Chain of Custody

by Carol Ericson

  She didn’t even get mad at him this time for calling her Officer Lang. Instead, she gave him a smirk as she scooted out of the booth.

  By the time she returned from the restroom, he’d paid the bill and gulped down another refill on his iced tea. “Ready?”

  As Emily slid into the truck, she put her hand on his arm. “Do you think Alice has taken Wyatt by now?”

  “Probably.” He snatched her hand and kissed her fingers. “He’ll be fine.”

  They swung by Kyle’s girlfriend Meg’s place to pick up Denali, and she handed Nash Emily’s keys. “Does this have anything to do with the body found out by the border yesterday?”

  “You don’t need to know, Meg, but that body?” Knots tightened in Nash’s gut. “That was Jaycee Lemoin.”

  Meg covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide in her face. “Oh, my God. Does your sister know yet?”

  “Not yet. I’ll call her later. I doubt she’s going to hear this news in New York first.”

  “I hate to say it...” Meg shook her head. “No, I’m not going there. No matter what Jaycee was up to, she didn’t deserve to get murdered.”

  “I agree.” Nash scratched Denali’s head as the dog thumped his tail against his bare leg. “Tell Kyle thanks for me, and I’ll catch up with him later.”

  “Okay. Be careful out there.” Meg showed him out and then stepped onto the porch and waved at Emily waiting in the truck. “She’s a cute girl. Is this one going to stick around for more than a few weeks?”

  “She’s not... We’re not...you know.” Nash bent over to grab Denali’s collar so Meg couldn’t see the heat wash into his face. He felt like he was back in elementary school.

  “Riiight.” She slammed the screen door before Nash even made it off the porch.

  He let Denali jump into the back seat of his cab, and Nash plopped down behind the wheel.

  Denali sniffed the car seat and whined.

  Emily twisted in her seat. “I know, boy. We miss him, too.”

  She undid her seat belt and ducked into the back seat. She popped back up, holding a stuffed caterpillar in her hand. “Oh, no. We forgot Wyatt’s caterpillar. It’s his favorite.”

  “I’m sure DCS will have lots of toys for Wyatt.”

  “Really?” Emily whacked him on the back of the head with the caterpillar, which squeaked. “It’s his favorite, Nash. He’s going to an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. He needs this caterpillar.”

  “This is not an excuse to get another glimpse of Wyatt, is it?” He rubbed his head. “I thought a clean break would be better.”

  “I don’t even need to see Wyatt. In fact, I’m not sure I want to, but if we can catch Alice before she heads into Tucson, I’d like to give it a try.”

  He grabbed his cell phone from the console and made a call to the station. Agent Perez picked up. “Dillon here. Did the caseworker already leave with Wyatt Lemoin? We forgot to give her...something.”

  “She left about fifteen minutes ago, but you might be able to catch her before she gets to the 10. She asked about a drive-through where she could pick up some food for the road.”

  “Thanks, Perez.” Nash ended the call and dropped the phone in his cup holder. “We’ll try to catch up with her before she hits the 10.”

  Nash navigated to the two-lane road that led to the 10 freeway with a heavy foot. Once Alice got to the freeway, they wouldn’t be able to stop her.

  He glanced at Emily hugging the caterpillar to her chest, a small smile curving her lips. She’d better not be up to something.

  Five minutes of driving and they’d seen just one other car on the road. He took the next curve and eased off the gas pedal as he spotted a white car up ahead. He tapped the windshield. “Does that look like Alice’s car?”

  Emily hunched forward in her seat and shoved her sunglasses into her hair. “Yeah, maybe, but that car isn’t moving, Nash. It’s on the side of the road.”

  “Are you sure?” He squinted through the shimmering waves that pulsed off the scorching pavement and plucked off his own sunglasses. Dusk in the desert could come on fast and create optical illusions.

  They drew closer to the white car, and as it got bigger, he realized Emily was right—it wasn’t moving. The hair on the back of his neck quivered. “I think that is the car. Maybe she’s changing Wyatt.”

