Texas Abduction

by Barb Han

  Riggs sat there, listening to what had to have been one of the worst moments of his wife’s life. Knowing full well that he should have been right beside her. Guilt was a knife stab in the center of his chest.

  “People make mistakes, Cheyenne,” he said after a few thoughtful minutes. “You never would have done anything to hurt her,” he repeated, hoping this time he could convince her what happened wasn’t her fault.

  She glanced up at him with red-rimmed eyes. Her chin quivered but not a teardrop fell.

  “You did everything right. You couldn’t have known how events would unfold. What happened isn’t your fault,” he said in a low voice. He couldn’t deny that he was being a hypocrite. He absolutely believed everything that had gone wrong with the birth and his marriage had to be his fault.

  She wiped away a rogue tear and stood up straighter. A sip of coffee seemed to be what she needed to regain control of her emotions. “I owed you that conversation, Riggs. But now I’d like to move on to talk about Ally before it’s too late.”

  Everything Riggs wanted to say died on his tongue as her walls came up again.

  “You don’t really believe what you said about Ally earlier, do you?” he asked, wishing they didn’t have to move on from the first real conversation they’d had about that night.

  Her eyebrow shot up as she took a sip of coffee.

  “That her phone is turned off or ran out of battery.” He figured the subject of the baby was off-limits from here on out and this didn’t seem the right time to ask why she’d pushed him away after losing their little girl. Cheyenne was right about one thing. All of their attention needed to go toward finding Ally.

  “Wishful thinking,” she admitted. “I’m at a loss as to where she could be, though.”

  “Without her cell phone records, we don’t know who she spoke to or texted with other than what she sent us,” he said. “The nurses aren’t talking but they are covering for someone. E-cig Nurse brought that point home.”

  “My guess is the doctor who delivered...” she flashed eyes at him before continuing “...made some kind of mistake and they don’t want word to get out.”

  “Tight-knit communities have a habit of sticking together,” he pointed out. He should know. He’d grown up in one. Katy Gulch was a cattle ranching community that had each other’s backs. Not to say there weren’t disagreements or that people always got along. It was a lot like having siblings. They might mess with each other from time to time but no one else could. Period. Riggs had five brothers who would prove his comment true and he felt the same about them. Even his most troubled brother, Garrett, had come back into the fold recently. Now that their father was gone, they needed all hands on deck in order to run KBR, as well as be there for their grieving mother.

  Granted, Margaret O’Connor was one of the strongest people he’d ever known. She would balk at the idea of needing help and would never ask Riggs or his brothers to give up their lives to work the ranch out of obligation. And that was one of the most beautiful things to come out of everything that had happened. Each brother had come home because he wanted to and was wrapping up other work obligations to transition into working the ranch full-time.

  Riggs had always stayed at KBR. There’d never been another job for him. He loved the family land and had a great deal of pride working in the family business. His side job as a volunteer firefighter was something he did to give back to the community.

  But there’d never been a question in his mind of where his heart truly was. And clearly, that was all he knew in life because it was the only thing that made sense to him now.

  “I know nurses stick together. Ally has mentioned they have to, with some of the doctors who can be jerks,” she said, breaking into his thoughts. “Now that I think about it, there was a traveling doctor who could be a real horse’s backside.”

  “He probably didn’t think he had to worry about making nice if he only worked there to cover for other doctors,” he said.

  An idea he couldn’t afford was forming in his head. One that gave him a sliver of hope there was a mistake somewhere that meant his daughter was still alive. Riggs shut it down before it had time to take hold. The ache in his chest and the hole in his heart told him he couldn’t bear to lose her twice. He’d already lost her mother. Based on the dead look in Cheyenne’s eyes, there was no hope of resurrecting their marriage.

  Shame, he thought. He might have been doing what he considered to be “the right thing” by asking her to marry him six and a half months ago, but he took the vow he’d made seriously. Sickness and in health. Richer or poorer. ’Til death do us part.

  That was the deal.

  Cheyenne had to make that decision for herself. She’d been clear that she’d only married him because of the pregnancy, despite convincing him otherwise when she’d taken the ring—a ring that was no longer on her finger, he noticed. He couldn’t make her want to stay married to him. And to be honest, his ego didn’t want to have to.

  Riggs’s cell buzzed. He fished it out of his pocket and checked the screen. “It’s Colton.”

  Cheyenne moved a few steps closer, still keeping him at arm’s length as she white-knuckled her coffee mug.

  “Hey, what’s up?” he asked Colton.

  “I have news.” The sound of Colton’s voice caused Riggs’s stomach to drop.

  “Let me put you on speaker,” Riggs said with a quick glance toward Cheyenne. She was chewing the inside of her jaw, a nervous tic he’d noticed during their marriage. He held the phone in between them and hit the screen. “We’re both here.”

  “You might want to sit down first,” Colton warned.

  Cheyenne didn’t argue. She immediately walked over to the small dining table next to the kitchen, and then sat down. She removed her handbag from her shoulder, placing it on the back of the chair. Ozzy seemed content to stay inside, not bothering to peek out.

