Page 105 of Almost Dead (The Cahills 2)

“Someone did. Someone who took my baby,” she said.

He looked skeptical. It sounded insane. A person killing Tanya, then bothering with the car seat to kidnap B.J.

Cissy thought she was going to die. She was shaking, trembling, tears running down her face. Where was he? Precious, precious baby? Dear God, please, keep him safe!

“We’re gonna need a picture of your son.”

“I’ve got one,” Jack said, slipping his wallet out of his back pocket. A smiling picture of B.J., taken at Christmas, filled the plastic compartment. He pulled it out and handed it to O’Riley.

Cissy’s heart shredded all over again.

Who would do this to her child? And why, oh God, why?

Her knees buckled, and Jack caught her, held her tight, helping her stand upright. In a far, frightened corner of her mind, she wondered if she would ever see her son again. Fear crippled her. She was paralyzed with despair.

A killer had her son.

“Son of a bitch,” Paterno said, snapping his cell phone shut and grabbing his shoulder holster off the back of his chair. “Son of a goddamned, friggin’ bitch.” He snagged his jacket from a hook and stormed to Quinn’s desk.

“What are you swearing about?” she asked as she pulled her jacket off the back of her chair. “The Cahill case?”

“The nanny was killed, and the kid is missing.”

“What kid?”

“Cissy’s Holt’s son.” He was striding out of the squad room, heading for the street, Quinn on his heels.

“Wait a minute! What happened?”

“I don’t know the whole story yet. O’Riley just called. He and Perez had the Holt duty, and somehow the nanny and kid slipped away. Man, I didn’t see this coming,” he said, kicking himself as he pushed open the door to what was left of the day. Sunlight was fading fast, dusk chasing through the city, clouds on the horizon.

“I’ll drive,” Quinn said, and he didn’t argue. Her car was more agile in cutting through rush-hour traffic. She slammed the police light on the top of the car, then slid behind the wheel. He climbed into the passenger seat of the Jetta and had barely buckled his seat belt when she gunned the car out of the lot and onto the street. “We’re heading south,” he said. “It went down at the nanny’s, Tanya Watson’s, apartment, on the other side of the airport. Let’s see, I wrote down the address.” He looked at the piece of paper he’d torn from the tablet on his desk and told it to her. “Around Burlingame.”

“Got it,” she said. “I used to live down there.”

“When?”

She slid him a glance. “In another lifetime. Don’t ask.”

He didn’t. As private a person as she was, it wouldn’t do any good anyway. And he wasn’t really concerned about her personal history, at least not now. Reaching into his pocket, he found a piece of gum and offered it to Quinn. She shook her head and rocketed around a gas tanker as she hit 101. Unwrapping the gum, he tried to focus as the cars flew by in a blur. Why kill the nanny? That didn’t fit into his theory about Marla Friggin’ Cahill.

“Did you get through to any of the employees or volunteers who worked at Cahill House when Marla Amhurst had her baby?”

“I’ve talked to five or six people who won’t say a word against anyone at Cahill House. They’re hiding behind sealed records and patients’ rights, but I still have those three names to work with, if they’re still alive. One nurse moved out of the area, lives in Boise, I think. Another aide is in Oakland, and the third, a secretary, I’m still tracking down.” She saw her exit and took a quick tu

rn off the highway. “You know, just because Marla had another child, doesn’t mean squat.”

“Could be nothing. But it’s a loose end that bothers me.”

Quinn turned a corner around a gas station. “Only a few more blocks,” she said. “So why would anyone kill the nanny? Does that make sense?”

Paterno frowned. “Maybe she was a means to an end.”

“The end being the baby?”

“That little kid is Marla Cahill’s grandson.” Paterno didn’t like the turn of his thoughts as a motorcycle blew past them, loud pipes roaring.

“Shit. You think the boy was the target.” She shook her head, and the nostrils of her straight nose flared. “Then why not kill him too?”

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