  “In the middle of the desert.” Emily shot forward in her seat. “A DCS worker wouldn’t do that.”

  “Unless he got sick.”

  Emily’s hands clenched as she pressed them against her stomach. “Is it crooked? Does the car look like it’s parked at an angle to you?”

  “Some.” Nash slowed the truck and blew out a breath. “She’s in the car.”

  “What’s she doing?” Emily had grabbed the handle of the truck as if ready to jump out now.

  Denali barked into the tension radiating throughout the truck’s cab.

  Nash put on his signal and rolled over the gravel on the side of the road, kicking up dust. His heart hammered against his rib cage. “Why the hell is she sitting there?”

  Before the truck came to a complete stop, Emily threw open the door. “Something’s wrong.”

  “Maybe she had some car trouble.” Nash cut the engine and made a grab for Emily as she slipped out of the truck. “Wait, Emily.”

  As he opened his own door, Emily scurried to the driver’s side of Alice’s car. Emily stumbled back, her hand to her chest, her mouth gaping.

  Nash charged out of his vehicle and strode toward Emily, his shoes crunching over glass in the road. When he got to the white car, he stared through the jagged glass at Alice sitting upright behind the wheel—a bullet hole in her head.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Emily huffed air from her nostrils to expel the sickening metallic taste that seeped down her throat, making her gag. She stumbled past Nash and yanked open the back door of Alice’s car.

  She blinked at the empty seat and dived into the car, sweeping her hand across the leather as if Wyatt’s car seat were just invisible. She flung herself forward and buried her head in her arms. “They took him. They took Wyatt.”

  Behind her, Nash spoke urgently into his cell phone, his words muffled through the pounding blood in her ears.

  His hand stroked the back of her calf. “Emily? I called the Paradiso police and Detective Espinoza. They’re on their way. Come on out. You might be compromising the crime scene.”

  Covering her face, she scooted out of the car backward until her feet touched the ground.

  Nash curled an arm around her waist and pulled her out the rest of the way. She barreled into his chest, sobbing against his shoulder.

  “I knew it. I knew Wyatt was in danger. As soon as he left us, I’ve been fearing for his safety.”

  Nash smoothed her hair back from her hot forehead and set her away from him to look into her eyes. “There’s good news here.”

  “Here?” She flung her arm back at the bloody mess in the front seat and the yawning emptiness of the back. “What could possibly be good?”

  “They took Wyatt. They didn’t kill him.”

  At the thought of Wyatt’s death, her knees buckled, and Nash caught her arm. “Think about it. If they wanted to get rid of Wyatt, they could’ve done so when they overtook Alice and killed her. They didn’t.”

  She rubbed her eyes and cranked her head around to peer into the back seat again—this time to look for Wyatt’s little lifeless body. She nodded jerkily, as if someone were pulling strings to make her move, as her muscles seemed frozen.

  “But for what purpose? Why did they take him? What are they going to do with him?”

  Nash’s voice continued to soothe. “They took his car seat. They took his diaper bag.”

  “They took him. Why?” That one word threatened to turn into a wail, so she clamped a
hand over her mouth.

  “What has Wyatt always been, even to his own mother? A bargaining chip. Not that I trust Brett any farther than I can drop-kick him, but he made the claim that Jaycee planned to use Wyatt to blackmail Lanier. Like I said before, that sounds like a Jaycee move. And those two thugs wanted Wyatt to force Brett to give himself up to them. Lanier wanted Wyatt for some other reason, and that’s why he hired you. Was it to find out if he’s the boy’s father? Was it a countermove against Jaycee?”

  Emily doubled over. “I feel sick that he used me. I sold out Wyatt for money. I’m as bad as all the rest.”

  “Stop that.” His hands pinched her shoulders. “You were the one good person Wyatt had on his side.”

  “And you.” She tipped back her head to search Nash’s face. “But we gave him up. We had him protected, and we handed him off.”

  “We didn’t have a choice, Emily.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong.” She twisted away from him. “You play by the rules, but I don’t. If it were up to me, I never would’ve handed Wyatt over to DCS.”