  Riggs took the opposite seat, breaking the five-foot rule Cheyenne seemed to have imposed on their proximity. He couldn’t help it. The café table wasn’t but two feet around.

  “We’re sitting,” Riggs said to his brother.

  “Community Friends Hospital came up in connection with the alpaca ranch we’ve been investigating.” Colton paused, letting those words sink in.

  A baby ring connected to the hospital where Riggs’s daughter was born.

  Cheyenne looked more confused than ever, so he gave her the quick rundown that his brother Garrett had been investigating their father’s murder and was led to an alpaca farm that was a front for an illegal adoption ring.

  “Does that mean there’s a possibility she’s alive?” Cheyenne immediately asked.

  “I don’t know what it means yet. I won’t stop investigating until we find out, though,” Colton said.

  “Ally’s text message was hopeful,” Cheyenne said, her voice laced with some of that hope. “She said my mind would be blown. I assumed it meant I would be happy.”

  Hope was dangerous. Losing their child had knocked her completely on her backside once. Riggs didn’t want to give false hope and yet he couldn’t bring himself to quash the only life he’d heard in her voice since the birth.

  “And I remember hearing her cry in the labor and delivery room,” she added. “The nurse said I probably wasn’t remembering right because of the medication I was under, but I swear I heard my baby cry.”

  Hearing those words for the first time was a gut punch. The air in the room thinned. The hole in his chest widened. Without realizing, he’d fisted his hands. Cheyenne had heard their daughter cry?

  The little girl could very well be alive.

  Chapter Six

  “Do you remember the name of the nurse who assisted with the birth?” Colton asked.

  Riggs wondered if the information would be on her discharge papers.

  “There was a shift change. I thin
k. My mind isn’t so clear on the order or some of the details. Okay, most of the details,” Cheyenne admitted. She stared at the phone on the table like it was a bomb about to detonate. “But that doesn’t mean what I do know isn’t true.”

  “If it’s any consolation, I believe you,” Colton said.

  “So do I,” Riggs agreed.

  “It means more than you could know.” Chin up, she brought a hand up to cover her heart.

  Riggs didn’t want to point out there wasn’t a judge in the state who would take the word of someone who’d been given enough drugs to make her thoughts blurry and lose the chain of events. She’d be deemed an unreliable witness and any decent attorney would have a field day with her in court if she pursued a civil case against the hospital. Most prosecutors would refuse to take on the case to start with.

  Riggs had access to the best lawyers in Texas and he’d have no qualms about draining his bank account if it meant bringing his child home alive or making certain this didn’t happen to another family. It was clear something was up with the hospital and the nursing staff. He didn’t have to be in law enforcement to suspect Ally must have uncovered something others didn’t want to get out. E-cig Nurse had confirmed their fears there.

  The question lingered in the back of his mind. Could his child be alive?

  Was that the reason for the medication? Had Cheyenne really needed it? Or was she given it to numb her mind and dull her senses? It sure was a convenient excuse. It gave the hospital an out, too, because all anyone had to say was that she was under the influence and her memories couldn’t be trusted. Now that he really thought about it, he should bring in the family attorney to put some heat on the hospital’s internal investigation.

  “Didn’t you say your regular doctor wasn’t on call the night of the delivery?” Riggs asked.

  “That’s right. I asked them if we could wait but everything was already happening so fast the nurse said we had to get going or risk losing the baby.” Cheyenne exhaled and her shoulders slumped forward.

  Riggs had to fight every instinct inside him not to reach out and be her comfort. He quickly reminded himself his touch was the last thing she would want. She’d been clear where the two of them stood. Divorce.

  The kiss didn’t change anything.

  He tried to convince himself the only reason he wanted to protect her came down to the same basics of why he would try to help anyone or anything in need. It was ingrained in him to help someone who was suffering. His family always went out of their way to offer aid. It was part of Riggs’s DNA—a part he had no qualms with.

  “Do you remember what the nurse on duty looked like?” Colton asked.

  “Not really. I think I remember hoop earrings. Like from the 1970s.” She squeezed her eyes shut like she had to block everything else out to concentrate. When she opened her eyes, she frowned. “Sounds like someone from a hallucination, doesn’t it?”

  “Don’t be hard on yourself. Every memory is important. All it takes is one detail to blow a case wide open,” Colton said reassuringly.

  Cheyenne nodded and compressed her lips. She was clearly frustrated with herself.

  “Can you make a guess as to her age?” Colton asked.

  “Not young,” she said quickly. “Not too old, either. I’d say somewhere in her late thirties to early forties.”

  “Good.” Colton was quiet for a few seconds. “What do you remember about the doctor on duty?”

  “Sandy-blond hair. He had blue eyes, cobalt,” she explained. “He was definitely older. Maybe early to mid-forties. His name was Dr. Fortner and he only works at the hospital on a rotating basis. He’ll be easy enough to look up on my discharge papers.”

