Chapter 14 #2
“Let’s see if he has an ID on him.” The officer turned to cross over to the body. A second officer was kneeling beside the fallen man already, doing as she had, making sure he was dead. Wearing gloves, the officer near the body patted the dead man’s pockets, then removed a wallet and opened it.
“Who is it?” Grady asked.
“Guy by the name of Shane Cromwell.” The officer stared up at her. “Does that sound familiar?”
A wave of dizziness hit hard. She put a hand on Grady’s arm to keep herself from collapsing to the ground. No wonder the young waiter’s eyes looked familiar. “Yes. Jerry Cromwell was the man who kidnapped me twenty-five years ago. I think Shane must be his son. Or maybe a nephew.”
“Does Jerry have other children?” Grady asked, a sense of urgency in his voice.
“I have no idea.” She felt as if she’d been sideswiped by a semitruck. “I didn’t know Jerry had kids at all. Last I heard, his wife divorced him after he went to prison. He didn’t have kids back then.”
“This guy’s ID says he’s twenty-four years old.” The cop rose to his feet. “Could be that Jerry’s wife was pregnant when he went to jail. Had the kid after the divorce.”
“Run the license plate,” Grady said, and repeated the series of letters and numbers. “See if it’s owned by Cromwell.”
The officer spoke into his radio collar. Through the static, she could hear the dispatcher’s response. “The car is registered to Simon Cromwell. According to the registration, he’s twenty-four years old. Do you want his address?”
“Yes, give it to me.” The officer listened as he looked at what was written on Shane’s driver’s license. Then he nodded. “Okay, it’s a match. They must be brothers.”
Again, her knees threatened to buckle. Her baby had been taken by the twin sons of the man who’d kidnapped her twenty-five years ago.
Was this about money? Or revenge?
Likely both. And that scared her the most of all. Jerry Cromwell hadn’t physically hurt Lauren back when she’d been taken. All he’d wanted was money. She remembered staring up at his eyes, though. Eyes that he’d passed down to his son.
She had no idea if Simon Cromwell would treat Lucy the same way. Or if he’d hurt the little girl.
All she could do was pray they’d find Lucy very soon.
“Lauren?” Grady’s low voice had her turning to face him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, giving her a brief hug. “You’re shivering. Let’s go inside.”
“W-what a-bout the p-police?” Her teeth were chattering so much she could barely speak. She couldn’t imagine how she’d function if Grady was arrested for killing Shane Cromwell.
“Detective Kramer is here.” He nodded to where the detective was talking to the patrol officers. “He said I’m free to go.”
That was a relief. She nodded and allowed Grady to walk her back to the doorway. Only to discover it was locked. Her feet were numb, and she stumbled a bit as he steered her toward the front of the building.
“Wait a minute, are you barefoot?” Grady didn’t wait for her to answer but swept her into his arms, carrying her like a child. She wanted to protest, but a glimpse at her bloody feet kept her silent.
The doorman let them in. Grady thanked him, then crossed the lobby of the Cultural Center to set her down on a plush chair. She frowned at her blood-stained feet, realizing she must have cut them during her dash down the stairs and outside.
“Stay here. I’ll get towels from the bathroom.” Grady turned and quickly strode toward the restrooms. She didn’t care about her injuries; all she wanted was for Lucy to be returned unharmed.
The police needed to be out there searching for Simon Cromwell and Lucy. Would he be stupid enough to go home? Probably not, but she hoped the police would check there anyway.
It was at that moment that Lauren realized she didn’t have her phone. Her real phone, not the disposable one Grady had purchased for them. What if Cromwell called with a ransom demand? She pushed to her feet just as Grady came back holding damp towels in his hands.
The Cultural Center did not use paper towels in their bathrooms.
“Sit down. Let me take care of your feet.” Grady narrowed his gaze when she shook her head. “Lauren, please.”
“I need to get home to grab my phone for when Simon Cromwell calls with a ransom demand.”
