When I got back to the station, I went to my office and opened the Kayla Harris/Chad Williams file. I went to my notes from the interview with Laura Reid. She came across as a bit indifferent to my questions, she wasn’t a typical frantic mother of a missing daughter. She answered all my questions, but unlike Chad’s parents, she never called for an update on the case. She would get emotional at times when it seemed appropriate, but it wasn’t really sincere. I got the impression that they didn’t have a close mother daughter relationship. Kayla’s father hadn’t been in her life for over ten years and lived in Oregon, I never did talk to him. Why had Laura never told me that Kayla had a child that she had given up for adoption? I’m not sure it would have made a difference, what would the adoption and Kayla’s disappearance have to do with each other?
I opened up the file that Donna Hogan sent over to find out a little more about Kayla and if it would shed some light on the why she gave Isaac up. She was 19 when she was pregnant, and she and Chad were both still in their second year of college. The file listed financial reasons as well as the fact that they were unmarried at the time. I could understand that, it would mean that they would both have to quit school and get jobs to raise a baby, probably low paying jobs. They really did do the right thing to give Isaac a better life. Isaac would have been around two when she disappeared, how would faking her own kidnapping help her get her son back? What was Chad’s part in all of this? Laura’s behavior was certainly strange over the last couple of weeks, did she concoct this whole scheme?
I was shaken out of my thoughts by a knock at my door. The desk Sgt. Said, “hey Ridge, there is a Laura Reid here to see you.”
My mind raced, her son must have actually given her my message, I said, “thanks Bob, where is she?”
He said, “interview room 2, with her lawyer.”
I grabbed my notebook and headed down the hall, as I thought, so she brings her lawyer, what does that mean?”
After introductions were made, I sat across the table and said, “first of all, I still have no new information on Kayla’s case, I’m sorry.”
Her expression didn’t change, “yes, I know, but my son said you have some questions for me, and I heard from a coworker you were nosing around my job. What is this all about detective?”
I slid a picture of Isaac across the table, I said, “we are investigating the disappearance of this little boy.”
She didn’t even bother to look at the picture as she asked, “what does this have to do with me?”
I said, “he is your biological grandson, your daughter Kayla, gave him up for adoption two years before she disappeared. You took a temp job at the agency that handled the adoption, you were the last person to access his file, just two days before he went missing.”
The lawyer asked, “are you accusing my client of kidnapping this boy, detective Ridgeway?”
I shook my head, “not at all, but there seems to be too many coincidences in these two cases, and I would like to see if your client can clear them up.”
He asked, “what specific questions do you have?”
I started with, “did you know that Kayla had a baby and given it up for adoption?”
She nodded, “of course I did, I’m her mother.”
I asked, “why didn’t you tell us about that when we were investigating her disappearance?”
She shrugged, “I didn’t think was important, what does one thing have to do with the other?”
He lawyer said, “it really wasn’t relevant detective.”
I said, “well, it sure seems like it might be now, doesn’t it? If she would have mentioned it, it might have given us another lead to follow, if nothing else we could have eliminated the possibility.”
The lawyer said, “ok fine detective, she should have mentioned it. It’s too late now and I still don’t see how giving a baby up for adoption led to Kayla being missing.”
I said, “it didn’t until that same baby disappeared.”
They looked at each other, Laura sighed, “I should have said something, I’m sorry detective.”
I asked, “have you had any contact with Kayla in the last two years?"
She said, “of course not, she’s missing, how would I talk to her?”
The lawyer asked, “are you thinking that Laura and Kayla staged this whole thing, just to get her baby back?
I shrugged, “I have to follow up on all the information that I have, that does look like one possibility.”
Laura said, “my daughter is not smart enough to come up with a plan like this.”
I nodded, “maybe it wasn’t Kayla’s idea.”
The lawyer said, “detective Ridgeway, you need to ask the rest of your questions, if you insist upon throwing out wild accusations, we will end this interview very quickly.
I asked, “why did you take that temp job at St Francis?”
She rolled her eyes, “I needed some money for a trip I am planning, and one of my friends at work told me about taking a week of vacation and working a temp job. I would get paid by both places, so I could save the money a little faster.”
I was taking notes, I asked, “why did you pick St Francis as your temp job?”
She shrugged, “it was where the temp agency sent me, I didn’t select it.”
