“I told them about the baby farm, but by the time we were able to work out where it was, it was too late. When they got there, the guards and the pregnant women were all gone.”
No surprise there. “You were lucky those guards didn’t kill you at the farm.”
She made a soft sound of agreement. “I pretended to be a potential buyer for one of the babies.”
“And they believed you?” Tucker asked, not bothering to hold back on the skeptical tone in his voice. He motioned for her to follow him to the bedroom so he could do something about their wet clothes.
Laine nodded. Then she lifted her shoulder. “They didn’t try to kill me, anyway. They made some calls, did a quick background check and learned that I had indeed been trying to adopt.”
Tucker hadn’t thought there could be any more surprises today, but he’d been wrong. “You did a fake adoption request for the sake of the investigation?”
“No,” she snapped. That put some fire in her ice-blue eyes, but it quickly cooled down. “I can’t have children, so I’ve been trying to adopt for months now.”
In a town the size of Sweetwater Springs, it was hard to keep secrets, but Laine had obviously managed to keep that one.
And it caused him to curse again.
“You gave those guards your real name?” The babies didn’t like his near shout, and they fussed even louder.
“I figured that was the fastest way to get them to believe I was really there looking for a baby.”
There were so many things wrong with that comment that Tucker didn’t know where to start. “So, you let them believe you were a customer willing to break the law. Obviously that didn’t work out so well, did it?”
“Obviously,” she mumbled. “One of the guards told me they’d be in touch, and we left. But they did follow us.”
Of course they did.
Tucker rummaged through his closet, locating some dry clothes for himself and a white button-up shirt for Laine. He dropped it all on the dresser. He also maneuvered her away from the window and helped her put the babies on the bed so she could change.
“They followed you to your office?” he asked.
But he darn near forgot the question when Laine shucked off her wet top. She had on a lacy white bra, but the rain had practically made it see-through.
This wasn’t the kid he’d kissed in his granddaddy’s kitchen.
Nope. Laine was a fully grown woman now, with real curves he had no business gawking at. She obviously felt the same because she scowled when she noticed where his attention had landed.
“Sorry, I forgot we had this...connection between us,” she mumbled.
“There’s nothing between us,” Tucker jumped to say.
Too bad it was a big fat lie. One that he had zero intention of straightening out. He yanked off his shirt as if he’d waged war on it.
“To answer your question—no, the guards didn’t follow me,” she snapped.
Because his mind still wasn’t where it should be, it took him a moment to remember the question—had the guards followed the CI and her back to her office?
“How would you know if they’d followed you there or not?” he pressed.
Laine huffed, snatched up the shirt. The moment she had it on, she eased down on the bed beside the babies, trying to comfort them. “The CI made sure of that. He drove around with me until they stopped following us, and he said it was safe.”
“Well, he was clearly wrong about that, wasn’t he?” He huffed. “Remember, there are two things that make a CI. Being a paid informant and being a criminal.”
“What does that mean?”
Her gaze snapped back to his. Probably something she wished she could take back, because Tucker had already stripped down to his boxers. Proving that she was the most stubborn woman in the whole state of Texas, she didn’t look away.
“It means the CI could have been looking for a way to earn a few bucks. He could have gone back to the baby farm and told them that he was suspicious of you and that you needed to be taken care of.”
Laine opened her mouth, no doubt to deny that, but then she shook her head. Her eyes widened, and she touched her fingers to her mouth. “Oh, God.”
“Yeah, oh, God,” he mumbled. “You took a serious risk going out there, going anywhere, with that idiot. And even if he was truly trying to help, he put your neck right on the line by taking you into a hornet’s nest.”
He could have continued his tirade for several more minutes, but his phone rang, and Tucker saw Reed’s name on the screen. He hoped the deputy had some good news, because they sure as heck needed it. He hit the speaker button so he could take the call and finish dressing.
“I was just out at the parking lot behind Laine’s office,” Reed said. “I found some blood.”
Tucker cursed, not because he hadn’t expected the news. After everything Laine had told him, he had, but that blood was confirmation they were dealing with killers and not just some loons out to kidnap a pair of newborns.
“There’s not much blood left because it’s raining hard,” Reed went on. “Still, I found some spots on the corner of the building beneath the eaves. Found a pacifier, too. Hard to tell, but it might have a fingerprint on it. DNA, too, if the rain hasn’t gotten to it.”