“I’ve thought of that. I asked Rex to bring a replacement device for you in case yours is out of power.” He gently pushed her down. “Let me take care of your feet. Then we’ll get out of here.”
The fact that Grady had already thought of a replacement phone had her sinking back down on the chair. He knelt at her feet, setting her feet on the damp towel. The warm water felt good, but as her toes warmed, she was aware of the stinging sensation from the cuts she’d sustained.
A man wearing a black jacket with bright yellow FBI letters embossed on it strode into the lobby. Glancing over, he quickly headed toward them. Flashing a badge, he said, “I’m Agent Braun. I know you’ve already gone through this with the local police, but I need to know what happened.”
He was roughly her age, maybe a few years older. He wasn’t wearing a suit, likely because it was after hours.
Grady filled him in on the events that started in the ballroom and ended outside in the alley outside the building. Lauren was grateful for the warmth, but she was impatient for the police and the FBI to stop talking and to start searching for Lucy.
“Has anyone gone to Simon Cromwell’s apartment?” she interrupted, before Grady could finish.
“Officers have been dispatched to that location, yes.” Agent Braun sighed. “We also have issued a BOLO for the vehicle.”
“I need to make a call.” Grady stepped away to use his disposable phone. Lauren hoped he was calling his FBI friend. She didn’t care if Griff was in Wyoming, they needed all the help they could get.
“I’ll accompany you back to your home,” Braun said. “I have a tech team who will join us so we can put a tap on your cell phone. That’s our best chance of locating where this guy is hiding with Lucy.”
“Fine.” She stood, ignoring the burning sensation in her feet. “Grady? Let’s get out of here.”
“Thanks, Griff.” Grady pocketed his phone and turned to join them. “Griff has his tech guy Dominic searching cameras for the SUV.”
Braun frowned. “We have techs working on that too.”
“More eyes can’t hurt.” Grady came over to take her arm. “Are you ready to go? Rex and Mick, I mean, Micah are going to meet us at your penthouse.”
“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate. This nightmare was her fault, but she tried to believe that Cromwell wouldn’t hurt Lucy. Not if he just wanted money.
Please, Lord. She swallowed hard, hoping her prayer was being heard as Grady arranged for the valet to have their rental brought around.
The next fifteen minutes passed in a daze.
Lauren searched the cars around them for Lucy, even though she knew Simon Cromwell must have had her daughter stashed away somewhere by now.
But she couldn’t seem to help herself. The congested traffic made her want to scream in frustration When they finally reached the Savion building, her nerves were shot.
Grady parked in the same spot as earlier, and they were silent as they rode the elevator to the penthouse.
She walked into the apartment, keenly aware of the emptiness inside. No Clara, and worst of all, no Lucy. Lauren forced herself to head into the bedroom to change out of her gown. Not that she cared how she looked, but she needed something soft to cover her feet.
She grabbed her phone, only to see that it was dead.
She plugged it in, then headed back to the living room.
By the time she emerged, she saw that Grady had taken the time to change too.
Remembering how handsome he’d looked in his tux made her look away.
Her stupidity of insisting on attending the ball had gotten her daughter kidnapped.
She couldn’t bear to think about how Grady had held her.
Kissed her.
Somehow, Rex and a tall man with blond hair, who she assumed was Micah, arrived a few minutes later. Grady let them in and made introductions she barely acknowledged. She couldn’t stop from rushing forward to snatch the new phone Rex held in his hands.
“Thank you.” She took the phone and quickly accessed her iCloud account so she could transfer the information over from her old phone number. The one Lucy knew by heart.
It took a few minutes for the missed calls, messages, and text messages to light up the screen. She searched them all quickly, but none were from Simon Cromwell.
Or Lucy.
She sank onto the sofa, staring at her phone. How long would it take for Simon to call? A few minutes? An hour?
Or longer?
