Chapter 48 – Mitchell
MITCHELL
Sitting back in the driver’s seat, I take a moment to just breathe as the garage door closes behind Charlie when he pulls in beside me driving my car.
His door opens and I grip the steering wheel tighter before unbuckling my belt and climbing out of Marissa’s car to join him.
He hasn’t really spoken since we watched the dashcam footage, his mouth opening and closing a few times like he’s about to ask me something before giving up.
His mouth opens again, but this time it’s my phone ringing that stops him and I pull it out of my pocket to see Mark’s number across the screen.
“Tell me you have the doctor’s name who issued the prescription for the IUD,” I say in leu of a greeting, knowing it’s a pretty slim shot but needing something right now.
The line is quiet for a second and I switch it to loudspeaker, locking both cars before we cross the garage. “The serial number on the IUD was flagged as one of five stolen seven years ago.”
Exactly what I was hoping wasn’t the case, but I also knew it was the most likely outcome, given the circumstances in which it was inserted. “Do you have the report number?”
“Five? Does that mean there’s five more women out there like Bonnie?” Charlie asks at the same time, his voice low but echoing through the garage nonetheless.
“I just emailed you a copy of the report,” he says and my phone dings. “But Mitchell…you know I have to report this, right?”
“I know.” It’d be unfair to the potential women who might be in dangerous or abusive situations, to not. “Just…give me a couple of days? I’m going to find the person behind this and when I do…if there are others, I’ll get that information from them.”
“I can give you a day, two at most.” His voice is firm, and I don’t argue with him. After all he’s done for me over the years, I’d rather not risk his medical licence.
Hanging up, I pocket my phone and lock the garage behind us. “Do you still think it’s the coroner? That he stole a bunch of IUDs? Would he even be able to insert them?”
I consider his question for a moment as we cross the grass. “I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “I mean, he was a forensic pathologist, and they are technically medical doctors so theoretically, yeah he could insert an IUD.
“Whether he was the one who was patching up Marissa and inserted the IUD or not, doesn't change the face he isn’t an innocent man. He helped cover up that girl’s death. I just haven’t found anything that suggests he kept working with Michael after.
“Although, he did suspiciously retire days after Michael’s body was found. Unlike the fire marshall who ruled the fire an accident and died in a car accident not long after the investigation was closed.”
We stop in front of the door, and I use Marissa’s house key, given I gave mine to Charlotte earlier. Unlocking the door, I hold it open for Charlie to go inside, almost hitting his back when he stops in his tracks. Stepping around him, I see exactly why he’s stopped.
Inside is pure chaos, not because anyone is running amok or anything, but rather this house was not built with eleven adults and a child in mind.
I don’t know how Charlie’s dads aren’t stepping on each other’s toes as they move around one another in the kitchen, preparing what looks to be dinner. There’s barely enough room in there for three, much less four people, and yet they work together seamlessly.
Meanwhile, Lucinda and Ariana are sitting on the couch watching as Ariana’s guys are entertaining Charlotte in the loungeroom, squished together and crowded around in a circle talking animatedly among each other.
Charlie heads toward the kitchen and I reluctantly follow, preparing myself for an onslaught of questions. Once we sit down, all the chatter in the house quiets immediately, though Charlie's friends keep talking, making sure Charlotte remains distracted.
Rather than wait for me, Charlie dives right in recounting what we found…or rather, didn’t find. I look away, not wanting to see the disappointment in their eyes as he tells them that we don't know where they are.
In the background, Charlotte boisterously calls out uno, slamming her card down onto the pile while holding her last remaining card close to her chest.
My eyes find the archway leading to the stairs and my leg starts bouncing, the need to go up and start breaking down the footage from the dashcam growing.
Charlie’s voice cracks when he gets to the part of them putting Jace and Marissa into the boot, and an audible gasp comes from behind me.
Spinning around, I find Charlotte with her arm outstretched like she was about to tap me on my shoulder, her eyes wide with horror as she looks at Charlie, having heard him.
Tears fill her eyes, and she shakes her head, backing away from us as she looks between Charlie and I.
In the loungeroom, everyone is halfway to their feet, their arms frozen in the air like they tried to stop her from racing over, but she was too fast.
In the smallest voice I’ve ever heard her use, Charlotte turns to me. “Is that why Mum and Jace didn’t pick me up? Someone took my mum?”
Her bottom lip trembles and I scramble out of my seat. “Charlotte,” my voice trails off as I crouch down in front of her, but she steps back, shaking her head.
“Where is my mum? I want my mum.” My heart breaks as her voice cracks, filled with a level of pain no child is supposed to know. Pain I swore she would never experience in her life.
I broke my promise. I swore nothing bad would ever happen to her or her mother and yet they were taken from me, and I didn’t even know.
Why didn’t she hit the panic button?