“Send it and the blood sample to the Ranger lab for immediate processing,” Tucker instructed. He glanced at the babies. He needed to know who the dead woman was so he could locate the babies’ next of kin.
“Any security cameras nearby?” Tucker asked. “Maybe we can get footage of what happened. In case we don’t have a print, we might be able to get some photos of her.”
And photos of her killers, as well.
After all, Laine had said they’d gotten out of the car to retrieve the body, and that meant a camera could show the murder in progress.
“Maybe,” Reed answered. “That new jewelry store up the street has cameras. Don’t know if the angles are right, but I’ll call them while I’m driving out to check Laine’s car for prints.”
“Make the call, but skip the fingerprints on the car for now.” With the rain, it was probably a lost cause anyway. Besides, he had something more important for Reed to do. “Come out to my place. I’d like someone close by in case things get ugly again.”
That didn’t help soothe any of the tension from Laine’s face. It wouldn’t help soothe his, either, but it was a precaution Tucker needed to take.
Not just for Laine, but for those babies.
The moment he finished the call with Reed, Laine said, “The dead woman could have heard the guards or the CI mention me. She could have heard my name, and that’s why she called me.”
Yeah, Laine’s phone number wouldn’t have been hard to find. But why had the woman thought she could trust Laine? And how the heck had she gotten away from the baby farm and into town?
“She probably heard more than just your name,” Tucker explained. “She likely heard the guards say that they didn’t trust you, that you could be working for the cops.”
Of course that meant assuming the woman was totally innocent in all of this. And that she was indeed trying to protect her babies. But maybe the men killed her for a different reason, and finding that reason would only be possible if they first learned her identity. Hopefully the blood Reed had found would help with that.
“Come on.” Tucker grabbed some towels from the adjoining bathroom. “Reed will be here soon, and I need to get the babies and you to the hospital for checkups.”
Laine gave a shaky nod, probably because she wasn’t thrilled about going outside, where the missing gunman might spot her. “And then what?”
“Protective custody. A safe house.”
Another nod. She wrapped the babies each in the towels. Not ideal cover, but it was better than usin
g the damp blanket Laine had used to hold them earlier.
“Can you manage to carry both of them?” he asked. It was a strange question, because she’d carried them across the pasture to get to his house, but she was more shaken up now. After all, she’d just come darn close to dying.
“Yes.” And her attention went to the belt holster he’d just put on. Then to the backup weapon he slid into the back of his jeans.
“I’ll pull the truck right up to the steps,” he assured her. “By the time we make it to the road, Reed should be here.”
Tucker had barely made it a step before he heard the sound of a car engine. He hurried to the front window, expecting to see Reed’s truck, but it was a black four-door sedan.
“What’s wrong?” Laine asked, obviously noticing the change in his body language.
“Maybe nothing.” Of course, it felt like something since it could be their attacker returning.
However, the man who stepped out from the car wasn’t the escaped gunman. This guy was in his late twenties and had pale blond hair. He was wearing a dark gray suit, with no sign of a weapon. He ducked his head against the storm and ran toward the porch.
The man wasn’t alone. There was someone else in the car, but Tucker could only make out a silhouette because of the rain-streaked windows.
“You know him?” Laine asked.
“No. Wait here and stay away from the windows.” Tucker didn’t move until she had the babies back by the bed before he drew his gun and started for the door. Their visitor knocked just as he got there. He swung open the door and asked the guy to identify himself.
“Martin Hague,” the man said, but his voice trailed off to nothing but breath when he spotted Tucker’s gun. “I heard on the drive over that you’d had some trouble out here.”
“Who’d you hear it from?” Tucker demanded, and he didn’t even try to sound friendly.
“A nurse who works at the hospital. Someone from the ambulance called ahead and said they were bringing in a man who’d been wounded here. Good thing I was already on my way to your place.”
“Who the heck are you?” Yet another demand.
“Oh, I’m from social services.” He reached for his pocket, but he stopped when Tucker lifted his gun. “Just getting my ID.” He didn’t continue until Tucker gave him the nod, and then he extracted a leather case with his credentials.
It looked official, but Tucker wasn’t taking any chances. He didn’t lower his gun. “What do you want?”
“I’m a social worker,” Hague said, as if the answer were obvious.
