Baby Love Lite (18 page)

“
Did she call you from a
cell phone?”

“
Nope, she's playing it
cool. She called from a pay phone that had a Georgia area code on
it; same area code that your phone has as a matter of fact. I wrote
down the number of the pay phone if you want it. She had to keep
feeding change into it. Now, I won’t hear from her again before the
bus arrives in Wheeling. Oh, and just so you know I did hear your
baby crying in the background.”

My heart lurched. Oh, dear God, Preston was
crying.

“
I asked her if she felt
like she'd be recognized and she said she'd taken care of it. She
wouldn’t tell me anything further. She said that I'd see for myself
when she found me at the bus station.”

“
Daniel, I'm going to put
Trey on the phone. You give him the details, okay?”

“
I guess,” he replied
somewhat reluctant. “Don’t fuck me over on this, Tylar.”

The irony wasn't lost on me with his warning.
I handed the phone to Trey and scrambled to get a pen and paper for
him to jot down the information. For the first time, I held out
hope that this would lead us to getting our baby back.

Trey was scribbling away and responding to
Daniel in a very re-assuring and encouraging tone. That's why I let
him take over; I knew he would handle it more diplomatically than I
ever could. I wasn’t above thinking that perhaps Daniel had been
involved all along. As long as we got our baby back, we could deal
with the rest of the issues later.

Trey ended the conversation by telling him
that he'd phone him within the hour to work out the details. He
made sure he mentioned to Daniel that he'd be financially rewarded
if this led to our getting Preston back. He thanked Daniel for
‘doing the right thing.’

As soon as Trey was off the phone, he swung
into action, phoning the detectives and relaying the information
he'd gotten from Daniel. I scrambled to get dressed and get an
overnight bag packed before he finally noticed what I was
doing.

“
What are you doing,
baby?”

“
I’m getting packed and
ready. We’re going to West Virginia, aren’t we?”

“
Sweetie,” he sighed,
sitting down on the bed and pulling me onto his lap. “The feds are
involved now. We've reliable information that she intends to take
Preston across state lines. I know as screwed up as this is going
to sound to you, this is actually a good thing. Up until this point
while we'd notified the FBI of her abduction, the jurisdiction
remained in the hands of state and county law enforcement
officials. Now that it's likely she's taking Preston out of state,
the FBI can step in because they have jurisdiction in every state.
This is mandated by the Federal Kidnapping Act also known as the
Lindbergh Law.”

“
Okay, Trey, I appreciate
the government lesson and I’m glad that the FBI's on it, but why
does that prevent us from going to Wheeling? I want to make sure
they recognize Maggie! She’s not entirely stupid, you know? If she
smells trouble closing in on her, she may very well be disguised to
the extent she can elude the FBI agents.”

“
Okay, baby, let’s presume
for a moment that your mother, I’m sorry, your aunt is the absolute
master of disguise; what makes you think that you'll recognize
her?”

“
I have instincts where
Preston is concerned! I don’t understand how you could not want to
be there.”

Trey shifted a bit and hesitated before
speaking again. “Well, actually, baby, I intended to fly to
Wheeling.”

“
What? If you’re going then
so am I!"

By this time, I'd teared up; she belonged to
both of us. Trey was emotional now; torn between telling me
something I might want to hear or the truth. He opted for the
truth.

“
The reason I don’t want you
there is to protect you just in case things are not what they
appear to be.”

“
What do you mean by
that?"

“
I'm only considering the
worst case scenario which is one where this all was a hoax and when
we get to the bus station, we find out Daniel fabricated it all in
an effort to throw us off of her path. Or what if she does show up
in Wheeling, but Preston isn't with her? You heard what he said she
told him about not worrying, she'd find him at the bus station and
that she'd covered her risk of being identified.”

“
But he said he'd heard
Preston crying . . ."

“
I know, baby,” his voice
cracked. “But you have to realize that we're dealing with a
sociopath here. The most important thing to Maggie is
self-preservation.”

