Chapter 2 - THE NAME INSIDE THE JACKET
Airport police moved Maddie and Leo into a quiet family assistance room beside the concourse.
Grant remained near the door while a female officer named Rebecca Sloan introduced herself.
She did not take Leo from Maddie.
Instead, she placed formula, bottled water, crackers, and diapers on the table where the girl could see them.
“You decide what happens first,” Officer Sloan said. “Do you want food, or do you want help changing Leo?”
Maddie looked at Grant.
“Can he stay?”
“If you want him here.”
Grant sat several feet away.
Maddie allowed a nurse to examine Leo while she remained beside him. The baby was hungry, exhausted, and mildly dehydrated, but he showed no sign of serious illness.
Maddie ate half a cracker.
Then she wrapped the rest in a napkin.
“You can have more,” Grant said.
“I’m saving it.”
“For Leo?”
“For later.”
“There will be food later too.”
Maddie studied his face as though deciding whether adults could make promises without using them as traps.
The gate agent entered carrying a printed incident report.
“Diana Harlo boarded alone.”
Officer Sloan looked up.
“Were the children listed on her reservation?”
“No.”
“Did she check a stroller?”
“Yes. She told the agent her children had already boarded with their father.”
Grant’s expression hardened.
“Did anyone verify that?”
The gate agent looked shaken.
“No.”
The stroller tag attached to Maddie’s backpack had been used to create the appearance that a family was traveling together.
Diana purchased one ticket three days earlier.
There were no tickets for Maddie or Leo.
She had brought them to the airport knowing they would never board.
Grant called his attorney and instructed his staff to preserve airport footage through proper legal requests.
He did not demand private records because he was wealthy.
He asked officers to use the lawful process already available in an abandoned child investigation.
Officer Sloan turned toward Maddie.
“Where is your father?”
The girl looked down at Thomas’s jacket.
“At the hospital.”
Grant leaned forward.
“What happened?”
“Diana said he fell.”
“Where?”
“At work.”
“When?”
“Four days ago.”
“Did you see him afterward?”
Maddie shook her head.
“Diana said children couldn’t visit.”
“What hospital?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was he awake when they took him?”
Maddie’s fingers tightened around the jacket.
“He was talking when the ambulance came.”
“Did he say anything to you?”
“He told me to keep the jacket.”
“Why?”
“He said there was something inside that Diana could not find.”
Grant and Officer Sloan exchanged a look.
Maddie reached into the chest pocket and removed an old business card.
Grant recognized his own name.
The card was faded and bent.
On the back, Thomas had written:
IF THE CHILDREN NEED HELP, CALL HIM.
Grant closed his eyes briefly.
Thomas had kept the card for seven years.
Maddie searched another pocket.
“It’s not there.”
“What are you looking for?” Grant asked.
“Dad’s little black thing.”
“What did it look like?”
“Like a tiny key, but not a key.”
A memory card.
Grant examined the jacket without tearing or altering it.
One section of the lining near the shoulder felt thicker than the rest.
“Do not open that here,” Officer Sloan said. “If it contains evidence, we need to preserve it properly.”
Grant nodded.
The jacket was placed inside a clean evidence bag after Maddie gave permission.
Child protection services arrived with a social worker named Karen Wells.
Karen explained that Maddie and Leo could not leave with Grant simply because he knew their father.
They needed to locate Thomas, identify any lawful guardian, and determine whether other relatives were safe.
Grant accepted every restriction.
“I will pay for anything they need,” he said. “But I will not interfere with the process.”
Maddie heard him.
“Are they taking us away?”
Karen crouched.
“We are taking you somewhere safe while we find your father.”
“Together?”
“Yes.”
“You won’t separate us?”
“Not unless a doctor says one of you needs different medical care.”
Maddie looked toward Grant.
“Will you come?”
“If the adults responsible allow me.”
Grant’s phone rang.
His investigator had located Thomas through emergency medical records available to law enforcement.
Thomas Callahan was alive.
He was in intensive care at a hospital near Joliet.
His injuries came from a fall at a private warehouse renovation.
The report called it an accident.
The police had been unable to contact Diana since that morning.
Grant turned toward Maddie.
“Your father is alive.”
Her face collapsed.
May you like
For the first time, she allowed herself to cry.
Continue to the next part: The hidden memory card reveals why Thomas’s workplace fall was no accident and why Diana needed to escape before he woke up.
