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“I usually just go by Harley Dalton,” he quipped.
She looked over at her computer and nodded. “Have a seat, Mr. Dalton, and Mr. Jeffri
es will be with you momentarily. Can I get you coffee or something?”
“No, thank you, Mrs. White,” he said, reading the placard on her desk as he settled into his seat.
“Oh, it’s Ms. White,” she clarified. “Although you can just call me Tina, sugar.”
Harley sat up straight in his chair and hoped that Mr. Jeffries would hurry. Because Tina meant business.
Thankfully, before long the door opened and a man he presumed was Mr. Jeffries stepped out. “Good morning. Come in, Mr. Dalton.”
He got up quickly, shaking the man’s hand and following him through the door. Before disappearing into the room, he gave a quick glance over his shoulder to confirm that Tina wouldn’t be joining them. He got a sassy wink from her, but she stayed in her seat.
As the door closed and the man gestured him toward a guest chair, Harley took a deep breath, then said, “Thanks for seeing me this morning.”
“I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to sit down with you. I’ve been tied up with other matters, but you know how that goes. Thanks for taking this case and handling it personally. I know you grew up in the area. I read all about that kidnapping case in the news not too long ago, and when we decided we needed outside help, your company was the first to come to mind. Like any hospital, we have our share of claims and malpractice suits, but this was different. Babies don’t get switched around every day, you know.”
Harley just nodded and let the man talk. “Hopefully, it won’t take long to find out what happened,” he said eventually.
“We’ve set up an office for you here, just down the hallway,” Jeffries explained. “I’ve had all the records from that time brought down from the archives and put in there for you to go through. If you need anything, just let Tina know. I’ve instructed her to make you comfortable and give you whatever you might need.”
Harley nodded, suppressing a smirk. Jeffries’s admin assistant had taken the orders to heart.
“Is there anything else I can do to help you get your investigation started?”
Harley flipped through his notes, underlining something he’d written earlier. “Who was the CEO of the hospital back then? I’d like to talk to him or her if I can.”
“That was Orson Tate. A helluva guy. I’m sure he’ll be happy to speak with you.” Mr. Jeffries reached to his phone and pressed the intercom button. “Tina, can you please pull the contact information for Orson Tate? Mr. Dalton will need it.” He released the button. “Anything else I can do to get you started?”
“Actually, I do have one last question before I go, Mr. Jeffries.”
“Please, call me Weston.”
“Very well. I’ve spoken with Ms. Nolan and it seems she’s been receiving threats in the mail, trying to scare her into dropping the case. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
Weston’s eyes widened in surprise, but his gaze didn’t flicker from Harley’s. “I don’t. I’m sorry to hear that. I sincerely hope you don’t think anyone at St. Francis is behind the threats.”
It was clear the man knew nothing about it. “Thank you for your time, Weston.” Harley stood, shook his hand and headed out of the office.
As expected, Tina was waiting there with the former CEO’s contact information and a wide smile. “I’ll be right here if you need anything else, sugar.”
He smiled back and quickly made his way down the hall to settle into his investigation. St. Francis’s staff had faxed him some paperwork to review before he came to town, but the proprietary hospital and personnel files had to be reviewed in person. In the office, he found three large file boxes on the desk. He’d hoped there would be some video surveillance tapes as well, but it didn’t take long for him to realize why there weren’t.
A quick review of the security schematics from 1989 was revealing and unhelpful. Unfortunately, hospital security was not as good as it was now. While each floor had had cameras, the tapes filmed over themselves every twenty-four hours. If there ever was video evidence of someone switching the infants, it had been almost immediately destroyed. And that was if the cameras were even on. The hospital had been running on emergency power after the storm. Cameras weren’t nearly as critical as life support equipment.
Specific security measures for the maternity floor weren’t any better. The infants had had identification bands that matched them to their parents, but there were no alarms or tracking protocols in place to keep someone from leaving with a child or removing a band. It was possible that the bands got mixed up and put on the wrong babies to begin with. Or if they were correct, anyone with access to the nursery could’ve gone in and swapped the babies in their beds. It would’ve taken seconds to move them and switch their identification bracelets. During the storm, who would be focused on such a thing?
It was a good question. Who would’ve taken the opportunity to do something like that when people’s lives were in danger? The ID bands weren’t about to fall off the babies and they weren’t removed for any reason until the babies were discharged with their parents. That meant it probably wasn’t a mistake. Someone had done it deliberately, but why? Looking at the boxes, Harley was certain the answer was in there. He just had to know what he was looking for.
Settling in with a large coffee he got from the cafeteria, Harley dug into his work, taking detailed notes. After a few hours, his eyes were going out of focus, but he had a solid handle on the situation. At least, he had a handle on who Jade’s biological parents might be. He was thankful, because there wasn’t enough coffee to keep him awake for another hour of flipping through files.
Despite being paid by the hospital to find out what had happened, the moment he’d laid eyes on Jade his priorities had shifted. Yes, he wanted to find the truth and who was behind it, but for her, not for the money. The look in her eyes when she’d told him about never fitting in had nearly crushed him. He didn’t know if finding her real family would give her the peace of mind or the sense of home she was searching for, but he was going to do his damnedest to try. He wasn’t able to make her happy back then, but maybe he could now.
There were only five baby girls in the hospital at the time of the storm. Thankfully, the window Jade’s parents had given him was narrow. Five was a manageable number.
He copied down the names, addresses and phone numbers on file—which were from the late eighties—hoping to make contact and potentially pay the families a visit. Ideally, he’d like to get DNA samples to eliminate the other girls. Although he envisioned them in his mind as infants, they weren’t girls, they were grown women now. Likely with families of their own. And one of them had no idea her birth parents were out there somewhere, wondering what had become of her.
