Page 34 of Forged in Steele

“Yeah, I figured that.” He cursed under his breath. “Sorry. That was unprofessional and goes against my faith, but come on, this is seriously freaky.”

She nodded but an officer announcing himself at the front door made her ease closer to the door.

“Back here,” Jared called out. His phone still to his ear, he waved the officer to move past him.

Bristol didn’t know the young officer but brought him up to speed on the situation and shared her and Jared’s contact information. He started questioning Aaron.

“How many times am I going to have to tell this story?” Aaron asked.

“As many times as you’re asked.” She used her deputy voice and eyed him. “There’s a baby missing, and even the smallest of details could help.”

“Sorry,” he said. “Of course I’ll do whatever I can to help. I mean a baby. That’s hard to wrap your head around for sure.”

Jared charged into the room. “We set here so we can leave?”

Bristol looked at the officer. “We good to go?”

“Go ahead. I have your contact info.”

Jared looked at Aaron. “Hang tight. I’ll send someone to assist you in packing and pick you up.”

Aaron gave a sad nod.

Jared turned to Bristol. “Let’s move.”

He bolted for the door.

She raced after him. “Where are we going?”

He turned, his expression tight and filled with anguish. “Luna’s blanket was found in a hospital parking structure, and it’s saturated with blood.”

The stark cement in the parking structure seemed to bear down on Jared as he walked toward the cordoned off scene and caught sight of the blanket. The yellow tape surrounding Luna’s blanket selected by her parents with love fluttered in the soft breeze. The pink fabric with big yellow bunnies a stark contrast to the harsh concrete.

Thoughts of Wyatt froze Jared’s feet, and he couldn’t take another step. He drew in a long breath of the air tainted with a gasoline leak, but it did no good.

Bristol stopped next to him. “What’s wrong?”

“I just need a moment.” He curled his hands into fists and forced himself to look her in the eyes. “We had a kidnapping case a few years ago. A newborn boy. Wyatt. Taken from his crib at home. He didn’t make it. Found him in a car in a parking structure downtown.”

“Oh, Jared, I’m so sorry. That must’ve been—is—so hard.”

He took a moment to breathe before he could speak again. “It’s definitely one of those investigations that sticks with you for life, and you keep reworking it to make the outcome change, but it never does. The same ending cuts you to the bone every time.” He took in a ragged breath. “Especially when you’re the one who screwed up along the way.”

“That’s got to be even harder.” She touched his hand with the back of hers. Subtly. Barely there so none of the officers and techs saw it. But he felt it clear to his core, and the icy aftereffect from losing Wyatt thawed a bit.

She didn’t ask what he’d done wrong. He had to give her credit for her ability to wait for him to share it. He dragged his focus back to the scene. “Not sure why I told you. I’ve never told anyone.”

“You needed to get it out. Especially since they found blood on Luna’s blanket. We have to expect the worst in a situation like that.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He shrugged. “If I hadn’t trusted others on the task force not to leak certain information, the boy might’ve lived. Sure, we might not have gotten him back either way, but the kidnappers wouldn’t have panicked.”

“What happened?”

“It was a ransom case. The kidnappers set a meet in the parking structure. They planned to turn Wyatt over when the money was paid. So they brought him with them. But one of the officers owed a reporter a favor. The guy had done a story on prostitution, and the officer was caught with a prostitute. The reporter told the officer he wouldn’t publish his name if he agreed to give him info on future investigations.”

“And the kidnapping investigation was a big one,” she said, sounding thoroughly disgusted.

“You got it. So he told the reporter that we planned to meet with the kidnappers but not pay any ransom and then storm them to free the baby. He asked the reporter to keep it quiet until after the meet. The reporter saw a huge scoop so he leaked it instead. The story hit the radio as the kidnappers were sitting in the garage. They barreled toward the exit in their car and crashed. They didn’t have Wyatt in a car seat, and he died.”

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