And the husband didn’t know.
Charlotte felt her adrenaline building.
This could be bad. She couldn’t blame the man for being mad his wife had swapped away his baby. But she still couldn’t let him shoot her. Charlotte looked at her watch. It had only been a minute since she talked to 911. It felt like a year ago.
Why did that woman have to confess now?
Certainly, she’d been safer before admitting to stealing a baby. If for no other reason than her husband was less likely to fire at someone holding his child.
His, being the operative word.
Charlotte liked to think no one would fire in the direction of a baby, no matter what its parentage, but experience and news told her anything was possible.
She moved to the fence’s gate and put her hand on the handle.
Here goes nothing.
She was about to call into the yard when she thought about the effect of a stranger’s voice on a man whose whole world had just spun out of control.
She ducked down very low, so low no one would ever think to shoot there.
Hopefully. Probably.
Fingers still on the gate handle, she called out.
“Hey neighbor!”
That sounded friendly. He would be less inclined to shoot his neighbor than a total stranger, right?
There was an awkward pause—though, no gunshot—which buoyed Charlotte’s hopes for a non-violent ending.
“Who’s there?” the man demanded to know.
Charlotte pressed on the latch and eased the door open.
“Hi,” she said, standing and poking her head around the corner. Her muscles tensed, ready to leap behind the fence if he raised his gun.
He tucked his hand behind him to hide the weapon.
Good.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
The husband’s eyes looked dead and rimmed with red, as if he had started to cry, too.
Charlotte held up a palm. “My name’s Charlotte Morgan—”
The man pulled the gun from behind his back and pointed it at her.
Nope! Not good!
Charlotte threw her back against the fence and scrambled away on all fours.
“Get back here or I’m going to kill them both!” he screamed. He sounded like a man unhinged.
Charlotte swallowed.
I was afraid he might say something like that.
She looked at her watch again.
Two minutes since her 911 call.
Are you kidding me? Is time going backwards?
“Okay. Easy. I’m coming.”
Charlotte spoke slowly and crept back towards the gate. The longer it took for her to follow his directions, the better chance the police would show up before he had a chance to hurt anyone.
“Hurry,” he said.
She raised her hands so he could see them over the fence and know she was on her way. Peering around the corner, she forced a smile.
“I’m here. We’re all good,” she said. She was going to say there was no reason for him to be angry, but decided he’d have a counter argument for that.
He looked less angry and more frightened now. She liked him better angry. Now, the gun shook in his hand, which didn’t help Charlotte feel better about her chances of avoiding catching lead.
“This is none of your business,” he spat. Literally. Spittle flew everywhere.
Charlotte glanced at the woman. She and the baby had stopped crying. She was shaking, too. Charlotte had the passing thought maybe the woman’s shaking body was what had rocked the baby back to sleep. Being scared almost to death seemed like a rough way to get a child to sleep, but she knew mothers who would be willing to give it a shot in a pinch.
What am I thinking? Stop.
Charlotte returned her focus to the guy with the gun.
Yeah, there you go. He’s sort of important. Now is not the time to distract yourself from the fact your life is in danger.
“It kind of is my business,” she said. Charlotte raised her hands and stepped a little farther through the gate so he could see she wasn’t armed. “I’m here for the baby.”
A motion caught Charlotte’s eye and she turned to see the woman twist away from her, hiding the child from her line of sight with her body.
Does she not understand she can’t keep that boy?
The man lowered the gun a little.
“Can you get Josh Jr. back?” he asked.
“Yes. Absolutely,” said Charlotte, offering her most reassuring smile, though she was unsure she spoke the truth. She imagined the police and child services would give Josh Jr. back to the father, once they confirmed he wasn’t involved in the kidnapping. It might take a while.
Holding people at gunpoint didn’t help his case.
“I’ll tell the police you didn’t have anything to do with this,” she added, working her thought to its conclusion.
The gun raised again, the barrel pointing squarely at her chest.
“What about my wife?” he asked.
Charlotte’s smile took a nose dive.
You mean the woman who gave away your child?
It seemed his loyalty to his wife knew no bounds. Maybe bringing up the authorities hadn’t been the best idea.
“Um…” She looked at the woman, who stared back at her with wide eyes awaiting to hear the verdict. Charlotte tried to take a peek at her watch, but it was too far above her in the air with her hands.
Where are the police?
She needed to slow things down. Keep him talking. Stop saying anything that might ignite the situation.
What I need to do is take a course in hostage negotiation.
“Well, Josh—Your name is Josh, right?”
His right eye twitched. “That’s none of your business.”
“You told her the baby’s name was Josh, Jr.” piped the wife.
The man’s expression exploded on his face, each feature seeming to expand toward a different corner of his face. He swung the gun at his wife.
“You don’t get to talk!” he roared.
The woman yipped and
