by M. S. Parker
All these things matched the description I’d been given of Michael Farmer and Scott Browne, which meant that, unless something was off, these were the people I’d been looking for.
I glanced at my dash. I’d come with the intention to just do visual confirmation, but it hadn’t taken as long as I’d planned. It was a risk to make face-to-face contact without having a plan, but I was feeling a bit impulsive.
I waited until Michael took the little girl inside before I got out of the car. Scott had his back to me when I approached, and I shuffled my feet in the snow to let him know I was coming. He looked up from the small section of sidewalk he was clearing when I was only a few feet away and gave a little wave.
“Good afternoon.”
“Hi.” I gave him a wide smile. “Scott Browne?”
He frowned. “Do I know you?”
“Not exactly.” I kept my stance relaxed, my tone easy. “My name’s Rona Quick, and I’m a private investigator.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re that woman who called about some LGBTQ adoption foundation earlier today.”
I held up a hand. “I’m not here for any sort of legal thing. I don’t want to make any trouble for you and your family. Please, just hear me out.”
He glanced behind him, and I saw his hands tighten on the shovel. “All right.”
“Your daughter’s biological mother had numerous other children, and one of them hired me to find the others. She just wants to know her brothers and sisters. I promise you, she doesn’t want anything that will hurt her sister.”
He studied me for a moment, then nodded. “Why don’t you come inside so we can talk?”
Twenty-Four
I pulled into the parking space behind my building and sat for a moment, my mind still reeling. Danielle Browne was Jenna’s half-sister, the one Helen had said was stillborn. The only way to be more certain would be a DNA test, but I didn’t think that would be necessary.
Once I sat down with Scott and Michael, I’d been able to show them a picture of Helen, and they confirmed that she had been the woman who sold them their daughter. They also told me that the reason they’d resorted to a black-market adoption had been due to criminal records. In their early twenties, they’d been arrested during an LGBTQ protest, and the prosecutor had wanted to make an example of them. They’d both been convicted of inflated charges and spent six months in prison.
I met Danielle too. She was a beautiful ball of energy with wide brown eyes and a smile that reminded me of Jenna. She’d been thrilled to show me her dance and soccer trophies and to tell me all about the new badge she’d gotten in Girl Scouts. She’d also explained to me, in that matter-of-fact tone that kids sometimes got when a fact has been presented to them since birth, that she had two dads but no mom even though a mom grew her in her stomach.
I planned on telling Jenna all of this, especially the part where we’d been invited over for a late Sunday brunch where she could meet Danielle, but I knew this was the time when her family usually had dinner, so I decided to wait a bit before calling.
I was halfway up my stairs, thinking about the best way to break the news when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. The familiar and unpleasant sensation was back, the one that said someone was watching me. I paused and looked around me, trying to make out anything or anyone who was out of place. Despite the cold, people were out walking, enjoying the clear sky and late afternoon sun. No one was paying any attention to me though.
Still, I couldn’t shake it.
I hurried up the last few stairs, then dropped my keys as I fished them out of my purse. I cursed as I bent to pick them up, shaking them to knock off the snow. No sooner had I put the keys in the lock than someone spoke behind me.
“I don’t want you around the baby.”
I nearly fumbled the keys again but managed to catch them between my finger and thumb. “Jalen isn’t here, Elise.” I gestured toward the parking lot. “You can see his car isn’t here, and he doesn’t have a key to my place.”
“I should hope not.”
I’d never actually heard someone feign shock until now, but there was no way Elise was anything but pretending. The expression in her eyes was shrewd, not surprised.
“Anyway, I didn’t come here looking for Jalen. I wanted to speak to you.”
Great.
I really wished I could be rude and tell her that I didn’t want to talk to her, but if I wanted to make this thing with Jalen work, and she was going to have his baby, I needed to at least try to have some sort of polite relationship with Elise. Even if I did despise her.
“Come in,” I said as I opened the door. “Can I get you something to drink? I don’t have any hot water going, but I can make some coffee or hot chocolate if you want.”
“No,” she said shortly.
She followed me inside, wrinkling her nose as if my loft smelled like garbage instead of my lavender wax melt. I toed off my shoes and shrugged off my jacket.
“What can I do for you?” I asked, trying not to be annoyed at her rebuffing what had been a sort of peace offering.
“I don’t want you around my baby,” she said, lifting her chin. “I don’t care what you think you have with my husband. You’re not going to be a part of our lives.”
I pressed my lips together and counted to five. “What’s between Jalen and me is between Jalen and me. Any issues you have with him, you need to talk to him about.”
She shook her head, her perfectly coiffed hair bobbing with the motion. She was a model, so of course, her hair was perfect. Every line of her was elegant, and I wondered how long it would be before she couldn’t hide the baby belly.
If she was even pregnant.
I still wasn’t entirely convinced. She seemed like the sort of person who’d stretch the truth if it got her what she wanted, and in this case, what she wanted was Jalen.
“Jalen’s a man. He thinks with his cock.” She folded her arms. “He likes fucking you now, but he’ll get tired of it. He’ll come back to me. He always does.”