I said, “Donna Hogan told me that you were booked for a month, why did you only stay for a week?”
She said, “I only had a week off from the bank, I needed to get back to my regular job.”
I said, “we talked to your boss at the bank, you had two weeks scheduled off.”
The lawyer stepped in, “my client just wanted to take a week off for herself, she doesn’t owe you or anyone else an explanation for what she does on her time off.”
I pressed on, “why did you give both St Francis and the temp agency a bogus phone number?”
She took a deep breath, “I changed my phone number because a few weeks ago, I went on a date with guy I didn’t like, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He was harassing me.”
I continued to take notes, I said, “I’ll need his name before you leave, so I can confirm that with him. I will be happy to tell him that if he tries to contact you again, charges will be filed.”
She said, “no need detective, I have already told him that.”
Once again, the lawyer stepped in, “I will follow up on that detective, and if I need your assistance, I will let you know.”
I said, “ok, I have one more question, why did you access Isaac’s adoption file on your last day of work at St Francis’s office?”
I saw her go pale, she said, “it was by mistake, I was trying to enter information into the files that Donna Hogan told me to, I just clicked on that one by accident.”
Before I could respond, the lawyer said, “if there is nothing else detective, we will be on our way.”
I nodded, “fine, just leave me a good phone number so I can reach you if I have any more questions.”
The lawyer quickly handed me his card, “just give me a call, I will be sure Mrs. Reid gets the message.”
I went back to my office and called Balke and Ollie, I asked, “anything going on there?”
Blake said, “nothing yet, the guy you talked to and another guy that looks like his brother are just sitting on the front porch drinking beer.”
I said, “I just talked to Laura, she’s hiding something, I know she is involved. Stay there for another hour, I’m guessing she will be home in about 20 minutes.”
I went and talked to the captain, updating him on the interview with Laura. I told him I was going to join Blake and Ollie to see if the interview would cause Laura to panic and make a move. I pulled into the park that Blake was hiding at, he had a good view of the house and because it was a nice day, the park was full, and his car wasn’t out of place.
I filled them in on the talk I had with Laura and her lawyer. Blake said, “you were right, she showed up about 20 minutes after you called, she and the boys went inside as soon as she got home.”
Just as Blake was telling me about what they had observed, Ollie said, “hey, they’re getting in the car, they are heading north.”
We followed them as they left the city and drove to an area with cabins scattered around a lake. The cabins were spaced about a mile apart from each other. I called the captain, and he sent out back up for us as well a helicopter, so we could stay far enough away as to not be detected. We parked out of sight when they pulled up to one of the older, more run-down cabins. The windows and doors had all been covered with plywood. I sent the backup officers into the woods to surround the cabin, as we watched one of Laura’s sons unscrew the plywood from the front door and they all went inside.
As we were trying to make our entry plan, we heard screaming and yelling, and the sounds of things being thrown around. Then I heard what sounded like a young child start to cry.
I said, “we need to go now.”
The officers in the back said, “we’re in place”, over the radio. Blake, Ollie and I ran onto the front porch, we pulled our guns, Ollie was to my right and Blake to my left. We heard some more furniture breaking sounds and more yelling. I nodded and as I kicked in the door and rushed in, Ollie and Blake were right behind me. I saw the two men that came with Laura, one was holding another man, while the second was beating him. A young woman was in the corner screaming as she was protecting a crying toddler. Laura was standing there with a gun on the young women as she watched her sons beat the man.
I yelled, “Miami Police, everybody freeze.”
The Swanson brothers dropped the man they were beating, and Laura quickly turned her back to the young lady and aimed the gun at me. She had the most evil look in her eyes that I had ever seen in my over fifteen years in the department. She glared at me and said, “you will not take my grandson away from me.”
I said, “yes, we are, Isaac is not your grandson any longer, we are taking him back to his parents right now. We have the cabin surrounded, you will not make out of here alive if you don’t put that gun down.”
She screamed, “I don’t care, you are not taking my grandson.”
Laura was so busy pointing her gun at me, that she didn’t notice the woman behind her. Before I could say anything, the women kicked Laura’s legs out from under her with all her might. I was sure I heard the crack of bones as Laura fell to the floor and the gun went flying. Ollie and Blake each jumped on each of the Swanson brothers as I ran to put cuffs on Laura. The woman was still crying as she grabbed the toddler to once again protect him. The rest of the officers ran in and took the brothers outside and called for an ambulance for both Laura and the man that had been beaten.