I reach out a hand, but Charlotte bats it away. “No!” She looks around the room at the eleven adults all looking at her helplessly, all holding the same expression of heartache in their eyes. “No,” she repeats, her tears falling.
“Where is she?” Charlotte yells, her voice echoing through the otherwise silent house, a vast contrast to what we walked into.
“I…I don’t know,” I admit, my shoulders dropping in defeat. “But -” my words are cut off as Charlotte lets out a hoarse cry.
“You always know!” she cries out, her tiny hands curling into fists. “You always know where Mum is Mitchie! Where is she?” she screams, shoving my chest and I fall back, hitting the stool behind me.
“Oh my God,” someone gasps out, but other than noting it’s feminine, I don’t know the people around me well enough to identify who it came from.
I rub my chest, feeling a phantom burn from where her little hands connected and I reach out for her again. This time I pull her into my arms, ignoring the way she hammers at my arms, chest and back, wherever she can reach until she tires herself out.
“Where is my mum?” Charlotte repeats, the words barely coming out as she cries. “Find her, please. Please Mitchie, find my mum,” she begs, clinging to me now and I wrap her in my arms.
“I will,” I swear, rocking her from side to side. “I promise, I’ll find them.”
“Mitchell,” One of Charlie’s dads, Elijah, drags my name out and I bristle at his tone. He’s barely spoken a word since they all arrived, mostly watching and offering silent support, and now he chooses to speak up?
His eyes, one blue, one brown, are filled with warning and I shake my head, glaring at him over Charlotte’s shoulder.
Lucinda steps around him, taking Charlotte from my lap and muttering something to her as they walk away. Elijah holds his hand out, helping me to my feet but he doesn’t let go once I’m standing.
“Be careful with the promises you make. We made that promise years ago and we had to watch what it did to our son when we couldn’t deliver.”
I understand what he’s trying to say, I do but the difference between me and them is I have the skills and resources to track them down.
“There isn’t a place on this planet they could take her that I won’t find. I will find them, and I’ll end whoever dared to take them from me. From Charlotte.” I look over to his son who is still sitting on his barstool, looking down at his hands, his whole body shaking. “From Charlie.”
His eyes flick between mine, and eventually he nods. “Okay. I believe you. If you’re who I think you are, I believe you. When you get a location, we’ll be there to help you bring them home.”
“With all do respect, nothing I do from here on out is going to be legal. I’m going to find them by any means necessary, and I will kill anyone who was involved in taking her. You guys are dads, I can’t ask you to be involved in that.”
“That’s the thing about dads…they come in many different forms.” He smiles, a distant look in his eyes. “You know, a very long time ago, someone sat us down and told us that while Charlie wasn’t our biological son, we were dads.”
His eyes drift over his shoulder to his wife who is now sitting on the couch with Charlotte in her lap and he mutters under his breath, “Never thought I’d be in his shoes, but here it goes.”
Elijah straightens, turning back to face me. “That feeling you’ve got? The one that tells you you’ll tear this world apart for that little girl?” He looks at me knowingly, his eyes drifting back to his son. “Yeah, you’re a dad.”
He places a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll be there,” he declares, nodding his head and walking over to his wife, sitting down beside her and pulling her into his arms.
She looks up at him, her eyes filled with so much love and adoration that he returns, Charlotte resting against her chest.
With three little words and my entire world shifts. Charlotte wipes her nose with the back of her hand, offering Lucinda a weak smile and nodding her head at whatever Lucy just told her.
A dog barks and Charlotte sits up. “Is that a dog?” I ask, and Charlotte lets out a hiccup before nodding, a small smile on her face as she disappears into the laundry.
I hear the back door open, then a giant white fluffball runs through the house, slipping on the floorboards as it bounds the corner before pulling up short when it spots me.
I watch as its nostrils flare, head tilting as it studies me before giving me a wide berth and sitting at Ariana and Ethan’s feet.
“This is Max,” Ethan explains, his cheek dusting pink as everyone turns to him.
Clearing his throat, he kneels down and scratches the dog behind the ears.
Max wags his tail, leaning into Ethan’s touch before he lets out a quiet yip.
“He’s retired now, but in large crowds with unfamiliar people…
old habits die hard.” He shrugs and stands.
Elijah’s twin suddenly claps his hands, moving the attention from Ethan to himself. “Sorry, that was louder than expected. Dinner’s ready. Everyone go wash their hands. Oh, and Mitchell?”
I turn at the sound of my name, my hand snapping out reflexively when he tosses something at me.
Opening my palm, I see my keys that Charlie handed to me when we were still in the garage.
Keys I put in my pocket and definitely didn’t take out or give to his father.
The house key I gave to Charlotte earlier, now sitting on the keyring.
“At least he gave them back.” Charlie lets out a snort, shaking his head and disappearing into the laundry to wash his hands.