Texas Baby Conspiracy

by Barb Han

“Fine. Just don’t come to me when she breaks your heart again.” She started to take off in a huff.

  “Point taken.” It was his turn to stand there, arms folded across his chest. Being a friend was one thing. Telling someone how to run their life was another. He didn’t like the turn the conversation had taken.

  Rather than poke the bear, he watched as she got into her vehicle, and then drove off. It was good to know where they stood.

  * * *

  THIS WAS THE first time Alyssa didn’t want to be a fly on the wall, listening in on a conversation she knew very well was about her. Liz used to be Blake’s partner. The two were obviously still close. The woman couldn’t possibly have anything good to say about Alyssa.

  The sheer look of shock on Liz’s face when her gaze had dropped down to Alyssa’s stomach said it all. Liz was probably outside trying to convince Blake to run far away or kick Alyssa out. So, she sat there and finished up her pizza, trying to remember anything she could about the past few days because dwelling on something she couldn’t change wouldn’t be her smartest move.

  There was a notepad and pen on the dining table. Alyssa grabbed them both and wrote down everything she knew. The blue-and-white trailer she’d been in with the red awning. The sign, Bendy Park, she’d run past on her way to the highway.

  The voices. One she remembered as Nasal. She wrote heartless next to his name. Gruff had a softer side. And then it came to her. Gruff had said his girlfriend was pregnant and due soon. She suddenly remembered he hadn’t wanted to break her finger.

  Nasal and Gruff needed information from her. They wanted her to talk. How could she remember anything after they knocked her on the head?

  How many people were involved? She wrote the question down. Nasal and Gruff might have been glorified babysitters, or, like they’d openly discussed, in charge of getting information out of her. The images of the two of them in her head meant Nasal was tall and thin with a big nose. Gruff, on the other hand, she pictured as someone who was short and thick with dark hair and eyes. He had an accent when he spoke...northeast?

  Heads were going to roll because of her escape. There was an urgency to both of their tones when they discussed the need to get information from her. Did they report to Bus Stop and the Judge?

  Alyssa cradled her bump, grateful the little bean seemed to be okay despite being extra quiet.

  The back door opened and closed. Alyssa instinctively tore off the sheet of paper and folded it. She picked up her plate and held the notes against the bottom and out of view.

  Walking toward the kitchen, she had to pass Blake in the short hallway.

  “Excuse me,” she said, trying to slide past by turning to the side. Didn’t help, considering her bump was large and she ended up grazing his arm. “Sorry.”

  “No. You’re good. Can I take that?” He motioned toward the plate. She’d never seen an arm move so fast as when his had accidentally touched her.

  “I got it,” she said quickly, a little too quickly. She shot him a look of apology. “I’m good. I remember where everything goes, and I figure it’s good for me to stand up. I was in a cramped space for God knows how long and pretty much every bone in my body aches right now. All my joints are stiff. I need blood circulation.”

  He nodded. His reaction was short of sympathetic. “Liz can put together a timeline and we can probably figure out how many hours or days you were missing. We can pull your phone records and see when the last time you texted someone was or the last time your phone was used and that might give us a ballpark.”

  “Good idea.” Of course, he was a cop. Naturally, he would think of all the things she didn’t. He was good at his job too.

  “I remember sort of coming in and out of consciousness. I have images of being awake and hearing voices, but it’s impossible to separate fact from fiction if that makes any sense.”

  “It’ll come back to you.” He said the words too causally to mean them. If there’d been walls up between them before, there were entire buildings now. “Instead of bringing in a doctor, which could take more time, maybe you and I should head to the ER.”

  “No.” She shook her head for emphasis. “Absolutely not.” Panic was rising inside her, causing her pulse to race and heat to climb up her neck.

  “We don’t have to leave right now.” He studied her and she could tell he was assessing her mental state by the way his gaze narrowed as it traveled over her.

  “I’m good. Of course, I’m shaken up. Who wouldn’t be after coming to in a trailer with strangers in the next room and a lump on their head?” She made a show of looking at her arms, body and legs. “Physically, I’m fine other than a few bumps and bruises. I’m not cramping or bleeding.”

  The little bean picked that moment to kick Alyssa’s ribs from the inside out. She sucked in a breath, holding her stomach with her free hand until the pain subsided. Next came a mind-numbing cramp.

  “Alyssa? What just happened?”

  “Not labor if that’s what you’re worried about.” She took in a couple more breaths, trying to ride out the waves of pain. She told herself this was normal. She’d had a few of these recently and remembered asking her doctor about them.

  “I wouldn’t know the first thing about pregnancy or labor, but it’s clear that you need to be checked out by a doctor—”

  She started to mount an argument, but he put up a hand to stop her.

  “Hear me out.” He waited for an answer.

  She nodded, figuring it couldn’t hurt. Besides, he was going out of his way to help her when most would have turned her away. Crazy that the last thing she remembered was being married to him. And smiling. She remembered being happy too.

  “I’ll have someone come here. I have a good relationship with a few ER docs. I’ll just see if anyone can come here to give you an exam.”

