Anna pulled her shoulders high, turned her back on Carlisle and looked straight past Charlie. Addressing Nate she said, “If I knew where Simone and Bobby were, I’d tell you. But I didn’t even know they’d gone missing from the hospital until you called me. I came here to help.”
Turning back to Charlie, she met his eyes and then Carlisle’s. “If we can move past this ridiculous accusation that Simone told me where she was taking Bobby, maybe we can get this show on the road and figure out how to get them back home where they belong.”
“I don’t believe you,” Carlisle grunted. “Simone tells you everything.”
“In this case she didn’t.” Anna crossed to the couch and folded down beside Nate, rested a hand on his shoulder. “So can someone please fill me in?”
“This afternoon, Simone took Bobby out of the hospital AMA—against medical advice.” Charlie sat down on the other side of Nate. “She apparently came home, packed some of Bobby’s things, and—”
“And ran off with my grandson. So if you know where she is you need to come clean now.” Carlisle prowled the room as he spoke.
Anna replied coolly, “What I meant was could someone please explain why Bobby was in the hospital in the first place?”
“Simone abused him.” Carlisle’s voice held no empathy for his daughter-in-law.
Nate’s head shot up. “That’s enough, Sir.”
“Maybe you should try listening, Mr. Carlisle, because I have something to tell you.” Charlie motioned toward an armchair, and thankfully, Carlisle took the hint and sat down. “I did a full SNAT work up.”
“What’s that?” three voices asked in unison.
“Suspected nonaccidental trauma—child abuse. The results that had already come back were negative, and Simone knew that. The irony is, if she had only waited a few more hours, she would have also known that social services signed off on the case. When the last of the blood work came back…as I explained to your son on the phone, Sir…” He threw in that Sir to appease Mr. Carlisle for the sake of all concerned, but the word left a saccharine taste on his tongue. “When the blood work came back, it showed that Bobby has a minor bleeding disorder called Von Willebrand disease.”
Carlisle didn’t react.
Anna’s hand went to her throat. “Is that serious?”
“Some types are worse than others, and we need to run more tests to know which type Bobby has.” He paused to let everyone in the room digest the information. “But usually, Von Willebrand can be safely managed, and in more good news, it probably explains the bruises.”
“What do you mean probably explains the bruises?” Anna asked.
Carlisle jumped to his feet. “He means an innocent person doesn’t yank her child out of the hospital and go on the lam. He means even kids with weird diseases can be abused. An innocent person doesn’t run.”
“Simone was afraid social services would take Bobby away from her,” Anna fired back.
Carlisle slammed a fist into his palm, and a loud smack added a soundtrack to the tension in the room. “So she did talk to you.”
“No, she didn’t. I haven’t spoken to her since Sunday afternoon when she stopped by the library. I’m just speculating that she must’ve been frightened, and that’s why she ran. Simone would never hurt Bobby.”
“Innocent people don’t run.” Carlisle repeated.
Charlie chose to let this last statement dissipate into the air, rather than feeding Carlisle’s fears by continuing to talk about them. In fact, he wished he could ignore Nate’s father altogether. He didn’t have time to waste trying to mollify the arrogant bastard.
Charlie felt responsible, at least in part, for Simone and Bobby’s disappearance, and he had every intention of seeing them home safe. Until then, he wouldn’t be able to sleep. He made a point of directing his next question to Nate. “Have you considered calling the police?”
Nate nodded. “Dad suggested we get the police to put out an Amber alert. I asked, but they refused. Said it wasn’t appropriate in this situation.”
“Then what did they advise?”
“They said Simone had every legal right to take Bobby out of the hospital, and that I should stay here and wait for her to come home—that I should be here when she did come home to calm her down and make her feel safe. They said they wanted to employ a watch-and-wait approach for now.”
Charlie steepled his fingers. “I can see their point about the Amber alert, but still, with a mother and child missing, you’d think they’d want to help.”
“They said this kind of thing, a mother taking off on her own for a few hours, happens all the time. I called her sister and her mom, but they say they haven’t talked to Simone in days.”
“Not to state the obvious, but have you tried calling Simone? Even if she doesn’t answer, you can at least leave a voice mail to let her know what’s going on. I have to believe she’d come home right away if she knew about the Von Willebrand disease,” Charlie said.