Free Natural Reaction by Terri Reid Page B

answered.
    “Harold Weller.”
    “Hello Hal. This is Mary O’Reilly,” she replied. “Do you remember me?”
    “Oh…wow…um…Mary…wow…Mary O’Reilly,” the voice on the phone nervously replied. “Yes…of course, of course I do. How are you Mary?”
    “I’m great, Hal, just great. How are you?” Mary asked, picking up a pencil and tapping it on her notepad.
    “I’m…wow… Mary, it’s so good to hear from you. Are you in town? Maybe we could get together…”
    Mary smiled and glanced over at Ian who seemed caught up in his work. Good , she thought.
    “That would be great, Harold. It’s really been a long time, but unfortunately, I’m not in Chicago. I’m still in Freeport.”
    “Oh, yeah, what in the world made you move that far away? I, I mean, we all miss you.”
    “Well, you know, after the shooting and all, I decided I needed some time away from the big city,” she explained.
    “Oh, Mary, that’s right. I’m so sorry. I totally forgot about that,” he stammered. “Are you okay?”
    Yes, but I’ll never be able to play the piano again , she thought wickedly to herself. Of course, I never could play it in the first place.
    “Well, you know, there were some residual effects,” she said. “But for the most part, I’m good. I opened up a small private investigation agency.”
    “Wow, that’s great,” he replied. “How’s it going?”
    “Well, that’s one of the reasons for my call,” she said, “Besides touching base with you after all this time.”
    “Yeah, it’s so great to talk to you again,” he replied. “What can I do to help you?”
    Mary turned the pencil in her hand and poised it for writing. “Well, this is such a long shot,” she explained. “And really, I don’t even know if you can help me. But when I encountered this issue, the first person I thought of was you. You always seemed to know your way around things there at DCFS.”
    “Well, you know, I do my best.”
    “Well, that’s what I’m going to need,” she said. “My client just found out his wife was kidnapped and murdered. While under the control of the kidnapper, she gave birth to a daughter at Cook County Hospital. The kidnapper posed as her husband and gave the child up to DCFS for adoption. He’s trying to find his daughter.”
    “Oh, wow, that’s crazy,” Harold replied. “Can you give me some dates?”
    Mary gave him the information and heard him entering it into his computer.
    “Does your client have any evidence yet?” he asked.
    “Well, the kidnapper confessed, but he’s still awaiting a court date,” she replied. “And they are exhuming his wife’s body in the next few days. So, he’s waiting for all of the legal work to get done. Oh, he’s also a cop.”
    “Wow, okay, yeah, let me see what I can do.”
    She waited a few more minutes.
    “Mary, these papers, they’re sealed up tight,” he said. “I don’t have a lot of information. Only the date of the adoption and the case worker assigned to follow up. But, okay, here’s what I can tell you.”
    He paused again.
    “Freeport,” he said.
    “Yes, I live in Freeport,” Mary replied, “But what about the little girl?”
    “Okay, well, that’s crazy,” he said. “The case worker that was assigned for follow-up, Kat Tinder, she was in the Freeport Office. So, the little girl must have gone to the Freeport area.”
    Mary dropped her pencil on the desk and sat up straight. “You’re kidding me?” she exclaimed. “She’s in Freeport?”
    Ian sat up and stared at Mary.
    “Do you have anything else?”
    “No, sorry, Mary,” he replied. “But, let me get a requisition and try to pull the original file. It’s going to take a while because it comes from the archives in Springfield, but I’ll get it to you as soon as I can.”
    “Hal, you are wonderful,” she said, after giving him her contact information. “Thanks so much.”
    “Hey, you ever get back in town?” he asked. “We could do