Espinoza nodded to Nash as he lifted the laptop to the counter. “Agent Dillon, we have something to show you.”
“I figured you might. You’re all acting weird.”
As Emily started forward, Alice put her hand on her arm. “May I hold Wyatt?”
“Of course.” Emily did the handoff and Wyatt seemed happy with the smiling woman.
Emily slipped a finger through Nash’s belt loop and they bellied up to the counter together.
Nash rapped his knuckles on the wood surface. “What is going on? What’s on that computer?”
Espinoza spun the laptop around to face Nash and Emily, where a still from a video featuring Jaycee filled the screen. “When we found Jaycee’s body, she had a phone on her.”
Nash got an adrenaline surge. “Did she capture her killer?”
“No such luck, but Jaycee knew she was in trouble for sure and took some precautions.” Espinoza’s hand hovered over the mouse. “Are you ready?”
Nash licked his lips. “Yeah, go.”
Espinoza clicked the play button, and Jaycee started talking in a video she’d taken of herself.
Her breathy voice with the slight Southern accent she’d picked up somewhere came across the computer speakers.
“So, I know I messed up...big-time, but I love my little Wy more than anything, and I want to make sure he’s safe in case something happens to me. This is my last will and testament, and I’m hoping it holds up in a court of law even if I didn’t write anything down or get it notarized, ’cause I don’t want my mom to get Wyatt.” Jaycee pushed her blond hair from her face. “She didn’t do such a great job with me. Sorry, Mom, but you didn’t. So, I, Jaycee Lemoin, being of sound mind and body do hereby...”
She stopped and giggled, and Nash’s heart flipped over.
“Anyway, almost sound mind and body—and that’s a joke. What I’m trying to say here is, I want to pick a guardian for my son, Wyatt Lemoin, and I want that guardian to be Nash Dillon.”
Chapter Twelve
Nash’s mouth dropped open, and he couldn’t hear the rest of Jaycee’s verbal will over the roaring in his ears. What just happened? Did Jaycee just appoint him, a single man, a carefree bachelor, as guardian for her son?
Emily touched his shoulder. “Are you all right?”
“All right?” He twisted his head to the side and met her gaze. “I’m in shock. I can’t... I’m not...”
“You’re not locked in or anything, Agent Dillon.” Alice the caseworker appeared in his peripheral vision, bouncing a gurgling Wyatt in her arms. “I’m not an attorney, but I’ve seen a few situations like this. Nobody can force you to take a child, and it’s not that easy for one parent to cut out another. If Wyatt’s father steps forward, he can fight for custody and a judge will usually go with blood over friendship. Unless...”
Nash snapped his head around. “I’m not Wyatt’s father.”
Alice asked, “Do you know who is?”
At Alice’s question, Emily pinched his side. She didn’t have to worry. He didn’t plan on getting into the whole sorry mess right now.
“I don’t know—for sure.” He waved a hand at the laptop, where Jaycee’s frozen image beseeched him. “Didn’t Jaycee mention the father? Did she give any hints about who was after her or why she was in danger?”
Espinoza shook his head. “Unfortunately, she didn’t get into any of that. When I saw that she’d created a video two days ago, I had my hopes up, but all her thoughts were with her son.”
Nash braced his hands on the counter, on either side of the laptop, almost nose-to-nose with Jaycee on the monitor. “What happens now?”
“We’ll take care of Wyatt.” Alice touched her finger to the baby’s nose. “Detective Espinoza has already contacted Jaycee’s next of kin, and we’ll do some research into Wyatt’s father. This is all going to have to wend its way through the courts.”
“Wend?” Emily stroked Wyatt’s leg. “That makes it sound like a long and tortuous process. Wyatt needs his forever home as soon as possible.”
“There is a procedure that has to be followed, but we always have the child’s best interests at heart. We have many foster families who would take excellent care of Wyatt and treat him as their own.”
Emily ducked and picked up Wyatt’s diaper bag and kicked her own large duffel on the floor. “These are his things, and we have a car seat in the truck. When are you taking him?”
