Birthright

years on her.”
    “And according to your information, she worked at Washington County Hospital from July or August of ’seventy-four until the spring of the following year, and was on the maternity floor when Suzanne Cullen was admitted. In the spring of the following year, she relocated. You don’t know where.”
    “I’m going to find out where, and you can bet your ass that at some time between spring of ’seventy-five and ’eighty, she spent time in Boston.” She shifted to look into the backseat. “She was still working in Hagerstown when Jessica Cullen was kidnapped. You don’t forget something like that. But when we talked to them back in July, it was all news to her. News to both of them, and that doesn’t play.”
    “It’s circumstantial.” Lana continued to write. “But I agree.”
    “Circumstantial, my ass. You look at the time line, the focal points, and it’s a simple matter to put together a picture of events. Halloway was one of Carlyle’s organization. One of his key medical contacts. An OB nurse. She gets word that he’s in the market for an infant, preferably female, most likely the order comes in with a basic physical description of the clients, maybe some of their heritage. Suzanne Cullen delivers a baby girl who fits the bill.”
    “But they didn’t take the baby for over three months,” Doug pointed out.
    “Even a desperate couple might get suspicious if they request a child for adoption purposes and have it served up to order immediately. Wait a couple months, make sure the kid stays healthy, doesn’t come up with medical problems, take the time to learn and study the family routine, wait for the best opportunity. And pile up additional fees during the waiting period.”
    “She’d have been the one to take her,” Doug said quietly. “She’d have been the one in the area, the one with the opportunity to keep tabs on my parents, on us. She’d have had time to learn the mall, how to get out of it fast.”
    “Works for me,” Callie agreed. “My parents said a nurse brought me to Carlyle’s office.”
    “Other factors,” Lana mused. “Jessica was probably not the only candidate. It’s more likely at least two or three others were under consideration. If we accept that Barbara Halloway was a point person, there would have been other baby girls born that fit the basic requirements during that period. And it’s also likely she wasn’t the only plant. There would have been others at different facilities around the country. Jessica was the only infant taken from the area, but Carlyle, from our suppositions, exchanged a number of infants over the course of several years.”
    “Every level you go down in a dig you find more data, make more connections, expand the picture,” Jake said. “Halloway’s our current find.”
    “We dig her up, seal her up and label her,” Callie put in.
    “Obviously, she needs to be questioned.” Lana drew several circles around Barbara Halloway’s name on her pad. “Even though your information is still largely speculative and circumstantial, I think you have enough pieces to take to the police. Isn’t it more likely she’d talk in an official interview with the authorities than to you?”
    Callie merely slid her gaze toward Jake, smirked as he slid his toward her.
    Noting the exchange, Lana shook her head. “Well, really, what are you going to do? Tie her to a chair and beat it out of her?”
    Callie stretched out her legs. Jake drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Doug looked pointedly out the side window.
    And Lana finally blew out a long breath. “I don’t have enough on me to post bond for multiple charges of assault. Callie.” She boosted forward in the seat. “Let me talk to them. I’m a lawyer. I’m a brilliant talker. I can make it seem as if we know a great deal more than we do. I know how to put the pressure on.”
    “You want a shot at her? Be sure to ask her who they sent up to Maryland, and if they even knew Bill McDowell’s name when they killed him.”
    “Killed him? But I thought he . . . Oh God.” Lana dug frantically in her purse for her phone to check on her son.
    “He’s all right,” Doug stated as she dialed. “Grandpa won’t let anything happen to him.”
    “Of course not. I just want to—Roger? No, nothing wrong.” She reached across the seat, relaxing again when Doug’s fingers linked with hers.
    “I didn’t mean to spook you,” Callie said when Lana hung up.
    “Yes, you