Don't forget to stop in at the Diamond Mine and check out our interview with the talented Julie B. Cosgrove. http://diamondsinfiction.blogspot.com/
~Chapter Twenty ~
Harry
writhed on the floor, tears streaming down his face. His head pounded in
excruciating pain, and now a cop was pushing him over onto his belly. He pulled
his arms back and hand-cuffed him. Harry let out a tortured moan. “You’re
hurting me,” he whined.
“Get
over it Dirt Bag. This is nothing compared to what you’re going to be facing
here pretty quick.”
Harry
stopped sobbing and did his best to turn toward the cop. He couldn’t get turned
over because the hefty officer had a knee in his back. “Wh…what do you mean?”
“You’re
going to prison, jerk. You don’t do things like this and get away with it.” The
cop pulled him up none too gentle-like and shoved him toward the top of the
steps. Come on; let’s get this show on the road.”
Harry
planted his feet, trying to stall the inevitable. “But it wasn’t me,” he
protested.
“You’re an idiot, Harry. They can’t
see me,” Adam laughed in scorn.
“But
it was you, Adam,” Harry screamed. “This was all you.”
The
police officer yelled, “Get some help up here. The Perp’s going off.”
Harry
struggled now, trying to displace the cops hands. “Let me go. I can explain.
Just give me a chance…”
A
woman police officer rushed up the
stairs, pepper spray in hand. She pressed into the top and a steady stream
spewed into Harry’s face.
He
screamed. “Ow, it hurts.”
“Judy,
call some muscle. I’m gonna have him carried out of here so nobody takes a
tumble down those steps.” He gestured down the steep staircase.
“Got
ya, Joe.” She pulled the mic attached by a cord to her mouth and called for
help. Seconds later two strong young men came rushing up the steps.
Anger
washed through Harry as the two men carried him down the steps as if he were
nothing more than a ragdoll. He let Adam take over.
Adam
fought the rage, wanting to keep calm enough to speak. He took a deep breath
and yelled in his low voice, “You all are a bunch of imbecilic idiots. Don’t
you know you can’t cage us? You may have us down now, but we’ll be back!”
Justin
pulled into the parking lot of the police station, heart hammering against ribs
that felt too close. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Arianna’s face when
she saw her baby. He hoped they would let her hold him. Wouldn’t they be able
to tell he belonged to her just by seeing them together?
Arianna
sat up and looked around. “Are we there?”
Tenderness
washed through him at how innocent and expectant she looked. “Yes.” He didn’t
resist the urge to bend down and plant a kiss on her small, upturned nose. Almost
loath to remind her, he asked, “You do remember you won’t be able to take him
tonight, right?”
Her
face fell. “Yes. In a way I think it’s stupid, but I also understand why, but I
just want to take him home and hold him in my arms. It feels like an eternity
sense I last held him.”
Her
huge, haunted eyes filled with tears and
Justin reached over and hugged her, giving her skeletal back a
comforting rub. “I’m sure you’ll be able to see him every day.”
Her
lips curled at the edges. “Do you think so?”
“I
do. Come on, let’s go.” He got out and helped her out, pulling her close to his
underarm, wanting to protect her, and help her into the building.
Mary
Jo walked just behind the newly married couple. In an overly happy tone, she
said, “Can you believe the ordeal is almost over?”
Arianna
turned to look at the nurse, still walking forward. “I can’t, but I’m so happy
it is. I didn’t think I would ever get out of there alive.” She looked up at
Justin. “And to think my father might’ve had something to do with it is enough to
turn my stomach.”
Mary
Jo gasped and Justin looked down at her in surprise.
“Yeah,
I overheard you two talking. At first I was angry, but the more I thought about
it the more sense it made. I can remember my mom and dad fighting like cats and
dogs around the time I was kidnapped. Dad had gambled away most of the estate
and they were close to financial collapse. My dad wanted to tell everybody. He
said it would be less humiliating to tell it themselves rather than let people
find out on their own and make up their own reasons why it happened. But my mom
wouldn’t hear it. She insisted he keep it a secret.” She shrugged. “And if that’s
the reason my dad had me kidnapped, I wonder how she’ll feel. If she feels anything at all.
Justin
gave her slight shoulders a comforting squeeze as he opened the door and
followed her inside. “I hope we’re wrong and he had nothing to do with it. I
can’t imagine anyone’s parents allowing something like that to happen, let
alone orchestrating it.”
Arianna
shook her head in agreement. “Me too, but something tells me my parents did. At
least one of them.”
They
walked up to the first counter and Justin did all the talking. He explained
what had transpired and told the plump woman behind the counter they wanted to
see the baby. He moved Arianna in front of him and gestured down at her. “This
is his mommy.”
The
woman stared down at the computer screen in front of her, moving fake-nailed
fingers swiftly over the attached keyboard. After a couple minutes she looked
up, made a sympathetic tsking noise. “I’m sorry sir. Ma’am. Child protective
services picked the baby up an hour ago. You’ll have to go through the proper
channels to resolve this.”
Anger
rose within Justin and he tried to tamp it down, but wasn’t entirely
successful. “They knew we were coming. The police officer told me to bring
Arianna here.”
The
lady cop nodded. “I understand what you’re saying, but there’s nothing I can
do. The baby’s gone.”
Arianna
collapsed against his shoulder, sobs of sorrow issuing forth from her tensed
body. She looked up into his eyes, the
devastation in her own almost unbearable to look at. “I want my baby.”
He
patted her awkwardly. “I know, honey. So do I.”
“Please
Justin. Make them bring him here.”
In
that moment he knew if it were possible, he would make it so.
