Somebody's Baby

Could Nina have wanted to find Karen so badly that she’d conjured her up in the park that afternoon? Had she so desperately wanted to believe the baby she’d held in her arms was Dustin that she’d managed to convince herself he was?

Sergeant Farrell had warned her. The odds were against her, the coincidences too great. But she’d refused to believe him.

Nina had never felt so near an emotional edge as she did at that moment. Not when Garrett had died and not even when Dustin had disappeared. She’d somehow managed to hold herself together in the face of those tragedies because she’d always been a survivor. She’d had to be.

But now.

Now Nina had to question her own sanity. She could no longer trust her own judgment.

Dear God, what if she had taken that baby? What if she had put someone else through the same hell she’d gone through when Dustin disappeared?

Nina closed her eyes as the strange room swayed around her. She had to get out of there before she said or did something that would get her carted off to jail or to an insane asylum or…worse.

Taking a steadying breath, she hurried across the room and opened the door, but just as she started to step into the hallway, she heard another door open. Stepping back into the room, Nina left the door slightly ajar so that she could see down the hallway. What if it was Vanessa? she thought, frantically casting about for a hiding place.

But then she saw someone come out of a room three or four doors down, and Nina smothered a gasp. She recognized the woman from the park, John David’s nanny.

As Nina watched her, the woman took a flask from the pocket of her uniform and stared down at it for a moment. Then, lifting it to her lips, she took a long swallow and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Slipping the flask back into her pocket, she turned and headed down the hallway, away from what Nina thought might be the nursery.

Once the woman was out of sight, Nina left the room, pulling the door closed behind her. Hurrying down the hallway, she was almost past the nursery door when she heard sounds of distress coming from within.