Thinking back to when Jerry Cromwell had kidnapped her as a child, she vaguely remembered him giving her father time to get the money together.
It hadn’t made much sense at the time, but now she understood the impact.
Banks were closed now, and it was a Friday night.
Some banks had Saturday morning hours, but to get the kind of cash Simon would ask for would be impossible.
Something he and his twin brother obviously hadn’t considered before grabbing her daughter.
“Lauren?” She glanced up at Grady. “Agent Braun and his tech guys are here.”
“Good.” She was about to stand up, but Grady placed a hand on her shoulder to keep her seated. No doubt he was still worried about her feet. Wearing the thick fluffy socks had helped ease the soreness.
“He needs to access your phone.” Grady gently pried the device from her fingers. “You’ll get it back very soon.”
“Okay.” Logically, she knew that tracing Simon Cromwell’s call was important. But she didn’t like giving up the only connection to her daughter, even for a few minutes. The tech guys and Agent Braun huddled around the dining room table to discuss the best way to proceed.
She belatedly realized they had likely missed dinner. Her stomach was a knot of tension, but she forced herself to consider the guests in her home. “I can see if there’s something to eat in the fridge.”
“Don’t bother. We’re fine.” Grady dropped down on the sofa beside her. He took her hands in his. “We’re going to find her.”
Tears pricked her eyes. “I hope so.”
He held her gaze for a moment, then glanced up as the blond-haired man approached. To her surprise, Micah held a handgun toward Grady, butt first. “To replace the one you had to hand over to the cops.”
“Thanks.” Grady released her hands so he could accept the gun. He turned away and worked the chamber. Then he holstered it and turned back to Micah. “We need to start digging into Jerry Cromwell’s background. Maybe he has other properties that his kids are using.”
Micah nodded. “Rex brought a laptop along. That’s a good place to start.”
“What if Jerry Cromwell is out of prison?” She abruptly jumped to her feet. “When we talked about him before, I hadn’t paid much attention to him because he was so much older than the guy who took Ariel. But now that we know he has twin sons, it could be that Jerry is out there too.”
“I’m on it,” Rex said, his fingers flying across the laptop keyboard. “Looks like Jerry Cromwell was released two weeks ago.”
“How is that possible?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“According to this, Jerry Cromwell was diagnosed with end-stage lung cancer.” Rex grimaced, glancing between Grady and Micah.
“Looks like he was given a compassionate release because he only has six months to live.” When she frowned, Rex added, “This is a new thing the prison system is doing. They don’t want to provide the care and treatment of these prisoners, and there’s always the issue of overcrowding, so they release them so they can be cared for elsewhere. ”
“We should have thought of digging into Jerry Cromwell earlier,” Grady said harshly. She could tell by the way he eyed Agent Braun that he was thinking the FBI should have been on that angle too. But all the self-incriminations in the world wasn’t going to change the facts.
They needed to find Lucy!
When a phone rang, there was an abrupt silence. Then it rang again.
“Lauren? It’s your phone, someone is calling from an unknown number.” Agent Braun’s voice was tense. “You need to answer it and keep the kidnapper talking for as long as possible.”
She jumped to her feet and crossed to the table. Leaning forward, she hit the button to answer the call. Then she quickly put the call on speaker. “Hello?”
“If you want to see your daughter again, do exactly as I say.” She hadn’t expected the mechanical voice.
“I will. But I want to hear from Lucy. I need to know she’s alive and unharmed.”
There was a brief pause, then her daughter’s voice said, “Mommy?”
She sagged into the closest empty chair. “I’m here, Lucy. Grady too. You’re going to be fine, okay? I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Twenty-five million dollars. One million for every year.” The mechanical voice was back. “You’ll receive instructions within the hour.”
“Wait, that’s impossible. It’s a Friday night! The banks are closed . . .” She stopped, realizing the line was dead.
Simon Cromwell had disconnected after making his outrageous demand.