Chapter 5
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Eddie insisted on accompanying Buck up to Maddie's apartment, and going through all the rooms making sure nobody was there before he relaxed and let Buck start searching, though he appeared awkward at being there without Maddie and Chim.
Buck went through the medicine cabinet photographing all of the medication with Maddie's name or no name on the labels. There wasn't much, which made sense since both Maddie and Chimney had packed and left.
"At least if she's on an antidepressant, she's taken it with her," Eddie said, trying to be positive.
Maddie hadn't taken all of her wardrobe but she'd taken most of the things and looking at the size tags, Eddie speculated that she'd left behind the clothing that no longer fit well since her pregnancy. More concerning was the things that Chimney hadn't taken, he hadn't taken the stroller, or any of the educational toys, the pantry was full of baby food but he had taken all of the bottles and formula. Buck hadn't spent enough time with her to know whether her favourite plushies had been left behind or not or how many clothes were missing but there seemed to be a lot left behind.
It was in the filing cabinet that they hit paydirt. Receipts from the insurance detailing doctor's visits that had been paid for. Buck googled each one and none of them were a psychiatrist or therapist or PPD specialist but some of them were visits where Maddie had been the patient in the last few months. Buck collected them up to give to missing persons in the hope that in interviewing these Doctors they would find a reason for a serious search for his sister and that she wouldn't remain one of the thousands of people who'd gone missing from California and not been found.
"Maddie's taken nearly all her clothes that fit and things, and she left all her photos behind, she's not planning to come back anytime soon, and I don't think she'll be checking her phone or insta. She's left everything that would remind her of Jee-Yun and Chimney," Buck said.
"Chimney doesn't plan to be gone that long though, I think he only packed for a couple of weeks," Eddie said.
"I'm worried that he hasn't packed enough things to look after Jee properly. He's expecting to find Maddie in that time and convince her to come home. That's unrealistic and I don't know that he'll come home without finding her," Buck replied.
"He's got another 10 and a half weeks of family leave but he'll have to come back in time to sort childcare before he goes back on shift," Eddie said.
"Ten weeks is way too long for Jee to spend all day in a car seat," Buck replied. "I wish he'd left her with someone, even if it was his family with orders not to let me visit."
"I don't know that he could have. He's on family leave to look after Jee. If he left her behind he wouldn't have a valid reason to be granted leave and would be expected to come back to work," Eddie said.
"So he's using Jee to be paid while he looks for Maddie?" Buck asked angrily.
"We don't know that," Eddie tried to reassure his friend. "He could want Jee with him for her own sake as well. He is her Dad, and from what I've seen of them together he is a good father."
"He wants Jee with him in the hope that seeing her baby again will convince Maddie that she's a good Mom and needs to come home but that's not how PPD works, if Maddie is bad enough that she's running from Jee-Yun then forcing her to look after her again before she's ready could make things a lot worse," Buck replied. "He's a fully trained paramedic, he should know that."
"He's distraught. That doesn't excuse his actions in any way but he isn't thinking clearly. He's got a fixed idea that finding Maddie will fix everything that's wrong and we all know that it won't but there's no shaking that belief. I think that he'll take good care of his daughter while searching for Maddie if only to prove to her that Jee is fine. I'm more concerned about what will happen when he finds Maddie and it doesn't go the way he's picturing it," Eddie said.
"Do you think my sister might be in danger when he finds her. He would never hurt Maddie," Buck protested.
"48 hours ago I would've said that he'd never hurt you," Eddie reminds him pointedly.
"Yes but Chimney's often been irritated or angry with me. Before you started at the 118 a lot of his comments to or about me were caustic and hurtful, and I don't know if he was oblivious to that or he just didn't care. He's never said anything negative about Maddie and he's always so gentle with her," Buck said.
"Because he's in love with her," Eddie agreed. "But his behaviour since she left has been more obsessional than loving. I'm concerned what he would do if she rejects him to his face."
"I don't think she would reject him. Her video and her phone call to me were clear that she loves him and intends to come back once she's well," Buck replied.
"I hope you're right, Buck, but you yourself said that Maddie wouldn't react well to being chased after or being confronted with Jee-Yun, what if he finds her before she is ready to see them again?" Eddie reminded him.
