*
Erica’s head still throbbed but joy bubbled inside her.
Her nightmare was over. She would get her daughter back.
She looked up at Max and linked her fingers with his. This time she let him lead her out into the chilly afternoon.
She shivered and he gave her fingers a squeeze. Just that small gesture conveyed his compassion, his sympathy. She gave him a weary smile, hoping he could see the gratitude she felt all the way down to her soul.
Katie strode up to her. “Are you all right?”
Erica nodded and winced. “I will be if I can remember not to move my head.”
“Let’s get you checked out.” Katie waved several EMTs over.
“I will later. I want to find Molly.” She needed to wrap her arms around the little girl, hear her voice. She’d have to take time to get to know her again, and allow Molly to know her. There was so much to do to repair the damage.
“First things first, Erica,” said Max. The closest EMT approached her and shone a light into her eyes. She blinked.
“Pupils are even.”
She grimaced. “I have a hard head.”
“It’s still bleeding some. Let me get that cleaned up for you.” He reached for a box containing his medical supplies.
“Erica?” She looked up to see Brandon and Jordan standing next to the ambulance. Brandon broke away and raced over to wrap her in a bear hug. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she whispered against his cheek.
He let her go and said, “I’ve got some great news. Molly’s on her way home.” He looked up and caught Max’s eye. “She lands tomorrow morning at eleven.”
Tears flowed from her. This time it was Max who wrapped her in a hug. She clung to him and sobbed. Then she laughed, trying to ignore the pain in her head. “My baby’s coming home, Max.”
“I know.” He gave her a quick kiss that was over much too soon, in her opinion. She caught him before he pulled away and said thank-you by planting his lips back on hers. He chuckled, deepened the kiss and lifted her off the ground.
When he let her go, his smoky eyes said they’d be talking. About everything.
Jordan cleared his throat and Max looked up from the sweetness of Erica’s lips, wondering if he was going to have a fight on his hands. But the man’s eyes conveyed a resigned sadness. He gave Max a small smile that said more than any words could have.
Max nodded. Message received.
“Max?”
He turned to see Lydia standing next to Rachel, uncertainty in her eyes. She looked fragile, breakable. His heart constricted and he held out his arms. She burst into tears and Max didn’t hesitate to transfer his hug from Erica to his baby sister. “It’s going to be all right, Lydia.”
“No, it’s not,” she wailed. “It’s never going to be all right again.”
He could feel Erica beside him as he gripped Lydia’s upper arms and pushed her away to stare into her eyes. “Look at me, Lydia.” She sniffed. Stringy blond hair hung in her eyes. He pushed it away from her face and tilted her chin up. “It’s really going to be okay.” He nodded to Katie, who came over. “I need you to take her downtown and Mirandize her.”
“What?” Lydia gasped and jerked away from him, eyes accusing and scared.
“This has got to be done right for when this goes to court,” he explained. “I need you to look at a lineup of pictures and tell us which one is the woman who paid you to babysit Molly.” He wanted a positive identification just for his own peace of mind. The last thing he wanted was for Denise to get off on a technicality—if she survived.
Her attention caught, she stopped crying. “Who?” She drew in a shuddering breath.
“Let’s go downtown and let Katie walk you through everything.”
Katie took an unhappy Lydia over to her unmarked vehicle and helped her into the backseat. Max turned to Erica. “We’ll follow them downtown and see what Lydia says, okay?” Erica nodded.
Once she was bandaged and declared concussion free, she climbed into his truck and they headed for the police station.
Max gripped the wheel, so tense he thought he might snap it in two. “I suppose I owe you an apology.”
A sigh slipped from her. “No, you don’t.”
“Lydia apparently had something to do with the kidnapping, and I wouldn’t even—”
“Max, stop.” She placed a hand on his. “Let’s just see what she has to say, all right?”
Gratitude at her sweet response swelled within him. He shot her a look that he hoped conveyed his feelings and nodded. “All right.”
