Tainted Love Read online

  He finished his mocha and tossed the empty cup in the trash before opening the door.

  “Bye, Mimi and Papi!” Ari called to her grandparents.

  They both called back their goodbyes. Just as Alex and Ariana stepped onto the front porch, the bus drove away.

  “So glad you’re here.”

  He ruffled her hair, which earned him a sideways glance. “Sorry. But I’m sure Mimi or Papi would’ve taken you. Or Grandma and Grandpa.” Alex nodded toward his parents’ house next door.

  “Or Mom, if nobody else would.”

  He remote-unlocked his car then they climbed in, talking about her latest science project. By the time they reached the middle school, there was a line of cars.

  “You can just drop me off here,” Ari said before Alex turned on the property. “It’s fine.”

  “Don’t want people seeing me dropping you off?”

  “Love you, Dad.” She gave him a quick kiss before jumping out and running across the parking lot.

  “Love you too, kiddo.” He waited until she was inside the building before heading back to the house, half-tempted to pick up another coffee. But if Zoey and the babies were both sleeping, he might be able to get some shut-eye.

  Back in the house, he waved to Kenji and Valerie as he passed through the kitchen on his way to the converted garage. His and Zoey’s home. Dark silence greeted him. Alex’s whole body relaxed. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been able to go to sleep right after his shift.

  He went into the bathroom to clean up and change. Zoey and both babies were sprawled across the bed, leaving him little room. He climbed in, careful not to wake anyone, and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

  Soft cries woke him. It felt like he’d only gotten an hour of sleep, maybe less. He wanted to ignore the sounds but couldn’t do that to Zoey, so he felt around to see if the fussing baby was close. Sometimes they just wanted to be cuddled and would quickly fall back asleep. Nobody was in bed, at least not within his immediate reach.

  He sat up and looked around, rubbing his eyes. Zoey sat in the plush glider chair, rocking one of the twins. The other one was in the swing, cooing.

  “Sorry,” Zoey said. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “And I didn’t want you to have to get up with both of them. Let me help.”

  She shook her head. “Go back to sleep. You need it. I actually got six straight hours of sleep today.”

  “Six? How’d you manage that?”

  “They both slept that long, and at the same time, no less.”

  “Miracles do happen.”

  She smiled. “Now it’s your turn for some sleep. I’ll take them out to see my parents once I’m done nursing.”

  He climbed out of bed and gave her a kiss. “Are you sure? I don’t mind helping.”

  “I know. You really are the best.”

  “Stop.”

  “No, I mean it. Some of my friends tell me they don’t get any help at night with their kids. You help every day after working all night, hardly getting any sleep. And you agreed to live in this garage at my parents’ house. I know that wasn’t easy—we could have our own place.”

  Alex panned his palms around. “This is home, and it was easy because then we can all be close to Ariana. She doesn’t have to decide which set of parents she wants to stay with, and it also gives us the chance to save money while you stay home. There isn’t any rush for you to go back to work. This is the perfect situation, actually.”

  Zoey gave him an adoring look. “I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

  “I don’t know how I got so lucky.” He kissed her again before also kissing both babies. Then he climbed back into bed.

  Clue

  Alex woke to a bright and quiet room. He stretched, unable to remember the last time he felt so rested. It was at least three months—just before they had two newborns to take care of. The babies had been born full-term and didn’t have any issues that multiples sometimes had. They were lucky in that regard. He couldn’t imagine what it’d have been like otherwise. Two healthy babies were hard enough to deal with.

  He took a minute to wake up before getting out of bed and cleaning a little. There was hardly ever any time for that with the two babies. Once everything was organized, he showered, dressed, then stumbled out to the main part of the house.

  Everything was quiet there, too. So much silence, he almost didn’t know what to do with himself. His stomach rumbled, reminding him to eat. He found some leftovers in the fridge and warmed those, checking his phone as he waited. Typical emails and blog post comments—nothing that couldn’t wait. He was about to check social media when the microwave beeped.

  Alex sat at the kitchen table with his food and nearly choked when he saw a private message. He ran a blog featuring missing persons cases, and one of the first cases had been solved. The girl had actually been found alive after nearly two years. Before Alex had gone to the academy, he’d put a lot of effort into getting word out about the case. It hadn’t been easy—the teen had been into drugs and because of that, people didn’t seem to care about her case.

  His heart soared reading the message from the girl’s mom thanking him profusely for his help.

  The door leading to the back yard opened. “You’re awake.”

  Alex spun around to see Zoey with a fussing baby in her arms. He got up and took the bundle from her. “And I have great news.”

  “You do? What?”

  He told her about the found teen, and Zoey wrapped her arms around him. “I remember that girl. You worked really hard to get the word out about her. Good job.”

  “I didn’t do anything much.”

  “Sure you did.” Zoey kissed his cheek. “If you want to come outside, we’re all out there enjoying the weather.”

  “Even Ari?”

  Zoey nodded. “She got back from school about an hour ago.”

  “No wonder I feel so rested. You didn’t need to let me sleep that long.”