"So you think that I should tell Maddie that Chimney's looking for her?" Buck asked.
"Yes, and try to update her regularly on where he is looking as much as possible so she can avoid him if she needs to," Eddie advised. "It will be better if he doesn't find her until she's ready to come back."
With proof that Chimney had left town within hours of hitting Buck, and Buck being a first responder, Athena was able to use traffic footage to follow his car out of town. Thankfully his muscle car stood out and was easy to follow.
Athena felt slightly guilty that due to her asking them to pay attention to this section of the recordings, Howard Han was issued with several speeding citations in the first few hours on the freeway. Eventually though, following him became more difficult as Chimney started stopping at every petrol station and coffee shop near each freeway exit.
Sending a patrol car out with Chimney's picture netted them the information that he was asking the staff if they'd seen Maddie or her car. As he was only asking the staff present at the time he called in, the likelihood of finding Maddie like this was slim.
"Do we even know if she passed by this way? Should we be looking for her too?" one of the traffic officers asked.
"As she's not known to have committed a crime and can be proved to have left him of her own accord, we haven't looked for Maddie Buckley," Athena replied. "Though I admit considering Howard Han is wanted for the assault and battery of her brother I'm relieved that the fact he is looking for her confirms that he didn't have anything to do with her disappearance."
"He seems desperate to find her though, shouldn't we try to find her and warn her before he does," the officer who's interviewed the gas station attendants said.
"Not desperate enough to file a missing person's report. Did any of the attendants who saw him mention the baby girl he's travelling with?" Athena asked.
"No, I'll keep following him and ask about her next time," the officer replied frowning. "None of the gas station security cameras showed a child. Are you sure she's with him?"
"She was when he left LA and as far as I know, all the people who he might have left her with are all here," Athena confirmed.
"How old is she? Is she toilet trained?" the officer asked.
"Almost six months old, and no," Athena said.
"We've watched hours of footage and we haven't seen him stop and feed a baby or change a diaper," the traffic officer said, turning back to the footage with more urgency. "We need to find where he is now," This time she ignored all the stops off the freeway watching each on ramp until he turned back up and following him again.
"He hasn't found a sighting of her," Athena said. "If he'd been told she'd filled up or bought food he would have jumped ahead again."
"That doesn't mean she didn't come this way, if she'd stopped somewhere where the attendant who served her was off or working a different shift the day Han came asking for her, or just didn't like the look of Han or his attitude and denied seeing the woman, he would have missed hearing about her," the officer pointed out.
"Yes, but that's not relevant at the moment, the point is that at this point he's still moving slowly at this rate he could be anywhere from 20 miles further down the road if he's still stopping at every gas station to 300 miles if he finds someone who remembers Maddie at the next exit and travels ahead until he thinks she'd stop again. That is if he hasn't stopped to sleep or to look after Jee and give her some time out of her car seat," Athena said frowning.
Athena's work phone rang. "Howard Han's vehicle was seen travelling at speed in Williams Arizona," a voice said.
"Has he been pulled over? Is Jee still with him? Is she okay?" Athena asked.
"The minor child travelling with Han has been transported to Flagstaff Medical Centre suffering from dehydration," the voice replied. "They're looking for next of kin to contact."
"The child's name is Jee-Yun Buckley Han, her mother is currently listed as a missing person, her contact number is 5555 555 555 but all calls have gone straight to voicemail for the last 9 days and the mail box is full. Her next closest relatives are her mother's brother Evan Buckley 5555 555 555 and her father's brother Albert Han 5555 555 555," Athena informed them, providing contact details.
"The father has listed John and Ann Lee as his parents and next of kin," the voice said.
"The relationship is informal and I don't believe there are formal custody arrangements in place in the event that neither parent can look after the child. I haven't met either Ann or John Lee," Athena said.
"I'll pass on the information but it will be up to CPS who they contact," the voice replied.
"Will Howard Han be transported back to Los Angeles?" Athena asked. "There's a warrant out for his arrest for assault and battery of an off duty first responder.
"That's yet to be decided. He's been arrested for child neglect and endangerment as well as several misdemeanour traffic offences in the state of Arizona," the voice replied.
