Chapter Text
It took a couple of days of planning before Gina decided to put her plan into action and drove to the Tripps' house. She slowed her car down when she arrived, letting herself drift down the street and past the house. She went around the block several times until she saw Anne stepping out of the house and heading to the car. Mike's car wasn't in the driveway so she assumed he was out too. Gina waited until Anne got in the car and drove away before choosing her moment. She waited until Anne's car disappeared around the corner then quickly parked her car on the corner to avoid the eyes of neighbors and hurried down the tree line. She peered from the trees and once she was sure the coast was clear she scrambled across the garden to the basement window. After taking a deep breath to calm her nerves she kicked at the glass two or three times and it broke.
Quickly Gina jumped down into the basement, knocking over a large pile of old newspapers and a box of trinkets. It created a loud bang and she froze. She stayed in that spot for a good two minutes, scared that someone was going to come charging down and attack her. When nothing happened she relaxed slightly, now knowing she was alone in the house. She looked around but saw nothing of interest. The basement was tidy and swept. It was full of boxes of trinkets, knick-knacks, and souvenirs from the various trips they had taken over the years.
Gina went up the basement stairs, one at a time.
She stepped into the hallway, hesitating in this house which had almost the same layout as her own. Light snuck in through closed blinds and curtains which she was grateful for. She didn't want to risk opening them or turning on the lights in case someone noticed.
Gina walked through the entire first floor of the house from the living room to the kitchen area, not sure what exactly she was looking for, trying drawers looking for a clue - anything that might help Toby find his birth mother. Every footstep seemed to creak and groan. She tried some cupboards near the front door only to freeze at a sudden thud at the front door! She held her breath and carefully peered out the front window. She was relieved to see a newspaper boy riding off on his bike and she started breathing again.
When she found nothing she decided to head upstairs.
What Gina didn't know was that Anne was on her way back, with Mike in tow.
"Thanks again for picking me up dear, I'm sorry you missed the start of your show." He smiled bashfully from the passenger seat.
She waved him off with an endearing smile of her own. "I told you it's fine, you can't help it if you get a flat."
"I just wish there weren't so many potholes around here; driving anywhere these days is like driving through a minefield." He pouted before his face suddenly lit up. "Oh, I know! I'll start a petition and get the council to fix the roads!"
"That's a great idea honey, let me know when you start it and I'll be your first signature." She smiled as she turned onto their street and drove up to the house Gina was peering into the upstairs rooms. She quickly checked the bedrooms and bathroom, rummaging through drawers and closets, but once again her search came up empty. As Anne was pulling into the driveway, an oblivious Gina stepped out of the bedroom and considered leaving until she noticed the attic. She hadn't checked there yet. Not realizing the danger approaching, she pulled down the attic stairs and headed up. As she climbed up into the attic, something told her to lift the stairs back up and she did.
Back outside, Mike and Anne were about to head inside, but she had to run back to the car when she realized she had left the house keys inside.
Frustrated, Gina went to leave the attic and the Tripps' house in general when the creak of a loose floorboard stopped her in her tracks. She stepped back, feeling the floorboard wobble beneath her feet. She pulled the rug back and dug her fingernails into the loose floorboard, prying it out. Gina reached into the cavity beneath the floor, blindly groping until she pulled the small wooden box out of its hiding place. She opened the box and found it was filled with mostly newspaper clippings.
After she finally found her keys, Anne walked around the parked car towards the front door. She unlocked the door and stepped inside. Gina heard the noise from downstairs. Realizing what was happening, she slowly and carefully looked through the box. She noticed all the clippings referred to the kidnapping of Aiden O'Brian and underneath all the paper was a baby's hospital wristband.
As Anne went through her usual routine of kicking off her shoes and hanging up her coat she stopped, taking a moment to listen to the sounds of the house. She could sense something was not quite right.
Meanwhile, back in the attic, Gina was struggling to take in the reality of what she was seeing. The wristband had Aiden's name and birthday written on it. It was the same date as Toby's birthday. Her mind was racing with so many thoughts and questions. Why would this stuff be up here, and why would it be hidden? Gina wanted to dismiss all this. Maybe Mike or Anne had an obsession with true crime stories; lots of people do - though that didn't explain why it was hidden. As she skimmed through the newspaper clippings she felt a heavy pitfall in her stomach when she found an article talking about Aiden's parents, complete with a picture of the couple.
The picture was in black and white but Gina knew what she was looking at; the father looked almost identical to Toby.
