Stockyard Snatching

by Barb Han

  “I have a new theory,” Dallas said, stopping his friend at the door. “What if Seaver is the kidnapper? He was a little too quick to pass the blame and give names. And he sure as hell seemed nervous to me.”

  Tommy leaned against the jamb, folding his arms. “I noticed that, as well.”

  “Has he been to the soup kitchen?” Dallas asked Kate.

  “Yes. That’s where we met right after the adoption,” she said, still stunned at the thought.

  “Was Allen around?” Dallas asked and she immediately knew what he was thinking. Seaver might’ve set up Allen as cover. But why would the lawyer try to take Jackson?

  “As a matter of fact, yes,” she responded. “But how would he know about Allen’s feelings for me?”

  “It’s obvious to everyone,” Dallas said quickly, and there was a hint of something in his voice. Jealousy? “Seaver knew you and could have easily arranged to set up Allen with the pictures,” he added.

  “I’m still missing motive,” Tommy said.

  “He might not be the one pulling the strings,” Dallas said.

  Tommy was already rocking his head. “If whoever was behind the kidnappings thinks Seaver arranged an adoption they didn’t want to happen, then they could be pressuring him to find the infant.”

  “Exactly what I was thinking,” Dallas said.

  “Which would confirm our earlier thoughts that someone wants their son back and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to find him,” Kate said. An icy chill ran up her arms.

  Deputy Lopez’s voice boomed from the hallway.

  Tommy ushered him inside his office.

  “Three more of the adoptions shared the same lawyer,” Lopez said.

  “Let me guess… Seaver?” the sheriff asked.

  Lopez nodded. “But here’s something you don’t know. Two of the babies were found today…”

  Kate cringed, waiting to hear the next part as she prayed for good news.

  “Both alive,” Lopez said.

  “Where?” Tommy demanded, before anyone else could.

  “One was left at a baby furniture store two towns over, in one of the cribs for sale. An employee discovered the sleeping infant an hour after she opened, and called local police, who were able to make the match,” the deputy stated.

  “And what about the other one?” Tommy asked.

  “He was left at a church, discovered before service began. Pastor said he’d been in the chapel half an hour before and there was no baby.”

  “Neither boy was hurt?” Tommy asked, with what could only be described as a relieved sigh.

  “Not a hair on their bald heads,” Lopez quipped with a smile.

  “How long were they missing?” Tommy asked.

  “A few days.”

  “Enough time for a proper DNA test,” he mused.

  This was good news for everyone except Kate. Some kidnapper was trying to find his own son and checking DNA of all the possibilities before giving them back. And that was fantastic for all the mothers of those babies, because it meant they were in the clear. Jackson, however, was still in question. There was a scrap of hope to hold on to, since the babies were being found alive. Extreme care was being taken to ensure that the infant boys were being located quickly.

  Except what if Jackson was the one they were searching for…?

  Kate closed her eyes, refusing to accept the possibility.

  Tommy excused himself and the deputy followed.

  “Seaver lied about not knowing the other family whose baby was abducted,” Kate said.

  Dallas nodded. “I picked up on that, too.”

  “What do we do now?” she asked. Dallas hadn’t told his friend about the keys from Stacy and Kate hadn’t expected him to, given that they’d received them in confidence.

  “We have to wait for dark for our next move,” he stated, with a look that said he knew exactly what she was asking.

  Which meant they’d spend at least another whole day together.

  “It’s only a few weeks until Halloween. You have a party to help plan. I don’t want to get in the way of your family,” she said. All she had in the house was a three-foot fake ghost that said “Happy Halloween” and then giggled every time it detected movement. She’d nicknamed him Ghost Buddy and he was all she’d had time to put out. Even though she knew Jackson wouldn’t remember his first Halloween, she wanted to find a way to make it special. Ghost Buddy was her first real decoration and she figured that she could build her collection from there.

  The thought of going home scared her because the more they dug into this case, the less she liked what they found and the more afraid she felt.

  The only bright spot was that a couple more of the babies had turned up and they were fine.

  Tommy returned a moment later. “I agree with you, by the way. I think Seaver’s lying.”

  “Which means he’s either involved or covering for someone who is,” Dallas said.

  “He gave us a name,” Kate offered.

  “That might have been meant to throw us off the real trail, buy some time or take himself off the suspect list,” the sheriff said.

  “Or dodge suspicion,” Dallas added. “He seemed awfully uncomfortable.”

  “I noticed. I wanted to keep him here but he knew better than anyone that I had nothing to hold him on.” Tommy nodded. “At least we have a few leads to chase down now. In the meantime, I think it’s safer for the two of you on the ranch.”

  “You have my word that we won’t leave unless we have to,” Dallas said. “What did you learn when you interviewed Stacy last night?”

  “Not much,” Tommy said with a sigh. “She didn’t recognize the guys and couldn’t give much of a description other than what the gun looked like.”

  “Sorry that we couldn’t help with that, either,” Dallas said. “Unfortunately, my back was turned for the few seconds we were in the room, and Stacy blocked my only view of their faces, brief as it was.”