“Not for a little while yet. I have paperwork to fill out with Detective Espinoza and a few phone calls to make.” Alice took the diaper bag from Emily. “He’ll be fine here. Agent Dillon, you can decide whether or not you want to take on this responsibility, and then file a petition when we bring Wyatt’s case to family court. The mother’s wishes on that video and the fact that she left Wyatt with you when she went on the run will both bear strong witness to your claim.”
A father? Hell, he never even kept food in the house for himself. Jaycee had dropped off Wyatt with him because she wanted her son protected, not nurtured. Had she believed Wyatt would be in danger even after she died? From whom? What did these people want with a little baby?
Wyatt squirmed in Alice’s arms and reached out for Emily.
Emily dropped her head, allowing her hair to create a rosy veil around her face, but Nash spied a teardrop quivering on the end of her chin.
There was no way they could stay here waiting for Alice to take Wyatt away. They might not see him for months. Nash clamped a hand over his mouth. Who was he kidding? Emily would probably never see Wyatt again.
He put an arm around her hunched shoulders. “Maybe we should get some lunch and leave Wyatt with Alice. He’ll be fine.”
Emily’s head shot up and she dashed the back of her hand across her cheek. “A man who claimed to be Wyatt’s father tried to kidnap him last night.”
Detective Espinoza crossed his arms, resting them on his paunch. “Brett Fillmore?”
“Yeah, has he been around here?” Nash squeezed Emily’s shoulder.
“No, but his fingerprints are in Jaycee’s car, and we know that because he’s in the system. She also has pictures of him on her phone. Let’s just say Mr. Fillmore is a person of interest right now. Did he happen to say where he was going after you foiled his kidnapping attempt?”
“No.” Nash rubbed his knuckles against his stubble. “He told us he and Jaycee were supposed to meet in Mexico and she never showed. She’d put a GPS tracker on Wyatt’s car seat, and Brett followed us to Tombstone.”
Espinoza’s eyebrows bunched over his nose. “Did he know Jaycee was dead?”
“Said he didn’t.” Nash shrugged. “I’m not sure why he’d want to kill her, though. Those two were involved in some scams together. We also need to talk about someone else who may be involved in all this. Let me know when you want to interview me.”
“Looks like one of those scams got her killed.” Espinoza smacked his hand on the counter. “We’ll get to the bottom of this, and that little boy will have a good, safe home, whether it’s with you, Dillon, or someone else. I’ll be in touch. We’re still processing items from the crime scene.”
Wyatt started to whimper, and Emily cupped his foot with her hand. “It’s okay, big guy. Can I hold him for a minute to say goodbye?”
“Of course.” Alice handed Wyatt off to Emily, and she held him close, resting her head against his. “It looks like you two took good care of Wyatt. It’s no wonder why Jaycee left him in your care, Agent Dillon.”
Emily whispered to Wyatt as she cuddled him, and Nash blinked his eyes.
Emily gave the baby a final kiss on the head and held him out to Alice. “Do you need that car seat?”
“No, I have one in my car.” As Alice turned to take Wyatt to the back of the station, Nash skimmed his hand across Wyatt’s back.
“Bye, buddy—for now.”<
br />
Then he grabbed Emily’s wrist. “Let’s get lunch. Espinoza, call me when you’re ready. I have a confusing tale to tell you.”
“It’ll be sooner rather than later, but we’re putting out our feelers for Fillmore right now.”
Nash entwined his fingers with Emily’s and tugged her hand. “We still need to pick up your car by the border.”
Emily shuffled her feet beside him, and when they stepped outside into the dense heat, a sob broke from her throat.
He drew her into his arms and rested his chin on top of her head. “That was tough, huh?”
She wiped her nose. “I can’t believe how attached I got to that little boy in such a short time. And he was attached to me, too, wasn’t he? I didn’t imagine that, did I?”
