by Barb Han
“Thank you, Riggs.” That was all she said. All she needed to say. She meant those words and he seemed to know it.
“I’ve said it before, but I couldn’t be sorrier for not being there for you, Cheyenne.” This time, she didn’t try to stop him. Saying the words out loud probably helped him in some way.
He pulled into the lot of his brother’s office where a dozen or so vehicles were parked. He found a spot and started to exit when she reached over to him, placing her hand on his forearm.
“I know you are, Riggs.” She knew he would never make the same mistake if given the chance, which was the kicker. The dark cloud over her head wasn’t going anywhere and there was no way she could try to have another child. “We’d both do things a lot different if we could go back.”
He nodded.
“But we can’t.” Those words hurt more than she wanted to admit. She picked up her handbag and held it against her chest, securing Ozzy.
Riggs exited the truck and came around to her side as she climbed down. He held onto her arm to steady her before closing the door. For a minute, they stood there, staring into each other’s eyes. He searched her eyes as if to see if she was truly ready for whatever waited for both of them inside.
She did the same, nodding when she found what she was looking for—confirmation.
After a deep breath, she hooked her free arm around Riggs’s and headed into the building.
The lobby had a desk on the left, where she knew Gert Francis, Colton’s secretary, sat, and a long counter on the right. There were glass doors that required a special ID badge for entry. Once behind those doors, they were in a building shaped like a U. Colton’s office was to the right and down the hall. The route to the interview room was behind another locked door to their left, as best as Cheyenne remembered. She’d been here once before with Riggs.
Gert rounded her desk to greet them. She was in her late sixties and had been described as lively by Riggs and the others. She definitely had a twinkle to her brown eyes and a grandmotherly smile that could be disarming. Behind her back, folks had nicknamed her Oprah for her ability to get people to spill their secrets, like the popular TV host Oprah Winfrey.
After a round of hugs, Gert led Cheyenne and Riggs through the locked doors and down the hallway to the witness room, which was roughly the size of a walk-in closet.
The lights were dim and there was a small speaker with a box and a button. She presumed the button was used to communicate orders to the people inside the interview room, which was on the other side of the two-way mirror.
“I’ll let your brother know you’re here,” Gert said with a wink before ducking out of the room.
“Why are we here?” Cheyenne asked quietly. All she saw was a young girl, who barely looked old enough to be in puberty, sitting opposite Colton. She recognized Garrett standing next to her, but not the woman on the other side of the girl.
“Missy?” Riggs asked under his breath. “What’s she doing here?”
“Isn’t that the girl from the alpaca farm?” Cheyenne tried to piece together why she and Riggs needed to be present at what looked like the questioning of the young lady. The girl sat there, twisting her hands together. She looked to Garrett and then to the woman.
“Yes. Garrett and Brianna are foster parents to Missy. She’d been locked up and made to go without food for the slightest infractions,” he said. Those words nearly gutted Cheyenne. Her hands fisted at the thought of anyone abusing this timid child.
“How old is she?” she asked.
“Sixteen,” he said.
Sixteen? Cheyenne could scarcely believe the number was true. Her stomach twisted in a knot as she thought about the cruelty of some people.
“Rest assured the people who held her captive will live out what’s left of their very long lives in jail, where they belong. Justice will be served.” Riggs’s reassurance didn’t stop her heart from hurting for this kid. “A private search is being conducted to find her parents.”
“She was kidnapped?” she asked.
“Seems so. Several children have already been reunited with their families from that farm,” he said.
“Didn’t you say that your father was investigating a kidnapping ring when he was murdered?” The connection started to sink in. Colton would never have called them there if the news coming out of Missy’s mouth didn’t apply to both of them. He hadn’t asked for Riggs to come alone. He’d asked for her, too.
And that must mean he’d found out something about their baby.
Chapter Fourteen
Gert knocked on the door of the adjacent room before poking her head in. She nodded and Colton immediately turned to glance at the window before turning back to Missy.
“Can you repeat what you told me over the phone?” Colton asked. His body language indicated he was calm and relaxed.
“Yes.” Missy’s voice shook. She looked like she was suddenly back in grade school and had been called on to read when she wasn’t ready.
“Take your time,” Colton said in a tranquil voice Riggs rarely ever heard. His brother was a damn fine sheriff and had a pair of twin boys who lit up any room with their smiles. He was also a solid investigator whom Riggs trusted with his life.
Missy looked down at her feet. She twisted her hands together a few times before taking in a breath. Brianna took one of the girl’s hands in hers and she exhaled like she was taking a breath for the first time. It was impossible not to feel sorry for the kid even though Riggs didn’t normally do pity. Most folks made their circumstances and needed to learn to live with the consequences. Kids were the exception. They didn’t have control over their lives, not until they were old enough to go off to college or work. Some ran away, which he didn’t condone but certainly understood in extreme cases. There’d been a few ranch hands over the years who said they were of age but clearly weren’t.
