Chapter 43
Tucker
As night fell, despair blanketed the room.
Gram continued rocking Tad, who had taken his first bottle. Or an ounce of one, anyway.
Marcus called everyone under the sun, pacing with his ear to the phone. The shelter. The police. Hospital staff. The volunteer agency that walked parts of Austin to help the unhoused, the hungry, the lost.
The only thing he hadn’t made headway with was getting the hospital to turn over the security footage. There were procedures for that due to HIPPA laws, and the offices had already closed.
But he had a lawyer ready to go after them the moment the administrative offices reopened.
He glanced over at me. “We should have had twenty-four-hour care for her the minute she got pregnant. Someone who stayed with her no matter what.”
Ava wouldn’t have wanted that. But I understood his frustration. His fear. Ava was out there, post-partum, post-surgery, alone, no money, no help. She could be kidnapped, trafficked, abused.
I stood up abruptly. I couldn’t think like that. Ava was smart. And suspicious. She had most likely holed up somewhere until she figured something out.
Tina had made it into town and offered to stay at Gram’s in case Ava showed up there. Maya was waiting at the duplex. Harry was standing guard at Ava’s old apartment, and his staff was watching for her at his diner.
The hospital was shutting down, and only the emergency room entrance would be accessible soon. But the security guards knew to watch for a confused woman who might come up to any door. We had to trust they would notice her.
Sheila didn’t work at the shelter anymore, but Beatrice, who served as the director now, said she’d be watching for anyone with Ava’s description.
Bill and Kenisha had put posters on all the telephone polls in the area and signs in the business windows. Marcus had convinced the police to put out an APB on her, even though normally you had to wait twenty-four hours. He was good like that. He knew the right people to call to get things done.
He spoke into his phone after a long pause. “Be ready to go before a judge the moment the courts open. I’m going to push this. I want to see the moment she left her room on that footage.” Then he shoved his phone in his pocket and stared out at the night.
The room got quiet, so we all startled when he said, “We have to call her.”
We all knew who he meant.
Gram shook her head. “Ava didn’t want her mother here.”
“It’s where she ended up last time,” Marcus said.
He was right. And Geneva had surely figured out Ava was pregnant. She stalked her everywhere and knew at least roughly where we lived.
Marcus spoke again. “You want me to do it?”
I stood up. “No, I will.”
Marcus was too antagonistic in moments like these. I lifted my phone from the side table and unplugged the charging cord. If Geneva had gotten to Ava, we needed to handle her carefully.
Could she have known Ava had come here in labor? Had a seizure? Had she known she would be vulnerable and led her right out the door?
We couldn’t ignore the possibility.
I clicked on her contact name and let out a long breath. I had to do this exactly right.
Geneva answered in a suspiciously antagonistic tone. “What can I do for you, Tucker?”
The moment I heard her voice, I shifted tactics. “We wanted to update you on Ava.”
She immediately changed. “Is she all right? Did she have another seizure? Oh, my God. Where are you?”
She was too frantic. She didn’t have her. But just in case, I said, “Are you aware of her situation lately?”
Her voice rose another notch. “What do you mean? Are the seizures worse? Is she getting brain damage?”
Marcus watched me intently. Maybe I should let him hear this, too. I switched to speaker.
“She doesn’t have brain damage, and her seizures are about the same,” I said.
There was a pause, then Geneva spoke again, her voice breaking. “I wish you all would listen to me. My treatment works the best.”
I glanced at Marcus. He nodded at me to continue.
“I understand your position,” I said. “We all want Ava to be better.”
“So, what is the update on her? You scared me half to death!”
I lifted my eyebrows at Marcus.
His lips pursed. Then he said, “Geneva, she has gone missing again.”
I was glad he was the one to say it. I wondered if he would mention the baby. Or if we should.
“Again?” Geneva laughed. “And you think I magically stole her. You two couldn’t keep a homing pigeon in the right place.”
Marcus tightened his hands into fists. “We wanted to update you on this so you could keep watch. We’d appreciate it if you let us know if she turns up near you.”
Geneva laughed again. “Right, so you can keep me away from her all over again. Fat chance. I’ll start looking, though.” She hung up.
I shoved my phone into my pocket. “That went well.”
Marcus rubbed his chin. “You know, I don’t think she’s aware Ava was pregnant.”
“She didn’t ask about the baby,” I said.
Gram spoke up from the corner. “Or else she didn’t want you two to know she knew.”
“Well, she’s looking for her now,” Marcus said. “I’ll put a tail on her. She won’t take off with her again.” He started tapping on his phone.
We had no more aces to play.
But for all we knew, Ava had found someone who could look her up online. If she had done that, the road might lead straight back to her mother.