Page 83 of Chasing Dreams
No one breathed.
The ink swirled and came into focus. “Springfield... Illinois.”
“Perfect, baby,” Austin breathed. “Take it from her.”
Shaine felt the toy pulled from her grasp, heard the rattle of tiny balls inside the plastic.
“Hold her hands,” he told Samantha.
“Oh, they’re like ice.”
He got his phone and tapped a contact. A pause. “Allen here. Call me immediately.”
The room came into focus, and Shaine became aware of the white-faced teenage girl who held her hands.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Samantha said in amazement. “How can you do that?”
Shaine shook her head more to clear it than to answer the question. The heat that had encased her chest dwindled to a dull ache that made her feel as though she’d been running for miles and couldn’t catch her breath. “I’ll take that drink now.”
Samantha shot up and returned with a diet cola. “This okay?”
Shaine sipped it, her pulse sluggish.
Austin’s phone sounded, and he answered it before it finished the first ring. “Allen... Yeah, Ken, we’ve got the Cutter baby. A Springfield, Illinois, postmark and a daycare called Tender Care Center. The sign says Tender Loving Care for Your Little Ones.”
“Don’t forget they call her Amanda,” Shaine prompted.
He repeated her reminder, answered a few questions and hung up.
Shaine yawned.
“She needs to sleep,” he said.
Samantha tugged her worn bedspread down. “You can lie right here.”
He raised his brows questioningly at Shaine.
They’d come straight here from the airport and hadn’t planned any further.
“Okay,” she said, leaning back, and feeling the residual effects of the draining experience.
“How about you?” Samantha asked.
Austin shook his head and Shaine couldn’t help a grin.
“No, I’ll be awake for a while,” he replied. “But can you tell me if there’s a gym in this town?”
* *
The ringtone on Austin’s phone woke Shaine. She opened her eyes and listened to him fumble in the dark. “Allen.”
While he spoke in his usual terse phone manner, she blinked, trying to orient herself. She’d gone to bed in so many different places over the last couple of weeks, remembering where she slept challenged her. In the gray darkness, she made out the bars of the crib, and the room came into balance. Samantha’s.
He touched the phone off. “You awake?”
“What time is it?”
“About five.”
