Chapter 6: Forty-Seven Minutes
"You need to find her," I said.
"We have every exit from this hospital covered.
We have units on every road within a two-mile radius.
Her photo is with every officer."
"She had forty-seven minutes."
"Mrs.
Hartley—"
"She had forty-seven minutes and a newborn and she is not at her apartment and you are sitting in this room talking to me."
Solis didn't flinch.
"I am sitting in this room because you have information I need.
The faster you give it to me, the faster we move." She held my gaze.
"Does Renata have family in this area?
Anyone she would trust with a child?"
I shook my head.
Then I stopped.
"Luke mentioned a sister once.
Renata's sister.
He said they were close before everything fell apart.
He said she lived somewhere outside the city.
I don't remember her name."
"Think."
I pressed my fingers against my forehead.
"Dana.
Or Diane.
Something like that." I looked up.
"Wait.
Eli might know."
Solis was already moving to the door.
Eli was in the family waiting area down the hall with a hospital social worker.
Solis brought him back to my room.
He came in and immediately looked at my face to check if something worse had happened.
"I need to ask you something important," I said.
"Does your mom have a sister?"
"Aunt Dara."
"Do you know where she lives?"
He thought about it.
He was six.
He was trying so hard.
"We went there once.
When I was little.
There was a red barn.
And a dog named Pepper." He looked at Solis.
"It took a long time to drive there.
I fell asleep and when I woke up we were on a road with no houses."
Solis was already on her radio.
I heard her say: rural property, red barn, Dara Voss, possible relation to Renata Voss, priority search.
Then my phone rang again.
Same unknown number.
I looked at Solis.
She nodded.
I answered.
"I told you to stop talking to them." Renata's voice was still calm.
But something underneath it had shifted.
A tightness.
Like a rope pulled one turn too far.
"Where is my daughter?"
"She's safe.
She's warm.
She's being held by someone who wanted her."
"She's four hours old.
She needs me."
"She needs a mother who deserves her."
The words landed like a physical thing.
"Renata." I kept my voice as steady as I could.
"Whatever Luke told you.
Whatever he promised you.
June is not something he had the right to give.
She is my daughter.
She has nothing to do with what happened between you and Luke."
Silence.
"Give her back.
Please.
She hasn't eaten.
She needs to be with me."
A long pause.
Then, quietly, something that might have been a breath catching.
"Luke said you didn't want her.
He said you were going to leave him after the birth.
That you'd already told him you couldn't do it.
That you were going to walk away and leave her with him and he didn't know what to do."
I couldn't speak for a moment.
May you like
"He lied to you," I said.
"He lied to both of us."