  “She’s going to be okay,” Kate interjected. “She’s strong.”

  “I sent over security,” Dallas said. “Wasn’t sure if the guys would come back and I didn’t want to take any chances, just in case someone got worried she could testify against them.”

  Tommy thanked him. “I’ll let you know if we get the subpoena or any hits on linked cases,” he added.

  “What can you tell me about the murder scene yesterday?” Dallas asked.

  “Nothing stood out. It will take time to process the site, but it looks like a standard forced-off-the-road-and-then-shot scenario.”

  Kate winced. How could any of that be run-of-the-mill?

  And then it dawned on her why the voice at Stacy’s office sounded familiar. “It was him. The other day at Morton’s office. The guy who tried to take Jackson.”

  Dallas’s head was rocking. “I couldn’t put my finger on what was bugging me before. That’s it.”

  Tommy added the notation to the file.

  Dallas’s phone vibrated. He checked the screen and the brief flicker of panic on his face sent her pulse racing.

  He muttered a few “uh-huh”s before saying they were on their way and clicking off.

  She was already to her feet before he could make a move. “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “There was a disturbance on the east side of the property. A motorcycle tried to run through the gate,” he said, quickly reassuring her that no one got through and everyone was just fine.

  She wished that reassurance calmed her fast-beating heart. It didn’t.

  “You want me to send a deputy?” Tommy called, as they broke into a run.

  “I could use an escort,” Dallas shouted back.

  Kate’s chest squeezed and she couldn’t breathe.

  No way could she allow those men to get near her son.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Dallas raced through the city with a law-enforcement escort clearing the path. He’d enter the property on the west side near his place, because th
ere was more security at that checkpoint. The earlier ruckus had been on the opposite side, miles away, and if he was lucky, he and Kate would be able to slip in from the west before anyone else could realize what he’d done.

  Things were escalating and the kidnappers seemed to be zeroing in.

  The thought did occur to Dallas that the attempted breach could be a distraction meant to get him and Kate out in the open. Or someone inside, if he took another vantage point. The latter wouldn’t succeed, because there was plenty of security at all the weak spots on the ranch. If the former was the case, then it was working, and he had to consider the possibility that he was playing right into their opponents’ hands.

  Still, he had to take the chance. One look at Kate and he knew she needed to hold her baby in her arms after the disturbing news about Seaver.

  He had her pull out his cell and call his head of security. “Put the call on speaker,” he instructed.

  She did and he could hear the line ringing almost immediately.

  “We’re close, about five minutes out,” Dallas said to Gideon Fisher, his security chief, when he answered.

  “I’ll be at the gate and ready, sir,” Fisher responded. “Ryder and Austin are here, with a team of my men.”

  “Excellent.” Dallas knew all the extra security at the gate would alert anyone watching to the possibility they’d be coming in that way, but his brothers knew how to handle a rifle and Dallas wanted the extra firepower in case anything went down. “Where’s everyone else?”

  “Tyler’s up front. Colin’s roaming.”

  It sounded like his brothers were ready to go, in addition to the staff of eight…well, seven, since Reece stood vigil in Stacy’s hospital room.

  A sport-utility vehicle with blacked-out windows roared up from behind.

  Dallas’s truck was sandwiched between the deputy in front and the SUV barreling toward their bumper.

  “Hold on,” Dallas told Kate, just as the SUV rammed into them, causing their heads to jolt forward.

  “Sir?” Gideon said.

  “We have company and we just took a hit,” Dallas replied.

  “Roger that, sir.”

  Dallas could see the entrance to the ranch in the distance. Once inside, they’d be safe, but it was dicey whether or not they could get there.

  He flashed the high beams to alert their escort to the trouble brewing behind him. The deputy must’ve noticed because he turned on his flashing lights. “Black SUV, stop your vehicle,” the officer called out over his loudspeaker.

  The SUV rammed them once more, again throwing their heads forward.

  “Change of plans.” Dallas gunned the engine and popped over into the other lane of the narrow country road. He was lucky that there was so little traffic in the area and this stretch of road was straight and flat, so there’d be no surprises.

  The deputy slowed to allow Dallas safe passage, but the SUV whipped into the left lane, as well, maintaining close proximity to Dallas’s bumper.

  Even repeating the message over the bullhorn didn’t work. The other driver persisted.

  Dallas got a good look at him in the rearview and he wore similar clothes to the kidnapper at the soup kitchen. He’d bet money it was the same person.

  Worse yet, when Dallas moved into the right lane again the SUV pulled up beside him, blocking his turn.

  Austin stepped onto the road and aimed his rifle directly at the oncoming vehicle. Dallas pointed and the driver must’ve noticed, because he hit the brakes. Before the deputy could respond, the SUV had made a U-turn and was speeding off in the opposite direction.

  The deputy followed in pursuit, lights flashing.

  Dallas turned onto his property, and that was when he finally glanced at Kate, whose face had gone bleached-sheet white.

  She didn’t speak and he didn’t force the issue.

  As soon as he parked in front of his house, she practically flew out of the truck. “Is Jackson in there?”

