Obsessed by Angela Ford

his phone away from his mouth and asked Tom what Lisa’s last name was and her address in San Francisco. Mike returned to his call to inform him to check Lisa’s apartment for Nikki.
    “Why is Lisa doing this, Mike? Do you think she hurt Nikki too?” Jess frantically drilled Mike without a breath.
    “I don’t know Jess, but I’m going to find out.” He asked her if Lisa’s belongings were upstairs in the den.
    Tom stayed with Jess. Gina and Mark followed Mike upstairs.
    “Who the hell is this Lisa?” Gina asked once they were upstairs.
    “All I know is that Jess and Tom hired her as their mid-wife. I’m sure those two did a thorough check. Whatever she’s hiding, she’s hid it well from the two best profilers I’ve ever known.”
    Mike saw the phone on the desk and knew in an instant it was Nikki’s.
    He searched the phone records of missed calls—mostly all his. Then he searched the text messages. The ones Mike received on the plane were sent from Nikki’s phone but at the times it had been in Lisa’s possession. Where the hell is Nikki? He prayed she wasn’t hurt—or worse.
    He handed the phone to Gina.
    “Looks like Lisa sent those messages I received on the plane.”
    “The question is why. Well I guess we now know why the plane crashed. She wanted us out of her way to take the baby. She must have had this planned all along but why?” Gina glanced at Mike and then Mark.
    Mark looked at the laptop on the desk. “Is this hers? Let’s find out what she’s been up to.” Mark took a seat at the desk and opened the laptop. “We need to know who she is and if she is the hacker. Let me see if I can trace her whereabouts. Do we have a picture of her?”
    Gina offered to see if Tom or Jess had one.
    Mark took a seat at the desk and opened the laptop. “I’ll run a check on Lisa with the basic information I overheard Tom give the police officer. If indeed that is her real name.”
    Mike picked up the vile he noticed on the desk and read the label, “Oxytocin”. He looked at Mark, “She induced Jess’s labor?”
    Mark picked up the spray bottle on the desk, “She had this planned Mike. She’s been using this spray with that hormone. Studies also suggest it helps bond relationships. She thinks this baby is hers.”
    Mike noticed the backpack under the desk and grabbed it. He opened it and shook everything out on the sofa beside the desk. A blank postcard of San Francisco lay on the sofa. Mike remembered the postcard left at Jess and Tom’s the other night. This one was the same. It had the same historic pictures on it. Mike remembered he’d wondered what the orphanage meant.
    “Mark, run a check on the old orphanage downtown San Francisco. I’m not sure of its name.” Mike showed him the postcard.
    “It’s no longer an orphanage, Mike. It closed about ten years ago. Do you think there’s a connection with Lisa?” Mark asked.
    “Not sure, but this was the same postcard left the other night at Jess and Tom’s. The other historical pictures tell me there’s a Marshall connection. The old Mercy hospital where Tom was taken after he stabbed him, the warehouse district where Kyle Davidson held Jess and Tiffany but this orphanage makes me wonder if it has something to do with Jess and Tiffany becoming orphans because of Marshall. Maybe it has something to do with Lisa.”
    Mike heard a clearing of the throat and turned to find Jess standing there.
    “Don’t tell me she’s connected to Trevor Marshall. That man continues to haunt me even after I shot him dead in my kitchen.” Jess sighed heavily.
    “I’m not sure yet Jess, but it’s possible.” Mike’s heart went out to Jess. She couldn’t seem to get away from this monster and now her baby was involved. Mike’s phone rang.
    “Anything?” Mike hoped they’d found Nikki and unhurt. His free hand roamed through his hair with anticipation of good news. He smiled then turned to Jess and Mark. “She’s okay, just a little shaken up.