Colton's Secret Son

by Carla Cassidy

  “I just needed a little break from my life for a while...a little vacation.” She leaned forward slightly. “Knox, I’m so sorry about your son. Have there been any breaks in the case?”

  “No, and that’s why I’m here.”

  “What do you mean?” She sat back in the chair. “Surely you don’t think I have anything to do with it.” Stunned surprise shone from her eyes.

  “Not you personally,” he replied. He knew Leonor would never do anything like that. “When was the last time you spoke to Mother?”

  Her cheeks became dusted with a faint color. “I went to visit her about a week before her escape. I haven’t seen or spoken to her since then.”

  “Did she tell you what her plans were?”

  “Heavens, no. I had no idea she planned to escape from prison. Why are you asking me all this?” She studied his face intently and then released a small gasp. “Oh, Knox, surely you don’t believe she’s behind the kidnapping of your son. She would never do...” She allowed her voice to trail off.

  “Whether you believe it or not, you should know by now that she’s capable of anything,” he replied.

  “But surely not this,” she protested.

  In the depths of Leonor’s eyes, he saw the little girl who had desperately wanted Livia’s love, the little girl who still clung to the belief that there was something good in her mother. He also saw a woman who knew nothing about Cody’s kidnapping.

  “I’m sorry, Leonor, I had to ask.”

  “I understand.” To his surprise, she reached across the table and took his hand in hers. “I hope you get him back, Knox. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now.”

  “It’s been the darkest nightmare I’ve ever had,” he admitted. He squeezed her hand and then stood. “I’ve got to get back to Allison. I just had to talk to you, Leonor. I need to talk to anyone who might have some information.”

  She got up as well and walked him to the door. “Knox, if I knew anything about your son, I swear I’d tell you. I would never keep silent about something like this.”

  “I appreciate it,” he replied.

  “Keep me informed?”

  “Absolutely,” he replied. “When Cody gets home, you and I will take time and really catch up with each other.”

  “I’d like that,” she replied.

  Minutes later, he was headed back to Allison’s. He had to accept that Leonor was telling the truth. She might have been the last one to cling to the idea that Livia was innocent, but he just couldn’t believe that she would collude in any way in the kidnapping of a child...any child.

  He drove by La Bonne Vie once again; only this time he didn’t even glance at the house. That was his past and there was nothing he could do about the choices his mother had made. She was obviously mentally ill, a sociopath who had put herself above everyone else.

  It was important that he finally let go of boyish dreams of a mother’s love. He was a man now and the love he needed was that of a good woman and their little boy.

  He knew what he wanted in his future; he just couldn’t be sure that when this was all over, Allison would want to be a part of it. But they would have no hope of any kind of future together if Cody didn’t come home.

  * * *

  Damn.

  Earl Hefferman stomped up the stairs from the basement where the kid was being held. He was sick of drifting like a ghost in the abandoned house; he was definitely sick of listening to the kid cry for his mommy, and now he’d made a stupid, stupid mistake.

  He’d forgotten to put the ski mask on when he’d taken Cody a sandwich. Damn. Damn! His side had been killing him and he felt like he might be running a fever, and in his intense pain, he’d just forgotten.

  When he’d read about Knox having a son, he’d seen the kidnapping of the boy as the best ploy to draw Livia out of the darkness and into the open.

  He’d known that wherever she was holed up she’d be watching the news. She’d love all the stories that had been devoted to her since her escape. She’d relish in all the reporting that had turned her from slightly famous to completely infamous.

  And he’d thought when he’d made the ransom demand that she’d come out into the open to help get her grandson back. It had been a stupid-ass plan. He should have known that she wouldn’t risk her hide for anything or anyone.

  And now the kid had seen his face.

  He closed the door at the top of the stairs and threw himself on the musty carpeting on the floor in the living room where he’d been sleeping since he’d taken Cody.

  He’d been so careful. He’d planned this out so meticulously. This vacant house on the outskirts of town had been perfect. He’d broken a back window and had made it his own. A little squatting didn’t hurt anyone.

  He’d only left the house a couple of times to drive into town and get some food supplies. Nobody was looking for him, so nobody had paid any attention to him.

  The only thing that disappointed him was that Livia hadn’t contacted him. He’d called her at the phone number she’d had when she’d escaped into Mexico, but she hadn’t answered any of his messages. He’d even texted her a dozen times that he had the kid, but there had been no response.

  If he couldn’t get to Livia, then at least he’d walk away from this with some cash in his pocket that would help him start a new life.

  He was thinking Florida might be nice. He’d rent a house close to the beach. Maybe he’d get out of the life of crime altogether, set up a bar on the beach and serve drinks all day long to hot, sexy women in bikinis.

  He winced as he changed positions on the floor. The gunshot wound in his side wasn’t healing; rather, it seemed to be getting worse. Surely when this was all over and he got out of town he could find some under-the-table doctor who could fix him up.

