Finding Peace (Love's Compass #1) (16 page)

Lance nodded his agreement and Tuck pulled his cell phone out as he stepped from the room.

Laurie’s eyelids were starting to feel incredibly heavy. Curling her legs up near her body on the recliner, she rested an elbow on the arm of the chair and cradled her head in the palm of her hand. She must have closed her eyes momentarily because the next thing she knew, Tuck was crouched next to the chair and Lexi was speaking.

“I declare this meeting adjourned.” She looked at Laurie pointedly. “As your nurse, I’m suggesting you get some rest.”

“Are you going to be comfortable here tonight?” Tuck asked her

“Yes. I’m exhausted. I’m going to collapse on that couch in about two minutes.” Laurie said a yawn. “Thanks again for taking care of me.”

“Anytime.” Tuck took her hand and touched the inside of her wrist with his lips. Then he placed a soft kiss on her cheek. “I’ll check in with you tomorrow. Get some rest and call if you need anything.”

As if he wanted to put in his own two cents, Rogue put his paws on Laurie’s knees and managed to get a lick in. Giggling, Laurie affectionately patted the dog’s head while Tuck moved him back to the floor with a grin. “I think you have a fan.”

The next morning, a noise awakened Laurie, though it took a few moments to remember where she was and then figure out where the sound had originated from. Blinking slowly, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

Since going to sleep the night before, she didn’t think she had even moved. Now her body felt stiff as she slowly eased herself off the couch. Wearing a purple, loose-fitting sweat suit, she looked around the room. All of the lights were still off, but she could see light from the kitchen.

Gingerly, she headed that way, thankful she was wearing socks when she stepped onto the linoleum. The cold seeped through the knit.

Serenity looked up from where she was pouring milk into a bowl of cereal for Gideon. The boy was sitting in a chair at the table, a bright smile on his face. He held a spoon in his right hand as he watched the milk cover the square cereal until it looked like a miniature cove full of shipwrecks.

When she set the milk down on the table, he reached for the bowl but Serenity stopped him. “What do you say?”

Gideon put his fingers to his mouth, palm flat, and then moved his hand down until the palm was facing up.

“Good job! You’re welcome.” Serenity turned her attention to Laurie. “Good morning. I hope we didn’t wake you.”

“Good morning! Not at all. I don’t think I moved once last night. It feels good to be up and walking around a little.”

“Are you hungry?”

“Not yet, thank you.”

Serenity put the milk away and brought out a carton of orange juice. “How about something to drink?”

“Now that I won’t say no to.”

Serenity poured both of them a glass of orange juice and they joined Gideon at the table.

Laurie sipped her juice. “Tuck told me you work at the elementary school. Do you like it?”

“They are all incredibly understanding and work around my schedule. That’s the main reason why I work there – so I can take Gideon to his therapies myself. I’m hoping I’ll be able to transfer to the middle school next year when he starts going there.”

“That counts for a lot. You definitely stay busy.”

“Busier than I would like, sometimes. Gideon attends a local special needs preschool three mornings a week. That is what makes it possible to work as much as I do. His occupational therapist managed to get him a scholarship.”

Laurie smiled as the boy took a giant bite of his breakfast. “That’s fantastic, and it sounds like the preschool is a real blessing.”

“It is. We tried the preschool through the public school district and it wasn’t a good fit. I’m not necessarily all for preschools in general, but this place is amazing.”

“What other therapies does he get?”

Serenity reached over and ruffled the boy’s hair. “He gets speech and occupational therapy at a children’s center – both once a week. We looked into ABA therapy at one point, but it wasn’t something I could do at the time.”

Laurie nodded. “ABA therapy is ridiculously expensive.” She knew from her visits with other special needs parents that ABA therapy – applied behavior analysis – could help kids with autism. Because of the high costs, few parents got to actually take advantage of it. Not only that, but there were many insurance companies now who didn’t pay for it, that it meant parents had to come up with the money out of pocket.

“We’ve been blessed because he got into this children’s program and the monthly fees are low. He was on a waiting list for six months before he got in.” Serenity nudged Gideon’s shoulder with her own. “It’s all worth it. It always is.”