I didn’t want to think about what that meant
as far as Preston’s well-being. I refused to give up faith that
this would turn out alright; I believed Maggie would be on that bus
and I believed Preston would be with her. It was my turn to remind
Trey that we were in this together.

“
Trey? Remember our wedding
vows? Remember how I promised you that we'd be together during good
times and bad? That time's now. I'm going to Wheeling and that's
that.”

Our discussion was interrupted when Tristan
knocked on our bedroom door.

“
Good morning, you two,” he
greeted still in his sweats with his sleep-tousled hair. “Mom just
called to let us know they took Dad into surgery.”

It had completely slipped my mind. Shit! So
much was going down right now it was difficult to remember what day
it was.

“
Tristan, would you feel
better being in Bristol with your mom?” I questioned softly. “I
know Trey and I've not been as supportive as we should've been due
to our situation. . .”

“
Hey, no, you guys. You're
not to worry. Mom and Dad both know what you're going through. I’m
going to fly home to be with Mom. You two need to continue what
you’re doing to get Chubbers home.”

I had to smile knowing that Trey’s nickname
for Preston had worn off on Tristan.

By eleven o’clock that morning, Trey and I
were boarding a flight from Atlanta to Wheeling, West Virginia.
Trey filled me in during the flight on what exactly would go down.
Apparently, FBI agents had picked Daniel up in Indiana and they
flew with him to Wheeling. A couple of agents would be posted in
the bus terminal, blending in with the usual patrons. Nothing would
stand out as odd. Daniel was wired just in case Maggie’s disguise
was one that wouldn't be easily detected my seasoned feds.

Daniel had been instructed to just go along
with it and in fact, a Jeep Cherokee Laredo, the same year and
color had been obtained and staged in the parking lot in case the
agents didn't easily recognize her. If her plan was to slide by
Daniel because she still had keys to my old Jeep, than she'd
definitely be in for a rude awakening when the key didn’t work.
There was an additional agent staked out in the terminal parking
lot for just that scenario. Trey and I were to maintain our
distance with several local law enforcement officers in their
vehicle parked closed by.

We had several hours once we got to Wheeling
because of the bus’s schedule. Maggie had presumed that Daniel
would be driving, so the fact that everyone had flown in allowed
time for preparation and strategic planning. Trey and I'd rented a
car and booked a room at a hotel planning to stay the night once we
got Preston back. I'd packed her diapers, clean clothes, favorite
toys, blankets.

Trey and I waited nervously in our hotel room
until the agents phoned and it was time to go. Trey asked me once
again to stay at the hotel and wait until everything had concluded
but there was no way.

We left together getting into the vehicle
with the local police to head towards the bus terminal, parking a
block from it. The police were in mobile contact with other law
enforcement as well as the feds. Forty-five minutes later, the
officers received communication that everything had gone as
planned. Maggie was in federal custody. Preston was in the custody
of local authorities who were in transit to our stake-out
position.

I screamed in delight, throwing my arms
around Trey and crying in joy. I made a solemn prayer of thanks to
God for bringing my baby safely back to us. Tears streamed down
Trey’s face. Within minutes, my baby girl was back with her daddy
and me. The FBI agents followed us back to our hotel to discuss the
particulars. I was totally involved with my baby as I held her
close to me from the minute she was in my arms until we arrived at
our hotel.

Maggie had dressed her as a boy. She had blue
jean bib overalls on with a plaid flannel shirt underneath. She had
a miniature black Harley-Davidson Motorcycle jacket on that was
clearly too big for her. Her hair was tucked up under a black knit
toboggan; she had on a pair of black cowboy boots. Everything
looked as if it had been purchased at a yard sale.

“
What did she do to you,
baby girl? Did she try to make you look like a boy? My Preston's no
boy. She’s our beautiful baby girl.” I cooed to her.

