Find My Baby (8 page)

“What do you need? Waitress? Cook? Bartender? Office?”

“What can you do?”

“All of the above,” Kayla said. More if he asked. Her jobs over the last years had been versatile to say the least.

“Well, now.” He turned to Jackie. “What do you say? Do we give her a try?”

“Better grab her before someone else does.”

“Done.” He stuck out his hand. “I need a waitress and occasional bartender. Looks like you fit.”

“Wonderful.” Kayla took his hand and shook. “When do I start?”

The man laughed. “That was fast. No questions.”

Kayla took a quick breath. She’d been overeager. That in itself could raise eyebrows. “Sorry. I’m just glad to get a job.”

“That’s okay. We’re pretty informal around here anyway. You can start any time. The pay’s minimum wage, but you keep your tips.”

“Can I start now?” Kayla asked. The kidnappers could walk in any minute. Her gaze slid toward the empty doorway.

John Henry shrugged. “If you like. Jackie will show you the works. When you’re finished, come to my office and fill out the paper work.”

“Just a minute, let me check my tables,” Jackie said hurrying to the two booths where patrons were either eating or drinking coffee. She chatted with one, laughed with the other and was back in seconds.

“They’re set for a while. Come with me.”

Jackie led Kayla through the swinging doors, past a clean kitchen where a Hispanic man was busy wiping down the stove. “This is Felix. Felix, this is Kayla.” The man nodded and continued scrubbing.

They went through another door to a back room that held two freezers, bags of sugar, boxes of salt, flour and the like. From a crowded shelf, Jackie handed her a bright orange shirt that read Howard’s on the back. “This should fit.”

Kayla nodded. “Looks like.”

“Good. Change in there.” She pointed to a restroom. “Then I’ll fill you in.”

Kayla was glad she’d had her aunt pick up a few items of clothing. Like another pair of jeans, since they seemed to be the uniform of choice around here.

Changing shirts quickly, she exited the room, went back through the kitchen and into the bar. Another couple walked through the door. Seeing that Jackie was busy, Kayla grabbed a pad off the register, seated them at a table by the window. The job would offer no challenges. She’d worked in more than a half-dozen restaurants over the years. Taking their order, she slapped it on the carousel, swung it through to the kitchen, then went behind the bar and pulled two drafts.

“You’ve done this before,” Jackie said, slightly out of breath. “Thank God. There’s nothing worse than training someone who doesn’t know a knife from a fork.”

Kayla chuckled. Taking the mugs, she went to the table, served the drinks and returned. Jackie nodded in approval. “Better take care of that paper work. Have to make you legal.”

Nodding, Kayla went to the door labeled Office and knocked.

“Take a seat.”

“Thanks. And thanks again for the job.”

“I should be thanking you. Not too many as pretty as you want to wait tables and tend bar.”

Kayla felt herself blush.

John Henry shuffled through a couple of drawers trying to find the right forms. Looking at the disorder, Kayla smiled to herself. He could use help here, too.

“I like Jackie, she seems nice.”

He chuckled. “She is. I don’t have kids, so she takes up the slack.”

“I’m sure she does. Is she in school?”

“Graduates in the spring,” he said with pride. “I’m lucky she’s here, Christmas break you know. She helps out on occasion, like now, when I’m short-handed. I was watching you out front. You know what you’re doing.”

She shrugged. “I’ve been a bartender and waitress before.”

“Good.” He found the proper papers. “Here they are. Fill them out and bring them back tomorrow.”

“Will do,” she said leaving the office.

Jackie and Kayla kept busy with customers. In between, they shared a word or two. “Where are you from?” Jackie asked.

Kayla found herself giving partial answers. The more they talked, the better she liked Jackie. She had a streak of humor Kayla envied. And found herself giggling more than once over something silly Jackie said. For a moment she forgot why this job was so important.

“What’s your major?” Kayla asked.

Jackie blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Computer science.”

Kayla took a pitcher of tea to a table, poured refills all around. “I just got my degree and teaching certificate this month,” Kayla told her when she finished.

“I’m glad you’re the one with the kids instead of me.”

Kayla chuckled, wondering if Jackie thought it strange a college grad, a teacher no less, was excited about a job in a bar and grill.

