Emery fluttered around the office all day doing everything Steve told her to do. She understood that a temporary order had been granted, but the mother had put up a hell of a fight this morning and Steve told Emery it was only a matter of time before the kid was back with the mother.
“I’m going to the hospital to tell Lucas. I’ll be back,” Emery said, gathering her things.
“Emma, you have an afternoon of appointments.” Steve ran a hand through his hair. He sat at the lone plastic chair next to her desk. “Listen, I know this must be hard for you. It’s your first time. It gets easier. This is the job. You can’t just look at one kid. You have a hundred kids to protect.”
“One hundred and four.”
“Excuse me?”
“One hundred and four kids,” Emery said. “I have one hundred and four kids to protect.”
“Yeah, well.” Steve got up and stood over her desk. He looked at her for a few seconds before heading into his office.
Emery sighed. Yes, she wanted to save all of her kids, but she was driven to save this one kid who’d stolen her heart with his superheroes, humility, and sly wit. She sighed when she looked at her calendar. She was expected to conduct a home visit with a family that had just gotten their child back from foster care. The goal of the agency was to provide services so that parents could get their children back, but Emery cringed at the memory of Lucas’s face. Some parents didn’t deserve to have their children.
It felt like she blinked her eyes and the day was over. She was overcome with exhaustion as she drove to the hospital. The stress of the day and the lack of any sleep the night before finally got to her and made her lids heavy in anticipation of her bed. Just one more stop and then she could collapse.
Her heels clicked on the linoleum as she walked the route to Lucas’s room. When she opened the door, it was empty. Anxiety in the form of pins and needles all over her skin told her she’d lost him. None of his things were in the room. It looked abandoned. Her body involuntarily sagged against the wall, the last two days’ events taking their toll.
A pretty nurse approached her. “Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Lucas Lord,” Emery answered.
“He’s not here.”
Emery gestured toward the bed. “I see that.”
The nurse eyed her suspiciously.
“Listen, I’m his DFCS caseworker,” she said, fatigue seeping into each word. “I was coming to tell him about what happened today. Do you know who he left with?”
“Ma’am, you know I can’t divulge patient information,” the nurse responded brusquely.
“Fine.” Emery felt tears well up in her eyes, but she fought it. She wandered down the hall but turned back when she thought of something, quickly closing the distance between her and the nurse.
“You know the cop that brought him in, right?”
The nurse looked up from her paperwork. “Excuse me?”
“The cop that brought Lucas in last night and hung around the room until I could get here. You know him.” Emery remembered seeing the nurse in a heated discussion with Tim when she left.
“Yes, I know him.”
“Can you give me his phone number so I can call and determine where Lucas is and who he left with?”
The nurse squared her shoulders. “Do you have guardianship papers?”
Emery didn’t have guardianship papers with her. “No, all I need is his number.”
“I’m not giving his number to you,” she snapped.
“Well, could you at least call or text him and let him know that I’m asking. He was very helpful with Lucas last night and I know he’ll care.”
“He’s off,” the nurse responded. “He worked two twelves in a row. He’s sleeping.”
“Please, just do it.” Emery refused to budge.
The nurse begrudgingly texted, then stared at Emery for the minute they waited for his response.
“He said to get your number and he’ll call you and give you all the information,” the nurse grumbled.
Emery wrote the number down for the nurse and thanked her. As she walked toward her car, her cell phone rang.
“Hello.”
“Emma, this is Tim. Lucas’s mother picked him up from the hospital today.”
Emery was completely stunned. “Well, can we arrest her?”
“I’ve sent officers over to find out what’s going on, but there was no one home.”
“I don’t understand.”
“She was able to discharge him from the hospital before the order was issued and now she’s not home with him,” Tim explained. “It doesn’t mean she’s hiding, it just means they aren’t home.”