Club Scars (29 page)

Yanking up her pajamas, she washed her hands before heading back to the bedroom for socks, trying to rub some warmth into the back of her thighs. When was winter going to let up? Pulling on a pair of fuzzy slipper socks she picked up the baby monitor and went to check on her son. An icy draft swirled around her ankles as she stepped across the hall. She frowned wondering if the furnace had gone out.

The nursery door was closed. That wasn’t normal. Her hand wrapped around the door handle and the chill seemed to seep into her bones. Opening the door, her heart stopped. The black and orange Harley Davidson curtains billowed into the room. The open window gaped accusingly. Her head whipped around. The crib was empty. A scream broke her lips, her breath crystallizing in the air as her knees hit the floor.  

Panic clawed at her as she tried to force herself to her feet. Stumbling, she scrabbled on hands and knees to the bedroom. Her hands shook violently as she fumbled with her phone. It fell, skittering under the edge of the bed. A sob wracked her body as she groped desperately. Grabbing it up she stabbed at the screen and held her breath. The seconds ticked by agonizingly slow and she wanted to scream.

“911…What is your emergency?”

“My son’s gone! They cut the window and my baby’s gone.”

“How old is your son, ma’am?”

“He’s only two months old,” Kat sobbed. “Jesus. Please find him. I’ll do anything.”

The operator rattled off the address and she confirmed it without thinking. She rocked on her knees, clutching her aching chest. It literally felt like someone had ripped her heart out. She couldn’t breathe.

“What’s your name, honey?”

“K–Kat. My son’s name is Cam, Camden. Please hurry. I need to call my husband,” she stuttered.

“Police are on their way. Where is your husband right now, Kat?”

“He—he’s at work. Crux, Tommy, Tommy Croston. Sorry. Everyone calls him Crux. He works at Handlebars and Hotrods.”

“It’s okay, Kat. We’re sending an officer to pick him up. Can you hear the sirens yet?”

Kat closed her eyes and listened. She could hear the thin wail in the distance. “Yeah. I can hear them,” she choked out, a fresh wave of tears spilling down her cheeks. “I need Crux.”

“An officer has been dispatched to pick him up, Kat. Hang in here with me,” the operator said smoothly. “Where are you at in the house right now?”

“In the master bedroom.”

“Is that on the main floor?”

“No.”

“Kat, I need you to go downstairs and let the officers in. Can you do that?”

Kat nodded and scrambled for the stairs on shaky knees.

“Kat? Are you still with me?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you go downstairs and let the officers in?”

“I – I’m go – shit!” Kat yelped as her socks slipped and she skidded down the polished hardwood steps. She curled at the bottom, still clutching her phone and rocking through the pain.

“Kat?...Kat?...Are you okay, Kat?”

“I’m fi—fine. I just fell down the stairs,” she sobbed.

“Do you need medical assistance?”

“No! I just need Crux and I need my baby!” she screamed.

“Officers are on their way to pick up your husband and we’re going to do everything we can to get Cam back, Kat. I just need you to hang in here with me. Listen for the sirens. They should be getting closer.”

“He took him,” she whispered in horror. Reality tumbled down on her like an avalanche, threatening to crush her. “No, no, no, no!” she cried desperately. “I won’t let him hurt my son!”

“Who took your son, Kat?” the operator asked.

“My father. My fucking father. He’s a monster. You have to get Cam back. You don’t understand the things he will do.”

“Police!”

Kat’s head jerked up at the knock and authoritative bark at the door. Scrambling to her feet she ran for the door. She almost ripped the chain from the wall as she forgot to unlatch it. She screamed in frustration, nearly slamming the officer’s hand in the door in a bid to shut it to slip the chain free.

“It was my father. John Merrick. He took Cam. You have to get him back. Please! He’s a monster!”

The officer gently pried her hands from the front of his shirt, pressing them between his and looking her in the eye.

“Look at me. I know you’re upset Mrs. Croston, but I need you to tell me what happened so we can find your son. You told the operator that they cut a window. Can you show us that?”

Kat spun and slipped on the hardwood floor. Cursing, she yanked the damn slipper socks off and flung them toward the living room. Her hands hit the steps in front of her as she scrambled up the stairs. She stopped in the nursery and stared helplessly at the billowing curtains. She rubbed at her arms. The chill seeped into her bones. Stepping past her, the officers brushed the fabric aside to examine the window. The glass had been cut to allow the intruder to reach in and unlock the window. Their words seemed to come to her through a thick fog. How the hell had this happened? The one place she had thought him safe. She looked around the nursery. Other than the window not a thing was out of place. It was waking nightmare, the story of her life. She closed her eyes and prayed with everything she had. When she opened them again the officers were still looking at the window. The dream catcher thumped against the glass. It hadn’t been able to trap this monster. She ground her teeth.  

“You’re wasting time. John Merrick, or one of his minions, took my son.”

“Why would you think your father would kidnap your son, Mrs. Croston?”

“He came to the hospital,” Kat said shakily. “I hadn’t seen him in fifteen years and he showed up at the hospital spouting bullshit about me finally doing something worthwhile and Camden being his heir. The sick fuck’s delusional. I don’t want him anywhere near my son. You don’t know the things he’s capable of,” she whispered, fisting her hands in her hair. “He sent his minion to try to bribe me and then bully me into letting him see Cam. I don’t want anything from him. I just want my son back.”

“When did this happen?”

Kat spun at the voice behind her.

Marchand’s hard stare was accusing.

“When did your father’s employee threaten you?” he demanded.

“Maybe four weeks ago. He showed up and gave me a check and a letter from my father. He was babbling about family and parental love and how my father wanted to be a part of my and Cam’s life. He obviously has no clue what kind of animal he works for if he believes any of that. When I didn’t cash the check the guy came back. He told me Daddy Dearest wasn’t going to give up; said we could do this the easy way or the hard way. Like there is any easy way with my father or his sadistic family,” she spat in disgust.