I inhaled slowly, then let the breath out. “Elise, I’ve had a long day. I know Jalen served you with divorce papers, and I know you won’t sign them. That’s the only reason you two aren’t divorced. He’s not getting back together with you.”
“He will!” She balled her hands into fists. “We’re having a baby, and we’re going to be a family!”
Her voice had taken on a shrill edge, but again, I had the feeling she was acting. At least most of it anyway.
“I think you should go,” I said calmly. “You’ve said what you came here to say. Everything else, you can take up with Jalen.”
“I think we can handle it between us girls, don’t you?” She gave me one of those obnoxious smiles that Queen Bees always have plastered to their faces. The ones that strangers and acquaintances often mistook for friendly, but friends and victims knew were only masks for what lurked beneath.
“There’s nothing to handle,” I said from between gritted teeth.
The smile dropped away, and she took two steps toward me, one bony finger an inch from poking me. If she did, I wasn’t sure I could keep my temper.
“Like hell there isn’t,” she said. “Let me spell it out for you. Either you stay away from my family, or I will make your life a living hell. I know people who will make sure no one comes near your pathetic little business. I’ll run you out of this city if I have to, and no one will stop me.”
Enough.
“Out.” I walked back to the door and opened it. “Get the hell out, Elise. And if I catch you harassing my customers, I’m calling the cops.”
She glared at me as she stormed out, and I barely stopped myself from slamming the door behind her. I’d known she was a piece of work, but to come over here and threaten me like that…I shook my head.
If the baby was really Jalen’s, I was going to have to put some serious thought into how I would handle things without killing Elise.
Or I was going to need
a good alibi.
Twenty-Five
I brushed the snow off the top of the tombstone before setting down the calla lilies I’d brought with me. It was odd, I knew, that I’d never even seen my mother’s grave, but I’d been to Adare’s more than once. In a way, I almost felt like I could talk to both my mother and Adare here, that Mom would understand why I hadn’t been to visit her in Indiana. I supposed that was why I’d brought her favorite flowers today.
“I’ll bet the two of you and Anton are up there yelling at me all the time when I do crazy things.”
I was the only one here this morning, but I kept my voice quiet, not wanting to disturb the tranquility I’d found. It’d started to snow during the short walk from my car to the gravesite, fat, wet flakes that clung to my clothes and eyelashes and muffled sound. I was reminded of the cemetery scene from Phantom of the Opera, the movie with Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler, not the stage production, and a chill went down my spine.
“Things have been crazy, Adare,” I said, running my fingertips along the edge of the smooth granite. I could feel the cold stone through my glove and pulled my hand back. “I used to think that after what happened when I was a kid, things couldn’t get any rougher, but then Anton died. That, I thought, was enough. Now, I’ve been dealing with human traffickers and kidnappings and finding a child who’d been sold on the black market and being kidnapped myself and the man I love possibly having a baby with the wife who won’t divorce him…”
I let my voice trail off as I rambled, my tone rising with each word. All I’d ever wanted was a normal life, or at least as normal a life as an FBI agent could have. The idea of working cases and traveling hadn’t been anything I’d considered out of the ordinary. Moving around after I’d gotten kicked out had been different. I’d been restless, unsettled. Then I’d come to Fort Collins and thought I could have a simple life working with Adare. I’d never imagined I’d get caught up in so much chaos here.
Movement behind me made me turn around, my hand automatically going to the coat pocket where I’d put my pepper spray. Fortunately for me, Colorado considered it a defensive item rather than a weapon, which meant it was legal for me to carry. I owned a handgun since my training with the FBI had made me proficient with its use, but I hadn’t yet applied for a conceal carry permit and bringing a gun to a cemetery just seemed in bad taste. For a moment, however, as I scanned the area around me for potential threats, I wondered if I’d made the right choice.
“It’s just me.”
I breathed a sigh of relief as the dark figure heading toward me spoke. “Clay, what are you doing here?”
As he got closer, I saw that he’d bundled himself up well enough that if he hadn’t said something, I still wouldn’t have been able to recognize him. He waited until he was right in front of me before answering my question.
“I wanted to talk to you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And you couldn’t just call? Or come by my place?”
He shrugged. “Things between you and me are okay, but I didn’t know how Jalen would react to seeing me. I imagine he’s been pretty pissed at me.”
“Honestly,” I said, “he hasn’t mentioned it.”
I didn’t add that Clay was probably the last person on Jalen’s mind right now. Time would eventually smooth things over, and if it didn’t, I’d take matters into my own hands. I wasn’t going to have the two of them at odds with each other for the rest of our lives.
“Anyway, that’s why I came here, where I knew you’d be alone and the chances of Jalen showing up were slim.”
My eyes narrowed. “How did you know I was alone? For that matter, how did you know I was here?”
He shifted, as if the question made him uncomfortable. “I’ve had someone keeping an eye on you since you got out of the hospital. Between your father and Serge, I refused to risk something happening to you again.”