Laura was screaming, “that bitch broke my legs.”
I felt no sympathy for her, “you’re lucky I didn’t shoot you first.” Two of the other officers carried her out to the porch to wait for the ambulance.
I turned to the woman in the corner and asked, “are you Kayla Harris?”
She sniffed as she shook her head, “yes.” It was clear that she had also been beaten, although not as severely as the man that Blake and Ollie were giving first aid.
I said, “and I assume that he is Chad.” She nodded as I said, “can you give me Isaac?”
She released her hold on the crying toddler, and I handed him to one of the female officers that was on the scene.
Kayla said, “I made sure she didn’t hurt him, he is probably hungry though.”
I helped her to her feet, “we will find something for him to eat soon. Are you ok?”
She wiped a tear away, “I think so, is Chad going to be, ok?”
I nodded, “we have an ambulance on the way, can you tell me what happened.”
With a weak voice, Chad said, “I’ll be fine Kayla.” She sat beside him and held his hand.
She said, “my mother is nuts, she brought us up here a long time ago, and she showed up with that little boy yesterday, is he really our son?”
I said, “we can talk about that when we get back to Miami, I hear the ambulance pulling up now, we need to get Chad to the hospital.”
The Swanson brothers were loaded in a patrol car and taken to the station to be booked. Laura was loaded in one of the ambulances while Chad and Kayla were taken in the other. Isaac was also taken to the hospital to be checked over, just as a precaution. I called the Groves and told them to meet us at the hospital, quickly assuring them that Isaac was not hurt, it was just department policy to be sure.
The Groves were already at the hospital when we arrived, they went into the exam room with Isaac as the doctor did his examination, he was unharmed. Laura was taken to get an x-ray and then taken to get a cast put on both of her legs, Kayla had released a lot of pent-up frustration on her mother.
Chad was also taken for x-rays and treatment for his wounds. The doctor told me that he found several bones that healed over time and some other injuries that were not recent. He assured Kayla that he was going to be fine but would need to spend a couple of days in the hospital.
I turned to Kayla and said, “why don’t we let these guys take care of Chad, let’s go somewhere so we can talk privately.”
A nurse found us an empty room and Blake, Ollie and I sat down with Kayla, I asked, “can you tell me everything that happened over the last two years?”
She looked at me, “has it been two years?”
I nodded, “yes, you were reported missing a little bit over two years ago.”
She asked, “who report us missing?”
I said, “it was Chad’s parents.”
She chuckled, “I knew it wasn’t my mom.”
I asked, “why would you say that?”
She took a deep breath, “it was my mom that kidnapped us.”
Blake asked, “why would she do that?”
Kayla said, “it was because she found out we gave up our baby for adoption. You see, my mom and I have always had a strained relationship. When Chad and I found out I was pregnant, we talked and knew we couldn’t take care of a baby. I knew I couldn’t have an abortion so we decided the best solution was to give the baby to a family that could care for it. We didn’t tell either of our parents, Chad’s parents would have insisted we get married and quit school, we both wanted to finish school before we got married. I was sure my mom would want to raise the baby herself and I wasn’t going to let that happen. We made excuses not to visit our families while I was pregnant and I found St Francis, after a lot of research I was satisfied they would find the best home for the baby and maintain our privacy. About two years ago I was having another fight with my mother, she had been hounding us about giving her a grandchild and we said we weren’t ready. Chad let it slip, that we weren’t ready the first time, and I finally told her about the baby. She wanted us to tell who adopted the baby, and she wouldn’t believe us when we told her we didn’t know. The next week we had planned a camping trip, and, on the day, we were leaving, she called and said she needed help, her car broke down in some hotel parking lot. I told her to call a tow truck, but Chad said we should go help her. When we got to the parking lot, my brothers jumped us, and we woke up in that damn cabin. We tried to break out, but the windows and doors were covered from the outside. Every few days one of my brothers would bring us food and every so often mom would come along with both my brothers. They would beat up Chad trying to get us to tell them who we gave the baby to. I finally told them about St Francis. I hadn’t seen mom for a while and one of my brothers would just drop food off and leave. Yesterday morning, they all showed up with that little boy and told us it was our son. Then they showed up again today and started to beat Chad again, that’s when you guys showed up.”