NINETEEN
Erica leaned into Max. Her head hurt, but that didn’t bother her nearly as much as her heart. The betrayal and sheer fury she felt toward Denise rocketed through her. Max’s arm around her shoulder helped. It felt right.
She’d started to tell him so when they walked into the observation room but she didn’t have the chance. Katie’s partner, Gregory Lee, entered the room and stood beside Max.
Erica trained her attention on the scene in front of her.
Lydia sat at a table on the other side of the glass. Katie had several photos spread out on the table, and a young woman in her midtwenties stood nearby behind a video camera. “Rolling,” she said.
Katie said to Lydia, “I want you to tell me when you see the woman who paid you to watch Molly. The woman who threatened you and stabbed you.”
Lydia took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”
Katie laid the pictures out one by one. When she placed Denise’s picture in front of Lydia, her gasping cry was all the answer Erica needed.
“We got the right person,” Max said.
“Did you doubt it?”
“No, but better to confirm it than not.”
Katie said, “You know her.”
Lydia nodded and squeezed her eyes shut. “Yes.”
“Two more questions, Lydia.”
“What?” Lydia kept her eyes shut.
Katie said, “Open your eyes and look at me.”
Lydia did. Tears shimmered on her lashes, and Erica felt Max tense and lean forward. He wanted to rescue his sister. She thought he might get up and rush into the room. Instead, he clasped his hands behind his head and let out a slow breath.
When he dropped his hands, Erica reached over to curl her fingers around his. He shot her a grateful look. Her heart ached at the pain in his eyes, but she was proud of him for realizing Lydia needed to face this on her own. When she came out on the other end, Max would be there for her. But this—she had to do this herself.
Katie asked, “Do you want a lawyer?”
“No, I don’t want a lawyer. I don’t need one.”
“Because it’s your right to have one.”
Lydia slapped a hand on the table and leaned forward. “I don’t want one.”
“Fine. Did you help the woman you identified as Molly’s kidnapper? Did you help her take Molly that day?”
“No!” The horrified cry burst from Lydia. “I wouldn’t do that!”
Katie continued her line of questioning, and Lydia never wavered from her insistence that in the beginning she didn’t know what Denise had done.
Max asked, “Gregory, can you get me in there?”
“Why?”
“Because Katie’s not asking the right questions.”
Gregory studied him for a moment, then said, “What questions do you think need asking?”
“Let me talk to Lydia, Greg.”
Gregory nodded. “I’ll ask her.”
Within minutes, Katie walked into the observation room. Max said, “Let me talk to her.”
“Why don’t you tell me what to ask her?”
“I’ll get more out of her. If she had anything to do with the kidnapping, I’ll get her to tell me.”
Katie studied him. “I’ll have to clear that with my captain.”
“Sure.”
Erica studied Max. “I’m sorry, Max.”
He met
her eyes. The grief and defeat she saw there nearly broke her heart. She stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around his middle. His chin dropped to rest on her head. “I really didn’t think she’d have anything to do with it.”
“I know.” She paused. “What are you going to do if she has to do some jail time?”
She heard him swallow and then pull in a deep breath. “I don’t know, Erica. I truly don’t know.”
Erica nodded against his chest. “I’ll be there for you if you want me there.”
For a moment, Max didn’t move, then he gripped her upper arms and set her away from him. At first, Erica thought he was upset with her and pushing her away. But he simply leaned his forehead against hers and said, “Thanks. I’ll let you be there—if it comes to that.” A short pause. “And even if it doesn’t I still want you there.”
Erica kissed him lightly and stepped away from him when she heard the door open.
Katie said, “He said you could ‘visit’ her. The visit will be recorded. Lydia knows this.”
“Fine.”
*
Lydia jumped up and rushed to Max as he entered the interrogation room. “Get me out of here. I didn’t have anything to do with that kidnapping.”
“Then why do you have a thousand dollars hidden in a shoe box in Bea’s house?” he countered.