“You’re lucky to have each other.”

“Being able to stay here with Mom and Grams is huge, too. I couldn’t do it without them.”

The ladies chatted for a while longer until Patty and Grams had both joined them in the kitchen.

Patty got a pan out of the cabinet and held it up. “I think it’s a fresh apple and cinnamon oatmeal kind of morning. Who’s with me?”

~

“It looks like you and Laurie are getting close.” Lance gave his partner a sideways look.

Tuck had known this topic was going to come up sooner or later. “Yes, we are.” They were eating breakfast at a little diner before heading back over to the Lewis family home to ask them about the boy in the photos. “I feel a lot better about her being at my mom’s house instead of at her apartment by herself today.”

Lance shoveled a fork full of scrambled eggs into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “So do I.” He swallowed. “Have you had the talk yet?”

“Excuse me?”

“The ‘what to expect if you marry a cop’ talk. Can she handle it if you’re out on a case for days on end or, God forbid, you get shot? Are you going to stress out about her safety if you’re not around?”

Tuck sighed and set his fork on the table. “I thought you were on the Tuck and Laurie bandwagon.”

“I am. But it’s still a discussion you should have. And probably the sooner the better.”

“Sure. We just started officially seeing each other and she’s been stabbed recently. Tonight seems like perfect timing for that conversation.” He shot Lance a glare and went back to his breakfast.

“She’s not going to take off, Tuck. The whole situation with Jana was rough. You got dealt a bad hand and there was a lot that went into that. But you can’t apply her actions to every other woman you meet. You can’t continue to walk through life looking backwards. Think of how much you might miss right in front of you.”

Tuck held up his hand to stop his best friend. He knew Lance was right. The longer he waited to talk to Laurie about it, the more involved his heart would be. Which would make it that much harder if the relationship was more than either of them thought they could handle. “Okay, okay. It’s way too early in the day for you to be this insightful. Let’s finish this and go talk to Mrs. Lewis. I’m ready for some answers.”

At least Lance didn’t argue with him over that.

~

Morgan Lewis answered the door, warily blocking any view of the inside of her home. “Is there something else I can do for you officers?”

“I’m sorry to bother you again, Mrs. Lewis,” Lance began. “A woman was stabbed yesterday evening and we believe it may be in connection to the medical files that were removed from the pediatrician’s office. Do you mind if we ask you a couple of questions?”

She looked confused but nodded. “Of course.”

Tuck took out a photo of the seven children that they had printed last night. “I understand you had some portraits taken at Capturing the Moment Photography.” He showed her the image. “We know that six of the children are yours. The photographer thought the seventh might have been a cousin.”

Morgan took the photo, a smile on her face. “Yes, this is my nephew, Brian.” She tapped one of the smiling, toothless boys. “He came to stay with our family for a few days and I wanted to surprise my brother and our parents with a photo of all the kids together.” She looked up, suddenly concerned. “Was it the photographer at the studio who was stabbed? Is she okay?”

“Yes, it was. The man who stabbed her wanted her customer contact information. She’s okay and will make a full recovery. But we have reason to believe that the man who is doing all of this is trying to locate your nephew.”

Morgan looked at them both, studying them, then turned her attention back to the photograph.

“If you have any information or any idea where we might find him, we would appreciate it if you would share,” Lance said. “We are concerned for his safety and for the safety of your family at this point. We aren’t sure what this man is planning next, but stabbing the photographer tells us he’s become desperate.”

Looking uncertain, Morgan finally stood aside and motioned them in. Upon her guidance, they sat on the couch in the living room. Two young girls were playing with large building blocks on the floor and a baby boy was standing up in a play yard, watching them. Morgan sat on a chair near her kids.