Back downstairs Anne was standing still, listening, and trying to figure out what was different. Mike was whistling in the kitchen as got started on lunch, unaware of his wife's growing unease. Slowly she crept over to the basement and gently opened the door, peering down from the safety of the top of the stairs. When nothing nefarious happened she stepped carefully down the wooden stairs. Utter terror filled her when she saw the broken glass on the floor of the basement. Understanding that her home had been broken into, Anne started to panic. She bolted back upstairs and started looking around to see if anything had been taken.
"What's wrong, dear? Did you lose something?" Mike asked when he saw Anne check every nook and cranny of their home.
"I think the house has been broken into." She told him and Mike immediately sprung into action, joining his wife in her search.
Up in the attic, Gina heard the commotion and knew she was out of time. Thinking quickly she grabbed one of the pieces of paper out of the box and stuffed it into her pocket. She put the box back and slowly lowered the loose floorboard back into place. Back downstairs, Mike and Anne had looked over the entire first floor and were satisfied that nothing was missing.
"I don't think anything's missing, but we should still call the police," Mike said and Anne nodded.
"OK, I'll do it." She replied and opened her bag to search for her phone.
In her hiding space, Gina heard what they had said and was mentally pleading for an escape as she tried to cover her tracks. Very quietly, the board slid into position, until Gina couldn't hold it anymore. She had to let go to allow the board to drop the last inch. Sadly, fate was not on Gina's side at that moment because when the board fell back into place it did so with a loud creak. Normally it wouldn't be so loud but in such a quiet and tension-filled house, it was like firing off a shotgun.
As soon as they heard it, the couple downstairs stiffened, and Mike suddenly moved with frightening speed! He grabbed one of the golf clubs and took the stairs, two at a time. With the golf club raised to defend himself and his wife, he started checking every room for the intruder.
Gina heard Mike going from room to room and knew she might only have seconds left before she was found. She hurriedly pulled the rug back over the floorboards but started panicking when she saw she was trapped in the attic. She grappled with the heavy, jammed window and pushed it open. Mike heard this and ran for the attic. He ripped the door down and ran up the stairs but found the place empty and the window wide open. He poked his head out and quickly scanned the rooftop, but failed to see Gina from her awkward hiding place behind the chimney.
When he didn't see anybody on the roof, Mike ducked back inside and ran back down to his wife, shaking like a leaf and looking seconds away from a panic attack.
"We're not staying here!" he cried as he grabbed her arm and the keys and bolted from the house. They rushed into the car and sped away. From her spot on the chimney, Gina watched as they drove away and waited until they were out of sight. She climbed back through the window and left the house the same way she had entered. She ran to her car and drove straight to Toby and Jessica's house, intending to share what she had learned...
Although Toby didn't live hours away from his parents, it still took Gina almost four hours to knock on his front door. The main reason for that was her spending the last three hours sitting in her car outside his house, trying and failing to think of how exactly she was going to explain her theory to Toby. Unfortunately, she couldn't stay in the car forever. With a heavy sigh, she got out of the car and knocked on the door. Toby answered it and smiled when he saw her on his doorstep.
"So what'd you find?" He asked excitedly as she stepped inside, but she didn't answer him for a good two minutes. With each second of silence, Toby's excitement faded into concern and fear, but also disappointment, thinking that she hadn't found anything. "Gina? You're starting to scare me." He said and, not knowing what to say, she simply handed him the newspaper clipping she had taken. He took it and frowned in confusion as he read the small article. "What am I looking at?"
"I found this in a box hidden in the attic, under the floorboards." She started but he still seemed confused. "It was filled with dozens more like this all talking about a baby being stolen from the hospital." She explained, carefully watching his face for any reaction. "There was also a hospital wristband with the missing baby's name and date of birth written on it; he was born 27th July 1995."
"T-That could mean anything!" Toby exclaimed defensively, finally getting what she was implying.
"There was a picture of the baby's parents on one of the clippings, and the dad looked just like you." She said but Toby shook his head furiously. His face was a mixture of confusion, fear, and anger. Seeing that she was getting nowhere, Gina left but not before advising him to search Aidan O'Brian's name online and see what she meant.
Despite his doubts, Toby did just that. He typed Aidan's name on the internet and immediately he was met with dozens of articles talking about the case ranging from legitimate news websites to conspiracy sites. He read through every article he found, but the whole time he refused to believe that he was Aidan O'Brian.
That is until he found a video of an interview the parents did with a reporter.
He clicked and his eyes widened when he saw Sarah and Johnny. To say he and Johnny shared a resemblance was a gross understatement. They were practically identical except for hair color. One look at Sarah, however, and Toby could immediately see where his blond hair could have come from.
His hands started to shake and his throat was suddenly dry when he began to realize that there was a chance, admittedly a slim chance, that these were his biological parents. He kept digging until he found a report of the kidnapping on the Center for Missing and Exploited Children's website. It came with a picture of the baby and some basic information about him as well as his last known location. Looking at the baby picture, Toby thought it looked a lot like his daughter when she was born. He scrolled down and found details about the kidnapping, which also had a police sketch of the abductor.