  “Does that mean he works at other hospitals, as well?” Colton asked.

  “I believe so. Honestly, once I was told my baby died, I blanked out on everything else going on. I went into a state of shock that I seriously doubt I’ve recovered from yet.” She chewed on the inside of her cheek while staring at the phone.

  A hammer slammed into Riggs’s chest at hearing the details. He did his level best not to let his anger show. Right now, he needed a clear head. Flying off the handle had been Garrett’s gig. Riggs used to have a temper, too. He’d watched how it could destroy relationships between friends and brothers, and had forced himself to get his temper under control. This situation tested his resolve.

  In fact, he wanted nothing more than to plant his fist through a wall to release some of the tension that pulled his shoulder blades taut. A blinding pain hit square in between his eyes as white-hot anger engulfed him at the thought there could be foul play when it came to his child.

  The pain Cheyenne must have been in during that moment wasn’t lost on him and he suddenly understood the dark circles cradling her eyes. He still didn’t like the fact she’d pushed him away in the process but at least he was developing an understanding of the depths of her pain.

  He’d lost a child, too. And a wife in the process. So he knew about pain.

  “Is there anything else you remember about the hospital, the staff or the birth?” Colton continued.

  Part of Riggs wanted to stop this conversation right here and now. Watching Cheyenne relive what had to be one of the worst moments of her life twisted the knot in his gut. Not being able to take away her pain or make a difference messed with the knot even more. He’d asked for a meeting with hospital administration and that was still pending their internal investigation. His lawyer should be able to get things moving.

  No one should have to watch someone they cared about recount the loss of something so wanted, so loved.

  Strangely enough, it was Riggs who’d had to talk Cheyenne into keeping the baby. Early on, she’d brought up adoption as an alternative. He still remembered the moment she’d told him she was pregnant, like it was yesterday. The look of shock on her face was still etched in his thoughts. She’d sat on his couch, her feet tucked underneath her sweet round bottom.

  “I have to tell you something and I have no idea how you’re going to react.”

  He’d set a cold beer down in front of her, her favorite longneck. Instead of picking it up, she’d stared at it with a look that said she wished she could partake but wouldn’t be for quite some time.

  The move had puzzled him.

  That was when he’d really looked at her. There’d been something different about her from the moment she’d walked into his house, weeks before that, too. Something he couldn’t quite pinpoint. Glow wasn’t the right word. Although, looking back, it wasn’t a bad place to start, either. There was a flush to her cheeks that made her even more beautiful. Her eyes looked a little tired but that only made her more attractive to his thinking.

  Then it had dawned on him. Pregnant.

  He’d let her tell him the news in her own time. It had taken her twenty more minutes to work up the courage. He’d reassured her that everything happened for a reason and a baby was always a good thing. No, it wasn’t planned or expected. In fact, they’d been careful to avoid this very thing. Birth control had failed and he figured he shouldn’t be having sex with someone he couldn’t handle the risks with.

  So yes, it came out of the blue. Yes, it was a huge surprise. But no, it wasn’t a bad thing.

  In fact, he’d been planning to tell her for days by then that he’d fallen in love with her. After hearing the news, he’d figured he might as well go all in and ask her to marry him. They were stupidly in love. At least he was.

  The second she’d thrown her arms around his neck and told him she loved him he’d been hooked. Hooked on her. Hooked on getting married. Hooked on starting a family. And the same candle that had burned so brightly burned out just as fast.

  * * *

  CHEYENNE COULDN’T RISK HOPE.

  There was no way she was going to nurse the possibility of her baby being alive before getting absolute, und
eniable proof. And yet, her heart argued against such caution. It wanted to believe the baby had somehow survived. But that also meant she’d been taken from Cheyenne. In a hospital. With multiple people either directly involved or looking the other way. White-hot anger boiled her blood as she suspected a conspiracy.

  Strange as it sounded, she’d heard stories on the news that made this seem not just plausible but likely. Or was that her heart running after what it wanted to be true? She settled on likely.

  Riggs filled his brother in on their encounter at the nurse station and then the nurse who met up with them outside the building. Colton promised to follow up.

  “A deputy is almost at the hospital. He got sidetracked on a call earlier. I’ll update him before he arrives.” Colton didn’t hesitate and she appreciated her brother-in-law’s fast action.

  She blew on the surface of the hot coffee, watching the steam form a sail before returning right back to where it started. She welcomed the burn on her throat as she took a sip of the fresh brew. Coffee was a funny thing in times of stress. She hadn’t started drinking it until two weeks ago. Strangely, it had given her something to do and made her miss Riggs a little less. Put on a pot of coffee had been her mantra recently. Maybe it was time to adopt a new routine. Take up tea drinking again. Something needed to change, because her mind was wandering into dangerous territory, speculating her daughter could have lived, and she needed to shake things up.

  She glanced over at Riggs. She’d been unable to look at him much of the time when she was speaking to his brother. The way he clenched his back teeth and his hands fisted, she realized how much he must be hurting, too.