Lydia’s eyes went wide. Her lips formed an O but no sound came out. Max nodded. “I found it. I had to convince Bea you were in serious trouble before she’d give me the box.”
Lydia’s gaze shot to the door as though Denise stood outside ready to pounce. “She gave it to me,” Lydia whispered. She shuddered. “I was working for her, helping her, I just didn’t know I was helping a kidnapper.” She gave a humorless laugh. “I was going to quit being such a brat to you. My eighteenth birthday was an eye-opener for me. Believe it or not, rehab taught me a few things about what it means to have family who loves you. I finally saw you cared, that everything you did was out of love.” She smiled at his raised brow. “Don’t think it was as easy as I just made it sound, but…”
Stunned, Max asked softly, “What happened, Lydia? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Lydia sighed and looked at her brother. “I was going to surprise you. Show you I could change, stay clean. Make you proud that I had a job, that someone would trust me with her child…” Her teeth caught her lower lip and she gave a quivering sob, but Max watched her gain control.
“Oh, Lydia…” he sighed. He didn’t bother to remind her she could have come to him.
“I promise,” Lydia said. “I didn’t know she wasn’t Denise’s daughter. Not then.” She turned to the mirror. “Erica’s watching, isn’t she?”
“Yeah.”
To the mirror—to Erica—Lydia said, “Denise told me her husband was trying to take her daughter away from her and she had to keep the little girl hidden. She told me he hit her and their daughter, and that she was leaving him. I wanted to help her. She told me I had to be willing to commit myself to four weeks of almost total hiding. At the end of the four weeks, I could keep the thousand dollars. I agreed. I didn’t know anything about the kidnapping. The only television I had was for videos for Molly.”
“So you didn’t see the news?” Max asked.
“No. Not until almost three weeks after the kidnapping. I ran out to get some more pull-ups for Molly. Instead of going to the grocery store I went to the gas station around the corner. I saw Molly’s face on the television and heard how she’d disappeared from her zoo trip and her mother was anxiously waiting for her to come home.” Lydia’s hands shook as she swiped her hair back from her face and shot another glance at the mirror. “You got up there and pleaded to your daughter’s kidnapper to bring her home. You cried and you told Molly how much you missed her. That’s when I realized the truth. I ran back to the apartment to grab Molly. I was going to take her home.”
“But?” Max asked.
“Denise must have seen something in my face. She grabbed a knife and stabbed me.”
He winced. “I thought that stabbing was related to a drug deal gone bad.”
Lydia turned back to her brother. “I know. And I let you think that. I couldn’t tell what I knew because Denise said she had evidence that would send me to jail. Evidence of drug use, evidence that I’d been the one to kidnap Molly. Everything. I couldn’t say a word or I’d go to jail.” She swallowed hard. “Who would believe a junkie over a successful businesswoman?”
“And the best friend of the grieving mother,” he muttered.
Lydia nodded. Katie stepped inside the room and asked, “How did the clothes show up in the crack house three years later?”
Lydia bit her lip and swiped a hand over her face. “I was so tired of running. Denise kept people after me all the time, warning me to keep quiet, saying that she was watching me. I figured it was only a matter of time before she just had someone kill me. So—” she shrugged “—I put the clothes and hair bow in a bag and gave them to Red to give to the cops if anything happened to me.”
“They were found in the crack house.”
“I know. I saw that. She probably sold them to another junkie for a few ounces of crack.” Her eyes hardened. “Shows you just can’t trust people.”
Max said, “No, you can’t trust the wrong people. Some people you can trust.”
“Why were you at the mall that afternoon when you ran from us?”
Lydia rubbed her red-rimmed eyes. “Red said Denise called her and told her to tell me that she’d give me enough money to leave town and never come back.” She swallowed hard. “After Red called, I set up the meeting where there were a lot of people because I didn’t know what she’d try. I was going to take the money and run.” Lydia lifted her chin and tears glinted. “I’m sorry, Max, but I was just tired. Beyond tired.”
