Everyone turned to stare in her direction. "Poor Nanny Lawrence. And really, you can't blame her for this. In a moment like that, everyone thinks of saving themselves first."
"Exactly. In that situation I was terrified that if I ran a second too late, I'd burn to death."
My sister and Craig looked at Nanny Lawrence in that state.
Their faces went grave.
They glanced instinctively at me. I felt no pity at all. "Nanny Lawrence, I'm not going to waste words with you. Tell me right now, where is Anthony Chavez?"
"Anthony who? I don't know anyone by that name." Nanny Lawrence looked utterly blank.
I grabbed her wrist. "Don't play dumb with me. Anthony helped you carry the baby off."
The instant she heard it, she burst into loud sobs. "Oh God, oh Lord, Young Master Heath, you can't accuse me like this. I've worked for the Dickersons for twenty years. Even if I've earned no credit, I've at least paid my dues."
"I've always treated the little miss like my own granddaughter. Ever since she was born I've cared for her with the greatest care, and Mr. and Mrs. Dickerson have seen it with their own eyes."
Her shrill crying rang out through the hall, and at once it drew no small amount of sympathy.
"Young Master Heath, I don't think you have any reason to target Nanny Lawrence. She's the last person here with a motive to take the child."
"That's right. Nanny Lawrence has worked for the Dickersons all these years. How could she take the child away? I really think you should look in another direction."
The crowd was all urging me to stop.
Craig spoke up too. "Curt, could there be some misunderstanding in all this?"
"Absolutely not. She worked with an outsider to take Emily." I said.
The memory of my past life is one I'll never forget. After Emily vanished, it destroyed the lives of my sister's whole family.
Myself included. I ended up in a wretched fate of my own.
"Nanny Lawrence, I'll give you one last chance…"
She didn't answer at all, just kept on crying.
I called the hotel manager over. "Pull the security footage. And find Anthony Chavez, your employee, right now."
The manager acknowledged it and quickly sent people to search.
As I spoke, I noticed Nanny Lawrence showed not a trace of panic.
Before long the manager came running back, his face awkward. "Mr. Heath, the footage is dead. And Anthony Chavez is gone too."
Nanny Lawrence had schemed all of this out with painstaking care.
If the child had been drugged with sleeping pills again, she couldn't even cry now, which made pinpointing her location that much harder.
Just then the hall doors I'd had sealed swung open, and the police came in with their people.
The crowd let out a breath the moment they saw the police.
What I didn't expect was for Nanny Lawrence to suddenly stand and run toward them, screaming that she'd been wronged. "Officers, you have to clear my name. He's been slandering me this whole time. I'm begging you, give me justice."
She reached them in a rush and threw herself onto one of the officers, wailing and carrying on, pulling everyone's eyes her way.
The scene dissolved into chaos in an instant.
And it was right then that I seemed to catch a figure slipping out. Thin and bony, he was pushing a trash cart. I strode forward, and from the side of his face I knew him at once. It was Anthony Chavez.
My heart leapt. Found him.
I roared, "Anthony Chavez, stop right there!"
He didn't pause for a second at my voice. He just kept pushing the cart forward.
I shouted urgently, "Someone stop him! My niece is inside that trash cart!"
