Read Online The Baby Snatchers by Chris Taylor - Free Book Online

He met Holt in his office.
    “What can I do for you, boss?”
    Detective Superintendent Holt Denman’s
expression was troubled and he took a moment to answer. It looked
like he was trying to choose his words with care. Tension slowly
took hold in Cam’s gut. “Is everything all right?”
    Holt gave a brief nod and pursed his lips.
“Yes. I’ve just had a rather disturbing phone call. It’s taking me
a moment to get my head around it.”
    “What is it?”
    “The New South Wales Police Commissioner
just called me. He’s had a visit from the premier. The man’s
accusing the staff at the Sydney Harbour Hospital of either
stealing or murdering his grandson. It appears he can’t quite make
up his mind. Apparently the child died suddenly at the hospital a
couple of days ago, within hours after his birth.”
    Shock ricocheted through Cam’s body.
“ What? ”
    “Yeah, I know. It sounds ludicrous and the
commissioner’s inclined to believe it’s nothing more than shock and
grief talking, but the premier’s insisting he has proof.”
    “Wow.”
    Holt grimaced. “Tell me about it.”
    “I can’t wait to hear,” Cam said, breathing
a little more freely. His initial shock at Holt’s announcement had
worn off.
    The New South Wales Premier, John Jamison,
was known for his over-dramatic and somewhat paranoid ways. He’d
once accused a cleaner of spying on him from the bathroom adjoining
his office. After a comprehensive internal investigation at the
expense of the tax payer, it was decided the cleaner, who barely
spoke a word of English and had been in Australia less than six
months, was merely there to replace the supply of toilet paper and
had been oblivious to the premier’s presence.
    “I told him you’d be available to interview
him within the next half hour. I understand he’s making his way
down from Macquarie Street as we speak.”
    Cam threw his boss a wry grin. “Gee, thanks,
boss. What did I do to get on your wrong side today?”
    Holt laughed off the question. “What can I
say? I guess you got lucky. You’ve had a bit of free time on your
hands since that meth investigation wound up. You might as well put
your time to good use. The premier’s interview ought to provide you
with an interesting diversion, if nothing else.”
    Cam grimaced and made his way out of Holt’s
office. He detoured via the staff tea room and poured his second
cup of strong black coffee. It was barely nine in the morning, but,
more often than not, he relied on a regular intake of caffeine to
get him through the day. It probably wasn’t healthy, but there were
a hell of a lot of other vices which were worse. Besides, ever
since his sister had moved in, he’d found it hard to sleep and the
shot of caffeine lifted him out of the miasma of fatigue.
    Most nights, he’d wake in the middle of the
night to the sound of his sister crying. It broke his heart to
listen to her distress. He’d found an excellent psychiatrist by the
name of Ava Wolfe who’d come highly recommended by the cute midwife
at the hospital, but so far, his sister seemed to be making very
little progress. It worried him that it had been more than a
fortnight and she still cried herself to sleep.
    Was that normal? Perhaps he should be
doing more to help her? The problem was, he had no idea what to
expect, or what to do. If it were a guy, he’d get him busy with
sports, like football or car racing or even hiking in the
mountains, but Cynthia was a girl—and a teenager at that. He had no
idea what teenage girls did to distract themselves when things got
tough.
    Maybe he should contact the midwife? She’d introduced herself as Georgie Whitely and had seemed to care
what happened to his sister. Perhaps Ms Whitely could help give him
some ideas about what to do. She was a woman and a baby nurse,
experienced in dealing with young mothers. She probably knew better
than he did what they needed to help them heal when life took an
unexpected and tragic