  Staring up at the ceiling for several long minutes, he imagined what his new life would look like. He sure as hell wouldn’t have to answer to any bitch who thought she was smarter than anyone else.

  Maybe Livia would still show. The exchange wasn’t until the next night. There was still time for her to get in touch with him.

  There was now only one new issue. The kid had seen his face and the last thing Earl liked was loose ends. He wasn’t about to go back to prison for this. So now what he had to figure out was how to exchange two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for a dead body.

  Chapter 15

  This night appeared longer and darker than any one they had endured since Cody had gone missing. It was just ten o’clock when Allison curled into the corner of the sofa, her heart so terribly heavy her chest ached.

  She should have gone to the bank as she’d planned that morning. Maybe she’d feel better if she had the money in a suitcase ready to exchange for Cody.

  But, there was no suitcase filled with money. There were no more clues to follow, and the plan for getting her son back seemed fraught with danger.

  All the men were gathered around the kitchen table, plotting and planning for every scenario that might come up the next night. Their voices were just deep murmurs, but she found them oddly comforting.

  Maybe she was reaching a strange place of peace. They had done everything humanly possible. They had searched and cried and now there was nothing left except to meet the kidnapper at midnight tomorrow and pray that everything went as planned.

  She looked up as Knox came into the room. He offered her a smile and sank down next to her. “This is almost over, Ally. Hopefully, late tomorrow night, Cody will be back in his bed where he belongs.”

  “That’s all I want in the entire world,” she replied.

  “Me, too.” He leaned back and scrubbed a hand down his jaw. “Dalton and Brett should be leaving in just a few minutes. They plan on coming back here at noon tomorrow and they’ll be with us for the exch
ange.”

  “Have you spoken to Sheriff Jeffries this evening?”

  “I did. He’s coming by about seven tomorrow night to discuss the final plans.” Knox frowned. “It would be so much easier if he’d just keep his nose out of this. He wasn’t interested in working too hard from the very beginning and I think all he’s interested in now is another photo op.”

  “I just don’t want him to mess anything up.” She wrapped her arms around her shoulders as a chill walked up her spine.

  “Before that might happen, I’ll punch him in the nose and hog-tie him.”

  She couldn’t help but smile. “You are way too eager to punch people in the nose.”

  He returned her smile. “Only those who hurt my family,” he replied.

  His family. Was that the way he saw her and Cody? In one way or another, they would all be family forever. Even if they weren’t together, she and Knox would always have a special place for each other.

  There was no question that since he’d been back in town she’d loved having him to lean on and to talk to. She’d loved the protective light that jumped into his eyes when he perceived that she was being threatened.

  The ring of the home phone wiped the smile off her face. They both jumped off the sofa and ran for the kitchen.

  “Private caller,” Dalton said and gestured for her to answer it.

  What now? Another stupid prank phone call telling them Cody was in the state capital holding a rally for abused animals? She picked up the receiver. “Hello?”

  “Cody is safe.” It was a muffled female voice. “The threat against him has been neutralized. You’ll find him in the basement in the old Miller place. He needs his mother and his father to come and get him.” The phone went dead.

  Allison hung up the phone and stared at Knox. “Could it be real?” she whispered half-breathlessly. She wanted to believe. She was terrified to believe.

  “We didn’t go to the Miller house. It wasn’t on the list of places with basements,” he replied. “We just checked the shed on the property.”

  “That place is just outside of the city limits. It wouldn’t have been on the list,” Wendall said.

  She clutched Knox’s arm, her heart hammering, and she stared into his darkened blue eyes. “Do you think it might be real?”

  God, she wanted it to be. She wanted the caller to be right. Was it Livia who had called? She couldn’t be sure. She tightened her grip on Knox.

  “We don’t lose anything if we go and check it out,” he replied.

  She had told him she didn’t want to go on any more wild-goose chases, but something in her heart, in her very soul, told her she had to go with him now.

  The caller had said Cody’s mother and father needed to come and get their son. She’d said that the threat had been neutralized. Allison had no idea what that meant. All she knew was that the caller had said Cody was safe and if that was true then he needed his parents to bring him home.

  Within minutes, she and Knox and Dalton and Brett were in the car and headed to the old, abandoned house with the promise that if anything was there, Knox would immediately call Sheriff Jeffries. Wendall and Jim were following in their car.

  They had flashlights and guns and a tense anticipation that filled the car as Knox drove as fast as safety would allow.

  “Do you think it was your mother who called?” she asked once they were on their way.

  He frowned, his hands so tightly clenched around the steering wheel they appeared white in the light from the dashboard. “I don’t know. I can’t be sure.”

  “Worst-case scenario, we get there and find out the call was just another hoax,” Dalton said from the backseat.

  Were they all fools? Rushing to yet another heartbreaking disappointment? Her stomach rolled with nervous tension. She’d been here before...wound up with hope, praying for a good outcome, only to crash down with a bitter despair.

