Chapter 17
“It’s time to decide what to do.” Dr. Lyons’ stare bored through Bridget.
She swallowed back bile as she knew what Leticia would want her to do.
Punt the decision long and hard. But the neurosurgeon had made it clear that while Eliza’s bleeding hadn’t spread far, it wasn’t getting better.
“You’re sure there’s not another option.
Not a medicine or something less invasive than brain surgery? ”
“This is relatively routine. Not without risk, but less risky than letting her continue with the pressure.” He crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter. “When she wakes up, she’ll have a bad headache, but we have pain medicine for that. At least she will wake up.”
“And you can’t decide this is in her best interests for medical care why?”
“Because we must show that all other avenues have been exhausted. Can you prove that?”
“It’s been less than twenty-four hours.” She tried to keep her voice steady but felt her panic raising her tone. She fought to bring it back down. “Can I call Detective Westmont and see where he is?” She’d also try Sydney and Dani again. Someone had to have something for her.
“I’ll be back in ten minutes. We really are running out of time.”
“I understand.” She pressed her hand against her stomach, hoping she could fight the growing sensation that she would be sick. She dialed Sydney first. “Please pick up.” No reception. She growled and hurried to the waiting room, where she tried again.
“I was about to call you.”
“Thank goodness. Please tell me you have news.”
“The judge just released the paperwork to us.” Sydney paused. “It’s not conclusive.”
“What does that mean?” Bridget sank to the couch and buried her head in her hand, holding the phone with the other.
“Just that. The baby is unnamed—just listed as baby girl—and the adoptive parents aren’t either.
The agency is all that’s listed. He only gave her a copy of her consent because it wasn’t going to an intermediary like an agency that could reach out to the other parties to ensure they were willing to be contacted.
” Sydney was quiet a minute. “Dani was really upset and had to go pick up Brianna. I think she was headed home.”
“No, no, no.” Bridget needed a win here.
“Dani must be the mom so she can decide about the surgery. At least if she is, we can make the argument to the court that she has the best legal position to be placed as the temporary guardian while the court decides who Eliza should be placed with permanently. I have nine minutes to find someone other than me to make this decision.”
“You might have to do it.” Sydney’s voice was soft, full of compassion, but it also brooked no argument. “There’s nothing else we can do tonight to get more from the court. I don’t think we can do anything else without evidence to show that the adoptive parents are gone.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
“Shouldn’t it be easy?”
Bridget rubbed her forehead. “I thought it would be. With the resources the state has, I don’t know why I can’t find them. Leticia hasn’t either.”
“There must be a reason. I wish I had better news, Bridget.”
“Thanks for all you did today.” Bridget ended the call and then dialed Todd. Maybe he had information she could use. He’d been gone for a long time, so maybe he’d learned something.
It took a few rings, but then he picked up. “Bridget? Everything okay?”
“No. I have about five minutes to convince the doctor that either the parents don’t exist, there are alternative parents, or he’s making the decision about surgery. He wants me to decide, but I can’t. Please tell me you have good information for me.”
There was a moment of silence before Todd spoke. “I’m not sure what you need, but pretty sure I don’t have it.”
“No.”
“I parked in the garage and will heading up in a minute, in case you lose me when I get in the elevator.” He filled her in on his drive to Wayne, and what he learned there, and his conversation with the busboy who found Eliza. “I have this crazy idea.”
She glanced at her watch, then at the ICU door. The doctor could come find her. That would buy her a little more time in case Todd had learned something he didn’t realize was helpful. “I’m all ears.”
“What if her family went into witness protection?”
“Huh.”
“You think it’s a bad idea?”
She thought through the implications. “No, I think it makes a strange sort of sense. The accident could have been on the news before it was scrubbed. Though that would take some serious power.”
“I don’t know that anyone could do that.” She heard the ding of an elevator, then his voice continued. “I’m stymied to think what else it would be.”
It did make a weird sort of sense, but it also didn’t help right now.
The elevator doors slid open, and Todd stepped out. Behind her, the ICU doors opened. She didn’t want to turn around because she didn’t want to see Dr. Lyons behind her.
“Ms. Ellis, it’s time. I need a decision.”
Todd raised his eyebrows at her, and she mouthed, “What do I do?”
He shrugged. “I don’t have the authority to make this decision.”
“Ms. Ellis?” Dr. Lyons’ voice insisted she turn around and face him. “I’ve waited as long as I can.”
Bridget eased around, met his gaze, and saw his concern. “You’re certain this is the right thing?”
“I don’t see an alternative, or I’d pursue that instead.”
“You’ll take good care of her?”
His smile was confident, but that’s what she wanted in the man who was about to drill into Eliza’s skull. “The best.”
Todd slid an arm around her shoulders, and she sank into his side, not bothering to pretend she had the strength to stand anymore. “Okay.”
“Great. We’ll get her prepped and take her up in the next ten minutes.”
“Thank you.” Bridget started to follow the doctor, then grabbed Todd’s hand. “Come with me?”
“Absolutely.”
Having him go with her as she went back to Eliza’s room and prayed over the girl before the medical team took her away was a new experience. There was something special about sharing the pressure and burden with him. It was nice to share it rather than carry it alone.
She clutched his hand as the techs wheeled Eliza away one more time. “Please tell me we’re going to find who did this to her.”
A couple of hours later, Bridget had curled into his side on the couches in the waiting room.
A nurse had brought a couple pillows and blankets.
Bridget had insisted she wouldn’t fall asleep, but the last twenty-four hours had caught up with her.
Todd leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.
Unlike Bridget, he couldn’t get comfortable enough to collapse.
It was worth it if it gave her a chance to rest. The stress of making the decision had worn her down.
