Rand clutched the wheel with sweaty palms. Just this morning he would have laughed at that thought. Now it was all too real.
“And Zoe. If Vanderhoven has that effect on her…” Echo sucked in a harsh breath. The light from the setting sun glinted red off Echo’s face, making the tears running down her cheeks look like blood.
Rand reached for her hand. Her fingers were cold and trembling.
Echo was right. Just the idea of poor baby Zoe in Vanderhoven’s hands was hard to take. Especially since Rand didn’t know how he’d save her. “Wait a second. Vanderhoven didn’t have Zoe at Maritime Lullaby yesterday.”
“No.”
“So where was she?”
Echo’s eyes burned into him. “She would have to be somewhere else. With someone else.”
God, he hoped so. He hoped Vanderhoven wasn’t stupid enough to leave a baby by herself. Not a worry he’d mention to Echo. “So who would he leave her with? He doesn’t have any family. Not that we could locate, at any rate. And he said his only real friends work at Cranesbrook. The only one he named was Hank Riddell.”
“Hank Riddell?”
“He’s a research fellow there.”
Echo’s eyebrows tilted low. “The one who gave you that DVD of Bray?”
Rand nodded. “But I can’t imagine him taking care of a baby. They have living quarters at Cranesbrook, but still…I can’t see it.”
Echo gasped, the sound coming from deep in her throat.
Again, his gut tensed. “You thought of someone?”
“Ashley. Ashley Kromm. She thinks she’s in love with him. And…”
“And what?”
“She got upset when I brought up Zoe’s kidnapping. That’s when she knocked my purse into the water.”
Rand grabbed for his cell. A few seconds later he had Nick on the line. He explained the situation, leaving out mention of superpowers or anything else that would have Nick sending him off to a place like Beech Grove wearing the latest in straitjacket fashion. “Ask Farrell to check out a woman named Ashley Kromm. I need addresses for her and everyone she knows. And I need cops at her home to recover Echo Sloane’s baby, ASAP.”
“Will do,” Nick said over the phone.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“She mentioned a grandmother,” Echo said.
“You hear that, Nick?”
“Got it.”
Rand glanced at Echo. “Did she mention a name?”
“She didn’t say.”
“No name. Makes things harder. But maybe we can get phone records, DMV records, an apartment lease, something that will tell us who her grandmother is in case she has a different last name. I’ll call you back when we get closer to St. Stephens, Nick.”
He hung up and focused his full attention on the road ahead, pushing the car to go as fast as he dared. If they were lucky at all, Ashley or her grandmother would be alone with the baby. He could get Zoe and Echo to safety and deal with figuring out how to stop Vanderhoven another time.
After Echo and her baby were safe.
Problem was, luck hadn’t been his friend lately.
He shifted in his seat. If Vanderhoven was there, nothing could stop him from taking Echo, too. Nothing could stop him from manipulating her emotions, bending her to his will…even destroying her.
Rand’s gut tightened like a fist.
If he took Echo with him, he’d be putting her in danger. God knew he couldn’t protect her. He’d already failed.
He glanced at her. She’d wiped her tears, and her eyes now shone with determination. The blond strands of her hair glowed like flame.
She’d hate him for not taking her, but it couldn’t be helped. Maybe it was even for the best. If she hated him, he couldn’t hurt her. He couldn’t let her down. He couldn’t lose her. Because he knew if Echo died because of him, he would never forgive himself.
He wouldn’t even want to live.
Chapter Fifteen
Echo’s pulse drummed in her ears. She watched the quiet streets of St. Stephens scroll by outside the car windows, but all she could wrap her mind around was that the miles of pavement were bringing her closer to Zoe.
And the time ticking away.
Rand hadn’t said much since his call to his supervisor, and Echo hadn’t pushed it. He’d talked on the phone a couple of times, but when he’d admitted they hadn’t found Zoe yet, she’d let it go. She’d wanted him to concentrate. She’d wanted him focused on getting to St. Stephens as soon as possible. Focused on finding her Zoe.