“I know. I just wish you’d have trusted me.”
“Well, it was a setup. I caught a glimpse of her gun and ran.”
*
After a few more minutes, Max left Lydia and made his way back to the observation room. He’d done his best to help her. Now they just had to wait to learn if the charges would be dropped or if the D.A. would push to prove Lydia was involved intentionally rather than accidentally.
Erica looked worn out. He said, “I think we have the whole story now.”
She nodded. “Denise had that bee venom all ready to use on me when she had the chance, didn’t she?”
“Looks that way.”
“And I told her exactly where I’d be. All she had to do was head over to the mall and call in a bomb threat, lose herself in the crowd and…” She blew out a sigh. “Well, I set myself up with that one, huh?”
“You didn’t know.”
She grimaced.
A knock sounded, and he turned to see Brandon and Jordan at the door. Brandon said, “Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve got some news. We’ve found Peter.” Max lifted a brow, his silent question clear. Brandon said, “He’s alive. Barely. They’ve taken him to the hospital.”
“What happened?” Erica whispered.
“Looks like a hit-and-run sometime yesterday. He’d been lying in a ditch for at least one night. A jogger found him this morning and called 9-1-1.”
Max’s heart thumped in sympathy for Erica. In spite of her brother’s issues and shortcomings, he knew she loved him. “I still don’t understand why he was at the mall when Denise attacked Erica.”
“I don’t know. We may never know until he wakes up.”
Max said, “I feel sure Denise had something to do with it.” He looked at Erica, then at her brother and Jordan. “It’s obvious now that Peter didn’t have anything to do with trying to harm Erica. Maybe he was trying to warn her. There’s one way to find out if it was Denise who hit him. The evidence will be there.”
Katie said, “I just got word that Denise’s bumper showed recent damage. There was some material caught in the fender. If CSU finds Peter’s DNA on there, Ms. Tanner has another
count of second-degree aggravated assault coming against her at the very least. Attempted murder is what it should be.” She looked at Erica and Max. “That woman is going away for a very long time.”
Erica gave a slow nod, deep sorrow rooting itself in her heart. A sense of betrayal like none she’d ever felt before, not even when her husband left her, swept over her again. She could almost understand Andrew’s need to escape the situation they were in—how many times had she wanted to run away and forget everything? But for Denise to have done this…
“She needs help,” Erica whispered. “I don’t know if jail is right for her.” She looked at Katie. “Will you see if you can get her some psychiatric help?”
Katie lifted a brow. “Yes.”
“I mean, she needs to pay the consequences for her actions, but—” Erica sighed “—she just needs help. Okay?”
“Sure.”
Erica tugged on Max’s arm. “Let’s go see Peter.”
Fifteen minutes later, Erica stood at her brother’s hospital bedside. “You were trying to warn me about Denise at the mall, weren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry, Peter.” She reached over and gripped his hand as he slipped off to sleep again. “I’m sorry for a lot of things.”
Just as she decided he hadn’t heard her, a slight squeeze assured her he had. Relief rolled through her. She glanced at the clock.
Soon, she would hold her baby in her arms once again.
TWENTY
Erica was sitting in the airport waiting area, hands clasped between her knees. Max sat beside her, his left leg jiggling. Lydia paced in front of the window. So far, no charges had been brought against her.
Although Red wasn’t exactly a sterling reference, she’d confirmed Lydia’s story about how Molly’s outfit had come to be in the crack house. She’d left it there after the raid and hadn’t thought anything else about it. She’d also confirmed how happy Lydia had been when she’d secured the babysitting job with Denise. And how she’d changed shortly after that.
Erica was glad. Lydia hadn’t had anything to do with the kidnapping, and she seemed willing to work on her relationship with her brother. She’d tested clean, and Erica knew Max was glad, but she also noticed he didn’t drop his guard with the girl, either. Not yet, anyway.
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