“You look sad. Wanna talk about it?”

Two more customers came in.

Kayla stared at Jackie as she went to wait on them, realized she wanted to confide in her. How had Jackie zeroed in on Kayla’s hurt and grief so soon? “We have customers. But if you have some free time after work, maybe we could talk.”

“I have to close up tonight. Why don’t you keep me company?”

“Sounds good,” Kayla said. She didn’t know why she wanted to tell Jackie about her kidnapping and Sam’s disappearance, she just did. Maybe it was because being around Rosie and Aunt Nester all weekend made Kayla realize how much she missed not having a friend. Besides, she needed all the help she could get.

More customers streamed through the doors. Thankfully, two more employees showed up. One was a bald black man of indeterminate age named Early, who worked in the kitchen. The other was Carol, a middle-aged woman, who both waited tables and worked the bar. They were a pleasant bunch and Kayla considered herself lucky that Howard’s wasn’t what she first suspected. A strip joint.

As customers came through the door, Kayla searched each man and woman’s face, but didn’t see anyone who resembled the two who’d held her captive for the past month.

By the time they closed, she had made a couple of trips to the restroom to pump her breasts and massage her feet. Even wearing Nikes, they still hurt. She’d have to get used to being a waitress all over again. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take long to get back in the groove, or too long to find the people who would lead her to Sam.

Chapter Six

With a weary sigh, Jackie locked the door behind the last customer. “Finally,” she said, going to the office to put the receipts in the safe.

Kayla helped Carol straighten up behind the bar while the kitchen help finished up.

“We’re out of here,” Carol said a few minutes later. Early and Felix followed her out the door.

Kayla locked the door behind them just as Jackie came out from the back office. “How about a glass of wine?” she suggested.

“I’ll have ginger ale,” Kayla said, taking two glasses and filling them.

“Long day,” Jackie said.

“Long month.”

“Wanna tell me about it?”

Kayla stretched her legs out under the table; still not sure she was doing the right thing. Maybe she should just forget it, enjoy some conversation and go back to Aunt Nester’s. One look in Jackie’s concerned brown eyes and Kayla made up her mind. “I have a few questions first.”

“Shoot.”

Kayla leaned across the table, looked squarely at Jackie. “Will you repeat this conversation to anyone?”

Silence.

Taking a deep breath, Kayla said, “You have to promise. What I tell you has to stay between the two of us. The police are aware of my situation so it’s not like you’re breaking a law.”

Jackie’s brow puckered. “You’re not going to tell me you killed someone are you?”

Kayla had just taken a swallow of her drink…sputtered. Ginger ale spewed across the table. “Sorry,” she said wiping it with a cloth she kept in the waist of her jeans.

“It was a joke, Kayla. You’re not the type.”

“Oh! There’s a type?” She laughed, realizing it was the first time she’d laughed in a month. Jackie was good for her. There was something about her that made you want to confide in her, trust her. Kayla hoped she was right.

“Okay, spill it. You didn’t ask to meet for a drink. Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s great. We need to relax. And goodness knows I don’t have anything against having a good time, but I get the idea you have something serious on your mind.”

“You’re right. Did you see the news Friday night or Saturday morning? The picture of the woman wanted for questioning by the police?”

“Sure.”

Kayla jerked a thumb toward her chest.

Jackie leaned across the table, looked closely. “No kidding! Amazing what a cut and dye-job will do. You fooled me.”

“Before you run to the phone and turn me in, I saw the police Saturday so they’re not looking for me anymore.”

Kayla told Jackie her story. She didn’t leave out anything except, just in case she was making a wrong judgment call, didn’t tell her where Aunt Nester lived. And since Aunt Nester was listed in the phone book under her married name, she would be difficult to find.

“I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I do know if that woman walks in here, I’m going after her, and you should know.”

“Wow!” Jackie said. “A real honest-to-God mystery right here in Uncle John’s bar and grill.” She grabbed Kayla’s hand. “I’ll help you find the woman. Two pairs of eyes are better than one. You said you made a sketch of the kidnappers, do you have them with you?”

Kayla pulled them out from the purse Aunt Nester loaned her. “Have you seen either of them? The guy probably has acne over his entire face.”