  “I got six hours, so you deserve as much. I’m going to change her.” She reached for the baby.

  Alex darted away. “I’ll do it, then I’ll join you guys outside.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah. I feel so lazy. May as well do something useful.”

  She snickered. “Thanks.”

  He went back to their apartment and changed Laney, who cooed and grabbed at him the entire time. Alex laughed and somehow managed to get her changed despite her squirming. She took a fistful of his hair as they headed back for the kitchen. He gently pulled her away and held her lower so she couldn’t reach.

  Outside, Ari was sprawled on a blanket playing peekaboo with Zander. The baby squealed each time his older sister moved her hands to reveal her face. Alex took a moment to take it all in. This really was the life. While things weren’t perfect, he couldn’t ask for anything more—especially given everything they’d all been through. Ariana kidnapped two years earlier, him nearly losing Zoey to another guy, Zoey getting abducted. Heck, even Alex himself had managed to wind up prisoner to a madwoman determined to rid the earth of cops. In the last year, nobody they knew had been in any kind of peril. In fact, life throughout their small town had been pretty boring, and he hoped it stayed that way for a long time.

  Kenji threw some patties on the grill. They had an impromptu barbecue, and Alex’s parents came over through the gate between the two yards. With so many loved ones there, he barely had two minutes to hold either of the babies.

  Zoey slipped her arm around his waist and leaned against him. “It’s almost too good to be true, isn’t it?”

  “Don’t say that.” He grimaced, thinking of how it would be all too easy for things to go awry. “I don’t think I could handle another trauma happening. We’ve been through more than most people five times our age.”

  “Most people five times our age are dead.”
r />   “Exactly.” He checked the time, glad to see he still had hours before he had to think about heading to work. “Oh, I have good news.”

  Zoey arched a brow. “Really? Did you get a raise?”

  “No, but I might get to be on day shift soon.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “For real?”

  “Nick said Chang is leaving, and he’s offering me the shift.”

  “That’s great news! If we can get the twins to sleep through the night, then we can all sleep at the same time.” She yawned.

  “Speaking of sleep, why don’t you go get some before I have to leave?”

  “I got six straight hours, plus I napped when the babies had their late morning nap. I feel great.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded. “Plus, Ari said she wants your help for her science project. If the babies sleep, then so will I.”

  “And if they don’t? At least not at the same time? Aren’t you worried it was a fluke?”

  “I think it’s the beginning of sleeping through the night.” Her eyes lit up with excitement. “I think they’re at that age.”

  “I hope so. Just let me know if you change your mind.”

  Zoey kissed his cheek. “Thanks, but I still feel great after such a good sleep.”

  Everyone finished eating, then Ari dragged Alex upstairs to help with her science project. He didn’t feel like he did much, but that was probably for the best. It was her project, after all.

  Once he made it down to the garage-apartment, Zoey and both babies were asleep in the bed. He kissed each one gently, then sat at the table with his laptop. It was tempting to get a quick nap before heading to the station, but he would probably only end up groggy.

  An email caught his attention, so he opened it and read the message.

  * * *

  Dear Alex,

  You’re the same guy who runs that blog for missing kids, right? This is going to sound strange, but please hear me out. I’m a mommy blogger, and if you don’t know what that is, it’s exactly what it sounds like. I blog about my kids and life as a mom. It’s a thing, and there are a lot of us.

  Anyway, I’m really worried about one blogger in particular. She’s completely stopped posting about one of her kids. No pictures, no mentions, nothing. It’s really weird. Like the little boy was never born at all, except I know he was because he’s in all her old posts. I don’t really know what to do. I’m not sure about going to the police because I don’t even know where she’s from. She’s never mentioned her location. At least, not that I’ve been able to find. Everything about where she lives is pretty vague, which is common safe practice for mommy bloggers.

  I really hope you’ll look into this and mention it on your blog, or at least give me an idea of what I can do. People have asked about her five-year-old son in the comments, but she deletes them rather than answering them. And that’s quite unusual for her. Something’s wrong. I know it, but I have no proof. Please let me know what you think.

  Josie Matthews

  * * *

  Below the message, she’d left a link to the suspicious blog. Alex read over the message again, and it did seem strange. Strange enough that he clicked the link to check it out.

  A big colorful banner loaded at the top of the screen with the name of the blog— Organic Mama Escapades. On the sidebar was a cartoon caricature of the mommy blogger, depicting her as having long, curly, honey-brown hair and large hazel eyes. Below that were links to popular posts, blog awards, and other mommy blogs. She didn’t appear to list her name anywhere—just Organic Mama.

  So, mommy blogs were really a thing. Who knew?

  He wanted to ask Zoey if she ever read them or was even aware of them, but that could wait. Instead, he read the top post, dated that day. It documented a trip to a park with her three kids—a boy just over a year, a girl about three, and a girl about seven. With that age spread, a five-year-old would fit comfortably into the mix, but there weren’t any mentions. And there were over twenty photos in that post alone.