Ollie asked, “did your mom tell you how she found out who adopted Isaac.”
She sighed, “no, I didn’t ask, but when I saw Isaac, I knew he was our son, he looks just like Chad.”
I said, “Isaac has been reunited with his parents, you know you may never see him again?”
She nodded, “yes, I know detective. Would you please tell them how sorry I am that my mother put them through all of this and thank them for giving Isaac a good home.”
I said, “I will tell them. I think we should let you rest now, we will talk again in the morning. I’ll talk with the doctor, I am sure they will let you clean up and find you something clean to wear. They will also let you stay with Chad tonight.
I talked to the hospital staff, and they let Kayla and Chad stay together, I had an officer stay to watch their room, just in case Kayla hadn’t been telling me the truth. I called the captain and filled him in on the afternoon’s events, he told us to all go home and wrap things up in the morning.
I walked into the house and saw Lucas and Lucy sleeping on the couch, causing me to smile. I gave Lucas a kiss as he and Lucy both woke up.
He smiled, “hey, I’m glad you’re home.”
I gave him another kiss, “I’m glad I’m home too, and so is Isaac.”
Lucas grinned, “that is good news, and you got the bad guys?”
I nodded, “yep, everybody is where they should be.”
He said, “I have some dinner warming in the oven, if you’re hungry.”
I smiled, “I still don’t know what I did to deserve you.”
He rolled his eyes, “we’ve had this talk so many times, you just brought a little boy home to his parents, you deserve a lot more than me.”
I washed my hands as Lucas set my plate on the table, and I started to eat.
I said, “you know, my parents were worthless, but at least they knew it and found someone else to take care of me. It wasn’t the best solution, it may have been better if they realized it a bit sooner like Kayla and Chad did. I wonder what my life would have been like if they gave me away when I was born, maybe I would have had a family like Isaac does.”
Lucas said, “you have always said, that you play the cards you’re dealt in life. If things hadn’t gone the way they did, we may have never met.”
I chuckled, “I guess I drew the winning hand then, didn’t I?”
I finished eating and put my plate in the sink and turned to hug Lucas, I said, “I could use a shower, do you care to join me.”
He smiled, “deal me in.”
Of course, our hands and lips were all over each other as we showered and dried off. We practically ran to our bed, falling into our usual sixty-nine position. I would never get tired of Lucas’s cock in my mouth, he always tasted so good. As we sucked each other, I felt Lucas start to finger my hole, he always knew how to push my buttons to get me going. I let out a deep breath as I released his cock, rolled onto my back and pulled my legs up. Lucas smiled at me as he repositioned himself and began to lick my pink pucker, pushing his tongue in and out of my hole. Once he had me covered in his slobber, he kissed his way up my stomach and chest. He rubbed his manhood along my crack as we kissed passionately. I reached down and guided his prick into my aching love tunnel. We both exhaled as he impaled me until his nuts were tight against my ass. We locked our eyes on each other as he began to thrust in and out, his cock was a perfect fit for my hole. I just loved the look in his eyes as he fucked me, that is why this was my favorite position. We only took our eyes off each other so we could kiss as I kept my arms wrapped around his back and my legs locked around his waist. My precum leaking cock was trapped between our hard stomachs, which was a good thing, I knew I would cum if I touched myself.
I could feel Lucas’s breath start to quicken and his cock swell, I knew he was close. He came in for another kiss just as he sent his hot love juices as far up in my guts as he could. We continued to kiss until well after his spasms had stopped. We broke our kiss as we smiled at each other, I raised an eyebrow as I said, “it’s my turn.” He returned the smile as I gave him a push and he landed on his back. Before Lucas could react, I pushed his legs up and went to work on his hole with my tongue, next to his cock, his ass had the sweetest taste, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Lucas’s head was writhing back and forth as I continued rimming him. He finally gasped, “fuck me, now.” I quickly honored his request, pushing in balls deep in one smooth motion. We kissed again as we got into our perfect rhythm, Lucas’s cum was seeping out of my ass and down my balls, giving me all the lube I needed. It didn’t take long for my nuts to start churning, a big load of cum working its way to the surface. I kissed him harder as my seed filled Lucas’s insides, some leaking out as I continued to push in and out. We collapsed into a big pile of flesh, sweat and cum, our lips still locked together, our lust completely sated. As my deflating cock slipped from Lucas’s hole, he grinned, “I think we need another shower.” Lucy, who was lying on the floor across the room, lifted her head and looked at us. She let out a big yawn and laid her back down as we crawled out of bed and headed to the bathroom, as we chuckled at her. We cleaned up and held each other as we went to sleep.