But she couldn’t hold it in any longer. Now that they’d arrived in St. Stephens, she needed to know. “They would tell you if they found her, wouldn’t they? I mean, if she was at Ashley’s house, they’d let you know, right?”
Shadows of falling twilight cupped his cheekbones. The glow of his dash lit the hard planes of his forehead and long straight nose. “They’d let me know if they found anything.”
So they hadn’t.
She wrapped her arms around her middle, trying to stem the tremble that shook her. This waiting was impossible. She couldn’t take much more.
The slowing of the car jolted her out of her thoughts. She peered out the window at the squat little building that housed the St. Stephens PD. “If they haven’t found anything, why are we stopping here?”
Rand gripped the wheel and stared straight ahead.
Panic surged around the edges of her mind. There was something he didn’t want to tell her. Something he was holding back.
The warning of tears knifed through her sinuses and burned at the back of her eyes. “Is it Zoe? Did something happen? Is she okay?”
“I don’t know. Like I said, we haven’t found her yet.”
“Then what is it? Why are we here? What don’t you want to tell me?”
He pulled in a deep breath and pivoted toward her. “I’m not taking you with me, Echo. You need to stay here.”
She couldn’t have heard him right. “What?”
“It’s too dangerous. Vanderhoven might be there.”
“Zoe might be there!”
“I can get her. I can bring her back to you.”
He couldn’t be saying these things. He knew she wanted to be there. He knew she had to be. “You can’t be serious. You can’t expect me to sit here and wait.”
“I have to make sure you’re safe. This is the only way.”
“I don’t care if I’m safe. What’s safety worth if something happens to my baby? What’s safety worth if I can’t be there for her?” Tears flooded her eyes, turning Rand’s face and the dark interior of the car into a blur. “You can’t do this to me.”
“I’m sorry, Echo.”
She shook her head. Her hair whipped against her cheeks and stuck to the tracks of her tears. “You’re not sorry. Don’t lie.”
“I am. If I could protect you another way, I would.”
“I don’t want your protection. Can’t you understand that? I want to help you find Zoe. I want my baby back.”
“I can get her back. But if you get hurt or killed or God knows what…” His fingers dug into her arm. He turned her to face him. “I can’t be the one responsible.”
That was it. He couldn’t handle the guilt…like the guilt he’d felt at his father’s suicide. The feeling of responsibility that had haunted him since. “If something happens to me, you don’t have to feel guilty. This is my decision. Not yours. I’ll except the responsibility. I’ll accept the risk. It’s worth it to me.”
“It doesn’t work that way, Echo.”
“Why not? Why can’t I have a say over my own life? Why can’t I be there for my own child?”
“I would be bringing a civilian into a situation I know is dangerous. I can’t do that.”
“Don’t pretend this is about police procedure. This has nothing to do with rules.”
His gaze dropped to his hands on her arms. “You’re right. It doesn’t.” He relaxed his fingers, letting her go.
She
gasped in a breath and held it, waiting for the rest.
“If something happened to you, I couldn’t…” His eyes burned into hers. Lines of regret bracketed his mouth and spanned his forehead. “I can’t let it happen.”
A sob racked her body. She fought it back. “You’re protecting yourself, you know. Not me.”
He turned away from her, staring through the windshield once again.
She was right. She knew it. “You don’t want to feel guilty if I get hurt.”
He raked his hair from his forehead and let out a long breath. “No, Echo. I don’t want to lose you.” His voice ached with feeling, with pain.
A shiver spread over her. A tremble shaking her to her toes.
“Please trust me, Echo. This once, please trust me to do what’s best for you. For Zoe.”
Could she? She didn’t know.
A distorted voice barked from Rand’s radio. A name, Molly Bakerhof.
Rand turned off the radio and laid his hand on hers, his skin rough and warm. “We’ll talk. When I get back with Zoe. We’ll take our time and sort everything out.”
