“You know she can’t have children of her own, right?”
Ryder nodded.
“She loves every kid that comes through those doors. To her they’re hers and there’s no way she’d even think of letting anyone hurt them. Even Jim didn’t realise the camera feed was live to the security company. It’d been fitted before they bought the business and they thought it only showed up in their office so they could keep an eye on the front door.”
“Slightly naïve, isn’t it?” Ryder tapped her nails on the outside of the mug, itching for a fight.
“Probably is but they had no reason to doubt the owners when they showed them around. And before you get too worked up over it, I have someone doing a search on the old owners. Your grandfather is in there as we speak sorting out the live feed until the security company can come in and change the settings.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What about going to the security company and lifting their files?”
“Also being sorted. I’m betting they tape over and over though so we may not get anything useful. Thing is, I wanted you to know that it wasn’t Amy’s fault. She’s in quite a state over it and you can imagine the gossip already hitting the streets.”
She refused to let her heart take over just yet. “Did either of the missing children go to her centre?”
“Yes. Paris Bonneville did, two days a week from the time she turned one so her mother could go back to work part time. But of course she wasn’t taken from there. She was snatched when her and her sister were out at the playground.”
“So not Daniel Bird?” She thought back over the case files and remembered he was taken from the shopping centre.
“No.”
“What room would she have been in?” Ryder saw the spark in his eyes and knew he was on the same wave length as her.
“The baby room.” Jake slapped his hand on the table. “Hell, I don’t want to believe it. It’s too close to home.”
“I’m still thinking two different things here. I don’t believe both those kids were taken by the same person. It doesn’t add up for me.” They looked out the open back door as Milo ran past with Ebony hanging onto his lead laughing out loud. “I graphed it like I said I would. None of the kids taken in a two-hundred-mile radius were older than three. Only one child was taken from each location apart from this town which makes me think. And, get this—there are more kids taken from smaller towns than in the cities.”
“So what you’re saying is that kids taken for the private adoptions are being searched for, like kidnapped to order?”
“Yeah, it makes sense. Think about it. If you were a dark haired parent, dark eyes, golden skin as well and ended up with a blonde, white skinned toddler, don’t you think someone would start to ask questions? Besides, who doesn’t want their kid to look like them?”
“Makes sense like you say, I guess.”
“And what better way than to look at surveillance tapes from a child care centre. Like a smorgasbord of toddlers to pick from.” Ryder took a sip of her coffee. “We need to find out who they’re giving the information to. Confiscate their computers and do a search. Won’t be too hard to track down because you can’t ever clear them out.”
“I’ll get a court order because I can’t see them handing them over without it.”
“Cool. Can I come to work tomorrow now?”
Jake looked at her and Ryder held her breath. “Sure. Might need those skills to sort out this mess.”
A sense of ease settled over her shoulders until the sound of Ebony brought back a problem. “How do you think Amy is going to react when she sees me again knowing what I know?”
Jake rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “One thing she did say was how much she loved your daughter and it would kill her to think you believed something that nasty about her. I think she’s hanging onto sanity with the hope that you’ll be in tomorrow as usual.” He looked at her as if trying to gauge her reaction. “Jim is staying home for a few days to help support her, but of course the decision is yours at the end of the day.”
Ryder chewed her bottom lip. She knew deep down that Amy wasn’t guilty of anything but her knee jerk reaction had to be dealt with. Could she send Eb back there and do her work without worrying herself sick? “If you’re sure she isn’t in any danger, well, maybe we can take it one day at a time and see how we go. I have to work and don’t really have anyone else that can baby sit for me.”
“My mother would take her if it worried you that much.” She knew Jake needed her in the office to sort out this problem.
“Look, I should trust her if you do. But don’t be surprised if I have a couple of mild panic attacks during the day.”
Jake stood up and walked over to the sink, rinsed his mug, and tipped it upside down on the draining board before turning back to her. “If it makes you feel any better, you can all in and check on her a couple of times.”
“Guess that covers it then. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Chapter 15
Ryder expected the morning drop off to be awkward and to some extent it was. Amy had red-rimmed eyes and gave a huge sigh of relief when they walked into the centre the next morning. She jumped up from behind the counter and held her hand to her mouth, swallowing a few times before speaking.
“Ryder, you know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Ebony, don’t you?”
“I’m sorry for how that went down, Amy. Jake’s orders that I distance myself and I’m grateful he did. Would have been rather awkward otherwise.”
“But
