Chapter 5: The Missing Little Girl
For one terrible second, Darius couldn't breathe.
Maya's pink backpack lay on the floor beside the vending machine. A half-finished juice box sat on the chair where she had been sitting.
But Maya was gone.
“NO!””
Brielle tried to run, but her knees buckled. Darius caught her before she hit the floor.
“My baby!”” she cried.
“They took Maya!””
Officer Reynolds was already speaking into his radio.
“Lock down the maternity wing. Notify hospital security. We have a possible child abduction. Eight-year-old female, Maya Johnson, last seen near the east waiting area.””
Two uniformed officers rushed into the corridor.
Patricia Wells appeared behind them, her face drained of color.
“How did this happen?””
Darius barely recognized his own voice.
“You tell me. This is a hospital. How does somebody walk away with my daughter?””
Patricia looked stricken.
“We're reviewing the cameras now.””
“Review them while the police search!””
Brielle gripped his arm.
“Darius, please. Don't waste another second.””
He nodded and followed Officer Reynolds into the hallway.
Behind them, Gloria struggled to stand.
“Wait!””
Darius turned.
“Don't you dare come near us.””
“Darius, the message—”
“You have already done enough!””
Gloria flinched, but she kept talking.
“Renee wouldn't hurt Maya.””
“You don't know that!””
“She loves children.””
Brielle spun around.
“Then why is she threatening them?””
Gloria fell silent.
For the first time, even she seemed to understand that the story she had told herself—that Renee was helping a desperate family, that the babies would be safe, that nobody would suffer—had collapsed completely.
Officer Reynolds stepped between them.
“Mrs. Johnson, you need to remain here. We have questions about your involvement.””
Gloria's face twisted with panic.
“But my granddaughter—”
“Your granddaughter is missing because someone is trying to stop this investigation. If you know anything that could help us find her, now is the time to say it.””
Gloria looked toward Darius.
He waited.
She swallowed.
“Renee has a storage unit.””
“Where?”” Reynolds asked.
“Near the old freight depot on Mercer Street.””
Darius grabbed his jacket.
“Then let's go.””
“Not so fast,” Reynolds said.
“We're sending officers to secure the location. You will not approach it alone.””
Darius wanted to argue, but Brielle's trembling hand found his.
He looked at her and forced himself to stop.
They couldn't lose another child.
Twenty minutes later, they stood in the hospital security office watching footage from the east waiting area.
Maya had been sitting beside a vending machine, swinging her legs and clutching her pink backpack.
A woman in pale blue scrubs approached her.
The woman crouched, said something, and held out a small paper bag.
Maya shook her head.
The woman said something else.
Maya stood.
Then the two of them walked toward a service elevator.
Brielle covered her mouth.
“She knows Maya's name.””
The security supervisor rewound the footage.
The woman wore a surgical mask, but her eyes were visible.
Darius leaned closer.
“Can you zoom in?””
The supervisor enlarged the image.
A faint scar crossed the woman's right eyebrow.
Brielle remembered her description from earlier.
“The woman from the delivery room,” she whispered.
“That's the woman I saw.””
Patricia Wells stood behind them, looking horrified.
“I recognize her,” she said.
Everyone turned.
“Who is she?”” Reynolds demanded.
Patricia hesitated.
“Her name is Vanessa Cole. She was a temporary maternity nurse assigned to our hospital through an outside staffing agency.””
“Was she working today?”” the officer asked.
“She was scheduled for the morning shift, but she called in sick.””
Darius stared at her.
“Then why was she wearing hospital scrubs?””
Patricia didn't answer.
The supervisor switched to another camera.
Vanessa led Maya into the service elevator. Forty seconds later, the elevator opened on the ground floor.
Vanessa stepped out alone.
She carried Maya's pink backpack.
Brielle made a choking sound.
“Where is my daughter?””
The supervisor moved to the next camera.
It showed the loading dock.
Vanessa approached a black sedan parked beside a row of delivery carts. A man opened the passenger door.
Maya wasn't visible.
Vanessa climbed inside.
The car pulled away.
Officer Reynolds wrote down the license plate and immediately transmitted it to patrol units.
“Find that vehicle.””
Darius stared at the screen.
“Who was the man?””
The supervisor zoomed in.
The man had a narrow face, a shaved head, and a distinctive tattoo running along his neck.
Gloria, who had been escorted into the security office under supervision, suddenly gasped.
Darius turned toward her.
“You know him?””
She pressed a trembling hand to her chest.
“That's Marcus Bell.””
“The same man from the SUV?””
She nodded.
“But I thought Renee was with him.””
Officer Reynolds studied her.
“Mrs. Johnson, who exactly is Marcus Bell?””
Gloria looked down.
“Renee's son.””
Darius's eyes widened.
“My cousin?””
Gloria nodded.
“He's been in trouble for years. Renee always covered for him.””
“Then why didn't you tell us?””
“Because I thought he was only helping her move the baby!””
Brielle stepped toward Gloria.
“You thought? You keep saying that word as if it makes any difference!””
Gloria began crying again.
“I didn't know he would take Maya.””
Darius looked at his mother with utter disbelief.
“You gave Renee access to our newborn daughter, and now her son has taken your granddaughter. How much more do you need to know before you admit what you've done?””
Gloria couldn't look at him.
Officer Reynolds's radio crackled.
The black sedan had been spotted heading toward the industrial district. A patrol car was following it from a distance.
Then the dispatcher delivered another message.
The sedan had turned into an abandoned warehouse complex.
No one had emerged.
Reynolds called for backup and ordered the officers to wait for support before approaching.
Darius paced the security office.
Brielle sat rigidly in a chair, staring at the photograph of Maya on the screen.
“She's eight,” she whispered.
“She still sleeps with the night-light on. She doesn't like elevators. She gets scared when strangers touch her.””
Darius knelt beside her.
“She's brave. You know that.””
“She was brave enough to tell the truth about your mother, and now someone has taken her because of it.””
His throat tightened.
“I know.””
Brielle looked at him.
“If something happens to Maya because we didn't protect her—”
“Don't,” he whispered.
“Please don't finish that sentence.””
A knock sounded at the security office door.
A uniformed officer entered and handed Reynolds a small evidence bag.
Inside was a folded piece of paper.
“We found this under the windshield wiper of the vehicle parked outside the warehouse,” the officer said.
“It's addressed to Darius Johnson.””
Darius took the bag.
Inside the folded paper was a handwritten message.
*Your mother has lied to you about everything.*
Below it was a name.
*Vanessa Cole.*
And beneath the name was a final sentence.
*If you want your daughters back, ask her why the first baby was never adopted.*
Darius slowly lifted his eyes toward Gloria.
She had stopped crying.
Her face was completely white.
“Mom,” he whispered.
“What does that mean?””
Gloria stared at the note.
Then, with a voice barely louder than a breath, she said, “Vanessa isn't just the nurse.””
May you like
She looked at Darius.
“She's your sister.””