Echo pulled in a shaky breath. He wanted her to get out of the car. He wanted her to just give up and walk away. Let him handle everything.
Something she couldn’t do.
She pulled her hand out from under his. Taking a deep breath, she raised her chin. “I can get out of the car, Rand, if you insist. But I can’t trust you. After this I’ll never trust you again.” She threw open the passenger door, stepped out onto the curb and vowed to figure out why the name Molly Bakerhof seemed so familiar.
Chapter Sixeen
Rand bracketed his radio mike and focused on finding the house belonging to Molly Bakerhof. Now that they’d located Ashley’s maternal grandmother, it was only a matter of time before he had Zoe back in Echo’s arms.
Provided the baby was there.
Provided nothing went wrong.
He hadn’t told Echo all his fears. Even if he did find Zoe, even if he could put her whole and healthy back into her mother’s arms, there was no guarantee Vanderhoven would give up there. He clearly wanted Sloane. And until Echo’s brother showed his face, Echo and Zoe were in danger. They were tools at Vanderhoven’s disposal.
He would have to get them out of the area, hide them far away.
He shook his head. No chance of that. Echo would never leave. Not with her brother out there. She would want to help him, save him herself. Even if it meant she was putting herself smack in Vanderhoven’s sights.
She would never trust Rand to find Bray.
With thoughts of Echo came a fresh wave of pain. When he’d told her he was afraid of losing her, he’d meant it. He didn’t know how he’d come to feel so much for her so quickly, but he had. His chest ached whenever he looked at her. Whenever he smelled her scent and heard her voice, he could feel something shift inside him that would never shift back.
And the prospect of losing her trust was only slightly less disturbing than the thought of her losing her life.
He gripped the wheel, palms slick with sweat. He couldn’t think of Echo now. He had to focus on getting Zoe, delivering her safely into her mother’s arms.
Molly Bakerhof lived in a four-unit that looked as if it was built by the same architects that designed government buildings in the sixties. Blocklike and constructed of smooth, beige brick, the building had only one front and one back entrance and windows so small the landlord had to have offered bribes to get it past the fire inspector.
Two brown and beige state trooper cars pulled to the curb just before he did. He climbed out and joined the troopers. “One of you take the front entrance, one the back. I’ll go to the apartment door. Don’t let anyone in.”
A trooper named Smith gave him a confused look. “This it? Just the three of us?”
“Three is plenty.” If only Ashley and her grandmother were inside. If Vanderhoven was there, an entire SWAT team wouldn’t be enough. But something told him he couldn’t wait for more backup to arrive. He didn’t even know if more was on the way. And he didn’t have a second to waste. “Let’s go.”
The troopers took their positions. Rand mounted the stairs to Molly Bakerhof’s unit on the second floor, his footsteps hollow on the wood stairs. At the door, he paused to listen for voices. A baby’s cry drifted under the apartment door.
Zoe.
Taking a deep breath, he rapped on the door with his knuckles. “Mrs. Bakerhof? This is the Maryland State Police. Please open the door.”
A scurry of footsteps sounded inside.
They couldn’t get out. Thanks to the small windows and the troopers stationed below, Ashley and her grandmother weren’t going anywhere. But he wasn’t going to wait at the door politely and let them try something stupid, either. “Open the door, or I will.”
The knob rattled and the door swung inward. A woman with blue eyes and the creased and weathered face of a sailor peered out. “Please, come in, Officer. What on earth is this about?”
He stepped inside. Pulse thrumming in his ears, he scanned the plain living room, sizing up corners and potential blind spots where Vanderhoven could be hiding. The gold draperies from the seventies. The brown couch that could be brand-new, if it weren’t so out of date. The tiny galley kitchen.
The lab tech wasn’t there. At least not in the apartment’s main rooms. There was little sign of Zoe either.
Rand turned back to the old woman. “Do you have a baby in this apartment, Mrs. Bakerhof?”
“A baby? Yes. I’m taking care of a baby as a favor to her mother.”
