and Anne have been worried sick about you for the last three days. My partner and I are going to take you back to your dad."

Chloe soaked in what Nathan was saying before she replied. "I asked Mama to let me call Daddy and she said he didn't want to talk to me any more. She said he cares more about Anne's new baby than me so I may as well live with her. But I wanted my Daddy and Anne."

The little girl was now crying so Nathan opened his arms and Chloe went right into them and buried her face in his chest. Nathan rubbed her back to soothe her. His heart ached for this little girl and her family. Once she calmed down, Nathan simply lifted her into his arms and turned to face Gabe who had been watching from the doorway.

"The others are executing the search warrant inside the house so we are free to head back." said Gabe.

Nathan simply nodded and led Gabe and Chloe back to the police cruiser. After he reunited the Wesley family, Nathan was looking forward to reuniting with his own family and holding his own little girl in his arms.