I ran my hand over her hair and kissed her temple. My baby! How am I going to make this right? Where do I begin? I listened as they tried prodding her memory, each time getting a little bit more out of her.

“I had just turned the stove off when the doorbell rang. I was excited and not thinking about anything else but giving you the good news when you got home.”

No one interrupted her this time as she tried to put the pieces together. Her voice had grown a little bit stronger but there was still a slight trembling in her body as she clung to me.

“I saw a delivery van out the side window by the door and just opened it. That’s all I remember until I woke up in the cabin.”

“I don’t know how long I was out for. He must’ve drugged me with something. When I woke up I heard voices in the next room.”

She swallowed hard and I could see in her eyes that she was reliving it as she told us the story. “I was chained to a bed and my eyes were covered.”

“I don’t remember much about that first night because I kept going in and out of consciousness. The next time I woke up I was in the box.” Her breathing escalated and I was afraid she would pass out. I wanted to call a halt but she carried on.

“I begged them not to hurt me and the baby.” Her hand went to her empty stomach.

“Are you looking for our babies?” She reached for Borelli’s hand and held on tight.

“We have to find them.” She started to cry and I called a stop to the interview. “Look can we take this up again later? My wife is tired, she needs her rest.”

It was hard for me to say that, I wanted answers as much as they did, but not at the expense of her health and mental state. I never want to see her lying there like that again, like there was no life left in her.

“She needs to give us more if we’re to find these babies. So far she hasn’t given us anything that we can work with. There’re a thousand cabins between here and the next state over on both sides. If there’re kids out there the clock is ticking.”

“What do you mean if? The doctor said she gave birth while she was gone.” I saw the new look that passed between the two men and hated it. I guess it was going to take some time before the doubts were gone.

“It’s okay Cade, I want to answer them. I want to remember.” I pulled her onto my lap making sure to keep her decent as I folded my arms around her.

“They kept me blindfolded the first few days so I never saw who took me, I only heard voices. After that there was a middle aged man and woman who seemed to live in the cabin.”

She stopped there and squinted hard. “There’s something….”

“What, what do you remember?” Borelli leaned forward from his place on the chair he’d pulled up next to the bed.

‘They seemed to know about the baby. There were things already there, vitamins, health stuff. And they kept talking about someone else, someone was paying them.”

“This is good Zan…Mrs. McClintock, take your time and give us anything you remember no matter how small it may seem. Just take your time if you need to and we’ll figure this thing out.”

She nodded her head a little and bit into her lip the way she does when she’s thinking hard about something. One of those cute affectations that I’d missed.

It was obvious that she responded better and more favorably to Borelli so Anderson kept his trap shut for once. I didn’t know he knew how. Asshole!

“Yes, they always spoke of this other person that I never saw and I got the feeling it wasn’t the man who’d taken me but someone else.”

She folded in on herself at the mention of him and I felt my gut twist. “Did he hurt you?” Her eyes flew up to mine and I saw understanding in them. That was good because I couldn’t bring myself to say the words.

“No, nothing like that happened to me. I don’t think he ever came again, at least I never saw him there or heard his voice after that first night.”

“At night I was drugged and placed in the box and during the day there were chains on my hands and around my ankles.” Drugged every night for two years? What the fuck?

“I could walk around the small room and go as far as the bathroom but nowhere else. I never saw the other rooms in the house but I knew there was at least one other bedroom because the couple stayed there.”

“When I got too big to fit in the box I was allowed to sleep on the bed though they kept drugging me. I was worried that the drugs might hurt the baby but the woman once told me that they wouldn’t.”

“I got the feeling that she was a nurse or had some kind of medical training.”

“This woman, what did she look like?” He took down notes as she gave him a very in depth description of her captor.

“Why did you say you didn’t know who took you? This is pretty good.”

“I didn’t see the face of the man who took me, only those two.”

“We’ll get a sketch artist in and have him draw this up. You’re doing very well, this is at least a start.” I could hear the restraint in his voice, but unlike his partner he seemed to understand the need to give her time, to not push her too far too soon.

She literally wilted in my arms and I asked them to leave until later that day. I didn’t know how long the doctor was planning to keep her here, didn’t know if this line of questioning would set her back.

“Okay then, we’ll come back later with the artist. One last thing, is there anything you can tell us about the babies? Hair color, anything.”

I sensed her excitement as she grabbed my hand again and dug her nails in. “Yes, they have your birthmark Cade, the crescent moon behind their left ear. One boy, one girl; we have a son and a daughter.”

I felt all the air leave my lungs and my body went weak; a son and a daughter. I didn’t have time to dwell as the detectives pounced on her statement with the first sign of real interest.

“Do you mind if we have a look at that mark McClintock?” They took pictures of the mark that was well hidden behind my ear, visible only to those who got really close.

“Would you say the children’s are in the same place as their father’s?”

“No, theirs were a bit lower, more exposed.” She rubbed a spot just behind her lobe and looked deep in thought before tears gathered in her eyes and fell.

