Chapter Thirty
Jake
Switching from kissing Emily for the first time to being a professional police officer was harder than I expected, but it shouldn’t have surprised me. Having her in my arms, touching her, tasting her, just fucking being close to her has been my obsession for years.
Then, it happened. And it surpassed anything I’ve ever experienced.
My heart pounds in my chest as screen after screen flips on the computer monitor until she’s brought up the security footage.
“Here you go.” She slides the chair back.
“Go ahead.” I place my hand on her shoulder and squeeze. “You know the system better than I do. It’ll take me twice as long to find what I’m looking for.”
“Sure.” She glances over my shoulder as if she’s looking for Dale to walk in on us.
Right. Professional. I straighten my spine and drop my hand to my side. We work in high-profile positions where people’s lives are in balance.
Or she doesn’t want anyone to know we’re together.
I grit my teeth. I don’t like that possibility.
Fine, I get it. She hasn’t declared her undying infatuation with me or even said she’d like to be with me.
I’m the one pursuing her. Hell, she might not consider this anything more than a one-time fling.
My hands curl into fists. Inhale. Exhale. Give her time. After tonight, she’ll feel different. I’ll prove to her how good we are together, and she’ll shout to the entire town that I’m her endgame.
Endgame? Could you be any lamer than that?
“What time did you say?” She clicks the mouse on today’s date, and I give her the police station’s timestamp for when the vehicle left the ambulance lot. “We were finishing up our last call at that time.”
“Right. Whoever it is must have stopped here first, saw no one was available, and walked over to the police station.” I shove my hands into my pockets to keep them to myself.
Moments later, the video feed is enlarged, and the empty parking lot comes into focus. There’s no movement.
The parking lot is semi-dark except for the spaces under the streetlights that’re scattered around the edges of the lot. Still nothing. It’s like watching a horror movie, waiting for the bad guy to jump out and scare the crap out of you.
Something flicks at the edge of the camera feed. A cat. The same cat I saw on the police station’s surveillance video. It must’ve come over here scavenging for food when it didn’t find anything at our place.
“Do you want me to go back earlier?”
“Yes. Try fifteen minutes earlier and watch at 1.5 speed." Anxiety claws through my gut. The quicker we find something, the faster we can find a resolution for Baby Doe.
I’ve never thought too much about having kids, but the thought of abandoning a helpless newborn makes me sick. I know there could be a good explanation….
I shudder as thoughts of something getting to the baby before I did sends a chill along my spine.
Yeah, I don’t believe there’s a good enough explanation. The mother or whoever brought the baby to the station could’ve done things differently. Waited until Dale and Emily returned. Stopped at the fire station. The hospital.
Hell, they could’ve knocked on the damned door before leaving.
The clock numbers speed by. Lights. I place my hand on Emily’s shoulder again. “Stop. Back up thirty seconds.”
“I don’t know why I’m nervous, but this is making me sick.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
“Yeah, but what will we find?”
I know what she means. There’s a reason the mother or someone else abandoned the baby, and it’s not because the world is an amazing place.
A dark sedan pulls into the lot. One second, the lights are on, and the next, they’re off as if they didn’t want anyone to know they were there. I grab a piece of paper off the desk. “Is it okay to use this?”
“Yes….” She shrugs as her gaze stays glued to the screen. After backing up to a previous clip, she slows the playback until it’s in slow motion. “All I can think about is all the things that could’ve happened to her if you hadn’t gone outside when you did.”
“I know.” I study the partial license plate on the still frame. I can only make out two numbers. They were smart enough to park away from the security lights. “Can you hand me an ink pen and a piece of paper?”
“Sure.” She digs around for the items. When our fingers brush, energy crackles in the air around us. Focus on work.
I clear my throat and lean forward, catching a hint of her perfume. Fuck, dude. Get your head out of your dick.
After I have written down the two visible numbers, I step back, putting distance between us. The need to touch her has my skin itching. “Play the rest of the video.”
We watch in silence as what appears to be a young male gets out of the driver’s side of the car, jogs to the front door, and knocks. While he waits, he glances in all directions while shifting from foot to foot. His movements are jerky and agitated as he turns back to the car.
When no one answers, he wipes his hands across his face. By his movements, he feels young. “Do you know him?”
“If it’s the boy I’m thinking about, I’ve seen him around, but he doesn’t live here.
His car is that same size. I believe he hangs out with Chad Whitlock’s stepsister, Mackenzie.
But it’s impossible to tell for sure with all the shadows and never getting a full view of his face. ” She shrugs. “Or the car.”
“Who does Mackenzie live with?”
“Chad. Her stepfather is in jail.”
It’s impossible not to feel sorry for the girl.
She’s been given a shit hand. If I remember correctly, her mother died a few years ago.
I had no idea she’d gotten stuck with her loser stepfather and now was under Chad’s thumb.
It’s still no excuse, but I understand why she wouldn’t want a baby brought into that mess. If it was her who gave birth.
“Chad Whitlock is an asshole,” Emily says. “He’s been in and out of jail since he quit school. Following in his equally assholish father’s footsteps.”
The boy jogs to the car, opens the passenger side door, and lifts the box off the passenger seat.
At 6:00 a.m., it was forty degrees and dark.
Fuck. Even though I know how it ends, it still makes me nauseous to watch it unfold.
This kid abandoned a baby on a doorstep, where anything could’ve happened to her.
She glances at me over her shoulder. “Mackenzie doesn’t stand a chance with those losers in her corner, holding her back.”
The kid hugs the side of the building with only the edge of the box visible on the screen. When he gets to an open space, his nose is detectable for a second before he yanks the hood of his black jacket over his head, blocking his features.
Then, there’s no more movement as if he vaporized into thin air.
For several minutes, nothing happens until the car speeds out of the driveway. How did he know where all the camera angles were? Without a close-up view of his face and only a partial plate number, I can’t accuse him of abandoning the baby.
“I’m going to check on Mackenzie. You’re sure she lives with Chad?”
“Yes.” She saves the video and pulls up her email. “What’s your email address?”
Once I give it to her, I lean down and kiss the top of her head. “Thanks. Be on standby. If she’s had a baby, she needs to be looked over.” I rotate my shoulders to dislodge the tension growing there. “I don’t want to cause trouble for her, but we need to know.”
“Be careful. You know what a loose cannon Chad is.”
“I know.” I slide my thumb along her shoulder as my need to continue touching her seems to have overtaken my common sense.
Dale strides through the doorway. “That looks like the car of the kid I’ve seen hanging around Mackenzie Whitlock.”
Emily launches upward, dislodging my hand and hitting the chair seat with the back of her legs. It slides across the floor and bounces off the wall. “Shit. You scared the crap out of me.”
“Hmph.” His eyes rove over us as if he’s cataloging our positions.
Emily is the first to gather her composure. She wipes her palms on her pants as she redirects her attention to me. “Call if you need anything.”
“Of course.” The urge to haul her to me and kiss her again is so strong that I spin on my heel and leave before I can’t fight the pull any longer.