Page 11 of Stand By You
“At least let me walk you there,” Nick offered. “You are not the steadiest on that boot yet. Also, you need to eat dinner and take your evening medication the doctor prescribed at the hospital.”
“I’m sure Mrs. Hudson will send a tray out to me,” Jillian said.
“Are you always this stubborn?”
“When I want to be left alone,” she said.
“Then let me see you to your room and I will leave you there,” Nick said.
She pressed her lips together for a moment and then nodded. “Very well.”
Nick helped her up and they walked through the kitchen where she asked Mrs. Hudson to bring the tray to her. And then they continued to go down the walk to the guest house.
“This is a nice set up you have,” Nick said.
“It is. I have my privacy and the McGinty’s have theirs,” she replied.
“I’m surprised there isn’t a swimming pool.”
“Mr. McGinty thought about it and decided it was a risk he didn’t want to take when Travis was small, and he said he’d rethink it later if Travis ever wanted to learn how to swim.”
“What boy doesn’t, especially in Miami?” Nick asked.
“A rambunctious one with a wild imagination who loves creating tales of monsters and sea creatures,” Jillian said. A smile spread across her face. “On the weekends he plays with little boys in the neighborhood, and they have the best time running in the backyard here because they don’t have a pool to hamper them like the other houses.”
“I guess I can see the advantage then,” Nick conceded as they slowly made their way down to the guest house.
There was a number pad on the door and Nick watched her punch in a code. “You can come in if you want,” she said, opening the door and turning on the light.
“Why a keypad?” he asked, following her into the spacious room.
“Mr. McGinty thought it was a good way to keep Travis from invading my privacy,” she said. “He can’t enter without the code.”
“And can you change the code at any time?” Nick asked.
“Yes. I can do that if needed,” she replied.
“That’s good. In the event Travis watched you punch in your code and then came in here on his own another time after that,” Nick said.
“Why would he do that?” she asked.
“He might not now but give him a year or two and he will just because he can. He’s a boy after all,” Nick reminded her.
Frowning, she ran her fingers through her hair staring at him for a moment. “If I’m still with the McGinty’s after his abduction.”
“Need I say again this wasn’t your fault. You were in the hospital after being almost killed by a hit and run driver. They can’t hold you responsible.”
“What they can and what they will have no bearing on the situation. My days may be numbered here,” Jillian said and hobbled passed the kitchen island over to her muted floral print sofa. She sat down on the far end so she could put up her left booted leg.
Nick sat in the matching armchair. “I know we’ve been over this already, but other than the letters and the two muggings do you have any idea who might want to get you out of the way so they could get to Travis?”
“You think that was the motive in all of this? To have easy access to Travis?” she said surprised. “Because I said the same thing to Detective Simons before you arrived, but he wouldn’t buy into it.”
Nick shrugged. “I do. It might be a silly notion, but why else would anyone do it? And why out of all the kids in the Playland Day Camp did they take Travis while on the field trip unless they knew he was Mr. McGinty’s son?”
“How could they? All the children were dressed alike,” Jillian said, and described the identical outfits the campers had to wear. “That way, if one of the kids got separated from their group, the staff could easily find them.”
Nick nodded. “Makes sense. But why take Travis and not Carlos who was at the reptile exhibit? He was also alone.”