Athena contacts Buck. "Chimney and Jee-Yun have been found, Chimney is in custody and Jee is currently receiving treatment for dehydration but is expected to be well enough to go home today. Child protection is looking into where she will be placed," Athena said.
"I can look after her," Buck said immediately. Maddie made me and Albert emergency guardians if they were both incapacitated and I'm in her will as the custodial guardian if Chimney isn't able to look after her."
"I will make sure that the CPS in Flagstaff Arizona has your details. Do you have a copy of that paperwork I can send them?" Athena promised him.
"Will it help to go there?" Buck asked.
"Not with your face looking like it does, besides you're not medically cleared to drive, and can barely stand the curtains open, you really want to spend hours in a car," Athena said bluntly.
"I'm a registered emergency foster parent. I'll send you a copy of my registration to send them," Buck said.
"I didn't know that Buckaroo," Athena said.
"The chances of a single man adopting a child not related to them is ridiculously small but I want children in my life. I have love and attention to give to a foster child, but I won't be approved for anything but the emergency care of infants until I move out of the loft. I've started looking for somewhere but it's taking some time to find the right place," Buck replied.
"He and Jee can stay with Chris and I," Eddie offered.
"That won't work as a foster situation, Jee and I would both need a bedroom for it to be approved," Buck replied. "Hen and Karen are foster parents too, they'd be happy to take in Jee if they haven't been allocated another child yet, if CPS won't let me have her."
"You and I have shared before, it's no big deal," Eddie replied.
"I don't want to give Chris false expectations," Buck protested.
"Are you willing to give up getting custody of Jee?" Eddie said.
"Well no, but she's my niece so hopefully allowances will be made and she's not yet crawling. I have time to get a new place before CPS demands that I move," Buck said.
"Buck you're not well enough yet to cope with the stairs in the loft on your own, let alone carrying a baby. You should talk to Pepa, I'm sure she could find you a new place, and you're welcome to stay with Chris and I. He will understand that it's temporary," Eddie suggested.
"Where are you going?" Bobby asked his wife, watching her furiously throw things into a suitcase.
"To Arizona to give Howard Han a good talking to and make sure that Jee is properly looked after," Athena snapped.
"Have you been given official permission to go and speak with Chimney?" Bobby said.
Athena sighed and sunk down on the bed. "No," she admitted.
"Then why would you think that you'd even be allowed to see him or Jee-Yun. As his boss's wife and friend, your going might only make things worse, or get the case thrown out completely for personal interference. Who is the detective working the case?" Bobby said sensibly.
"Lou Ransone," Athena said.
"You've always said that he's a good detective and a good man. You would trust him to do the right thing if it wasn't Chimney. Why don't you give him a call and see if he will invite you to go with him," Bobby suggested.
Unsurprisingly Detective Ransone did not accept Athena's offer to accompany him to Arizona. He was however interested in her description of what was going on, along with the news that it had been Buck, the man he'd assaulted, who had eventually reported Maddie Buckley missing after finding out that Howard Han had misled him about having done so.
"Why on earth wouldn't he have reported his girlfriend and mother of his child missing if he was so worried about her?" Lou asked suspiciously.
"He asked me about trying to use police resources to find Maddie, and I told him that I couldn't help him without risking my job and I wasn't willing to do that unless missing persons ignored him when he officially reported her missing. He asked about how to make an official report and what would happen and I informed him of the process," Athena replied. "The rest is speculation but I believe that to Chimney, finding her himself is the important part of the equation, and he didn't want to have a reason not to look for Maddie himself. Or a reason to have people not support him searching for Maddie. Chimney was upset and angered by the fact that missing persons wouldn't tell him where Maddie Buckley was when they found her, only that she had been found alive and well and informed that he was concerned about her health and whereabouts."
"Did he have any idea where Maddie Buckley would go?" Lou asked.
"He believed she'd go back to Boston where she'd trained as a nurse or to Harrisburg where she'd been living with her ex-husband before she came to LA, but I have no idea why he would believe that or if he had any evidence she'd gone back East," Athena said.
"So, he was going to drag a six month old infant all the way to Boston, it would have taken them weeks, if not months to get there the way he was stopping at every gas station, diner and coffee shop at each freeway exit," Lou said incredulously.
"I believe that once he had found proof that she'd passed that way and purchased fuel he would have jumped ahead and started again a few hundred mile down the road, he didn't start stopping until about 50 mile before Williams.
