Everyone started talking at once, and suddenly Leah and Maria broke through the crowd. “I came as soon as Leah called me.” There were tears in her sister’s and Whit’s caregiver’s eyes, and Presley Ann didn’t hesitate to embrace them.
Leah said, “They’ll find him, Presley Ann, I know they will.”
“We’re sending a car to your aunt’s house to pick up Dorothy and Willie right now,” Hank said as one of the cruisers pulled away from the curb. “Your dad told me they both had keys to his house for emergency use. If they know something, we’ll find it out soon enough.”
Kendry said, “There was something else. The day Whit was born, there was a couple with Dorothy in her hospital room. We walked in on them attempting to coerce Presley Ann to give Whit up to them. Dorothy was browbeating Presley Ann. There was something off about both of them.”
“Besides the fact that they had no right to be there,” Jared muttered.
“You didn’t know them, Presley Ann?” Hank asked as he took out his smartphone and began typing notes on it. “Do you know their names?”
Presley Ann shook her head. “No, Dorothy said they wanted to take Whit off of my hands. Willie had also talked about them. I was exhausted so my memories aren’t really clear. The nurse on duty, Tracey, was surprised to find them in my room. The woman’s name was Marvelle or something like that. The husband was tall and had salt-and-pepper hair. He might’ve been close to his fifties.”
“Jules,” Kendry said suddenly. “His name was Jules. And yeah, her name was Marvelle. I remember your aunt calling them by name.”
“You could identify them?” Hank said, before he looked down at his phone when it beeped with an incoming message. He was tapping quickly into his phone as he spoke. “James and Vincent are at your aunt’s house now. They’re questioning her and the cousin. We’ll check area hotels and motels as well.”
“Thank you, Hank,” Presley Ann said as she swiped the tears from her eyes.
Hank nodded and said, “We’re getting him back, sweetie. Any other outcome is unacceptable.”
“Come inside, girls,” her dad said as he ushered all of them, including Maria, toward the house. She followed on numb feet. In the house, she made her way to the place she needed to be. Her old bedroom and now Whit’s room.
Hank didn’t stop her, merely touched her elbow and said, “Don’t touch anything, okay? For now this is a crime scene. And tell me if you see anything out of the ordinary.”
Her father had purchased a crib, against her recommendation, telling her that he wanted to be ready in case she ever needed him to keep the baby. His faith in his own abilities was probably being tested sorely this night, she thought. Resisting the urge to stroke the glistening golden oak railing, she recalled his pride as he’d told her he found a bed that could grow with her boy. It could be converted into a youth bed, and then into a twin bed as he grew, so he’d always have a place to sleep at his Paw-paw’s home.
She glanced at the changing table, her mind still awhirl, trying to make sense of this. Surely Dorothy wasn’t that stupid. She herself was a mother. Wouldn’t she understand the bond Presley Ann had with Whit?
“She said that even if I did everything right, Whit would still disappoint me,” she murmured. She could hear the muted click of Hank’s stylus on the keyboard of his smartphone. “I don’t know why she said that.”
“I’m making a note of it. You never know what might shed light on the motivation.”
Her eyes scanned the changing table across from the crib and she went to the closet. “At least they took his diaper bag and his backpack. The wipes, diapers, and ointment are also gone. They took everything so at least he’ll be comfortable.” Tears clogged her throat and a tremble began in her core and grew in strength with each passing second. She closed her eyes as she felt Jared’s comforting presence beside her. She wasn’t sure how she knew it was him, but it was in his touch, and the way he pulled her back against his chest. Just in the nick of time, because the tremor grew into shakes that finally buckled her knees.
“How will they feed him?” she choked out. “He’ll be hungry soon.” Amplifying her anxiety, a familiar tingling wave of heat surged through her shoulders and her arms, making the fullness in her breasts ache painfully. She could barely tolerate her forearm pressed against her nipples to suppress the flow so she didn’t leak all over the place, the need to feed him was so strong.
More tapping from Hank and then he said, “Would he take formula?”