Toby nearly threw up when he saw it.
If you took away black, long, curly hair and replaced it with a red and short style the kidnapper looked too much like Anne to be a coincidence.
"Toby, we're home!" Jessica's sudden call snapped him out of his racing thoughts and he looked up to see her and Lizzie coming into the house with big grins on their faces. Jessica's faltered slightly when she saw the tension in his face. Thankfully, Lizzie was none the wiser to the situation.
"DADDY! DADDY!" She screeched loudly as she launched herself towards him and was caught in a hug. The embrace lasted for a few seconds before she pulled away and threw something around his neck. "Look what I made for you!" She giggled. He looked down and his heart melted when he saw she had made him a seashell necklace which was covered in purple glitter and glued on gemstones.
"That is a very beautiful sweetie, I'll treasure it forever." He smiled and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. He smiled at Jess, but she frowned at him. Toby sighed, already knowing she knew something was wrong. He turned back to their daughter and smiled. "Why don't you get cleaned up and I promise we'll play later, okay?" With that, he put her down and she took off for the stairs. As soon as she was out of earshot. Toby turned to Jess and gestured to the laptop. "Here, take a look at this."
She looked at the screen and frowned when she saw it was a website about missing kids. "Why're you on this website?"
"Gina found this article and thinks he's me." He explained, but Jess gave him a look of disbelief. "No, seriously, look at this, he was born the same day as me! You think he could really me?"
"That baby ain't you, he's got too much hair," Jess replied after looking at the picture.
"But he looks just like Lizzie did!" Toby insisted and Jess looked at the photo again, but this time she looked more thorough.
"...I guess he does look like she did at that age."
"Aidan O'Brian was last seen in the UCLA Health Malibu Immediate Care children's ward; he was only a few hours old when he was abducted by a woman posing as a nurse."
"Come on Toby, you really think Anne could have done something like that?" She scoffed. This was the woman who cared for people with a heart of gold. She and Mike took her in after her parents threw her out and disowned her. When she looked back at him, however, she saw his desperation. "If you seriously believe this, then call the number."
That was all Toby needed to hear. He pulled out his phone and dialed up the hotline. Each ring felt like it took hours until someone finally picked it up.
"Center for Missing and Exploited Children, this is Mark." A man announced from the other end of the line and when Toby opened his mouth to say something he suddenly felt like he couldn't speak. He just sat there in dead silence for a bit until Jessica gently nudged him, grounding him back to reality.
"Um... I may have information on a missing child, but we're not sure he's missing." He started, wincing when he felt his voice crack in his throat. "He thinks he was abducted from the hospital." He added and there was a long pause. For a second Toby feared they had hung up on him until Mark spoke again.
"Is the child in immediate danger?"
"No, but we've been trying to get information for the last five years with no luck."
"Can you tell me something about him? Like age or race?"
"Ok, um... He's twenty-three and white-american."
"Does he have any identifying characteristics like birthmarks?"
"No, nothing like that."
"Who is he?" Mark finally asked. "Who's missing?"
"Me," Toby replied heavily. "I'm the one who's missing."...
After he gathered all the relevant information from Toby, Mark got to work. He requested several images from Toby, mainly baby and most recent pictures, and sent them to be digitally examined. If the techs could find a reasonable cause that Toby was who he claimed to be, then they would call the police and allow them to finish the investigation.
Mark hoped they could provide Toby with the answers he wanted. While they were talking, Mark could hear the desperation in Toby's voice. This was a man who had been hitting dead end after dead end and was ready to break under all the stress.
Eventually, Mark got a notification from the techs, telling him to get down there as they had something to show him. He did just that and when he arrived he saw one of the techs smiling, excited to show him what she found.
"What you got for me?" He asked as he pulled up a chair beside her.
"Okay, take a look at this." She smiled and several images appeared on the screen. "We took the photograph that Toby Trip sent us of him at six months and the one that Sarah O'Brian sent us of baby Aidan at four hours old." She explained and pressed a button. Mark watched as both pictures of the baby were aged up. "We did an aging progression sequence on both and I think we have a match."
Mark examined both the pictures as they were aged up to their twenties. Both looked too similar not to raise suspicions.
"Where are you going?" She asked when Mark suddenly stood up from his chair and started walking away.
"I need to call Detective Benson; email me those photos." He replied and rushed back to his office. Once there he opened the O'Brian case file and found the lead detective's number. He quickly dialed up the phone and waited patiently for a response. "This is Mark from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children; I think we may have found Aidan O'Brian."...