That explained why I’d been feeling like someone was watching me. While I was glad it wasn’t someone who meant me harm, the idea that Clay had been keeping tabs on me didn’t exactly sit well. I wasn’t going to argue with him about it here though. I was already getting cold.
“What did you want to talk to me about?” I asked, rubbing my hands over my upper arms, the friction warming me.
“I wanted to let you know that we arrested two more people involved in the trafficking ring that kidnapped you. They were buyers who had half a dozen people each when we busted them. We think they’ll be able to give us some names, and maybe even an idea of where Serge might be.”
“You still haven’t found him?” I applauded myself for keeping my voice even.
Clay shook his head. “We’re turning over every rock we can find, but you know how it is with snakes. They can crawl into places we can’t always see.”
“Nice analogy,” I said dryly.
“Thanks.” He stomped his feet. “Can I walk you back to your car, or do you want some more time here?”
“I’m good,” I said and looked back at the flowers. “I think Adare would understand that it’s cold.”
He fell in step next to me, not saying anything until we’d gone a few yards. “We haven’t been able to find a trace of your father either.”
Right. I didn’t only have my kidnapper on the loose, but him too.
“Can you think of anywhere he might’ve gone?”
I shot Clay a surprised look. “It’s not like we exchange Christmas cards.”
He held up a hand. “I just meant that you might know of somewhere special to your family, somewhere a basic history wouldn’t know.”
I thought for a minute even though I already knew the answer. I shook my head. “Nowhere. The trips we took weren’t particularly nostalgic, at least the ones I can remember. After his accident, he didn’t have anywhere special he liked to go. In fact, he preferred to stay inside.” I shrugged. “I guess that’s something. He’d want to go somewhere he felt safe. Where that is, though, I don’t know.”
“Thank you,” Clay said as he opened my driver’s side door. “I’ll stay in touch to let you know how things are going.”
“Thanks,” I said but paused before getting into the car. “Don’t be a stranger, all right? I know things are weird right now, but I value your friendship.”
I sensed his smile more than saw it.
“I value yours too. Don’t worry, Rona, you’re not going to lose me.”
I sat in the car for a few minutes, letting it warm up as I watched Clay drive away. I really hoped he meant it. I wasn’t sure I could handle losing someone else right now.
Twenty-Six
“Why didn’t you tell me Elise showed up at your place yesterday?” Jenna stared at me from the passenger’s seat. “You called me and told me about Danielle but didn’t say one word about your boyfriend’s pregnant wife threatening to destroy your business. That’s the kind of thing you might want to mention to a friend.”
I made a dismissive gesture with one hand. “It wasn’t important. Not as important as telling you about your sister.”
“Bullshit,” Jenna said evenly. “I think you didn’t want to tell me because you’re still in denial over this whole baby thing.”
“I’m not in denial,” I said, feeling myself bristle. “Elise cheated on Jalen and lied to him multiple times. I think it’s actually smart of me to be skeptical about her claim of being pregnant, let alone who the father is.”
“Are you going to tell Jalen?” she asked. “He should know that she’s threatening you.”
“What good’s that going to do?” I asked. “She’ll deny it, and then he’ll have to decide who he believes. If he says he believes me, it’s going to make things tense between the two of them, and if they’re going to have a kid together, it’ll just make things harder for them, and I don’t want to do that.”
“Rona.”
I heard the warning in her voice and I looked over at her. “It’s not just about her. What I do and say will affect Jalen too.”
&n
bsp; She sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I suppose we can’t go tattle to Jalen.” She grinned at me. “If she shows up when I’m there, can I slap her?”
“Will Rylan bail you out of jail if she presses charges? Because we both know that if you touch her, she will.”
“I’m sure I can convince him.”
We made small talk the remainder of the drive, and while she didn’t sound nervous, I saw how often she ran her fingers over the scar on the inside of her left arm, the reminder of when she’d tried to take her life as a child. I’d noticed it was something she did whenever she was anxious or talking about something difficult.
“This is a nice house,” she said as we pulled into the driveway. “Nice neighborhood too. Not overly rich, but nice.”
The curtains over the front window moved, but no one opened the door. I had a feeling Scott and Michael were keeping Danielle inside to give Jenna the time to come to the door herself. I resisted the urge to look behind me to see if I could spot the person Clay had following me. I hadn’t told Jenna about that part of my conversation with my friend. She had enough on her mind already.
“Are you ready or do you need a minute?”
“I’m good.”
She touched her arm again, but I didn’t call her on it. If she said she was ready, she was ready.
We walked up the steps together, and the door opened as we stepped foot on the last one. Scott smiled at us, and behind his back we could see Danielle bouncing on her toes.
“Come in.” He stepped out of the way, putting his arm around Danielle, holding her back so we could go inside. “What can I get you to drink? Tea, coffee, cocoa? It’s a bit cold out there.”
“The cocoa’s really good,” Danielle piped up, ducking out from under her dad’s arm. “Papa makes it himself and puts synonyms in it.”
“Cinnamon,” Scott corrected.
“Right,” she said with a frown. “Synonyms are the words that mean the same thing.”