“No. I haven’t. But I’ll be glad to show them to the others and to Uncle John. Maybe one of them can tell us something.”

“Maybe. Just don’t tell them I’m the one asking. At least not now.”

“Not even Uncle John?”

Kayla thought a minute. She was in this now and she had to trust someone. She nodded. “He’ll need to know anyway if the woman walks in and I go after her.”

Jackie patted Kayla’s hand. “You’re safe here.”

“I hope so. Now I have to go. Aunt Nester is probably worried.”

They scooted out of the booth. Jackie put an arm around Kayla’s shoulder. “You have help. The police. FBI. You have your aunt and her friend, Rosie. You’re not alone.”

“Don’t forget Luke.” Kayla couldn’t forget him. He’d become part of the picture now.

“Don’t forget you have me now, too. I’ll do everything I can. I’m more than willing to help.”

“Thanks, Jackie.”

All the way back to her aunt’s, Kayla kept one eye on the road, the other on her rear-view mirror.

“I had no idea you’d be so late,” Aunt Nester scolded thirty minutes later.

“Sorry. I should have called.” Tired beyond belief, Kayla didn’t feel like talking. She wanted to give her breasts some relief and go to bed. Instead, she sat down beside her aunt, gave her a hug and said, “I got a job, Aunt Nester.”

“How wonderful. Tell me about it.”

So she did. “The job could lead me to the kidnappers. Luckily, the people there are really nice. I like them all, especially Jackie Howard. I want you to meet her. She’s promised to help me look for the woman who took Sam.” Kayla stifled a yawn. “Sorry. I’m beat.”

“Then go to bed. Sleep as late as you can.”

Kayla nodded. “I will. I don’t have to be at work until eleven in the morning.”

Making her way to the bathroom, Kayla prayed that tomorrow or the next day, the woman would come into the bar. Then she would have something to go on.

A few minutes later, she looked at herself in the mirror, didn’t recognize the woman staring back at her with huge, tired eyes.

Her stomach clenched. Her eyes filled with tears. She’d failed as a mother before she’d gotten started. A mother who couldn’t save her baby and was barely able to save herself.

The task of finding her son seemed huge. But regardless of the help of the police and the FBI, or the lack thereof, she was the one responsible for Sam.

Maybe she should abandon her search, give the police the matchbook.

No one would blame her if she stayed out of this and let the police handle it. No one but herself.

Ignoring the tremor in her hands, she ran them through the unfamiliar blonde strands. They looked awful.

She lifted her chin as she stared in the mirror. “I’ll find you, baby boy. Mommy will never stop until she does.”

When she lay in bed, she moaned at her physical aches and pains, but knew by morning they’d be gone. But nothing; not sleep, not anything, would ease the deeper pain in her heart.

Curling into a ball, she shut her eyes.

If she listened closely, she could almost hear Sam cry.

****

Luke and his partner Terry Maguire had spent a fruitless day on the Tanner case. Now Luke was tired. But didn’t think he’d be able to sleep. So he went to the room he’d turned into an office and sat behind the desk. Picking up the list of names Kayla had jotted down, he scanned it quickly, shook his head. Short list. No friends. What was it with Kayla Hunter? She didn’t hurt her baby. That much he was sure of, even if he couldn’t explain his reasoning to his partner’s satisfaction. Terry had reminded him of how many times a parent had hurt their child.

Not Kayla. And didn’t know why he was so sure. But the grief he saw in her eyes was real. There was no doubt in his mind she’d been held in that ramshackle house against her will. She was in trouble in more ways than he could count.

But what could he do? Most likely, her baby was across the country thousands of miles away. More than likely, she’d never see him again.

His thoughts churned. No family except her aunt. No money. So who would want her baby? It was a real mystery and he hoped the FBI was better at this than he was.

Once more he was wracked by the thought of how she could disappear without a single person questioning her absence? Even with her explanation, it didn’t seem logical. He wanted more background information. If he stepped on Wagner’s toes, so be it.

It was late, but sleep didn’t come easily with so many questions running through his head. After tossing and turning another thirty minutes, he finally blanked out. But his dreams were of a beautiful dark-haired woman with sad, cornflower blue eyes.