“Good, because we need to get going. Mandy’s waiting for us to end this thing.” I started toward the door with Gabriel and Lucifer on my tail.
After we got in the car and we drove down the street, Lucifer spoke up, “So, when do I get a turn?”
19
The address Mandy sent me led us to a cute, pale blue house in one of those neighborhoods where soccer mom vans were the norm. Mandy and Detective O’Connor waited in front of the house with Dr. Marshall.
When I pulled up, Detective O’Connor started griping. “What took you so long? Do you think we run on your hours? Some of us would like to go home sometime today.”
“Sorry to take away from your knitting needles, the spirits needed a bit of coddling,” I smirked at Mandy who simply shook her head.
“I do not knit,” Detective O’Connor growled.
Thankfully, the guys had taken off, saying they needed to confer with Michael, who had been MIA since he became corporeal. To be honest, I needed a bit of a break from them. All that testosterone was really getting to me. I just hoped I didn’t need them to make any miraculous discoveries.
And poor Dr. Marshall looked like he was going to be sick. He probably just wanted to get this over with and get away from us crazy people.
Ironic since he worked with crazies for a living.
“Should we go inside?” I gestured toward the house. “Or did you want to wait outside all day? You’re losing precious needling time.”
O’Connor’s face turned red. “I do not knit!”
Mandy and I ignored him and moved to the house. Dr. Marshall followed us, jumping in front to unlock the door. O’Connor brought up the rear, the steam still pouring out of his ears.
“Don’t let her get to you,” Mandy tried to calm him. “She only does it because you react so much.”
“She’s a child,” O’Connor grumbled as we walked into the house. “She needs professional help.”
“I can hear you,” I twisted around to look at him. “And I’ve been in therapy before. They never really understood me.”
“I can’t imagine why,” O’Connor snipped.
The inside of the house was as warm and welcoming as the outside. It made me think of my grandmother’s. Soft colors and a faint smell of chocolate chip cookies.
“Clarissa?” Dr. Marshall called out, searching around the room. “I’m home. Can you please come out here?”
We waited there for a few minutes, but no one came out. Detective O’Connor shifted in irritation and scowled at the doctor. “Where is she?”
Dr. Marshall’s eyes went wide, and worry creased his forehead. “I don’t know, she was here when I left this morning. I just told her I had to meet with you, but then I would be home.” Without asking, Dr. Marshall moved through the house, calling Clarissa’s name. O’Connor chased after him, probably trying to make sure he wouldn’t take off on us.
“Where do you think she went?” Mandy asked me, searching around the living room for any sign of where she might have gone.
“I don’t know, but she was definitely here.” I pointed to the romance novel and the bag of cookies.
“That could be his, you don’t know.”
I lifted the pale pink bra off the floor with my foot and quirked a brow. “And what about this? I don’t think it’s his size.”
“Okay, so she was here, but that doesn’t answer where she is now.” Mandy waved a hand around the room. “I don’t see a note.”
Dr. Marshall and O’Connor came back into the room arguing. “She wouldn’t have left without telling me. Not in her condition.”
“Her condition?” Mandy asked.
The doctor shifted in place and frowned. “The reason Clarissa didn’t want her parents to know is because she’s pregnant. With my child.”
Dun, dun, dun!
I knew it. I knew there was a reason for her to take off without telling her overbearing parents. They didn’t want her to leave the house, they probably would have had a gasket if they found out she was pregnant and with her therapist’s baby no less!
“Can you try and call her?” I asked. “Maybe she went to the store and forgot to tell you?”
“No, no. She wouldn’t.” Dr. Marshall’s skin paled, and he kept rubbing his hands together. “She’s been very careful about telling me where she goes in case she goes into labor.”
Frowning, I couldn’t figure out why he was so worried. Clarissa was pregnant, not disabled. Please tell me he’s not one of those kinds of guys. I might have to punch him.
Our confusion must have been clear because Dr. Marshall explained, “Clarissa has a high-risk pregnancy. The likelihood of her going into premature labor is high. She can’t get too distressed, or she could go early.”
“Okay, okay,” I held my hands up and came over to him. Rubbing his back, I made soothing noises. “It’s okay, we’ll find her.” I nodded to Mandy who pulled out her walkie.
“Detective Stevenson here, we need a call into all the hospitals near Clarksville Street looking for a young woman, twenty-two, she’s —” She paused and looked at Dr. Marshall. “How far along is she?”
“Almost twenty-five weeks.” He gave a small smile, his eyes starting to water. “We were going to find out the sex of the baby this week.”
“It’s okay, I’m sure she’s fine.” I patted him on the back, while Mandy finished calling in the lookout for Clarissa.
“Is there anywhere else you think she might have gone?” O’Connor asked, shifting uncomfortably. Apparently, babies were not his thing or maybe it was the crying man in my arms.
Dr. Marshall shook his head. “She’s been on bed rest. She wouldn’t leave unless she had to.”
Or forced to. A thought came to my mind.
“The parents,” I suddenly said. “She’s with her parents.”
“What?” Mandy asked, putting her walkie up. “Why would you think that?”
“Well,” I started and then pointed to the bag that was hidden beneath the coffee table. “She left her purse. Why would she do that? Even if she went to the hospital, most women would bring it with them.”
Looking to Dr. Marshall, O’Connor asked, “Do her parents know where you live?”
Dr. Marshall shook his head. “Not that I know of. Not unless Clarissa contacted them, which she told me she wouldn’t do until the baby was born.”
“Maybe she had a change of heart?” Mandy offered up, and we all exchanged a look. If Clarissa had told her parents where she was, they wouldn’t have been happy with her based on their previous treatment of her. Not for any reason. It was possible they had taken her home, even against her will.
“Let’s go.” O’Connor stomped toward the door a determined look on his face. “If she’s a high risk as you say, then I have a feeling she’s not going to be pregnant for very long.”
We barreled out of the house and jumped into Mandy’s car. I left my car at the doctor’s house in favor of the police escort. We sped through the streets, the siren attached to the top of Mandy’s car ringing our presence. People moved their vehicles out of our ways so quickly, it only took a few minutes to get back to the gated community.
“I need to get one of those.” I gaped at the little red light attached to the top of the car. “It could really cut down on my commute time.”
“I will arrest you if I see you with one.” O’Connor snapped as we started up the Granes’ yard. A crash from inside turned our speed walk into a sprint. We burst through the door and immediately heard the yelling.
“You can’t keep me here,” a voice I didn’t recognize yelled from upstairs. “I’m a grown woman. I have rights.”
“Clarissa, calm down. We are only trying to help you.” Mrs. Granes said as we started up the stairs.
Dr. Marshall got there before we did, proving how much he cared for her. “Let her go!”
We crowded in around the landing. The sounds were coming from Clarissa’s bedroom. Rushing over to the door, I found the pretty blonde girl from the photo Mandy laying on her bed. You could clearly see her baby bump in the thin nightgown she wore, even as she fought against her parents as they tried to tie her down to her bed.