  When the dark Miller house came into view, her heart was so big in her throat she couldn’t speak. The rush of her heartbeat was so loud in her ears she could barely hear.

  Knox parked on the side of the road and then turned in the seat to look at the other men. “We go in quiet. I’ll find a door or a window to get inside the house, and you two see if there’s a way to get inside the basement from the outside. Don’t move in until you hear from me.”

  He reached over and grabbed Allison’s hand. “You stay with me.”

  They got out of the car and the cool night air blew around her and inside her. She gazed at the shed they’d checked on because of the phone tip. It had been empty. Was this yet another crazy person’s idea of fun? Or had they been this close to where Cody was being held and had left him behind?

  As Dalton and Brett took off, quickly blending into the night, Knox once again grabbed her hand and together they walked through the overgrown grass and weeds toward the front of the house.

  His hand held hers almost painfully tight as they drew closer and closer to the front door. When they reached the small porch, he dropped her hand. He pressed his ear against the door and then tried the doorknob. Locked.

  He motioned for her to follow him to the living room window. He turned on his flashlight and peered inside, then clicked the light off again.

  She gasped as he smashed the back of the flashlight into the glass. Immediately, he listened once again. No sound came out of the house. Surely if there was somebody inside, they would have heard the glass shattering.

  Already, a wave of bitter disappointment swept through her. The belief she’d had that the call might be real died on the wave of silence that greeted them as they crawled through the broken window and into the dark living room.

  Once again, Knox turned on the flashlight, sweeping it around the room. It appeared that somebody had been squatting here. A ratty blanket was on the floor, along with a pile of trash and a bottle of pills.

  Some addict who had obviously seen the empty house and had taken up residency to eat cheap bologna sandwiches and drink beer, by the look of the garbage pile. It was just another dead end.

  Her disappointment transformed into the deeper emotion of renewed anguish. So where was the squatter now? Had he left or was he someplace in one of the other rooms? Possibly asleep or passed out?

  Knox pulled his gun as they left the living room and entered the kitchen. There were three doors, one that led outside to the backyard, one that apparently led to a pantry and one that went downstairs to the basement.

  She held her breath as Knox opened that door. The stairs yawned dark and silent before them. For several long minutes, they simply stood and listened to the silence.

  “Is anyone down there?” he finally called out.

  “Knox?” The little boy voice shouted out. “I’m down here, Knox.”

  “Cody!” she cried.

  “Mom?”

  She wanted to run down the stairs, but Knox held her back. “Cody, are you down there by yourself?” he asked.

  “There’s a dead man down here.” The words ended on a sob.

  She and Knox thundered down the stairs and he clicked on his flashlight. In the beam of light, she saw her son’s beautiful face for the first time in almost four days.

  She cried out his name and almost stumbled over a man’s body prone on the floor as she rushed to Cody. When she reached him, she gathered him into her arms as they cried together.

  The two small windows in the basement exploded inward as Brett and Dalton came in, their flashlights helping to illuminate the basement.

  “It’s okay,” she said tearfully. “It’s okay, Cody, we’re here,” she said as she kissed his forehead, his cheeks and his eyes. She would have liked to kiss each of his fingers and each of his toes as she had when he’d been a little baby.

  Safe. Her little boy was safe and in her a
rms and her heart could scarcely hold the fullness of gratitude and love. She’d been so afraid she’d never hold him again.

  “I knew you’d find me,” he said. “I knew it.” His tears came faster when Knox joined them, embracing both of them with his big, strong arms. For just that moment they were a family, and love for Knox joined her intense love for Cody.

  She was vaguely aware of Dalton leaning down to place his fingers on the man’s neck beneath the ski mask he wore. “Whoever he is, he’s dead,” he said as he straightened. “I’ll give Sheriff Jeffries a call.”

  After that, everything blurred together. She was horrified to see the metal ring around Cody’s ankle and grateful when Knox found the key to unlock it in the dead man’s pocket.

  As they waited for the sheriff to arrive, she sat on the cot and held Cody tightly against her side as he told them about the man jumping out from behind a tree and drugging him.

  He told them about the darkness and the bologna sandwiches and about the murder of the man on the floor. “He was down here to give me a sandwich and somebody else came down the stairs behind him. That person was dressed all in black and had a ski mask on, too. Then the person stabbed the man in the back.”

  Cody pressed his face into her side and she bit back more tears. She couldn’t begin to understand what had happened there; all she knew was she had her son back and she could finally draw a full breath again.

  * * *

  Knox had never been so happy to see anyone in his life as he was to see Cody. He wanted to sit on the cot with him and Allison, but he also wanted to know exactly what had happened here. There was a dead, masked man on the floor and a murderer on the loose. What in the hell?

  More than anything, now that he knew Cody was safe, he wanted to rip the mask off the body and find out his identity, but he knew he needed to wait for the sheriff. The last thing he wanted to do was screw up any evidence that might give him a better understanding of what had happened.