"As if he knew how much milage Maddie Buckley had in her vehicle before she'd have to stop for gas, that's concerning," Lou said shaking his head.
"One other point to consider, a good half a dozen people offered to look after Jee-Yun Buckley Han while he went looking for Maddie. He insisted that Jee needed to be there when he found her. I believe that his best friend Henrietta Wilson even offered to come with him on the search, or to keep Jee and bring her to him when he found Maddie if she wasn't willing or wasn't able to come home," Athena said.
"That's telling, the fact that he had choices to enable the infant to be properly cared for, so keeping her in the car all this time wasn't his only option if he needed to find Maddie. He was warned of the detriment of the baby spending too many hours in her car seat, chose to bring the child along and he still neglected her care in favour of his search," Lou said frowning.
"Evan Buckley has offered to drop the assault charges if Han, leaves his daughter with someone who will take good care of her while he continues his search for Maddie," Athena said.
"Evan Buckley is prepared to leverage dropping the charges in return for custody of his niece?" Lou asked, unimpressed.
"No he wants custody and he has paperwork to prove he was named by the child's mother as an emergency guardian if neither parent is available but he's prepared to drop the charges in return for anybody his sister trusted looking after the child. He's worried about his niece's wellbeing, he's not asking Chim to give him custody, Buck would be quite happy if Jee went to the Lees, who are Han's unofficial adoptive parents, the Wilsons Han's best friend and her wife, to Bobby and myself, or even to Han's brother Albert if he's willing and able to care for Jee. So long as the child is well looked after and not spending all day strapped into a car seat for weeks. He just wants what's best for his niece," Athena replied.
"Do you want me to pass on that message?" Lou asked curiously.
Athena looked torn. "No, I want Han charged with the assault and battery causing Buck serious bodily harm and a potentially career ending injury, but Buck is right. The welfare of the baby should come before seeking justice. We need to do what is best for Jee-Yun. If he as the injured party can put his niece's wellbeing ahead of his own need for justice then it would be selfish of me to try to stop him."
"So does Buck realise that dropping assault charges won't change anything if he's still charged with battery? Though it might make it a little more difficult to get a conviction unless the jury believe the motive behind the charge being dropped," Lou asked.
"No he doesn't, otherwise he'd have offered to drop the battery charges as well. Hopefully Howard Han won't realise it either and will sign custody of his daughter over to someone who will care for them when is released," Athena said smirking.
"I'll pass on the message, if it becomes necessary but LAPD is going to ask for remand and we'll probably get a judge to sign off on it since he was arrested interstate and even if he makes bail, I doubt CPS is going to give the child back to Han if he's still insistent on searching for Maddie Buckley, so Buck can have justice and his niece can be properly cared for," Lou replied. "I want to talk to Buckley myself before I go."
Athena handed over his contact number and address and Eddie's address as well. "I believe he's staying with Firefighter Diaz until he's well enough to be on his own in his loft. His depth perception is still a little off and open plan stairs aren't a good idea in his condition."
"So the injuries from the battery were serious," Lou said frowning.
"Yes, I wasn't exaggerating about them being potentially career ending, though I don't think Buck has realised that," Athena replied.
The conversation with Buck hadn't thrown up any surprises. He made the offer to drop the charges though the injury still looked horrific and he was clearly still shaken by the battery. It was clear that Busk was concerned about the safety of both his niece and his sister. Though not for the reasons the detective had originally been concerned about his sister's safety from Han.
Lou was sure his niece's safety and well being were Buck's only motivation in making the offer. Lou agreed to pass it along if necessary though he hoped that he wouldn't need to use the offer to protect the child because he really wanted to see Howard Han in jail for what he'd done.
The experienced officer in him was also concerned about the man's reaction if he did not find his girlfriend alive which given the seriousness of her PPD was a legitimate concern, or if she was found alive and well but didn't react to being found like Howard Han hoped she would. He promised Buck that he would do his best to make sure Jee-Yun Buckley Han was well cared for and would not be returned to the sole custody of Chimney Han, who from what he could see potentially had his own mental health issues clouding the whole situation.
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed, commented positively, followed, bookmarked or favourited or gave Kudos to this story for your support.