  “That would’ve gotten you arrested, and I can assure you that would’ve been a lot worse than getting fired from a PD. Focus.” Nash’s head jerked to the side as the sound of sirens pierced the darkening sky. “Wyatt’s alive, and he’s going to stay that way because he’s valuable to the person who took him.”

  “Who did take him, Nash? The way I see it is that we have three suspects or groups of suspects—the drug thugs, Brett and Lanier.”

  “I agree. You saw the car the two cartel guys were driving, didn’t you?”

  “Black sedan, Crown Vic, dark tinted windows, white wall tires, antenna, paper plates on the back.”

  “Good job. You got all that when you saw the car driving by my house?”

  “I thought I might need that information later—and here we are.” The emergency vehicles came into view, and Emily gritted her teeth against the cacophony of horns, beeps and sirens. She pressed her hands against her cheeks. “Poor Alice. She was just doing her job. Why’d they have to kill her? They could’ve taken Wyatt from her at gunpoint.”

  “Maybe she wouldn’t let them. It seems Wyatt had someone else on his side.”

  * * *

  IT WAS ALMOST ten o’clock by the time they got through questioning at the Border Patrol station. Denali had been napping in an interview room with a bowl of water and someone’s leftover steak.

  The Pima County Sheriff’s Department had put out an APB for Brett Fillmore, using one of his old booking photos. Every patrol unit had an eye out for a black Crown Vic with paper plates. Detective Espinoza had even put a call in to Marcus Lanier when they told him the billionaire might be involved, and discovered he was out of the country.

  Emily, her emotions wrung out, slumped in the passenger seat of Nash’s truck, holding Wyatt’s caterpillar against her chest. Denali whimpered in the back, but Emily couldn’t bear to turn around and see the empty car seat.

  Wyatt joined her in the truck and clutched the steering wheel with white-knuckled hands. “It’s a good start. We’ll find him.”

  She drew in a shaky breath. “I’m exhausted.”

  “I know you are.” He rubbed her leg. “We’re going back to my place, right? There’s no way I’m dropping you off at that motel to be on your own.”

  “I wouldn’t want to be.”

  “Good.” He started the truck and veered toward the main drag in town. “And we’re eating.”

  She dropped her chin and pulled at the fabric of her grimy blouse. “I’m not going out looking or feeling like this.”

  “We do have take-out pizza in Paradiso, believe it or not. I’m going to run in to the pizza joint and place an order for delivery.” Nash parked in a strip mall boasting a chain pizza place and whistled through his teeth. “Denali, take care of her.”

  When Nash slammed the door of the truck and locked it with his remote, Emily pulled her purse into her lap with the gun pocket on top and then reached back and scratched Denali under the chin. “I trust you, boy, but I need extra insurance. Whoever named Paradiso must’ve been joking.”

  Nash returned faster than she expected and hopped into the truck. “I ordered us a large with everything on it. They’re going to deliver it in about forty minutes.”

  “I don’t think I can eat with Wyatt out there somewhere.”

  “In one way it’s a blessing he’s still a baby. He’s not going to remember any of this drama when he gets older. We’ll have stories to tell.” The truck bounced as Nash wheeled out of the parking lot and Emily’s stomach bounced with it.

  Did this mean Nash was going to accept the conditions of Jaycee’s will and adopt Wyatt? If he did... Her thoughts trailed off into some vague, hazy future of Nash raising a son by himself. Where did she fit into that picture?

  If Jaycee’s mother took Wyatt, Emily would never see him again. If Lanier or Brett got him, God forbid, she’d never know another good night’s sleep. It had to be Nash.

  They drove through town and made the turn to Nash’s place. Emily gripped the sides of her seat. “It seems like we left here so long ago, but it was just yesterday. We thought we were keeping Wyatt safe and we turned him over to danger.”

  “We didn’t know that, Emily. Stop blaming yourself for one minute.” He slammed the steering wheel with the heel of his hand. “Stop blaming me.”

