Daphanie rose from her bed, stretched, and felt hopeful for some reason. Last night, she’d gone to bed thinking how much fun she had with little Nathaniel. While asleep, she dreamt that she had gotten her son back. In her dream, she had taken her baby everywhere she had taken Nathaniel yesterday. She cradled him in her arms, kissed his cheeks as he laughed and kicked and used his little hands to grasp at her face.
Daphanie lowered her legs over the edge of her bed, wondering why she’d had such a dream. She knew it was because of those brief moments of thought Nate had last night after she’d asked him what he’d do if he thought he’d never see Nathaniel again. She’d reached him. She had penetrated the man’s cold, hard armor and reached the man she used to know and love.
Of course there was no guarantee that Nate would help Daphanie, but something deep inside her told her he would. She smiled at the thought and stood up from her bed feeling better than she had since the day all of this had started.
She grabbed her robe from the foot of her bed and pulled it on, when she heard a knock at her front door. It was odd, considering she lived in a condo building and anyone visiting her would have to buzz from downstairs in order to be let up.
Daphanie stepped out of her bedroom and headed toward the front door, telling herself that it had to be her neighbor from down the hall, considering her alarm clock had only read 8:01 a.m.
At the door, she looked through the peephole and was surprised to see two uniformed policemen.
Her heart skipped and she tumbled away from the door, obviously making enough noise to prompt one of the officers to knock again.
“Miss Coleman, this is the police. We hear you in there. You need to open the door.”
She held her breath. She felt trapped. The thought of running out the back occurred to her, but that was ridiculous. She wasn’t a fugitive. “What … what do you want?”
“Open the door, ma’am.”
Daphanie walked back to the door and, with a trembling hand, opened it. “Yes,” she said to the two officers, “how can I help you?”
“Daphanie Coleman,” the mustached, dark-haired officer said, “we’re here to arrest you for the kidnapping of Nathaniel Kenny.”