This kid looked like she had a heart of gold and that frustrated him even more. No child deserved to be abused or taken advantage of. White-hot anger roared through him, so he decided to force his thoughts in a different direction. When it came to families, this kid had just hit the jackpot. Garrett and Brianna were devoted to her. She was receiving counseling. She had a good home now and would be getting plenty of food and nurturing. Brianna was going to make an amazing mother someday, just like Cheyenne would have.
Might still get the chance to, a voice in the back of his mind pointed out. All hope was not lost when it came to their daughter.
“There was a newborn who came through the farm about a week ago,” she admitted, turning her face toward the floor again like she’d done something wrong. Kids had a habit of blaming themselves for everything that happened, he’d noticed. Thinking back, he’d probably done the same. His brothers, too. Like they might have done something differently and their sister would come back to them.
It was a strange thought to have and yet he knew how common it was. The truth didn’t have nearly enough influence when it came to kids and their emotions. After experiencing his own loss, he also realized how strong his parents were. His mother had been a rock over the years despite never giving up on Caroline coming home one day. Did that keep his mother going? Would Riggs fall into the same thinking if his daughter proved to be alive? Or would despair dig a hole too deep to crawl out of?
Pain. He hated it.
Both he and Cheyenne sat up a little straighter at the news.
“She wasn’t more than a week old at the time,” Missy continued with Brianna’s encouragement.
“Can you describe her?” Colton asked.
“She was tiny, like usual. This little girl didn’t cry. They said she was born early, and we needed to take special care of her.” She squirmed in her seat.
“How premature did they say she was?” Colton’s voice was a study in calm whereas Riggs’s pulse was climbing.
“
A few weeks. Maybe four,” she said. “They don’t really tell us very much. I listened behind the door to find out any information I could to help the baby.”
“That was very brave of you to do. You could have gotten into a lot of trouble,” Colton pointed out.
The compliment rolled off her as though she didn’t think she deserved any praise. It broke Riggs’s heart a little bit more to imagine her situation and what she’d endured.
“It was the only way to be sure I could keep the baby alive. I mean,” she glanced up at Brianna and then Garrett, like she was looking for permission to continue. She started working the hem of her shirt in between her fingers of her free hand. “They didn’t care. Not really. They called them ‘goods’ and talked about ‘transactions.’ They didn’t look at them...us...as real people with families.”
Missy stopped talking and stared at the wall. Her gaze became unfocused, like she’d gone inside an invisible shell where she was lost. Riggs’s hands fisted at his sides. He flexed and released his fingers a couple of times to work out some of the tension.
Cheyenne must’ve picked up on his mood because she reached for his hand and slipped hers inside. He clasped his fingers around hers, needing the connection more than he cared to admit to her or anyone else.
How ironic would it be if the investigation into Caroline’s kidnapping led him straight to the place his daughter had been taken? He thought back to Ms. Hubert’s death a couple of months ago and how that opened the door, just a crack, for investigators to use. Ms. Hubert was the local who was murdered in her front yard. The investigation into her death prompted questions about Caroline’s kidnapping.
Had his father been right all along? The investigator Garrett had hired to look into his sister’s disappearance had tracked down a connection to the alpaca farm. Now, three decades after Caroline’s abduction, could the same farm be in business? The short answer was yes. It might not have been an alpaca farm all these years, but Riggs would put money on someone making certain that the farm was transferred to a person or couple in on the scheme.
He didn’t want to think about how frustrating it must be for law enforcement to know this operation had been running thirty-plus years at a minimum.
More hope his daughter was out there somewhere both safe and alive took seed. Cheyenne had been clear about her position. She couldn’t afford hope. Riggs understood that on some level. But he’d watched from the sideline with his family’s ordeal and had realized hope was all they had to go on for most of it. Life also had to go on, he realized. He had even more respect for his parents after realizing how damn hard that must’ve been.
But then what were the options?
Fold up the tent and stop living? His mother had soon found out she was pregnant with Cash. She was far too strong a person to let her child suffer. No, his mother was the type to pluck up the courage to keep moving. When he really thought about it, Cheyenne would have done the same. She wouldn’t have stayed stuck and miserable. It was a knife stab that she’d intended to go on without him...
A thought struck. He’d been protecting his pride by not sharing his feelings with her earlier. He’d tried to convince himself that he was doing it for her benefit. Was that true?
Hard questions deserved real answers.
“When was the last time you saw the little girl?” Colton asked.
Missy shook her head. “She was in and out. I overheard them say she got a high price because she came from a good family. They said something about good breeding and revenge...”
The young woman stopped and took in a breath. A pin drop could be heard for how quiet both rooms became.
“They said she wouldn’t be missed because the parents got married to save face anyway.” Missy dropped her face into her hands, breaking the connection she had with Brianna.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Missy,” Colton soothed.
The young girl’s shoulders shook, and she refused to look up.
Brianna wrapped an arm around the young girl’s shoulder before locking gazes with Colton.