  She blinked at him for a long moment. He was serious. And then it dawned on her that he came from one of the wealthiest cattle ranching families in Texas. Despite his humble lifestyle and the fact he had a normal job, he had more zeroes in his bank account than she would ever see in a lifetime. He could easily pay someone for a house call. But it was dangerous to bring anyone else here.

  “What if those men know where you live? What if staying here is a bad idea?” Panic seized her chest as another cramp caused her to plant her hand against the wall. “I can’t go back in that small closet again.”

  “Alyssa.”

  “I’m okay. It’s good. Don’t worry.” The pain was bad but it had been worse. “Go ahead. What were you saying before?”

  “First and foremost, I’m a cop. They’d have to be pretty stupid to show up at my home. Plus, Liz stops by sometimes. She was just here. I have people coming in and out. There’s nothing unusual going on if people visit me.” The reality that his former partner visited his home on a frequent basis shouldn’t send a stab of jealousy ripping through her even though it did.

  Agreeing to let a doctor examine her was probably a good idea when she really thought about it. Alyssa wasn’t worried so much about herself, but when it came to the little bean, she would do anything to make sure the pregnancy was on track. If that meant subjecting herself to an exam by a stranger, so be it.

  “You can arrange for a doctor to come here?” Blake was an O’Connor. He could afford pretty much anything he wanted. It was easy to forget considering that he worked in law enforcement like several of his brothers, despite having been born into one of the wealthiest cattle ranching families in Texas.

  He shot her an embarrassed look. The man was one of the most down-to-earth people she’d ever met. In fact, he drove an inexpensive Jeep and wore jeans and boots most of the time. He had the kind of good looks that could sell a million albums on the country and western charts. Take his cowboy hat off and he could be on a mainstream billboard.

  “Okay if I put this away?” She motione
d toward the kitchen.

  “You’re my guest. I don’t mind cleaning up.” He held his hand out. The words rolled off his tongue so easily. He was used to living here without her, which meant she’d left a long time ago.

  She drew in a sharp breath. He was right. She no longer lived here. And yet it still knocked the breath out of her to hear him say it so easily.

  Chapter Five

  “What is that?” Blake saw something in Alyssa’s hand after she passed the plate over to him.

  “My back hurts. Okay if I sit down?” She turned away from him and started walking toward the living room. Did she think he would let her get away without answering his question so easily? Blake set the plate on the counter and then followed her. If he was going to help her, he needed the facts. He needed honesty from her.

  “You can do anything you want.” He heard the way that sounded and decided to take another tack. “Do what you need to, but answer my question.”

  “While you were outside, I tried my best to remember anything and everything from the trailer. It feels like the sky is going to fall on top of you if I share any information.” She’d crumbled the page in her hand. It was now the size of a golf ball.

  Blake needed to get the doctor en route, so he fired off a text, asking Liz to arrange it. He wanted to focus his full attention on Alyssa. Confirmation came a couple of seconds later. And, after glancing at his screen, another warning from Liz. Yes, caring for his ex while she was pregnant and vulnerable was a slippery slope. He was going into the situation with his eyes open, though. He told her to trust him when he said his heart couldn’t take another hit like the one he’d taken when she walked out.

  “Mind if I take a look at the paper?” he asked once he received confirmation from Liz that Dr. Samantha Brendan was on her way. Good. She was one of his favorite ER docs.

  Alyssa studied him for a long moment. “Are you absolutely certain you want to get involved in this?”

  “I am here, aren’t I?”

  “Not willingly. I showed up on your doorstep thinking that I couldn’t wait to see my husband. You didn’t sign up for this so much as have it thrown at you.” The vulnerability in her voice threatened to crack some of the dam he’d constructed. Since he wasn’t a fan of waterboarding, which was exactly what this would amount to should the dam break, he reminded himself to keep his distance. To bring home the fact, he took a seat across the coffee table from her, putting a solid five feet of mass between them.

  “True. I won’t deny you showing up here unexpected and in your condition after all these months has thrown me for a loop.” He leaned forward, clasped his hands and rested his elbows on his knees. “But you’re here. I’d like to think you showed up for a reason, like you’re in trouble and you trusted me to help. In my job, I’m trained to put my personal feelings aside so I can focus on finding solutions. I’m also trained to be objective.” She started to put up an argument, so he added, “Which doesn’t exactly work in this case. Not a hundred percent. We have history that can’t be ignored. I can get there.”

  Reading Alyssa had become next to impossible as she sat there, staring at the coffee table.

  “I’ll agree that I came here for a reason. I thought we were still married and the only reason I wasn’t wearing my ring was because those jerks stole it.” She didn’t look up when she spoke.

  “Again, true. You’re here now. You’re pregnant. Your instincts led you to my doorstep because despite anything else going on between us, you realized you could trust me.”

  “So, why do I feel like I’m putting you in danger by my presence?”

  A piece of his heart and bruised ego wanted to believe that was true. That the reason she’d walked out eight months ago was because she was trying to protect him in some way. Yet, his practical “cop” side—the part of him that distrusted everyone and everything until they proved he could do otherwise—couldn’t quite get there. It said she came back to use him only for protection. It suspected she was using him now as cover. It accused her of toying with his emotions to throw him off balance.