His phone vibrated on the charger, and he reached over for it, trying not to disturb Bridget with the movement. Sydney? “What’s up?”
“I can’t get Bridget.”
“She’s finally asleep.”
“Good. But I think she needs to know that I think I found Eliza’s records.”
Todd rubbed his eyes. “How?”
“The judge’s refusal to give Dani the full records triggered a thought about how most adoptions happen. Sure, there are fully private placements, but many happen through an agency. But to find the right one, I went to Odette’s Facebook.”
“Wait. Caleb and I couldn’t find her on Facebook.”
“Guess I’m a better investigator. It took a bit of digging, but she posted regularly fourteen years ago. She posted about several fundraisers for their adoption journey. People didn’t think about online privacy then the same way we do now.”
“Interesting.”
“So, I called the agency and talked to someone. I explained the situation. She wouldn’t volunteer information, but she confirmed that Dani is not the birth mom.”
Todd felt for his friends. “That’ll be devastating for her.”
“It will.” Sydney let out a slow breath. “I’ve never seen her so intense and then so broken. She really wants to find her daughter. But Eliza isn’t her.”
“No information about her parents?”
“Not yet.” Sydney sighed. “However, when I explained how serious Eliza’s condition is, the director promised to look through the files and see if she could reach the birth parents.
Because of the emergency nature of the situation, a temporary guardianship with them might be preferable to emergency foster care. Regardless, it’s a long shot.”
“Okay. That could be helpful.” He considered where to go next. “Did the Facebook page have any sort of tributes?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know how many profiles become a place where people post memories after a person dies?”
“Oh, Nothing like that. About six months ago, she stopped posting. If she’s still on Facebook, she’s only looking at other people’s profiles.”
Another dead-end. “Thanks for the update. I’ll let Bridget know when she wakes up.”
“Let me know what?” Bridget pushed up and then stretched. She covered her mouth with her hand. “How long did I sleep?”
“Not long enough.”
“I bet I got more than you. Did you get any sleep?”
“I rested my eyes.” He set his phone down, then rubbed his jaw. “That was Sydney, and she confirmed that Dani is not Eliza’s mom.” He filled Bridget in on how she went about doing it. “The director said she’d do some checking though.”
Bridget put her arms around him and held on. “This makes me so sad for Dani. I shouldn’t have raised her hopes.”
He could get used to her holding on, but didn’t understand why this was the moment she leaned in. “Why?”
“I knew it was a stretch to hope Dani was her mom. But if Dani was, then we could reunite Eliza with her birth parents, and I knew she’d be okay. Now she’s truly alone.” She sniffed. “We’re all she has right now.”
“And you’ve been doing a great job taking care of her.” He held on tight hoping he could infuse some of his strength into Bridget.
“It doesn’t feel like I’ve gotten any of this right today. I should have given permission for the surgery earlier, but I wanted to make sure I was her only option first.” She shuddered and nestled closer. “It’s sad to think I’m her best option.”
He stroked her hair and prayed for peace for Bridget.
“We’ll keep doing our best. That’s all we can do.
” He held her for a minute until he felt her relax.
They had made a good team as they fought for Eliza all day, each in their own way.
She filled that empty place as he sank into the moment and let himself experience the rightness of it.
Then he leaned over and kissed the top of her head.
He wanted to get to the other side of this crisis so he could spend more time getting to know Bridget.
She froze but didn’t push away. Maybe it would be okay. “I think we’re both a little tired.”
Okay. That was how they’d play it. “You're right.” He sighed but didn’t let go since she hadn’t moved. “My next step will be to see if there’s a way to confirm her family was moved into Witness Protection.”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense. What I don’t understand is why.” She shifted slightly to lean against the couch. “Maybe we’re thinking about this all wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“When Sydney and I were in Tyler, Deputy Daniels talked about the drug syndicate that was trying to gain a foothold in Nebraska. What if Ryan Brandenberg stumbled into that when he was investigating his friend’s death? And that’s why he was killed?”
“That requires a couple big leaps.”
“But people have told you that Ryan wasn’t into drugs. No one believes he would have taken drugs. His parents wouldn’t have accepted that as an easy answer. Yet that’s what killed him. If his parents were digging and found evidence, that would qualify them for witness protection.”
“And that would lead to a car accident that then disappears from the record?”
She scrubbed her face with her hands and then pulled her feet up onto the couch, circling her arms around her knees. “So maybe it sounded better in my head.”
Todd ran through it in his mind. “It’s a stretch but possible. That doesn’t explain why Eliza was in that alley.”
“We don’t have to explain that yet. If the surgery is successful, maybe she’ll be able to tell us something.”
The elevator doors opened and Caleb and Dani stepped onto the floor. Dani hurried toward Bridget, who stood and opened her arms for a hug.
“I’m so sorry I can’t help Eliza.” Dani cried as she fell into Bridget’s embrace.
“I shouldn’t have asked you to look.”
“I needed to know. Her birthmark sounded similar to my baby’s.” Dani pulled back and wiped her eyes. “What can I do now?”
“We’re just waiting to see how the surgery goes.”
Todd looked at Caleb, who carried the baby car seat with Brianna. “I need to go to the precinct and make some calls. Ben’s also sent me the footage from this afternoon, and I need to examine it and compare it with last night’s.”
Caleb looked at his wife. “You okay if I go with Todd? I want to help look through the video footage. There must be something in there that we’re missing.”
“Brianna and I will keep Bridget company. I can get an Uber when we need to go home.”
It was time to figure out what had happened to destroy Eliza’s family. And Todd didn’t care who he had to wake up.
“Let’s find this guy.”