the kidnapper would only call and let her hear their voices.
Instinctively, she started to check her phone and make certain she hadn’t missed a call. Her handbag. She didn’t have it. She tried to think where she’d left it.
She’d hung it on the back of the chair when she’d sat down to talk to the detective. She’d gotten so caught up in her angry tirade, she’d forgotten it.
She spun around and retraced her steps, racing to the elevator. By the time she reached the tiny room, she was breathing hard and fast from the panicky run. She opened the door without bothering to knock.
Her purse was there. But not as she’d left it. A bulky brown package was stuffed inside the side pocket.
Her first name was printed in lopsided letters.
The same kind of letters that the kidnapper had used to write yesterday’s note. This had to be from him.
The kidnapper was here in the hospital, perhaps only steps away.
Chapter Seven
Adam was standing in the east end of the fourth-floor corridor near the drink machine when he looked up and saw Hadley almost run into another woman at the other end of the hallway. He dropped the remainder of his soda in the trash can and ran to catch up with her. By the time she ducked into a room near the end of the long hallway, he was only a few steps behind.
He found her alone in the room, clutching a bulky package and so pale he thought she was about to pass out. Panic hit him, fear that she’d gotten bad news from the doctor. Or worse, it had been bad news from the police.
“What’s wrong?”
“This.” She handed him the package.
“Where did you get this?”
“Personal delivery—from the kidnapper.”
“You saw the kidnapper?”
“I didn’t see him. That’s the problem. But he was here, in this very room.”
“What makes you think that?”
“After I talked to the detective, I stormed out without my purse. When I realized that and came back, this envelope was in the side pocket.”
Adam muttered a few curses under his breath. The abductor was gutsy as hell if he’d walked right into the hospital to contact Hadley. He couldn’t have known she’d leave her purse behind. Had he planned to just walk up and hand it to her?
That made no sense.
Hadley worried a silver ring on her ring hand. “If he was here, who’s with my girls? They could be locked in a room somewhere by themselves? They’ll be afraid. They’ll cry for me and I won’t come.”
“Just as likely he left them with an accomplice,” Adam said, throwing her a lifeline. Or was it the accomplice who’d delivered the message?
Matilda was the first person who came to mind. She’d been in the hospital. She’d likely been in this very room with Lane after he’d talked to Hadley.
She couldn’t have counted on Hadley leaving her purse, but she could have taken advantage of it. More likely she’d planned to leave it in Janice’s hospital room but then hadn’t gotten the chance when they’d arrived.
The meeting she’d had on Monday with her brother could have been a strategy session or maybe just the opportunity he needed to enlist her. Or maybe Quinton wasn’t involved at all. No one saw her with him on Monday. She could have carried out the abduction all by herself. The girls would have gone with her without crying, especially if she’d convinced them they were playing a trick on their mother.
Lane was savvy and experienced. He’d come to the same conclusions. Matilda was already on his radar.
Adam examined the envelope more carefully. “This feels like a phone and maybe a video case. Do you want to call Lane?”
“No. Not until I know what’s in it. He made it clear today that he considers me a suspect. He might decide I shouldn’t be privy to the contents.”
He ripped the tab and reached inside. As suspected, he pulled out a DVD in an unmarked plastic cover and a disposable phone that could’ve been picked up at any truck stop or convenience store.
“My laptop’s in my truck. We can go down and play the video there. But once you’ve seen it, I think you should call Lane. There’s a chance that the kidnapper was caught on a hospital security camera and Lane has the authority to confiscate the film.”
“I didn’t even think of that,” she admitted. “I’ll call the detective as soon as we’ve watched the video. Is that all that’s in the envelope? No note to explain