  To what end? That was the question. As far as he could tell, she had nothing to gain by being here. She hadn’t asked for any money in the divorce, despite the fact his family had more than they could spend in a lifetime or two. Probably even more with compound interest. Point being, if she’d wanted something from him, she would have asked for it in the divorce.

  Plus, she ran her own business with her father before he passed away. Their import business brought in pottery, handmade jewelry and knickknacks from Mexico. After he died and she took over, she changed. Blake had chalked up the difference in her to grief. Now that his father was gone, he knew something about losing a beloved family member. Blake was trying to finish the year on the job, so he could bow out and take his place in the family cattle ranching business.

  Alyssa had been studying him the whole time he’d been in la-la land, deep in his own thoughts. She scooted up where she could reach the coffee table and then smoothed out the piece of paper against the solid wood.

  “This is what I remember so far. If I’m honest, I don’t know if this is real or some of it’s imagined. That’s just where I’m at.” She shrugged. “So, I wasn’t quite ready to share information yet.”

  “What you have here could be the difference between cracking the case wide open and them getting off the hook.”

  “It could also lead an investigation down the wrong path. What if I’m mixing up details? What if I implicate the wrong person?” She had always cared about doing the right thing, which surprised him even more when she left him the way she did. He thought he knew the person he married.

  “Any investigator worth his or her salt will take your head injury into account.” He moved forward so he could see the page. “Take the pregnant girlfriend, for instance. If we have two guys, and one of those guys has a pregnant girlfriend, we know to look at him more closely. It doesn’t condemn anyone. We follow the evidence to find the perp. Always. There are only so many resources and we need to concentrate those on the most likely candidate.”

  She pressed her lips together, forming a seam. It was one of dozens of little habits or giveaways a person noticed about their spouse and meant she was seriously considering his words.

  “Everything I remember so far is on the paper. It isn’t much.”

  “Sometimes the seemingly smallest detail can blow a case wide open. We caught a guy once because a robbery suspect was always described as having a blue tongue.”

  Her face screwed up. “How is that possible? Like a Chow Chow?”

  “You know, like from eating candy. Either sucking on a blue raspberry sucker or one of those candies you dip in powder?”

  “What are those called? Something-pop? I used to love getting those for Halloween.” Recognition dawned, creating a lively spark in her eyes. Her expression was a mix of unbridled excitement. He’d quashed it by telling her to slow down and keep her distance.

  “Just like those. Thing is, he always wore a ski mask so no one could get a good look at his face. When he spoke, though, the tongue gave him away. We nicknamed him Blue Man Group. We had a suspect in custody at the time. But Handler—” he flashed eyes at her “—you remember Davis.”

  She nodded.

  “He’s on a routine traffic stop and realizes he’s talking to someone with a blue tongue who, once he got out of his vehicle, fit the height and weight of the perp we’re looking for.”

  “Which isn’t enough to get the guy arrested,” she surmised.

  “No, it isn’t.”

  “How’d Handler get him?” she asked.

  “He knew enough to keep looking for evidence. As he scanned the back seat, he saw a black duffel bag. It had blended in with the interior of the guy’s vehicle before, so Handler didn’t pick up on it right away. Handler asked what was in the bag. The guy beat feet, Handle
r chased, and then had probable cause to search the vehicle.”

  “I’m guessing he had all the tools for a job in that duffel,” she said.

  “That and enough weapons in the trunk to arm a small militia. Handler got the arrest and we got a dangerous criminal off the street.”

  She nodded and half smiled. “I see what you’re doing here.”

  “Did it work?” He wanted to make her feel better about letting him see the paper. Trust was too much to ask for. She hadn’t trusted him enough to talk to him before walking out the door, so he knew there was no trust between them.

  * * *

  THE DOORBELL RANG, causing Alyssa to jump. She clutched her chest in an attempt to calm her racing heart. All this excitement couldn’t be good for the baby and she was suddenly grateful that Blake had forced the issue of her seeing a doctor. It would most likely bring peace of mind, and that was on short supply lately since waking up from the nightmare.

  Blake shot a sympathetic look as he stood up and then answered the door. “Thank you for coming on such short notice, Dr. Brendan.”

  “We’re not at the hospital. Call me Samantha.”

  Blake stepped aside after the greeting and Alyssa pushed to standing as the doctor stepped in the front door.

  “Please, don’t get up. Stay comfortable.” Dr. Brendan was tall, blond and had what most would consider a knockout figure. Alyssa loved being pregnant. Feeling the little bean grow inside her was the greatest feeling ever. In this moment, however, the round belly and swollen ankles weren’t feeling so hot when she compared herself to the perfectly fit, mid-to-late-thirties doctor.

  “Thank you, Doctor.” She tumbled on the way down, landing hard on her backside, grateful for the soft cushions of the sofa to catch her fall. Very graceful. Then again, being graceful wasn’t exactly her forte since becoming pregnant. Everything felt off. Her balance. Her emotions. Her sense of gravity.

  Blake was by her side in a heartbeat, looking like he didn’t know if he should even attempt to help her.