“She’s done for now. Okay?” Brianna’s expression could best be described as tense and tortured. On the one hand, she wouldn’t want to let Riggs and Cheyenne down. On the other, she had taken on the responsibility for the young girl who was anguished by what she’d been through. Asking her to talk about anything connected to her past must be a trigger.
“It’s okay,” Missy said with a little more umph than he’d heard from her so far. She straightened her back and took in another breath. “I can’t let them win.”
Those words sent a fireball raging through Riggs’s veins. He tightened his grip on Cheyenne’s hand, realizing for the first time that she was trying to be his support. Guilt slammed into him for not telling her what was on his mind earlier. He made a promise to himself to do better if given another opportunity.
Would there be a next time?
* * *
THE LINK WITH Riggs was one of the only things keeping Cheyenne calm as she listened to the account from the young girl. Sixteen wasn’t so young, and yet it was difficult to believe the girl sitting at the table in the next room was a teenager, let alone a sophomore in high school. She barely looked old enough to babysit and yet it was clear she’d been forced to care for newborns. Had the young girl held Cheyenne and Riggs’s baby?
More of those dangerous seeds of hope blossomed inside her chest. Could her child...their baby...be alive? Deep in her bones, she believed the answer to be yes. Now her attention turned to finding her daughter.
“I heard them talk a lot about someone named Miss H,” Missy continued. “This new baby was supposed to be revenge.”
“After my dad’s diagnosis, he reopened the investigation,” Riggs said quietly. “I think he wanted to give my mom peace of mind before he died. At that point, he had time left.”
Cheyenne squeezed Riggs’s fingers before nodding.
“Miss H might refer to Ms. Hubert. She was part of the kidnapping ring linked to Caroline’s disappearance,” Riggs said. He issued a sharp sigh. “Looks like this crime has come full circle.”
“Someone took our child to get back at your father?” Cheyenne couldn’t hide the disbelief in her voice.
“It’s possible.” He turned to her and locked gazes. “I’m so sorry you got caught in the middle of all this.”
Before she could answer, Colton asked, “To your knowledge, is the baby still alive?”
“I’m not sure,” Missy admitted. “She was when I last saw her.”
“Do you know what happened to her?” Colton continued.
“She was most likely sent to her new home. Austin, I think. But I’m not sure. They didn’t all make it to their homes. One...” Missy started crying. “We lost one and I never found out who it was before the raid.”
Cheyenne’s pulse was through the roof. Her heart pounded the inside of her rib cage as disbelief tried to take hold. She shoved it aside for Ally, for the baby, and for Riggs. She needed to keep a clear head. She’d been blaming herself all this time for what had happened. Hearing the shame and guilt in Riggs’s voice just now made her second-guess being so hard on herself.
One of the kidnapped children didn’t make it. Her heart literally cracked in half at the thought. Didn’t mean it was hers and didn’t have to be for her to be broken about the loss of life or the fact someone’s child had died.
“Do you know what happened to the baby who lost its life?” Colton was calmer than Cheyenne could be. As it was, her hands trembled.
“They always took them away separately. Bert and Ernie came to get them.” She looked at Brianna and then Garrett. “Those weren’t their real names. They liked to talk in code and said never to reveal the truth.”
“Did you ever see Bert or Ernie?” Colton continued.
“Yes.” Her body shivered at the admission.
“Can you give a physical description of them?” Colton asked.
Missy nodded. She went on to describe a pair of men who were similar height and weight. One had brown hair and the other golden brown. The two looked like they could be brothers with their sharp noses and beady brown eyes.
Colton scribbled notes feverishly. “Did someone different drop off the babies?”
“Most of the time, they came in at night when I was asleep. I’d be told to get up and then I’d be handed a child to care for,” she revealed. “There was one guy, though. He came a few times but his visits were always spaced out. I was sure he brought babies but I never saw him carry one inside the building.”
“I’d like to bring in a sketch artist,” he said to Missy when she was done. He glanced at Garrett before turning his head toward Brianna. “Would that be okay with the two of you?”
Brianna seemed to be thinking seriously. Cheyenne understood the need to protect someone so young, who clearly had been traumatized. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t want to push for more information. But her child’s life might be hanging in the balance. “Okay.”
“I know she cried,” she said quietly. The echo of her baby’s cry rang in her ears.
“You were right all along. Not that I doubted you.” Riggs’s words offered more comfort. She wasn’t ready to cool down just yet, because a fire raged inside her. She was angry at the lies from the nurses and hospital staff. And she was exhausted. Her emotions were wrung out. Bed sounded amazing even though she doubted she could get a wink of sleep.
At this point, her body ached. This was the most physical exertion she’d had since delivering her daughter. Alive, a little voice in the back of her head stated loud and clear.
“Are you finished with questioning for now, Colton?” Brianna asked, a torn look on her face.
“Yes, I am.” He turned to Missy. “The information you’ve given me here right now is very important. You’ve made a big difference in my investigation and I know none of this is easy for you. Thank you for coming down here in person to talk to me.”