“You were the highlight of his day.” Nash kissed the top of her head. “Do you feel like eating anything?”
“Not really, but I’m not ready to go back to your place without Wyatt. Does your friend still have Denali?”
“Don’t start worrying about Denali, too. The dog is fine.” He cupped her damp face with his hands, sweeping his thumbs across her tears. “Wyatt will be fine, too.”
“Then why am I so worried about him?” She grabbed his wrists. “It’s not just leaving him that broke my heart, but the feeling in the pit of my stomach that Wyatt will never be safe unless he’s with you. Jaycee felt that way, too.”
“Jaycee brought Wyatt to me because he needed a bodyguard, but a bodyguard does not a father make. She was being sentimental. If my sister, Eve, were here, Jaycee would’ve left Wyatt with her. Jaycee only ever felt safe in the confines of my family.”
“You don’t think he needs a bodyguard anymore?” Emily bit her bottom lip and hugged herself.
“He’ll be safe in the system. A judge is not going to hand over a baby to some junkie or a shady, money-laundering businessman.”
“That leaves you.” Emily grabbed the front of his shirt. “You have to take him if you can, Nash. I know it’s asking a lot of a bachelor, and one with a full-time career and rodeo fetish, but it has to be you.”
Nash raised one eyebrow. “Fetish?”
“You know what I mean.” She released his shirt and smoothed her hands over his chest. “Jaycee had her wits about her for once when she left Wyatt with you and named you his guardian.”
“It’s a big responsibility.” Nash wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with the heel of his hand. “I’d have to think long and hard about it. Now, let’s get to some AC and have some lunch or at least something cold to drink.”
He opened the truck door for her, averting his eyes from the car seat in the back. Could he be a father on his own? Emily’s presence in their lives had been the only reason the responsibility for Wyatt had seemed easy the past few days. Could he find another Emily?
Before he shut the door, he pinched a strand of honey-rose hair from Emily’s sticky cheek and tucked it behind her ear.
Another Emily? Never.
He drove a short distance to a small café, where he and Emily sat across from each other, both slumped in their seats. They’d ordered iced teas but waved off food for now. His hunger clawed at his stomach, but he didn’t want to eat while Emily was still in mourning for Wyatt.
As he stirred some sugar into his tea, he asked, “Nothing from Lanier yet?”
“I’d tell you if there were.” She spun her phone on the table. “I laid it all out for him in my last text. I told him Jaycee was murdered, DCS had Wyatt and I was officially off the case.”
“His silence is strange.”
“And I suppose you haven’t gotten any more proof that he is involved with Las Moscas.”
“I’d tell you if I had. I’m the only one with his file right now—me and Special Agent Webb.” He snatched a plastic menu propped up on the edge of the table. “You need to eat something. I know it’s hot out there, but try some soup at least.”
She plucked a menu from the stack and ran her finger down the selections. “Tomato bisque.”
“Good choice.” Nash raised his hand in the air to get the waitress’s attention.
When she came over with a refill for their tea, Emily ordered her soup and he asked for a club sandwich and homemade chips.
“Have you contacted your friend about my car and Denali?”
“We texted. He gave me directions to the car, and I’m going to pick up Denali when his girlfriend gets home from work.” He covered her hand with his. “Stop worrying about everything. Wyatt is safe and whichever one of those losers is his father, even if he wants Wyatt, isn’t going to look too impressive to the family court.”
She put her other hand on top of his, creating a stack as big as that club sandwich on the way. “Especially with someone like you in the picture, someone Wyatt’s mother named. That has to carry a lot of weight.”
Nash avoided the topic of his guardianship. “I’m going to have to tell my sister about Jaycee. Although they weren’t close in the end, I know Eve is going to be upset about the news.”
“It’s hard losing people in your life.” Emily gazed into the whirlpool she’d created by stirring the tea with her straw.
“What happened to your father?”
She released her straw and it continued to swirl in the glass. “He was chasing a murder suspect—the East Side Strangler. They’d gone to the guy’s apartment, and he slipped out the back. My father gave chase, and the man turned and shot him.”