  Alex skimmed through the ten posts on the first page and found more pictures of the same kids plus a few of the mom’s pregnant belly. None of her face and no mention of a five-year-old boy. He clicked to the next page of posts, curious to see if the older boy would be mentioned.

  There it was. Halfway down the page, on the fifth post. Two weeks earlier. The mom and kids went to a different park, but she had plenty of pictures of a five-year-old named Connor. The other kids appeared fond of him, based on the photos. They made silly faces, hugged, and played together.

  The following posts were more of the same—outings with four kids, two boys and two girls. The kids all happy and acting like they belonged together. But then when Alex looked up at the newer posts, Connor was just gone. And now that he looked closer, the kids seemed sadder. He hadn’t noticed it at first, but now it was obvious. They were missing Connor.

  Given the blogger’s lengthy posts chronicling every detail of their lives, something was more than a little off. Alex couldn’t let go of the feeling that something was wrong.

  But where had the boy gone? And why was there no mention of him for so long?

  Life

  Nick tucked in the sheets and kissed Hanna. “Have sweet dreams.”

  “Don’t let the bedbugs bite.” She giggled and held onto her doll, which was an almost-exact replica of the nine-year-old.

  Nick’s heart warmed. How long would she stay sweet and innocent? His older two were like night and day compared to their baby sister. Everything that had happened to the family hit Ava and Parker so much harder than the youngest Fleshman.

  He blew her a kiss before closing the door then heading down the hall. Framed photos of the kids from days long gone lined the walls. Decorations Corrine had put up, just like she’d decorated most of the rest of the house.

  Oh, how things had changed. Now, they were not only divorced but his ex-wife and her lover were in jail for life. Nick had moved into the house after her arrest and finally had all the time he wanted with his kids.

  But things were far from perfect. Ava and Parker both carried deep wounds from everything their mother had put them through—the divorce, moving them across the country away from their dad, committing a felony in which Ava ended up held captive by Dave, her almost-stepdad.

  It was a good thing they were all in counseling. Nick hated to think of how much worse things would be if the kids had to deal with everything without outside help. Ava and Parker sure weren’t talking to him about their feelings. Not that he was the most feelings-oriented guy around. An air of emotional detachment helped him as police captain. Or maybe being captain helped him to shove aside his feelings. He’d be a mess if he felt everything he saw from the job. His personal life was more than enough for him.

  Either way, it wasn’t helping the kids. But the therapist was.

  Nick’s phone vibrated in his back pocket. He pulled it out. A text from Genevieve.

  Thinking of you. Several kissing and heart emojis followed the words.

  His heart warmed again. He wandered into his room and held the diamond engagement ring before texting her back.

  Thinking of you too… He added emojis, making sure to include more than she had.

  She sent back even more, then he sent back more until he was laughing so hard his stomach ached.

  Ava peeked in. “You’re worse than a teenager, Dad.” But the fourteen-year-old with salon-black hair and blood-red lips was smiling.

  Nick sat up and patted the bed. “Come in.”

  She sighed like she was put out but sat next to him. “What did I do now?”

  “Nothing. Can’t a dad just spend a few minutes with his firstborn?”

  “I guess.” She glanced at the ring. “When are you going to pop the question?”

  “Whenever I get two minutes alone with her.”

  Ava grabbed the
ring and slid it onto her finger and held it to the light. “I told you I can watch the kids. Take her out to dinner. Hell, take her for a weekend getaway.”

  “Language.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Like you don’t hear worse at work all the time. I probably hear worse at school than you do from the cops.”

  “We have rules around here.”

  “Fine, whatever. All I’m sayin’ is, I’ll watch the kids. Tinsley and Hanna listen to me. You won’t have to worry about a thing.”

  “I don’t want to put you out.”

  Ava threw him an exasperated look. “I’m not going to break, Dad. Life is crazy and my mom is crazier, but I’m fine. Life has made me tough. I’m not weak.”

  “I’d never accuse you of that.” Nick smiled. “But are you really doing as well as you say?”

  “Yeah. I have good friends, family, and the newest phone. What else could I ask for?”

  Nick could think of several things but didn’t mention any of them.

  A dark expression crossed her face for a moment before disappearing.

  “What was that?” He sat up and studied her.

  “What?” Ava’s tone was defensive.

  “That look on your face.”

  “I don’t have any look on my face.”

  “A moment ago you did.”

  Ava let out a long, drawn-out sigh. “Dad, really. You worry too much. I’m not a case from work.”

  “No, but you can’t deny that expression. Are you worried about something?”

  She picked at her black nail polish.

  “Ava.”

  A beat of silence passed before she looked at him. “I’ve been thinking about Mason.”

  Nick’s stomach tightened at the mention of Dave and Corrine’s son. His children’s half-brother, and possibly Parker’s full-brother. Mason was also half-brother to Zander, one of Zoey and Alex’s twins.

  Could their life be any more complicated?

  “Have you heard from Mason?” Nick asked. “Seen him? Why are you thinking about him?”