  She grabbed his bicep. “I’m not blaming you. I’m sorry if it seems like I am. I’m just so damned worried about him.”

  His nostrils flared and he closed his eyes. “We’ll get him back. Do you still have that straw with Lanier’s spit on it?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “I wanna know who fathered Wyatt. That can go a long way to tell us motive. If Brett’s his father, I can’t understand why he’d want to kidnap him. He can’t seriously want to be Wyatt’s father without Jaycee around to take care of the baby.”

  “But if Lanier really is the father and Brett took him?” Emily held her breath, her muscles stiff.

  “Maybe Brett wants to continue the blackmail scheme he and Jaycee started. Maybe he’s going to hold Wyatt over Lanier’s head until Lanier coughs up some money.” He parked the truck, but neither one of them made a move to get out.

  “What if those two goons are the ones who took Wyatt?” She shivered. “They must believe Wyatt is Brett’s son. What worries me about that scenario is if that’s what happened to Jaycee, then clearly Brett doesn’t care about anyone but himself and Wyatt will meet the same fate as his mother once they discover that.”

  Nash brushed a thumb across her cheek. “Don’t go there.”

  “Are you going to try to pull some strings to test Lanier’s DNA against Wyatt’s? Because you know the official route will take forever even with a missing baby at stake.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Denali is going crazy in here. Let’s go inside before the pizza beats us.”

  When Nash got out of the truck, he had his gun at his waist. Emily strapped her purse across her body ready to be his backup, or his sidekick. Did she want to be more? Was she confusing her feelings for the baby with her feelings for the man who would adopt him?

  Nash let Denali have free rein to sniff the porch and the front door as an early warning system. The dog just seemed anxious to get inside.

  Nash shoved open the door and stood back, his head held to one side. “I think we’re good. Denali’s instincts are right on, and right now he just wants to run out back. I’ve also been checking my security cameras and all has been quiet.”

  Despite his words, Nash went through the house and kept his gun with him. Satisfied, he slid open the back door for Denali. “Go for it, boy.”

  Denali scampered out back for a run and Emily collapsed in a deep chair, grabbing the remote for the TV. She clicked it on
and immediately regretted it as a picture of Wyatt stared back at her from the local news.

  She called to Nash, “They put out an Amber Alert.”

  “I knew they were going to do that.” He took the remote from her stiff fingers. “Let’s turn that off and put our heads together. The other possibility we didn’t discuss in the car is if Lanier kidnapped the baby and he’s the father. Why would he do that?”

  A whisper of fear feathered across the back of her neck. “That’s the worst possible scenario, Nash. If Lanier’s the father and he killed Jaycee and kidnapped Wyatt, it could only be to stop this blackmail attempt. And what better way to stop it than to get rid of the evidence?”

  “If that’s the case, why not dispose of the evidence right away, at the same time he took care of Alice?”

  “If he killed Wyatt right there in his car seat—” she stopped and pressed a hand against her galloping heart “—he’d be leaving the evidence, wouldn’t he? Nobody but Jaycee and maybe Brett know Wyatt’s true parentage at this point. Espinoza’s going to want to find out who Wyatt’s father is. If Lanier leaves Wyatt in the car and the detectives find out Lanier is the baby’s father, he’ll have a lot to answer for.”

  “Good point, but just because he’s the father, it doesn’t mean he’d want to kill the baby.” Nash moved into the kitchen and opened the fridge.

  Emily snapped her fingers. “He also wouldn’t want his wife to know.”

  “Is that what he told you when he hired you?” Nash held up two bottles of beer in the kitchen. “Beer?”

  “Please.”

  “Glass?”

  “No, thanks.”

  He handed her the bottle and she took a swig before continuing. “When Lanier hired me, he was all concerned parent. Jaycee had told him he might be the father and he wanted to protect Wyatt from her if that were the case. He told me he was hiring an attorney and arranging for a paternity test.”

  “Touching.” Nash raised his bottle and chugged back a few gulps.

  “What if that’s true, Nash? What if everything Lanier told me is true? What if Brett is lying about the blackmail scheme?”