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this when I investigated the break in?”

“I didn’t think it mattered at the time.  You need to find my son!”

“We’re going to do everything we can to find Camden, but you need to be honest with us, Kat.”

“I’m being fucking honest! My father is an incestuous, sadistic fucking monster. How much clearer do I need to be? He has my son!” she screamed, fighting the nearly overwhelming desire to punch the sanctimonious pig. “You want honesty? You better find my son before Crux does, Marchand. You
know
the history between him and my father. If he hurts Cam, Crux will gut him.”

“Is that where Crux is?” Marchand asked, already reaching for his radio. “Is he out looking for your father?”

“No. The 911 lady said that she was sending an officer to pick him up at work,” Kat said, covering her face with trembling hands. “He doesn’t even know what happened yet. He doesn’t know. I should’ve known.” She felt her knees buckle but couldn’t even reach out to break her fall. She knelt on the floor rocking back and forth as grief and rage bubbled up inside of her. It escaped in a feral scream. “I’m going to kill that bastard!”

She felt a hand on her elbow, but ripped her arm away. Marchand squatted down in front of her.

“It’s going to be okay, Kat. We’re going to find Cam. I need your most recent picture of him.”

“I have a lot of them on my phone,” she said, fumbling for it.

“That’s great. If you forward a couple of the most recent to me I can send them on to the other officers and to the department so we can get the amber alert out. We will follow up on the possibility of the grandfather being involved but I want Cam’s picture out to the media in case this is something else. Do you remember what Cam was wearing?”

Kat wiped her face on her sleeve, eyes still on her phone. “He was wearing a red and black flannel one-piece with red socks,” she said, sniffing. Frustrated tears rolled down her just dried cheeks. “I have pictures in here from last night of him in the outfit if I can get my damn fingers to work.”

“Kat?”

She dropped the phone at Crux’s worried bellow and staggered to her feet. Her husband bounded up the stairs to meet her at the top, sweeping her up in a crushing hug.

“What the fuck happened?”

“I woke up and he was gone! Oh my God, Crux. I’m so sorry!” she wailed.

He set her down and cupped her face between his dirty hands, forcing her to look at him.

“Listen to me. It’s
not
your fault. We’ll get him back. I promise you.”

She stared into his eyes, needing with every fiber of her being, to believe him. He dropped a kiss on her lips and then crushed her in a hug.  

“I checked on Cam before I left for work so this had to happen sometime between then and when you woke up. Someone knows our schedule,” he said, staring at the window.

“Is this the outfit, Kat?” Marchand interrupted, turning her phone toward her.

Kat looked at the picture, blurry through her tears. “Yes. That’s what he was wearing. I took those last night.”

“Good. Sent,” he said and handed the phone back to Kat. “Is there anything else missing?”

“No. Just my son! Isn’t that enough? Can you just get people looking for him and ask questions later?”

“I’m going to go look for him, babe,” Crux said, kissing her temple.

“You’re not going anywhere, Croston.”

“I don’t think you have the balls to make that stick, Marchand,” Crux growled, fixing a fearsome glare on the officer.

“Kat told us about the problems you’ve been having with her father. I might not know the whole story, but I know you and I don’t think you can be trusted to act rationally right now.”

“If you think I’m going to sit around here and wait for you to find my son you’re as delusional as my father-in-law. You can’t even solve a simple robbery.”

“We would’ve had a better chance if you wouldn’t have withheld information.”

“I’m not going to stand here and have a pissing contest with you while Cam’s out there somewhere with that sick fuck!” Crux bellowed.

“Your wife needs you right now. I’d hate to have to lock you up for obstruction.”

“What my wife needs right now is our son in her arms.”

“Crux, I promise you we’re doing everything we can to find Cam and put him back in Kat’s arms. There are officers on their way to Merrick’s home. All agencies are on the lookout for his registered vehicles. I sent Cam’s pictures in and we are issuing an Amber Alert.”

Crux pulled out his phone and hit speed dial.

“Who’re you calling?”

“Zeke. We had a license plate and name for Merrick’s lackey. He could’ve used the same guy to kidnap Cam. Zeke said he was some sort of mercenary in Iraq, doing personal security work.”

“It might have been nice to know someone like that was hanging around Trinity, threatening people. I don’t know if anyone has ever fully explained to you what it is that police officers do, but it is our job to protect people. I wouldn’t dream of building a custom motorcycle. How about the Lords let me do my job?” Marchand griped, sarcasm dripping from every word.

Crux waved him quiet as Zeke came on the line. Kat ran her hands up and down the outsides of her biceps. Her teeth were chattering. Leaning her forehead against Crux’s back, she closed her eyes and listened to his conversation with Zeke. As much as Crux hated to ask for help, or deal with cops, they needed everyone right now. Her stomach churned. They needed to find Cam. He had to be okay. She kept reminding herself that her father wanted Cam. He was male. Cam had value. Surely her father wouldn’t hurt him. She clung desperately to that thought. It was the only thing keeping her sane at the moment.

A gust of wind made her press tighter to her husband’s back. Their baby was out there somewhere without them. Was he cold? She clutched Cam’s blanket to her chest. Were they taking care of him? Was he hungry, afraid? His screams when they’d searched the house echoed through her head. She’d thought then that listening to him cry and not being able to go to him had been the worst thing in the world. She’d been wrong. It was a million times worse not to know where he was.

Kat’s hands shook around the coffee mug Ginny pressed into them. Moving downstairs had done nothing to ease the bone numbing chill that gripped her. Crux wrapped an arm around her shoulders, his hand rubbing the opposite arm.