“What’s over there? What’s she looking at?”
“We don’t have a camera facing that angle,” Jason said.
Frustration ground Duke’s teeth together. He kept his eyes on his mom, surprised when she stiffened and kept walking. “She’s moving toward the front of the hospital.”
“Give me a second.” Jason’s fingers flew over the keyboard. The monitor in the corner sputtered to life with a new angle of his mom, this time walking to the exit.
“Where the hell’s she going?” Duke spat, his haze narrowing. “Look, there’s a shadow. Someone is with her.” His heart sped up as though he’d ran a marathon. “Will this show her leaving the hospital?”
“Hold on.”
A third monitor showed the parking lot. An ambulance drove away from under the car port, revealing a black pickup waiting in the no parking zone. The doors to the emergency roomwhooshed open. His mom walked out with Chrissy beside her and the barrel of a gun jammed against her side.
Chrissy forced his mom into the truck then jogged around to the driver’s side and sped off.
Terror shoved his heart to his throat. “Whose truck is that? Zoom in on the license plate.”
Jason did as he was asked.
Duke found paper and pen on the desk and scribbled down the number as he called Spencer.
“Deputy Goodwin,” he answered.
“Spencer, it’s Duke. Chrissy took my mom from the hospital and drove off in a black truck about an hour ago. I’ve got the plate number. I need you to run it.”
“On it.”
He told him the information and waited, his attention fixed on the image of the truck that had carried away his mother.
“Got it. The truck is registered to a man named Carl Sampson. Do you know him?”
Memories assaulted Duke the same way his fists had assaulted Carl’s face, beating him until the man had been carted off to the hospital.
Beating him because of the heinous lie Chrissy told him.
And now the two were working together? His mind raced as he tried to put together the broken pieces that didn’t make any sense. But he needed to figure it out fast. His mom’s life was on the line.
Suzy stoodby Heather’s side and tried her best to keep the other woman calm.
“I hate this.” Heather sniffed but it didn’t stop fat tears from rolling down her face.
Suzy found a box of tissues and yanked a few sheets out to hand to Heather. “Don’t cry. I’m sure Duke will find her and get this whole mess figured out.”
“I don’t know.” Heather dotted the corner of her eyes with the tissue. “Something doesn’t feel right. And she’s been gone for over an hour. This hospital is not that big. No way she’s lost or the lines for food were too long. She’s in trouble. I can feel it. I mean, she’s my mom. Don’t you have that connection with your own mother?”
Suzy winced. She was so used to everyone around her knowing her story, it didn’t dawn on her that Heather might not be aware that her own mother had passed away after giving birth. A loss she’d lived with her entire life.
“My mother died when I was a baby.”
“Oh, no.” Heather covered her open mouth with her hand. “I’m so sorry. Duke never told me.”
“Why would he?” she said with a small shrug. “It’s not really something I go around broadcasting. It’s just a part of who I am.”
Heather grabbed her hand and squeezed. “I hate you’ve had to carry that around for so long. I wish you could have gotten a chance to know your own mom, and I know it’s not the same, but I can share mine. No matter what happens between you and Duke, Mama always has a big enough heart to welcome more people.”
Suzy struggled to swallow past the lump in her throat. As moved as she was, she couldn’t cry right now. She needed to be strong for Heather, not an emotional mess. “I appreciate that. Your mom seems so sweet.”
“She really is.” Heather’s tears came back. “She has to be all right. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