I took her hat off and was shocked that her
hair looked filthy and matted. She looked at me with her piercing
blue eyes that looked sad and confused. Her nose was running. She
buried her face against me whimpering softly. I wasn’t going to get
a smile out of her at the moment that was a certainty. I could only
imagine what she'd been through these past several days. I
shuddered when I thought about it. I'd make her feel safe and
secure again.

“
How about we take a nice
bath, Preston?”

She was in desperate need of one. I took her
into the bathroom of our hotel suite and started a bath for her. I
laid her down on the bed removing the boy clothes and boots from
her. Her diaper was sopping wet and in dire need of changing. She
looked thinner.

I lowered her slowly into the warm water of
her bath, desperate to wash Maggie’s stench from her. Preston loved
her baths at home, but she fussed and cried loudly as the water
touched her private areas. I froze in fear, screaming for Trey who
was still in the other room. He was at my side in seconds.

"What is it?"

“
Something's wrong with her!
She screamed when I lowered her into her bath.”

Even now, Preston was squirming to the point
I couldn’t let go of her to see what the problem might be.

“
Here let me take her,” Trey
offered, grabbing a towel from the rack. He leaned down as I raised
her from the water kicking and crying, wrapping the towel around
her and taking her into the bedroom. I followed him with another
fresh towel placing it on the bed.

Trey instructed me to turn on the overhead
light so we could check her. Once he removed the towel and lifted
her legs up we could see that her perineum area was beet red. She
had a rash going, but it wasn't like one I'd ever seen. This was a
reddened area with larger welts. He turned her over so that she was
now on her belly. We both gasped in horror when we saw the black
and blue bruises on her bottom. Tears sprang to my eyes.

“
We need to get her dressed
and take her to the nearest ER. She needs to be thoroughly examined
by a pediatrician.”

I nodded, tears flooding my eyes. It was like
the dream I'd had where I pummeled her bottom only when I looked in
the mirror, I'd seen the face of Maggie. Perhaps my dreams had been
a premonition after all.

Trey returned to the living room to fill the
detectives in on what we'd discovered. One of them gave Trey
directions to the nearest hospital and said he would meet us there.
I carefully dressed Preston in her own clothing, putting her jacket
and hat on to keep her warm in the cool October evening.

The pediatrician that examined Preston was
extremely gentle with her. He talked to her as if she could
understand everything he was saying, though I think he did it for
Trey and my benefit, so we would know what he was checking for and
how he needed to check for various injuries.

Blessedly, she had no other bruises on her
body with the exception of her bottom. He checked her arms and
legs, hands and feet and there were no injuries or fractures. He
checked her neck glands, ears and eyes. Her lungs were clear.
Pictures were taken for evidence of her bruised behind.

The doctor diagnosed her as having a cold;
contusions on the gluteus maximus and a yeast infection in her
perineum area.

Yeast infection!

“
How would she have gotten a
yeast infection?” I asked.

“
Both boy and girl babies
can and do get yeast infections. There are several causes, but the
most likely one in this case is that the baby wasn't thoroughly
cleaned up after a bowel movement, or perhaps bathed in a tub that
had fecal matter in it. If your daughter has extremely sensitive
skin, it could have been something as minor as being given a bubble
bath or having perfumed soaps used on her.”

“
Then you don’t think she
was sexually molested or anything?” Trey looked at me quickly
puzzled by my question. I had to know. I had to put it out
there.

“
Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair, I've
not seen anything that would indicate that during my visual
examination of her. If you want me to perform a more in-depth
examination focused on sexual penetration, I can do that, however,
it'll be more traumatic for the baby."

Trey and I looked at one another for a
moment. I didn’t want to put Preston through any more trauma than
what she'd already been through. I hoped that he felt the same
way.

“
If you feel that your
visual examination didn’t warrant anything further doctor, then I
don’t see the need for anything more in depth. Are you okay with
that, Trey?”