The next morning, Blake, Ollie and I talked to Kayla and Chad again, confirming what they had told us the day before. We moved onto interviews with Laura and her two sons, Laura of course, maintained her innocence, claiming that Isaac was her grandson and that she had every right to see him, whenever she wanted. When we and her lawyer couldn’t convince her otherwise, we talked to her two sons. They listened to their lawyer and told the same story that Kayla had given us. The DA filed charges against all three and they were sent to jail, none of them were able to raise bail, so they would wait there until the trial. Rod and Ron had less of a wait, as they both plead guilty and were sentenced for their part, getting a little better deal for cooperating with us. Laura was going to take her case to trial.
The trail went as we expected, Between Kayla and Chad’s testimony and the same story from her sons, it was a relatively short trial. The jury returned with a guilty verdict after just a few hours of deliberation. After the judge concluded the trial, we were standing in the hall of the courthouse as Kayla and Chad approached us, they both looked so much better than the first time I met them.
I said, “you two are looking well.”
Chad ran his hands through his now short hair and smiled, “yeah, my first haircut in two years felt pretty good.”
Kayla smiled, “we wanted to thank you for every you did for us.”
I smiled, “your very welcome, and thank you for your testimony.” I asked, “so will you both be going back to school?”
Kayla said, “Chad is, I have a job at a real estate company downtown as an administrative assistant. I will go back for my degree when Chad finishes his.”
I nodded, “that sounds like a good plan, I wish you both the best.”
Chad said, “thank you, and we wanted to invite you to our wedding.”
Ollie said, “that’s great, you’re getting married?”
Kayla held up her had to show her ring, “yep, just going to be a small ceremony in Chad’s parents’ back yard.”
I asked, “so they have been supportive?”
Chad smiled, “yes, they were upset that we didn’t tell them about the baby but were so happy that we are safe now. Things are good with us.”
Just as we were wrapping up our conversation, I saw Dan, Lisa and Isaac walking toward us. I was unsure what to do.
Dan asked, “would it be ok if we talked with Kayla and Chad, detective?”
I nodded, “sure, if it is ok with them.”
Chad smiled, “it’s ok detective.” He turned to Dan and shook his hand, “Chad Williams, nice to meet you.”
Kayla tried to hold a tear back as she said, “I am so sorry, I promise you Isaac wasn’t hurt.”
Lisa gave her a hug, “we know, we just wanted to thank you for taking care of him and after listening during the trial, we know that you meant us no harm.”
Kayla smiled as she looked at Isaac, “thank you for being such good parents to Isaac, I am so happy he has the life he deserves.”
Lisa said, “well, he is missing one thing.”
Chad looked at them and asked, “what’s that?”
Dan said, “Lisa and I are both only children, Isaac could use a favorite aunt and uncle.”
Chad and Kayla looked shocked as Lisa said, “would you like to come to our house for dinner tomorrow night?”
Kayla again fought back the tears, “are you sure, we don’t want to interfere?”
Dan said, “we are very sure, we talked about it and would like you to be part of Isaac’s life. We have always planned on telling him that he is adopted when he is old enough to understand. You guys have been through so much trying to protect him and us, so if you want, we want to have you there for birthday parties, school plays and all those milestones.”
Chad shook Dan’s hand again, as Lisa and Kayla hugged, he said, “we would love that.”
Blake, Ollie and I left them to talk and went back to the station. I went to my office and moved, Isaac, Kayla and Chad’s pictures to the solved side of my wall, I always smiled when I was able to do that.
Lucas had dinner ready when I walked in the door, he handed me a rum and Coke and he gave me a kiss. He asked, “how was your day?”
I smiled as I told him everything that happened, he was grinning at me as I talked. I asked, “what is that grin for?”
Lucas said, “I am so glad I listened to Jace.”
I furrowed my brows, “about what?”
Lucas held back a tear as he said, “he told me to find someone special, and the way your eyes light up when you tell me about happy endings to your cases, I know I did.”
The End.
