Page 46 of Forged in Steele

“She’s on duty,” Bristol said. “Teagan sent the video to my phone, and I was just about to come get you so we could talk to Raney.”

“Then let’s go.” The lead was too good to waste even a second, so he bolted for the door and to the elevator.

The thump of Bristol’s solid footsteps followed him. He liked the combat boots hitting tiles over the clicking of high heels. Made him remember the Bristol he’d once known and loved. She’d loved sneakers, especially Converse low tops in bright colors and had told him she wouldn’t wear heels unless forced.

In the elevator, he looked at her. “Your family’s help is very much appreciated. If we’d had to assign staff to review the video, we wouldn’t be nearly as far in this investigation. Not that we’re really anywhere, but we’ve eliminated so many possibilities.”

“They like to help—their faith in action. It’s really what motivates all of us.”

He smiled at her. “I always liked that about you at camp. If there was work to be done you were usually the first to volunteer.”

“It just comes natural. Like breathing. As kids, we saw it in action all the time. And if we got into a teenage mood, we were reminded that it was expected of us.” She gave a tight smile. “That could be often in high school. We weren’t as keen on helping. But then once we got going there was no better feeling than helping someone in need.”

“Agreed. It’s why I served and why I do this job.” Luna’s image flashed into his mind. “I need to do more here. Have to do more. Every minute that ticks by and we don’t find Luna, makes the odds less of bringing her home alive.”

Bristol gave a solemn nod. “Maybe Nurse Raney will give us what we need.”

“Hopefully.” He offered a prayer to that effect.

The elevator doors opened, and he stood back to wait for Bristol to exit. He followed her to the birthing center where the nurse they needed sat behind the front desk. She looked up at them, and brushed back her short curly blond hair.

Jared introduced them, and they held out their IDs. Mary leaned back in her chair and raised a hand to cover her mouth.

Bristol smiled, likely to help relieve the nurse’s fear. “Can you step outside with us for a minute?”

Mary’s large blue eyes narrowed. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Not at all.” Bristol widened her smile. “But we think you might be able to help us.”

“Oh, okay.” She let out a relieved breath. “Let me get someone to staff the desk.” She dug a cell phone from her flowery uniform pocket and called in reinforcements before standing.

Jared resisted tapping his foot as they waited for another nurse to spell Mary. He didn’t want to agitate the woman more, and he didn’t want to amp up his own frustrations. The replacement arrived, and Jared hurried out the door and turned to wait for Bristol and Mary.

Bristol already had her phone out and tapped the screen then looked at the nurse. “We located a video from last week where a woman approached you outside the birthing center. She spoke to you for some time. I’d like to show you the video to see if you remember her.”

“Sure,” Mary said. “But you should know. We get lots of questions from expectant mothers, and don’t remember all of them. I’m not sure if I can help.”

“Let’s try.” Bristol smiled and held out her phone.

Mary stared at the screen. “Oh, yeah, I remember her because she wasn’t pregnant. At least not visibly.”

“What did she ask you?” Jared asked.

Mary looked up. “She said she was trying to get pregnant and wanted to start researching hospitals. I thought it was odd to be looking so soon, but we’re trained in customer service. Even evaluated on it. So I didn’t want to be rude. I gave her a department overview. Then she asked a bunch of questions.”

“What in particular did she want to know?” Jared asked.

“She was really interested in staff scheduling. Said she wanted to be sure we had enough nurses on duty to meet all her and her baby’s needs. She also wanted to know about our rooming-in policy and security. Especially the security.” Mary shook her head. “She was going on and on and I was on my break. She’d taken up half of it and just kept badgering me with questions. I told her we did tours for expectant mothers and the rest of her questions could be answered there and I bolted.”

“Was there anything off about the woman?” Bristol asked.

“Off?” Mary tapped her chin. “I remember thinking it odd that she was doing this research before getting pregnant, but then I figured she was just concerned about having a baby.”

“Can you describe her to us?” Bristol asked.

“No. Not with the hoodie she was wearing. And she looked down a lot. I think she had hazel or maybe greenish eyes. A large nose. Thin lips that she kept pressing together.”

“You didn’t think the hoodie was odd?” Bristol asked. “Or that she kept looking down?”

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