Part 20
Tom and Cassy waited for Dr. Reed in his office. Neither one said a
word. They didn't know what, if any, surveillance had been set up.
The door opened.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. One of our patients just delivered a little
while ago."
Cassy, in character, brought tears to her eyes. "Was it a boy or a girl?"
The doctor smiled. "A boy, Mrs. Birch. A beautiful 8 lb. 3 oz baby boy."
She clutched Tom's arm. "Oh Patrick. Did you hear that? A boy."
"Sweetheart, Dr. Reed did not say that the baby boy would be ours."
"Oh, I didn't realize." Cassy wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Now Mr. Birch, there is a good chance that the baby could be yours if we can
work out some sort of an arrangement."
"Do you have a picture of the baby?" Tom asked.
Dr. Reed pulled a Polaroid out of his pocket and handed it to Cassy.
"Oh, Patrick, look at him, isn't he perfect?" Cassy gushed.
Tom leaned over and got a good look at the baby. "He's a good looking kid,
Doctor."
"Thank you."
"Let's talk money." Tom slid a piece of paper over the desk. "This is our
offer."
Dr. Reed opened the piece of paper, smiled, and folded it back up. "I think
this will do just find."
"I'm glad you think so. How soon can we do this?"
Dr. Reed glanced at his calendar. It was unnecessary seeing how this was the
most important thing he had going. "Tomorrow looks good. Say, 2:00?"
"2:00 it is. Good-bye Dr. Reed."
Tom took the picture out of Cassy's hand and handed it to Dr. Reed. Her
faced beamed as they left the room.
She opened the car door and got in. "He is such a piece of slime. Treating
that baby as if he was a piece of merchandise. It will be my pleasure to nail
him."
Tom started the car and pulled out onto the street. "Cass, we've never
talked about this but seeing you eye that picture...what do you want, a
boy or a girl?"
Cassy was taken off guard. "Oh. Well, its not like I never thought about
it. Since I found out, I've thought about what it would be like to have a
son. Teach him how to respect women, to be a kind and considerate person
without being a wimp. And I've thought about having a daughter. Dressing her
up, taking her shopping, confiding secrets, teaching her that being a woman
shouldn't stop her from being any thing she wants to be. What about you?"
"I've thought about it too. Teach my son to throw a football, to defend
himself against a bully, to take him to games. As for a daughter, when she
turned 16 I'd lock her in the attic until she was twenty-five."
Cassy laughed. "You don't have an attic."
"So I'd build one and lock her in it. Seriously, I'd protect her, I'd teach her
to protect herself. I'd teach her which boys to avoid, which would be all of
them."
She started to laugh. "Tom..."
"And one day I'd walk her down the aisle as she married the man of her
dreams, that I, of course, picked out for her."
"You don't dream big, do you?"
"If you gotta dream, dream big."
Cassy looked at the father of her child. Any doubts she had about him as a
father melted away. Any child would be lucky to call him dad. And her child
was the lucky one to do so.
Dr. Reed pulled up into his driveway. His wife Ashley was waiting for him at
the door.
"This just came for you." She handed him a fax.
He put his briefcase down and began to read.
"Brian, after much digging, I have uncovered that Patrick and Georgia Birch
from Tucson do not exist. The companies they claimed employment from do not
exist. The only Patrick and Georgia Birch we could find were a retired
couple from Phoenix."
"Damn." Dr. Reed read through the paper on the table. "If they aren't the
Birch's from Tucson, then who the hell are they?"
"Brian, what does this mean?"
"It means we may have walked into a trap. I need to know if they're cops."
"How will you find out?"
"Carson will have to do some digging. If they are not cops, but people
hiding their identity, then we proceed as planned."
"And if they are cops?"
"Then we will have to take care of it." He walked over to his gun collection
and stared at the weapons through the glass. "One way or the another."