Chapter 8
East.
Zari didn’t know what she would have done without him. He’d been there.
It had been into his arms that she’d fainted.
The next few hours seemed to fly by in a blur, with her refusing to let go of Jeremy, weeping for Angie. She didn’t know what to do.
Thankfully, East did.
He called the cops.
The people in her building, even those in her neighborhood, wouldn’t thank her for that, she knew that. But the place was soon swarming with cops. People asked her questions, so many questions, and she tried to answer them all as clearly as possible, but she didn’t know anything.
She heard that the poor man who’d tried to get into the elevator had been questioned, but he’d had nothing to do with anything. Disjointedly, she wondered if she should maybe get him muffins to make up for the trouble.
Deon sat there, looking so serious. Jayla had taken hold of one of her hands and refused to let go.
So many people in her tiny apartment! It looked like the entire NYPD was there, and maybe a quite a few people from the FBI, too. Zari really didn’t know. The faces blended and merged into each other. She gave up trying to keep track of the names.
Angie would be found any minute. Any minute now, they would find her and bring her back. Everything would be all right after they found her. She would never let her baby out of her sight again, never again.
“Zari. Zari, I know you’re in shock, but if you don’t snap out of it, I’m going to take you to the hospital.”
Zari turned to East, found something to hold on to in those gorgeous blue eyes.
“I can’t go anywhere. I have to stay here. I have to stay here and wait for Angie.”
“Sweetheart, they’ll bring Angie to us wherever we are. If you’d be happier here, we’ll stay here. We’ll stay here and wait for news.”
He didn’t leave her side.
Slowly, Zari started to see and hear things properly again. Things started becoming clear, instead of everything being vague buzzing in the blurred background.
“Angie, Detective Cortez has more questions for you.”
Zari focused this time. Detective Cortez was young. Was she too young for this? Never mind, she must be experienced to be handling this. She had dark hair scraped back into a tight bun, caramel skin that glowed, and dark brown eyes that were steady on hers.
“Ms. Davis, I need you to give me permission to monitor your emails and your phone calls. The kidnappers might try to get in touch with you. It’s more likely that they will get in touch with you, Mr. Cooper, but she’s the one they targeted.”
“Julia. Is Julia all right?”
Zari was ashamed that it had taken her that long to think of Julia, but she remembered the blood. She remembered how Julia had looked, sitting up weakly, looking dazed.
“Julia is fine. She’s being kept overnight at the hospital for observation. She has a concussion, but she’s fine.”
“What happened?”
Her voice was sharper. She was coming out of shock, sheer willpower pushing her through it. East’s presence gave her strength.
Detective Cortez glanced at Jayla.
“It’s okay. It’s better for Jayla to know than for her to wonder and imagine. She has a powerful imagination. Whatever she thinks of will be worse than whatever you tell her.”
Zari still held Jeremy on her lap. He had cried, she knew that. He had cried, until East had offered him a bottle as he stayed in her lap. It was as if he’d felt it, felt his twin being ripped away from him.
“We’re not sure yet if it was a crime of opportunity or a premeditated crime, because there was obviously a getaway car close by. It was fairly simple. Somebody distracted Julia by pretending to faint—a young woman—and when Julia turned away, she was hit on the head and lost consciousness. They then unclipped her carrier, took Angie, and drove off. We’re canvassing the area for witnesses. People have come forward with a description of a vehicle we believe might be the getaway van. We’ve put out an APB for it. Everybody on the force is looking out for it, Ms. Davis. Everybody is.”
“She’ll be hungry. Angie will be hungry.”
“Julia said there was a spare bottle clipped to the carrier.”
“There was. We always keep one. But Angie likes to be nursed in the evening.”
“We’ll have her back with you soon, Ms. Davis. I promise.”
Questions, and more questions. She answered them all patiently, as thoroughly as she could, but the hours went on, and there was no Angie. Detective Cortez finally left, promising them that they would be kept informed. She knew they would be. She might not have been, but East’s presence meant that all the usual expectations would be bent, to keep him happy.
“East,” she whispered, finally, and turned to him.
“I’m sorry. I let our baby get kidnapped. I’m so sorry.”
“Zari, don’t. Don’t, darling. Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault. It happened. We’ll get her back, don’t worry about it. It’s not just the police I’ve got looking for her.”
She looked at him expectantly, trusting him for the first time in so long. She trusted him to do whatever it took.
“You’ve hired people.”
“Yes. I’ve hired people. I’ll hire all the people I have to. We’ll find Angie. We’ll find her, Zari. No matter what. We’ll find her.”
Jayla had fallen asleep, curled up next to Zari. Nobody had even eaten anything, had they? She couldn’t remember.
“Rachel came and made food for the kids. They ate.”
Had he read her mind?
“You should eat something, too.”
Zari shook her head. She couldn’t, she couldn’t possibly.
“You have to keep up your strength. It won’t help Angie or Jeremy if you don’t.”
That was true, of course. Zari let him get her a sandwich—egg salad, nourishing and, she was sure, tasty, though she couldn’t really taste anything about it—and focused on chewing each bite, swallowing it.
“Mia?”
“Mia is holding up well. The crowd in here was beginning to get to her. She asked if she could go back to the other apartment.”
“She’s gone?”
“Zari, we should all go there. It’s been a terrible evening, but we have better connectivity there. We have more space there. The kids can distract themselves better there. And there’s better security there.”
He said it without rancor, without blaming her. That was nice of him.