Page 115 of Stolen Angels
She came up empty, then stepped back into the hall as the medics were loading Gooding onto a stretcher. “He needs stitches and probably has a concussion, but should be all right,” one of the medics reported.
Gooding moaned and opened his eyes, blinking rapidly, disoriented.
Ellie rushed to his side. “Dr.Gooding, my name is Detective Ellie Reeves.”
He made a strangled sound. “My wife… Gayle… the girls…”
“She’s not here, and neither are they,” Ellie said. “Do you know where she took them?”
“She’s not well,” he mumbled. “Told her it had to stop.”
“I think the girls received organs from your daughter. Is that right?”
He nodded, emotions clouding his eyes. “Did you find Becky?”
“Yes,” Ellie replied. “She’s going to make it. You carried her to the hospital, didn’t you?”
“I had to. She was getting sicker and weaker…”
“That’s a good thing. Her mother is with her now. But you have to tell us where your wife was going with Ava and Kaylee.”
“To get Sarah,” he mumbled weakly.
Ellie’s heart thundered. “Sarah?”
“Sarah, she…” his breath wheezed out, “received Piper’s lungs.”
Ellie clenched his arm. “What is her last name?”
“Lundy,” he said. “My wife… Gayle was so depressed, despondent after Piper died. Then she became obsessed with knowing who received her organs.”
“And you helped her find them,” Ellie filled in. “You work at the children’s hospital.”
“The transplant team,” he rasped. “Gayle blamed me for the accident. I save lives but I couldn’t save our daughter’s. But after the accident, Gayle was in a coma, and I had to make the choice quickly about what to do.”
Ellie’s lungs tightened. “I understand. You couldn’t save Piper, but you could save other sick children who needed organs.”
He nodded miserably. “But Gayle hated me for it. Last year on the anniversary of Piper’s death, she took Kaylee.”
“I know,” Ellie said. “And we can sort it all out later. Right now, though, your wife must be desperate. What kind of car does she drive?”
“A white Ford Econoline,” he said, coughing.
Ellie looked up as Derrick walked in. “Mrs.Gooding has gone after another child, a girl named Sarah Lundy. Find out where she lives and issue a bulletin for Gayle’s vehicle. A white Ford Econoline.”
Derrick charged into action, and he phoned her captain to make the request.
A minute later, he turned to her, “I have the address. We’ll call local police on the way.”
“You can take him now,” Ellie said, motioning to the medics. “But I want him transported to Bluff County.” If his wife came after him to silence him, she’d most likely go to Gainesville. He’d also be closer for her own people to guard him until he was well enough to be arraigned.
Gooding reached out his hand, waving for Ellie to listen. “Detective, please find Gayle and the children. And… please… don’t hurt Gayle.”
Sympathy for his wife’s grief, for everything she’d lost, filled Ellie. But what she had done was unforgiveable, and rescuing the girls safely was her priority, so she rushed outside without making any promises. She’d do whatever she had to do in order to save Ava and Kaylee.
One Hundred Forty
Ellie and Derrick left Cord searching the property and sped toward the Lundy house. She prayed Silas was wrong and that Gayle hadn’t gone after Sarah.