“I’m going to tell you right off that I have no idea where Brian and his dad are.” Morgan stood to pick up her son and sat down again, rubbing his back. “My brother, Chester, and his wife were having a lot of marital problems. They met and married young after only knowing each other a few months and expecting a baby. Brian was born and everything seemed okay for a while. But once he was about two, they started arguing all of the time again. Chester never told me much, but I do know that Tess was unfaithful one time and he forgave her. I also know that she had a lot of alcohol problems.” Morgan paused as she moved the baby to the floor where he inched on his tummy towards his sisters. He grasped one of the largest building blocks and put the edge in his mouth. Morgan continued. “They finally got a divorce. They had joint custody despite my brother’s attempt to get full custody after all the alcohol problems his wife experienced.”

“How long ago was their divorce?” Tuck asked.

“About eight months ago. I know that she hired someone to watch my brother and that this man was coming up with evidence,” she used her fingers to emphasize quotations, “against Chester, saying he wasn’t treating his son right. I know the evidence was false because I was even with him and Brian during a time that he supposedly left my nephew in the apartment by himself.”

“And how old is your nephew now?” Lance asked.

“He turned five in October.” Tuck jotted that down and nodded for her to continue. “The judge was much more sympathetic towards Tess than my brother simply because she’s a woman and she had all of this false evidence that seemed convincing. The whole court battle was getting heated. That was when Chester brought Brian here for a few days. The poor kid needed to have some fun with his cousins instead of being pulled in two directions like he was. That’s when I decided to have the photo session done.”

Lance smiled when the baby made his way to him and was reaching for his shoelace. “What happened with the court battle?”

Morgan picked the baby up and set him back down by the blocks. “Chester was told that it wasn’t going his way and to fully expect to lose all custody of Brian.” Her eyes filled with tears. “The next day, Chester came to pick up Brian. He hugged and kissed each of the kids. He was shaken when he said how much he loved me and appreciated our making Brian feel like he had a normal life for a few days.” She shrugged as tears escaped and she brushed them away. “I never saw either of them again. His ex-wife called me and even came by a couple of times demanding that I tell her where they were. But I truly don’t know.”

“You think he ran?”

She sniffed and pulled a tissue from a box on the coffee table. “Yes, I do. I think he ran to keep Brian safe from Tess and I can’t say that I blame him. If I had been in a similar situation, I might have done the same thing.”

“When was the last time you saw his ex or the man she had hired?” Tuck asked.

“About three months ago. I guess they figured I didn’t know anything. My parents live in Pennsylvania. They mentioned to me several times about being contacted by Chester’s ex but they had no idea, either. Chester and Brian have disappeared. I never even got a copy of that photo of all the kids together to them before they left.”

Tuck watched as the woman fought back more tears and sank into her chair. His mind raced. He originally wondered whether the woman was telling the truth or not. But she certainly seemed to feel strongly about what she said, and from what he knew of the man causing all of this trouble in town, he had a hard time believing he was on the good side of any conflict. Then it struck him.

“The photographer at Capture the Moment submitted one of the images from the photo session to a contest and got runner up. I know that the photo is included on her website.” Tuck looked at Lance pointedly. “I wonder if it’s possible that your brother’s ex might have seen that photo and thought some kind of contact information might have been left that way.”

Lance nodded. “It’s possible. If they’re desperate, they might have pursued the possibility no matter how unlikely. It makes sense.” He turned his attention to Morgan. “Do you have any photos of your brother’s ex-wife?”

“I sure do.” Morgan went to the bookcase on one wall and pulled a photo album down, going through it until she found what she was looking for. She handed the photograph to Tuck. “That’s her. I don’t have any photos of the man she hired, though.”

“Can you give us a description?”

“He was about average height for a man. Caucasian. Brown eyes and hair. He had a cleft chin. He was not one for talking; all business.” Morgan picked up the baby boy and helped one of her girls with a block that was causing trouble. “If I can be of any help in making sure he’s caught – if not Tess as well – please let me know. But I am going to be honest and say I would appreciate it if you left my brother and Brian out of it. Don’t go looking for them. Please.”

Tuck couldn’t look away from her pleading eyes. He thought about Gideon and Serenity. “We’re going to research your story about the divorce and the court battle. I have a four-year-old nephew and I know I would do whatever I had to in order to keep him safe. I can’t promise what will happen, but I do promise I’ll do everything I can to protect your brother and his son.”