Chapter 3
Nick caught Jillian before she fell to the pavement, scooped her up, and carried her inside the house.
Her honey blonde hair was close to his face, and he could smell the sweet scent of her shampoo with every step that he took.
He tried to ignore the fact that he had an attractive woman in his arms, but his body had other ideas.
“Put her on the sofa,” Mrs. Hudson said, as he followed her into the living room. “I’ll go get a wet compress.” She returned in minutes to gently lay the cloth over Jillian’s forehead.
Nick turned to Detective Simons and introduced himself. “Tell me what you know?”
“Only that the boy was taken at the zoo when he went to the restroom,” Simons said.
“The Playland Day Camp had a buddy system put in place for today, but the two boys split up because Carlos wanted to look at the reptiles while Travis went to the restroom. It was close in proximity so they thought they were okay to do that, that they would be safe.”
“But Travis didn’t come out,” Nick guessed.
“And if he did, Carlos was too preoccupied being fascinated by the snakes to notice,” Simons said.
“What did surveillance show?”
“Nothing.” The muscle in Simons’ jaw twitched and he clenched his fists. “And his abductors were smart. If they changed his clothing, which we believe they did, they took it with them instead of throwing the clothes in the trash.”
“Damn. These guys sound like pros,” Nick said.
“Either that or well organized. The question that keeps coming to my mind is how did they know that Travis would be at the zoo today?” Simons said.
He turned to look at the housekeeper who was sitting on the side of the sofa where Jillian lay, wiping the woman’s face with a damp cloth.
The two seemed to be speaking softly to one another.
Simons walked toward the sofa and Nick followed.
“Mrs. Hudson, how well known was this field trip that Travis went on?” the detective asked.
“Not very. I learned yesterday after I picked him up that he needed special items for his lunch today,” she said.
“No one had talked about it in the recent weeks?”
“No,” she said, standing up. “Would either of you like something to drink? Eat? I’m going to begin dinner. Will you be staying, detective?”
“No thank you,” Simons said.
“I’m good for now,” Nick said and went to sit beside Jillian on the sofa as the housekeeper left the room.
“I owe you an apology,” Simons said. “Your gut feeling was on the money.”
“And yours was pure ego,” Jillian said. “But I won’t hold it against you.”
“Thanks,” he said. “Just so you now, I’ve already spoke with Mr. McGinty about Travis. He’s asked us to hold off on making a public announcement about the abduction for now.”
“Why?” Jillian demanded. “Aren’t Amber Alerts normally made immediately once a child has been taken and are in danger?”
“They are and we will do so in twenty-four hours,” Simons said.
“That is how long I have given McGinty to reach out to his ex-wife and break the news to her himself. He didn’t want her to hear it on the television.
He said the last time he spoke to her she had finally been making a breakthrough in her recovery, and he didn’t want this to set her back. ”
Jillian nodded. “He’s a good man. Geneva should count her blessings every day that he is raising Travis.”
“I’m interested in knowing the story behind their divorce,” Simons said. “Why isn’t she in her son’s life?”
Jillian smiled. “It isn’t my place to say, Detective. I would be disloyal to Mr. McGinty if I were to discuss his personal life with you.”
“She lost custodial rights, didn’t she?” Simons said.
“You said it, not me,” Jillian replied. “This is a confidential matter between my employer and his ex-wife.”
“Fair enough,” Simons said, glancing at his watch. “I better be going. I’ll be in touch.”
Silence filled the room after the detective left, and Jillian stared into space trying to decide what to do. She finally looked at Nick. “I can’t just sit here and do nothing. Mrs. Hudson will show you to your room upstairs. I’m going to go to my quarters out back.”
“At least let me walk you there,” Nick offered. “You are not the steadiest on that boot yet. Also, you need to eat dinner and take your evening medication the doctor prescribed at the hospital.”
“I’m sure Mrs. Hudson will send a tray out to me,” Jillian said.
“Are you always this stubborn?”
“When I want to be left alone,” she said.
“Then let me see you to your room and I will leave you there,” Nick said.
She pressed her lips together for a moment and then nodded. “Very well.”
Nick helped her up and they walked through the kitchen where she asked Mrs. Hudson to bring the tray to her. And then they continued to go down the walk to the guest house.
“This is a nice set up you have,” Nick said.
“It is. I have my privacy and the McGinty’s have theirs,” she replied.
“I’m surprised there isn’t a swimming pool.”
“Mr. McGinty thought about it and decided it was a risk he didn’t want to take when Travis was small, and he said he’d rethink it later if Travis ever wanted to learn how to swim.”
“What boy doesn’t, especially in Miami?” Nick asked.
“A rambunctious one with a wild imagination who loves creating tales of monsters and sea creatures,” Jillian said.
