Chapter 3What the Cradle Hid

A police officer named Ron Carter pushed his way into the hallway with several other officers and strung up police tape.

"Mr. Collins, we're here."

I nodded.

"The security footage."

The security guard pulled it up. At 4:13 am, the screen filled with static for several seconds. The interference lasted more than ten seconds.

"The baby never left the building," Ron said.

"Search it."

His officers immediately got to work. They searched the patient rooms, storage rooms, food preparation area, operating rooms, bathrooms, and every other room they could think of, one after another.

The people gathered in the hallway still had not left. Some of them whispered among themselves.

"The cameras are broken. They probably won't find the baby."

"A baby that young? Whoever took him must have gotten far by now."

"Those parents sure were careless."

Whitney could hear every word, even through the closed door. She had stopped crying out loud. Now she was frighteningly quiet.

I stood in the hallway and waited. One of Ron's officers came running over, only to shake his head. Then another came, and another, but they all gave me the same answer.

Someone in the hallway let out a mocking laugh. "See? What did I tell you? They're not going to find him."

I turned toward the voice. The person quickly ducked back into the crowd.

Ron came over and lowered his voice.

"Mr. Collins, we've searched every room, but we didn't find your baby. The cameras didn't capture anyone taking the baby out."

"Then my son is still in this building. He couldn't have just vanished into thin air."

It had been the same in my previous life. The security footage had been filled with static, the nurses had claimed they knew nothing, and my son had disappeared without a trace.

Whitney had gone three days without eating. She had become so thin she looked like skin stretched over bones. Later, she told me that if we could not find our son, she would not be able to go on living.

I leaned against the wall, sweat trickling down my neck. My thoughts were a tangled mess, and my legs felt like they might give out at any moment.

Ron and his officers continued searching room after room. Every time they returned, they shook their heads.

I clenched my fists until my fingernails dug into my palms.

Then, I saw Sienna.

She stood behind the nurses' station, her white uniform perfectly neat. She had a cup of water in her hand. Like everyone else, she was watching what was happening. Her face was expressionless, and she stood there quietly.

Suddenly, I remembered yesterday, when she had offered to take my son for his hearing screening.

I had stopped her.

I had asked a few questions about the procedure, and she had left. She had not come back after that.

However, why had she been the first person to offer to take my son? With so many people around, why was the head nurse the only one who had personally come to our room?

"Sienna."

I heard myself call her name.

She looked up, and our eyes met.

I walked toward her.

The nurses' station was only a few steps from the hospital room, but I walked slowly. She took half a step backward.

"Mr. Collins..."

"Where's my son?"

"What?"

"Where's my son?"

I grabbed the collar of her white coat and yanked her toward me. The cup fell from her hand and shattered on the floor. "Give me my son back."

"Mr. Collins! What are you doing?"

Her face went white as she struggled to pull away. Two nurses rushed over to drag me back.

"Mr. Collins, let go!"

"You can't just attack someone like that!"

I did not release her. "Yesterday, you wanted to take my son for a screening."

"I... I was just doing my job..."

"I questioned you, and you left. You never came back."

"Because you wouldn't let me take him..."

"The moment you left, my son disappeared."

Her hands clutched my wrist, her fingernails digging into my skin. "I didn't! I didn't do anything!"

The police rushed over. Ron grabbed my arm from behind and pulled me backward. "Mr. Collins, let go!"

He managed to drag me two steps away.

Sienna leaned against the nurses' station, the collar of her white coat crumpled. She was breathing hard, her eyes red. "I didn't do anything..."

Her voice began to tremble. "I'm just an ordinary nurse. I came to ask about the screening yesterday, and when you refused to let me take him, I left… What does the baby's disappearance have to do with me?"

A nurse beside her patted her back.

"Ms. Lawson was in the nurses' lounge the entire day yesterday. We can all vouch for her."

Another nurse spoke up. "Mr. Collins, you can't accuse someone of something they didn't do!"

The people gathered in the hallway started talking again.

"Oh, so you can't find your baby, and now you're taking it out on the nurse?"

"What did she ever do to you?"

"That is how rich people are. The moment something goes wrong, they find someone else to blame."