My Baby’s Gone, Chapter 23
Luis was at his desk when a man walked up.
“ Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald?”
“ Yes.”
“ I’m William Monroe. FBI. I’d like to ask you some questions about the
kidnapping of Sheridan Lopez-Fitzgerald.”
“ You do? Interesting.”
“ So. Are you willing to answer my questions?”
“ Sure. Fire away.”
“ Maybe we should go to our office?”
“ Maybe if you want answers, you’ll ask them right here.”
“ Ok. Fine. Where were you last night, between the hours of midnight
and six a.m.?”
“ I was walking back to town. My squad car broke down, after I was following
a tip about a meth amphetamine lab.”
“ Do you have any proof of this?”
“ Proof? I’m a cop, I was doing my duty following up on a drug tip.”
“ And, if we check it out?”
“ Should be no problem.”
“ Fine. We’ll do that. But, don’t leave town, Officer Lopez-Fitzgerald.”
“ I have no intentions to.”
Antonio walked into Pilar’s kitchen.
“ Mama, did he tell you about Sheridan?”
“ So now you’re talking to us, Antonio?”
“ Mama, he kidnapped my wife!”
“ Luis said he didn’t.”
“ I don’t believe that.”
“ Well, I can only go by what my son tells me.”
“ And Luis NEVER lies, Mama?”
“ Luis has always been dependable. His love for Sheridan is dependable.”
“ Sheridan is MY wife.”
“ And, I’ve tried to respect it. But, locking her up in a mental hospital
was WRONG. It was WRONG in ways you can’t believe to understand. I would never
have thought that you could be so cruel to a woman that you CLAIM to love.”
“ I DO love, Sheridan!”
“ Do you? Or do you want to beat your brother? “
“ Mama..”
“ I have held my tongue because I was desperate to keep you in my life after
you being gone all that time. But now, I don’t know. Maybe I was wrong. Sheridan
and Luis love one another. Deeply. She married you out of pity. Stayed with
you out of obligation.”
“ Stop it!”
“ She didn’t even know who she was when she met you. What kind of man marries
a woman with no clue of her identity. Did you even TRY to find her family?
Did you not think that MAYBE there was someone out there who was missing Sheridan?
Sure, her family is not the warmest, but there were others. If you had only
TRIED!”
“ I did try!”
“ I don’t think so. If you had REALLY tried, you could have found out that
she was Sheridan CRANE. You didn’t care. You didn’t care that she had other
people who loved her, because YOU wanted her.”
“ Mama!”
“ I don’t know if Luis is lying to me. I don’t care. I’m GLAD Sheridan is
out of that place. I hope she stays out of that place long enough to
get well, Antonio. If you don’t mind, I have another appointment.”, Pilar
told him before she left the kitchen.
Alistair Crane sat in his Library.
“ Well?”
“ Your son’s alibi checks out, Sir. He was with those gentlemen all night
long. They did what men usually do at that club just outside of town.”
“ I see. And, his phone records?”
“ Clean. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“ His accounts?”
“ Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“ What about my grandson, Fox?”
“ On a date with a Whitney Russell. “
“ All night?”
“ Sir, um, they checked into an Inn on the outside of town. I have a copy
of their room service bill.”
“ I see. Keep on looking for her.”
After his flunky was gone, Alistair sat back in his chair and thought about
it. He had suspected ‘ new Julian’, but there’s no evidence. So far. He didn’t
know that Fox’s inappropriate relationship with Whitney had progressed to
them sleeping together. Alistair would have to do something about that later.