“I’m sorry. Did the police catch the killer?”
“He died in another shoot-out—suicide by cop. That guy was not going in as a cop killer.” Anger flashed from her green eyes, replacing the sadness.
Progress.
“And you followed in your father’s footsteps.”
“For a while, as you discovered.” She pulled back from him as the waitress delivered their food.
As he sliced his sandwich in two and took a big bite, she kicked the toe of his shoe. “You’re starving. You didn’t have to hold off because of me. Did you think I’d tag you as insensitive if you ate after leaving Wyatt?”
“Exactly.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin and pinched a thick chip between his fingers and held it out to her. “Try one.”
As she crunched into the chip, he asked the million-dollar question. “What happened to your career as a cop? You got fired, didn’t you?”
“For going above and beyond.” She shrugged and plunged her spoon into the steaming soup.
“When a cop says he...or she is going above and beyond, that usually means trouble.” He pointed a salty finger at her. “Tell me, Officer Lang, what trouble did you cause?”
“The only trouble I caused was for the other suspect in my father’s murder who got off scot-free.”
“There was another suspect?” Nash pulled a piece of bacon from his sandwich and stuffed it in his mouth.
“He was the guy’s cousin. He warned him that my father and my father’s partner were coming. He gave the killer an opportunity to get the jump on my father, which in turn led to my father’s death.”
“He was never charged?”
“No.” Emily transferred her whirlpool activity from her tea to her soup, and red waves of bisque slid over the sides of the bowl. “And I was going to remedy that.”
“Oh, boy.” He put two fingers on her wrist. “Stop making a mess and eat your soup.”
She stopped stirring the soup and tapped her spoon on the edge of the bowl. “You see that? You’d make a great dad.”
He dug into his sandwich. Why was she pushing fatherhood on him? Did she figure she could visit him...and Wyatt? He wouldn’t mind that one bit, and Wyatt would be over the moon, but he couldn’t use a baby to get a woman. If he refused to take custody of Wyatt, which he could do, would Emily drift out of his life?
That poor kid had already be
en used as a pawn—including by his own mother if Brett were to be believed. He didn’t want to accept that Jaycee had planned to use Wyatt as a blackmail chip to get money out of Lanier, but as he’d told Emily, that would be a total Jaycee move.
Emily would have to want to see him for him, whether or not he had Wyatt—and his decision to care for Wyatt was too weighty to include an ulterior motive.
If he did take Wyatt, he’d need a nanny—a real one.
Emily waved her spoon in the air. “What are you thinking about?”
“Nannies.”
“That’s a good sign.” She dragged her napkin from her lap and patted her lips all prim and proper as if she were auditioning as a nanny again. “You’re right. This soup is delicious. I may even snag a few more of those chips from your plate.”
“Be my guest.” He shoved his plate toward her. Her depression over Wyatt had lifted either because he’d distracted her by asking about her father’s murder...or because she felt confident in seeing Wyatt again when he took custody of him.
Either way, her return to life dispelled his own sadness. He had to believe Wyatt would be fine—with or without him as his father.
He lightly smacked her hand reaching for another chip. “I didn’t know you were going to eat all of them.”
She spread her fingers and held them out. “Greasy and salty—my two favorite food groups. I need to hit the ladies’ room to wash my hands.”
“Go ahead. I’ll pay.” He swirled his finger in the air. “We’d better wrap this up and go get your car out by the border before it gets dark. We can pick up Denali first, and he can come with us.”
“Do you think we might be in danger retrieving that car?” She crumpled a napkin in her fist. “They must’ve followed their GPS out there, and I’m sure the tops of their heads blew off in unison when they discovered what we’d done.”
“That’s why I want to go out there before dark, and I’m taking you as my sidekick.”
“Wait, maybe you’re my sidekick.”
“I’ll be the Doc Holliday to your Wyatt Earp any day, Officer Lang.” He saluted.
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