“Who is her mother?”
“She’s a patient at the Beech Grove Clinic. She’s very ill.” She waved her hand about her head. “Mental problems. Why are you asking about the baby?”
Rand ignored the question. “Where is the baby?”
“In the bedroom. She’s just had her bath and now it’s her bedtime.”
“Is there anyone else with you in this apartment?”
“Why, yes. My granddaughter.”
“Ashley Kromm?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“In the bedroom taking care of the baby, of course.”
Rand was afraid of that. He pushed past the woman.
She scampered after Rand as he turned down the short hall. “Why are you concerned about the baby? Nothing has happened to her mother, has it?”
“No.” He reached the bedroom door. Preparing himself for anything, he pushed it open.
The blond nurse from Beech Grove stood next to a double bed, propping Zoe on her hip with one arm. In her free hand she held a cordless telephone to her ear.
“Put the phone down, Ashley.”
Ashley lowered the phone and dropped it on the white woven bedspread.
Rand stepped toward her. Slowly. Steadily. “Who were you talking to?”
Ashley shook her head.
She didn’t have to answer. He already knew. “It was Vanderhoven, wasn’t it?”
Ashley stared at him defiantly. “Wes didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Hand me the baby, Ashley.”
Again, the young nurse shook her head. “The baby’s mother is sick. She couldn’t take care of her.”
“The baby’s mother is Echo Sloane. You know that.”
Zoe’s little brow crumpled. She shoved a thumb in her mouth and grabbed a fistful of her own hair in her free hand.
“No. This isn’t the same baby. It can’t be. Wes wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t take a child from her mother. Not unless the mother couldn’t take care of her. It happened the way he said.”
Rand kept approaching, step after step. “It’s over, Ashley. Everything is going to be okay.”
Tears welled up in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. “You can’t hurt him. He’s brilliant. Really. You can’t put him in prison.”
“We’ll sort it out. Everything will be okay. You’ll see. Now I need you to hand me the baby.” He extended his arms to
ward her and opened his palms.
Ashley’s lower lip trembled.
“It’s okay.” The poor girl was so mixed up, he wasn’t sure what she’d do. Love did that. It turned everything on its head. Changed priorities. Changed lives. For better and for worse.
“Everything is okay. Just hand me the baby.” Rand’s fingertips touched a ruffle on Zoe’s little pink pajamas. An inch more, and he’d have control.
“Don’t listen to him, Ashley.” The words came from behind Rand, the voice unmistakable.
Wes Vanderhoven.
A wave of desperation crashed over Rand, followed by another. He lunged forward, grabbing Zoe from Ashley’s arms, cradling her little body to his chest.
He had to save the baby. He couldn’t let Vanderhoven win. He’d promised Echo he’d bring the baby back, and that was what he was going to do. No matter what it took, he wouldn’t fail this time.
ECHO THREADED HER BODY between the last box of lighthouse lamps and a new shipment of children’s clothing. Fighting through the clutter, she reached the small desk, computer and file cabinets that formed Maritime Lullaby’s office. She knelt in front of the small gray safe. Her fingers trembled as she turned the dial, reciting the combination in her head. She had to try twice before she remembered the sequence she’d used nearly every working day. The lock released with a click. She pulled the door open.
Manila envelopes jammed with cash, credit receipts and personal checks stuffed the safe, waiting for Joyce’s regular Monday bank drop. Echo pulled out one envelope, then another, finally locating yesterday’s deposit.
Echo knew she’d remembered the name Molly Bakerhof when she’d heard it come over Rand’s radio. But it had taken precious minutes to figure out why. And precious more to figure out how to slip out of the police station without being noticed.
A woman by that name had come into the store just yesterday, when Echo was helping Joyce. Echo could still picture her kind, creased face and twinkling blue eyes. She’d purchased a stuffed orange crab, a soft baby blanket and a little pair of pink jammies covered with white shells. Things for a baby. Things for Zoe.
Critical Exposure Page 14