“I only got to see them for a few minutes before they were taken away. I didn’t even get to feed them….” Her hand trembled as she wiped her tears away.

The next words from her lips made what was left of my heart bleed. “I’m sorry I didn’t protect them Cade….” I pulled her head into my chest and let her cry herself out while ushering the two men out of the room quietly.

Lying back on the bed I pulled her down with me and held her until she was too exhausted to cry any more tears. When her breathing evened out in sleep it was my turn to release my own pent up breath.

I thought the feelings of despair and sheer hell that I endured when she was gone were bad, but nothing could’ve prepared me for this new feeling of terror in my gut.

My innocent children were in someone else’s hands. I fought back my anger, it was of no help to me here. I have to keep my mind clear and focused for the fight ahead. And there’s going to be one hell of a fight.

There was a knock at the door and I turned my head to see the P.I I’d worked with before peep into the room. I acknowledged him and he eased back out to wait for me.

I eased her out of my arms and pulled the sheet up over her before going to join him in the hallway. “Hey Mac, thanks for getting here so quickly.”

“No problem. You know this is one of those cases that never left my mind because of the way it ended. Mike gave me everything but I wanted to drop by to see if you had anything more for me.”

I repeated all of what she’d told the cops even down to the description of the couple who’d stayed in the cabin with her. He listened without interruption and I guess that’s why he was able to catch a little detail that I, and the detectives had overlooked.

“So she went to the doctor to confirm her pregnancy, and the cabin was already stocked for a pregnant woman. I’m guessing she didn’t tell anyone else about the pregnancy since she was waiting to surprise you. So the leak came from the doctor’s office. I’ll start there.”

He got the address and left giving me the first real hope that we were at least moving on finding my children. I went back to her, not wanting to leave her alone for too long.

She was in and out of consciousness all day until about midafternoon when she finally seemed to kick the last of the drug from her system. I forced some light broth down her throat and oversaw everything the nurses did.

I was surprised when the doctor told me I could take her home the next day. Surprised, but pleased. I’d had enough of those four walls and I’m pretty sure she had as well.

That last night in the hospital we held onto each other like two lost lovers who’d found each other after years apart. Which is exactly what we are.

The more I held her, listened to her, the easier it became for me to believe her story. The raw pain in her voice when she spoke of our children sliced pieces of my heart away.

No woman who felt that deeply could be lying. Besides, the story she told was too unimaginable to be anything but truth. And the more she told it, the more I realized that we were dealing with one sick fuck.

“The doctor said you were lactating…”

“That’s because they kept pumping my milk. The lady did it everyday. That’s how I know that our babies are still alive.” Her body shook and tears fell from her eyes. She was constantly crying.

“We’ll find them and bring them home. Mac is already out there looking. I told you about him remember? He’s very good and even though we weren’t able to find you, I think this time we’ll have more luck.”

“You still don’t remember how you got out? Or where you walked?”

“It’s coming back in bits and pieces. I was so afraid, and the drugs had me so confused that I didn’t pay much attention. I just wanted to get out of there…”

“They were going to kill me.” Her voice had gone soft but I heard her all the same.”

“What?” Anger and hate burned in my chest.

“What do you mean?”

“I heard them talking that last day. They were arguing about how to do it. The woman was saying that the money wasn’t enough for murder and he was saying there was nothing else to do with me now that I was no longer needed.”

“I guess the babies were old enough that they no longer needed my milk, which is the only reason they’d kept me alive that long.” I doubt she realized that she was shaking hard enough to move the hospital bed.

“I heard bits and pieces of conversation overtime, but because of the drugs I could never tell what was real and what wasn’t. But that day for some reason I heard them clearly.”

“I don’t know what made me try the box one last time. It had never been left open before, but this time it was. I kinda think the woman did it now that I think about it. She was always nicer. The man didn’t come into my room much, but whenever he did he was a little mean.”

I didn’t interrupt her, afraid that it might sidetrack her memories, so she went on with what she remembered, some of which was disjointed, but it was better than nothing.

“The truck was in the back of the cabin, that’s where their voices were coming from. At least that’s where it sounded like they headed after leaving the cabin.”

“I’d never been outside but I knew to move away from the voices once I climbed out of the box. I was weak and my head hurt from fighting the drugs, but I dragged myself across the floor to the front door.”

“I remember my heart beating so loudly I thought for sure they would hear it. And when I eased the door open I was sure they’d catch me and stop me. But I was able to open it without a sound and as soon as the cool air touched my face all I could think of was running.”

“I knew the babies weren’t there, they hadn’t been since the night I gave birth.” She doubled over as if in pain, holding her stomach as I held her in my arms.

“We have to find our babies Cade, please...”

“I know baby, we will. We won’t stop looking until we find them I promise.” Even if I have to turn the whole world upside down this time.

She fought for air to breathe, one of her panic attacks again and I held her through it, soothing her with soft words until she calmed down.