Lullabies and Lies - By Mallory Kane Page 0,72
their lives. Says he followed you and Ms. Loveless here to Philadelphia.”
“Cogburn?” Natasha had mentioned that name as the lawyer who drew up papers for Mia Raymond’s adoption. “Does he have an old green Plymouth?”
“Should I ask?”
“Never mind. I’ll check him out later.”
Sparks shrugged. “I’ve got an officer taking his statement. Meanwhile, the officers here will sift through everything, looking for Ms. Raymond’s book. I suppose you want to be in on the questioning of Jane Gross.”
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“We’ll be talking to Mia Raymond, too.”
Griff glanced back toward the car. “Take her to see her mother first.”
SUNNY SAT IN THE BACKSEAT of the police car, with Emily’s sweet head resting on her shoulder as she listened to her daughter’s soft even breaths.
Her eyes burned from crying, and she couldn’t stop smiling or kissing her sweet baby’s face. Her heart ached with joy and relief. Every so often, a tear would escape and run down her cheek.
Beside her, Mia sat up. “They’re arresting Aunt Janie.”
Sunny opened her eyes. Two police officers were leading Jane Gross out of the house. But it wasn’t Jane who held Sunny’s attention.
Griff stood by the back door, talking with the police captain. He looked tired. His shoulders were not quite so square, and he occasionally rubbed his chest or wiped his face. His hair was tousled, as if he’d run his fingers through it countless times.
He glanced toward them. Sunny’s heart fluttered. She couldn’t see his eyes from here, but she felt them.
She’d gotten used to him being there. She’d allowed herself to believe in his promise of strength and safety. She’d fallen in love with him.
How was she going to live without him?
He and the captain turned and went back inside the house.
“Officer,” Sunny said to the uniformed policewoman sitting in the driver’s seat. “How much longer will they be in there?”
“I believe they’re searching for a book, ma’am. Some sort of journal.”
Mia gasped quietly. Emily cooed in her sleep.
The leather journal in Sunny’s pocket. She’d forgotten all about it. She needed to give it to Griff. But first…
She glanced toward Mia, taking in her dark hair and wide eyes, the fine structure of her face and her slender grace. The niggling thought that had bothered her from the first moment she’d laid eyes on Mia began to fit together with other facts in her mind like pieces of a puzzle. Mia’s age, her general appearance, the date Bess Raymond had written in her book.
If Sunny was right…a thrill swirled through her. “Is Jane really your aunt, Mia?”
“No.”
“How is she connected with your mother?”
Mia let out a shaky breath. “Mom kept children for Jane for years. I think—” Her voice broke and she stopped.
Sunny shifted in her seat and looked at the teenager sitting beside her. “It’s okay, Mia. We already know what Jane was doing.”
“I…think she stole babies. I hadn’t seen her in years. But when I was a kid, she came around all the time, always with a different baby.”
A lump grew in Sunny’s throat. “Do you know why your mother helped her?”
Mia put her fingers to her lips, stifling a little hiccupping sob. She hung her head and nodded. “Because of me.”
Sunny’s heart drummed against her chest wall. The erratic rhythm disturbed Emily and she began to whimper.
“Will you hold Emily for me?”
Mia looked up in surprise. “Sure.”
Sunny kissed her baby and nuzzled her downy head. “Here’s Mia, sweetie. You know Mia. She’s been taking care of you.”
With one hand still patting her baby as Mia held her, Sunny dug into her slacks pocket as her mind raced.
It all made sense—the date the Grosses had disappeared from Nashville, the newspaper archive reporting a toddler missing from Centennial Park on the same day.
With fingers that shook, Sunny set the leather book on her knees.
“That’s Mom’s book.”
She nodded. “Yes, it is. Officer, could you turn on the overhead light?”
The light flared.
On the very first page was the information Sunny sought. There, printed neatly, was the proof of Mia’s identity.
Baby girl, eighteen months old, June 30, 1991, Nashville, Tennessee.
Sunny’s heart skipped a beat. “Your mom isn’t your real mother, is she?”
“Mom said the first moment she saw me she knew I was her daughter. My mom’s a good person.”
Sunny nodded. “I know she is.”
“Mom kept me, and because of that, Janie made her keep the babies all those years.” Mia took a sobbing breath. “I’m so sorry. I tried to take care of Emily. I’m so—”
“Mia.” Sunny put her trembling hand on the girl’s