A smile spread across her face. “On the weekends he plays with little boys in the neighborhood, and they have the best time running in the backyard here because they don’t have a pool to hamper them like the other houses. ”
“I guess I can see the advantage then,” Nick conceded as they slowly made their way down to the guest house.
There was a number pad on the door and Nick watched her punch in a code. “You can come in if you want,” she said, opening the door and turning on the light.
“Why a keypad?” he asked, following her into the spacious room.
“Mr. McGinty thought it was a good way to keep Travis from invading my privacy,” she said. “He can’t enter without the code.”
“And can you change the code at any time?” Nick asked.
“Yes. I can do that if needed,” she replied.
“That’s good. In the event Travis watched you punch in your code and then came in here on his own another time after that,” Nick said.
“Why would he do that?” she asked.
“He might not now but give him a year or two and he will just because he can. He’s a boy after all,” Nick reminded her.
Frowning, she ran her fingers through her hair staring at him for a moment. “If I’m still with the McGinty’s after his abduction.”
“Need I say again this wasn’t your fault. You were in the hospital after being almost killed by a hit and run driver. They can’t hold you responsible.”
“What they can and what they will have no bearing on the situation. My days may be numbered here,” Jillian said and hobbled passed the kitchen island over to her muted floral print sofa. She sat down on the far end so she could put up her left booted leg.
Nick sat in the matching armchair. “I know we’ve been over this already, but other than the letters and the two muggings do you have any idea who might want to get you out of the way so they could get to Travis?”
“You think that was the motive in all of this? To have easy access to Travis?” she said surprised. “Because I said the same thing to Detective Simons before you arrived, but he wouldn’t buy into it.”
Nick shrugged. “I do. It might be a silly notion, but why else would anyone do it? And why out of all the kids in the Playland Day Camp did they take Travis while on the field trip unless they knew he was Mr. McGinty’s son?”
“How could they? All the children were dressed alike,” Jillian said, and described the identical outfits the campers had to wear. “That way, if one of the kids got separated from their group, the staff could easily find them.”
Nick nodded. “Makes sense. But why take Travis and not Carlos who was at the reptile exhibit? He was also alone.”
“He was?” she said.
“Yes, Simons told me that while you were passed out. Carlos was looking at the reptiles while Travis ran into the restroom. That is when the two boys separated for a few minutes,” Nick said.
“But they were a buddy system. They were supposed to stay together,” she explained. “At least that was the Playland’s hopes for the field trip with this trial run of their system.”
“And they are eight years old,” Nick reminded her. “They didn’t think anything would happen if Travis went to the restroom while Carlos waited for him by the snakes.”
“No, they wouldn’t,” Jillian agreed. “I blame the Playland staff. They made the decision not to have chaperones go with the children on this trip. They wanted to try this buddy system out and look what happened.”
“Any other time it might have worked, but I’d say Travis has been targeted for a while,” Nick said.
“Why do you say that?” she asked.
“Look at those letters you received,” he said. “It all started with them, wouldn’t you agree.”
Jillian sucked in her breath and thought for a moment. “It does make sense. But who? And why now?”
“That’s what we have to figure out while we wait for a ransom demand, if one comes,” Nick said and got to his feet.
“Why wouldn’t one?”
“This might not be about money,” he said.
“I won’t tire you out any more than I already have with these questions.
I’ll leave you to rest now and go back up to the main house, but if you need me for any reason, here is my number.
” He removed a business card from his wallet and laid it on the coffee table.
“I’ll talk more about this with you tomorrow with a plan of action once we see how tonight unfolds and I’ve had time to think on it. ”
“Okay. See you then,” she said.
“Will your door lock behind me?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. See you tomorrow.” And with that he left her going out the door as Mrs. Hudson appeared with her dinner tray. The housekeeper sat it on the island, fixed her something to drink from the refrigerator and then left without a word.
Jillian got up and went over to the island, sitting at one of the bar stools to eat her dinner. However, she found the delicious meal Mrs. Hudson had prepared unappetizing as her mind was fixed on her conversation with Nick.
What if there was a ransom demand? How on earth would she be able to meet the kidnappers’ requests with Mr. McGinty out of the country?
But what if there wasn’t a ransom request? What did the mean about Travis’ abduction? What was the motive? And who was behind it?
As these questions ran through her head, she found her stomach all twisted in knots and she only picked at the food, each bite she put in her mouth made her stomach roll and, in the end, she stuffed the food down the garbage disposal.
Tears streaming down her face, she took her evening medication unable to get Travis off her mind. She feared for their safety, but mostly for him because he was only a child. No telling what those creeps who had taken him were doing to him.
Hobbling to her room, she silently prayed she’d be able to sleep and not toss and turn, worrying about Travis wherever he was at.