  “Yes.” Dallas followed her inside as she ran to her infant son.

  Janis met her in the living room, a sleeping Jackson in her arms, and immediately handed him over. She seemed to know that Kate wouldn’t care if the baby woke. She had to hold him.

  The look on Kate’s face, the same damn expression from yesterday morning, cut a hole in Dallas’s heart.

  Jackson wound up to cry, then belted out a good one. The boy had strong lungs.

  Kate cradled her son while Janis excused herself.

  The crying abated a few minutes later as Kate soothed her baby, and the sight of the two of them together like that stirred something in Dallas’s heart.

  He didn’t want to have feelings for anyone right now.

  The timing was completely off, now that he was chasing down what had happened to Susan. Besides, he was busier than ever, between the ranch and the business. He was helping Kate and didn’t need to confuse his feelings for more than that.

  Dallas excused himself to work in his home office.

  He hadn’t turned on his computer in a few days and that would mean an out-of-control inbox. He’d seen the emails rolling in on his smartphone, but he’d been too busy to give them much thought.

  Then there was the ranch to run, and Halloween Bash just around the corner.

  After answering emails until his eyes blurred, he stretched out his sore limbs while seated in his office chair.

  The stress of the past few days was catching up with him and at some point he’d need to sleep. There wasn’t much chance of that as long as Kate was in the house. His mind kept wandering to her silky body curled up on the bed in the guest room, her soft skin…

  Just thinking about it started stirring places that didn’t need to be riled up. Especially since there was no chance for release.

  So he focused on his inbox again, wishing he’d receive an email or text from Tommy stating that they got the guys in the SUV.

  The next time he glanced at the clock, it was three o’clock in the afternoon. The house was quiet. He’d worked through lunch, which wasn’t unusual for him. His stomach decided it was time to eat.

  Work might have distracted him for a little while, but more and more he wondered what had happened to Susan. Given Morton’s death and both their associations with Safe Haven, Dallas feared the worst.

  There were 437 messages in his spam folder and he checked each one to see if Susan had tried to contact him but her note had gotten hung up in his filter.

  Nothing.

  He pulled the set of keys Stacy had given him from his pocket, set them on his desk and lazily ran his fingers along them.

  Granted, he and Susan had no business being a couple, but he still felt angry at the possibility of something bad happening to her.

  Was she in trouble when she’d called him and told him about the baby? Had she been hoping for his protection? He’d assumed all along that she was trying to trap him into marriage, and she had been, but now that he’d seen the look on Kate’s face when it came to a threat to her son, another reality set in. Susan might have been desperate and looking for protection. Marriage to Dallas might’ve been a way for her to secure her son’s future.

  She had to know that Dallas would’ve figured out the truth at some point if the child hadn’t been his. Then again, if her life had been in danger, she might have figured she’d tell him after the deal was sealed.

  Saying he was the father could’ve been the equivalent of a Hail Mary pass in football, a last-ditch effort to save the game.

  Frustration nipped at his heels like a determined predator. Dallas searched his memory for anything he could remember about the last conversation they’d had before she’d gone missing, and he came up empty.

  His cell phone buzzed. The call was from Tommy, so Dallas immediately answered.

  “I have news,” his friend said.

  “What did you learn?”

  “We got a few hits today. Of the six abductions that we know about so far, four of them used Seaver,” Tom
my related.

  “So most likely he was involved in the others,” Dallas reasoned.

  “True. And there’s something else.”

  “Okay,” Dallas said.

  “Don Radcliffe was found dead in his apartment in Houston.”

  “Isn’t that who Seaver worked with at Safe Haven?” Dallas asked.

  “It was.”

  “Any word on Harold Matthews?”

  “We can’t locate him. But he’s roughly the size and shape of the man you described as the kidnapper from yesterday morning,” Tommy replied, then paused for a beat. “Are you alone?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “I have personal news.” The ominous tone in his friend’s voice sat heavy in Dallas’s thoughts.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “At first I thought I should wait until all this is over, but I figured you’d want to know the minute I found out. It’s about your parents. I got a report from the coroner a couple of days ago that indicated your mother had a heart attack,” Tommy said quietly.

  “What are the chances of both my parents having a heart attack on the same day?” Dallas asked.

  “It made me suspicious, too, so I requested a lab workup. The toxicology report came back showing cyanide in both of their systems. Enough to cause heart attacks,” Tommy said.

  “What does that mean, exactly?” Dallas was too stunned to form a coherent thought beyond that question.

  “I’m opening a formal investigation into their deaths and I wanted you to be the first to know.”

  Those words were like a punch to Dallas’s gut.

  “I know it’s a lot to process right now, and I may not find anything, because ingestion could’ve been accidental,” Tommy added. “But I’m not leaving any stone unturned when it comes to your parents.”

  Dallas sat there. He couldn’t even begin to digest the thought that anyone could’ve harmed his parents.

  “Dallas, are you still with me?” his friend asked.

  He grunted an affirmation, then drew a deep, rasping breath. “Is it possible that their accident might have been staged?”