Chapter Thirty-Two #2
It was difficult to think that she could be after all this time.
Not quite two years, but pretty damn close.
What were the odds of her being alive? Slim to none?
Especially if Martin Calloway had kidnapped her.
Had he gotten her the medical attention she needed?
Based on the records JJ had hacked into, Kylie’s injuries had been extensive.
So much so, it was a wonder she had survived at all.
Those were all questions she’d been trying to answer. The whole team had.
Her attention shifted to the doorway when Baz appeared. She smiled, unable to help herself.
“Hey,” Baz greeted Brantley. “Something wrong?”
“We were just talkin’,” she explained. “Reese went to call Z.”
“No word on the DNA, huh?”
“Not yet.” JJ was crossing her fingers that they would get something.
She didn’t know how that worked, but she’d watched enough television to know they wouldn’t be able to get anything if the sample was degraded.
Since they didn’t know how long ago someone had been kept in that room, it was anyone’s guess.
“Any chance you could ping Allison Bogart’s cell phone?” Brantley asked, glancing between her and Baz. “She called Reese this mornin’. Said she needed to talk. We were gonna meet her at the diner, but she never showed.”
“She called you?” JJ walked into the living room to get her laptop from the coffee table.
“Reese,” Brantley told her. “A little before five.”
“From what number?”
“He said it was blocked.”
“A burner, then. I have no way of trackin’ that one, but I can try the one we have for her. If it’s on,” she said, setting the computer on the kitchen island. “Last time I tried to ping it, it was off.”
As she was logging in, Reese walked into the kitchen. All eyes shot to him.
He shook his head. “Z’s gonna call the lab.”
That wasn’t the news she was hoping for, but it sounded about right.
The team had uncovered quite a bit of information in the past few days, but not enough to locate Kylie or to confirm Calloway’s whereabouts.
For some reason, JJ didn’t think they were together.
Martin Calloway seemed too smart to be holed up with a woman he technically kidnapped. If that was what happened.
Hell, there was a good chance Kylie was in witness protection and off living her life. Maybe she had amnesia and didn’t know who she was. She could be in Idaho picking potatoes or something. They did that there, right?
JJ focused on the task at hand, keying in the information to get Allison’s phone to give her a location.
“It’s off,” she said, disappointment swamping her. She chewed on her bottom lip for a second, then began typing. “Let me just run a couple more things. You said the call came in a little before five, right?”
Brantley nodded. “Yeah. She called Reese.”
It didn’t always work, but JJ tried backtracing the incoming call from Reese’s cell phone. It wouldn’t provide a number, but it could give a… “That’s weird.”
Baz looked at the computer over her shoulder. “Is that the house where they found the blood?”
“Yeah.”
“Allison was there?” Brantley asked.
“Looks like it.”
Something blipped on the screen.
Baz leaned in. “Was that…?”
“Her phone?” JJ nodded. “It’s on.”
“Where is it?”
“At that house. No, wait. It’s movin’.”
With Baz looking over her shoulder, they watched as the dot on the screen moved.
“She must be in a car because it’s movin’ too fast for her to be on foot.” JJ looked at Brantley and Reese. “Maybe she got a late start on the day.”
“It disappeared,” Baz noted.
JJ glanced down at the screen again. The dot was gone.
“Damn it,” she muttered.
A soft sound came from the monitor on the counter. Her head snapped up, and a smile replaced her disappointment. “Someone doesn’t wanna take a nap.”
“You want me to—”
She cut Baz off mid-sentence, putting a hand on his chest and gently urging him back. “I got it.”
His amused chuckle was all she heard as she hurried toward the twins’ bedroom. She went in quietly, not sure whether they were both awake or only one.
“Hey, little man,” she whispered, peering down into the crib at her beautiful angel. “You’re supposed to be nappin’.”
He sniffled in preparation for a cry, but she picked him up and gently cradled him against her shoulder. She’d learned that he liked to be upright while Naomi preferred to be nestled in her arms.
“How about a diaper change?” she told him, carrying him over to the changing table. “I’m bettin’ money that your sister’ll be awake by the time I’m done.”
That was how it seemed to work. She wasn’t quite a pro at the diaper change, but she was getting there. She’d cut her time in half yesterday when she realized that their patience ran quite thin when they were hungry.
“Let’s go see Daddy, then I’ll come back and get your sister changed.”
As though she’d been doing it her entire life, JJ cradled Noah against her shoulder, using one hand to secure him while she grabbed the dirty diaper with the other.
In the kitchen, she found Baz working on her computer. When he heard her, he looked up, and she immediately saw the love on his face.
“Where’s Brantley and Reese?” she asked, noticing the abandoned coffee cups on the counter.
“Said they’d swing by this afternoon if they can get away. Didn’t want to get in the way.”
“More like Uncle Brantley’s scared to hold a baby,” she told Noah as she passed him to Baz. “But that’s okay. I’ll make sure he gets plenty of practice, just you wait and see.”