Page 27 of Juan

“I’d seen the police chief visiting the Elys a few times. I figure if he wasn’t doing anything about how Anthony treated Amber, then he sure as shit wouldn’t do anything to help the baby. Would probably have charged us with kidnapping,” Clara replied.

“He would have,” Amber said. “And Anthony would have turned it to his advantage and told the world how glad he was to have his baby back, played the doting father, and then she would have grown up in that hell.” She paused and took a deep breath, then another. “I want to hear the rest of the story, but you will never know how grateful I am for the decisions you made that night.”

Clara nodded, a simple response to a powerful emotion.

“Adrian arrived with supplies,” Clara continued. “And we took care of her. She had a few rough days, but by day six or seven, she was out of the woods. Still a preemie and needing preemie care, but a fighter, too.”

“Why didn’t you reach out to Amber?” Juan asked.

“A week after I found Zoe, I stopped by with a plate of cookies,” Clara said. “Anthony answered the door. Told me his wife was recovering from a bad fall down the stairs and it would be best if I didn’t stop by again and disturb her. Now, I have to admit, I wondered if you were in fact recovering,” Clara said, her eyes on Amber. “It crossed my mind he’d killed you and was buying himself time, because sure as the sun rises in the morning, if you’d taken a tumble down the stairs, it hadn’t been an accident.”

Amber lowered her head and shook it. “It wasn’t an accident. I’d been able to hide the pregnancy until that night. I’m tall and had only gained eighteen pounds by then. And he hadn’t touched me, sexually, in months. But he came home early from golfing that day and saw me get out of the shower. I couldn’t hide it without clothes.”

Clara rolled her lips and nodded. “Figured it was something like that. I went home, and Adrian and I decided to keep taking care of Zoe until you were better, then figure out a way to get you away from your piece of shit husband. We’d heard rumors about networks like yours,” she said, nodding to Mantis. “But neither of us had those connections. We started some discreet digging, but four weeks later, you were gone.”

“And we had no way of finding you,” Adrian said.

Amber’s gaze darted between the two women, then landed on Ryan. “Anthony hired a nurse to look after me. The damage he’d done that night…it nearly killed me. I was in and out of consciousness for nearly a week, and it took several more days for me to be fully alert. I have only vague memories of giving birth. The labor pains mixed with all the others, and I wasn’t even really aware of what was happening.” Then fixing her attention on Ryan, she repeated what she’d already told the rest of them about Anthony telling her she’d given birth to a boy who’d died.

This was Juan’s third time hearing it, and it didn’t get less painful, less horrifying, with each recital.

“The nurse figured out exactly what happened and how I was injured, though,” Amber continued. “She helped put me in contact with the right people. I had nothing left to lose at that point. I thought my baby was dead, I’d almost died, and I knew if I stayed, it was only a matter of time. I figured he might catch me, but if he did, he wasn’t going to do anything he wasn’t already doing.”

“But he didn’t catch you,” Juan said. “You’re here now. With your baby.”

She reached up and set her hand atop his. He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“How did you know Amber was gone?” Juan asked.

“I was chatting with a friend of mine who’s the intake nurse at the hospital where I worked at the time when a cop came in flashing Amber’s picture,” Adrian said. “He asked if we’d admitted anyone who looked like her. He spun a story that she had mental health challenges, had gone missing, and her husband was looking for her. To be fair, he was a beat cop, probably believed the story, but I knew the truth.”

“Was there any press coverage of her going missing?” Ryan asked.

Adrian shook her head. “Again, friends with the police chief. They kept it all very quiet.”

“And it was then we realized that Zoe really needed to stay a secret,” Clara said. “Anthony is the type of worthless horse manure that if he ever got his hands on her, he’d use her as leverage to get Amber back. And we didn’t want either of these ladies to ever set foot in his presence again.”

Amber sniffed. He grabbed a tissue from the box and handed it to her. She looked up at him with a watery smile and murmured a thank-you.

“So we made a plan,” Adrian said. “I moved back home to help. We set Zoe up in her own room and gave her all the care we could. Although by then, she was strong and catching up to her adjusted age fast. I put some feelers out to folks who I thought might know who could have helped Amber and started the long, slow process of tracking her down.” She paused, then added, “I also have a friend who works at a free maternal and child health center that doesn’t require papers. Zoe doesn’t have a birth certificate, but she’s had all the checkups and vaccines she should for her age.”

“Your notes suggested there’s danger now,” Juan said. “Has something changed?”

Adrian cast Amber an apologetic look. “Sorry about the notes sounding so ominous. We assumed you knew you had a little girl, so would know who we were talking about.”

“We also weren’t sure of your situation and thought it would be better to talk on the phone first,” Clara chimed in. “And we thought it best to stay mostly out of sight. We don’t think anyone’s been following us, and we’ve been careful with our phones, only using the burner, but we didn’t come this far to make a stupid mistake.”

“Like be seen on the street talking to you,” Adrian said. “As to what’s changed,” she continued, returning to his question, “three months ago, Anthony saw her. Saw Zoe.”

Clara nodded, setting her drink down. “I had her out at a park a couple of towns over and when I got home, the lawn service guy hadn’t pulled his truck all the way in, so I parked on the street. Until then, we’d done a good job of keeping her out of sight of everyone in the neighborhood. We didn’t play in the front yard, we always parked in the garage and made sure the door was closed before taking her out, those sorts of things. But that day, I had to get her out of the car on the street.”

“And it just happened to be the same day Anthony was talking to a contractor about repaving his driveway,” Adrian said.

“He saw me. Saw us. From a distance, but close enough to see Zoe’s resemblance to you,” Clara picked back up. “I don’t know that he knew, but he paused in talking to the contractor, and I felt his beady little evil eyes tracking me. I could practically feel his calculation.”

“Once again, we found ourselves making plans,” Adrian said. “I never stopped poking around and asking questions in the hopes of identifying the group who helped you, but I’d been cautious about it, wanting to protect your identity and Zoe’s existence as much as possible,” she said, nodding to Amber. “After that day, we didn’t have the luxury of taking such precautions.”

“The time for that had passed,” Clara said with a nod. “Finding you was the best chance of keeping Zoe safe. We figured between your claim to her, our knowledge of what happened, and, if you needed it, our money, we could fight Anthony and keep both of you away from him.”