He took out a piece of paper and handed it to Tucker just as the other person stepped from the car. A man wearing a uniform and badge that Tucker instantly recognized. He was a Department of Public Safety officer.
“That paper should clarify everything for you,” Hague said. “We’re here to take the babies.”
Chapter Six
Laine stayed away from the windows as Tucker had ordered, but because the babies had finally stopped fussing, she had no trouble understanding what Martin Hague had just said.
He was taking the babies.
She clutched them to her and kept listening. Laine couldn’t hear every word they said, but she detected the concern in Tucker’s voice. After everything they’d been through, that was probably normal, but this didn’t feel normal to her.
Sweet heaven.
Laine hoped that feeling wasn’t because she was starting to get attached to the babies. They weren’t hers, and she couldn’t keep them. Even if it squeezed at her heart to think of handing them over to this social worker.
“You don’t have a court order?” Tucker asked.
That got her attention. Laine slipped out of the bedroom and into the living room so she could try to figure out what was going on.
“It’s standard procedure to take minors into our protective custody when there’s the possibility of danger,” Hague argued. “And from what I’ve learned, there’s also a question of the infants’ paternity.”
“They’re already in protective custody,” Tucker snapped. “Mine. And this is an active crime scene. The babies’ clothes need to be processed for evidence. And how the devil did you find out the babies were even here?”
“Your brother, Deputy Colt McKinnon, reported that two babies had been found. We had another anonymous report that a woman had fled an abusive situation with her newborn twins.”
Laine inched closer, and as if he sensed she was there, Hague’s attention zoomed past Tucker and landed on her.
Or rather it landed on the babies.
“Are they all right? Were they hurt?” Hague moved as if to step around Tucker, but Tucker stepped directly in front of the babies, blocking Hague’s path.
“They’re fine,” Tucker growled. “Their mother, maybe not so much. It’s possible she was murdered, and I need to do DNA tests on the babies to determine who they are and if they’re connected to the woman in question.”
Hague seemed to ignore all of that. He kept his attention fastened to Laine. “You’re the one who took them?”
“I rescued them.” Laine could instantly see why Tucker was stonewalling this man. Maybe it was just because he was inexperienced, but there was something off about him.
“Your Ranger friend seems to think he has jurisdiction here,” Hague said to her, aiming a glare at Tucker.
Tucker aimed one right back at him. He was far better at glaring than their guest. “Her Ranger friend is right. Someone just tried to kill us.” He pointed to the woods across from the house. “Someone who’s no doubt hiding out in there somewhere. Maybe with a long-range rifle.”
Hague cast an uneasy glance over his shoulder before his gaze whipped back to Tucker. “How soon will you release the babies?”
“When I’m finished with them and when you have that court order.” Tucker stepped back and slammed the door in the man’s face.
“You don’t trust him?” Laine asked, inching closer so she could make sure Hague actually left. He did. The man stormed down the porch steps and got back in the car. He sped away much too fast considering the sopping wet roads.
“Right now I don’t trust anyone.”
Possibly even Laine herself. After all, she’d withheld information about visiting that baby farm. But then Tucker’d had plenty of reasons to distrust her before that.
He took out his phone and sent off a text. Laine only got a glimpse of it, but it appeared that Tucker was asking someone to do a background check on Martin Hague. A few days before, that would have seemed like overkill.
Now, nothing seemed to fall into that category.
“Change of plans,” Tucker said. “I’ll call Dr. Howland and ask him to come out and examine the babies and you. Not here, though. I’m taking the three of you to the main house where I’ll have some help protecting you.”
Laine was certain that he’d lost his mind. Now here was an example of overkill, or at least of a really bad idea.
“With your family?” She shook her head, not waiting for him to answer. “Tucker, they hate me. You hate me.”
For some stupid reason she got a flash of the expression on his face when he’d seen her changing into the dry clothes. It was only a glimpse of this unwanted heat between them, but a glimpse had been enough to know.
“Okay, maybe you don’t completely hate me,” she amended, “but you certainly don’t want me there.”
No heated look this time. Just a flat one that let her know she’d stated the obvious. Before Laine could continue the argument, he took out his phone and made a call.
“Mary,” he said when someone answered. Mary Larkin had been the McKinnon housekeeper for as long as Laine could remember.
Yet another person who wouldn’t want Laine there.
“I’ve
got a situation. Send someone out to pick up bottles, formula, diapers and anything else newborns need. I’ll explain when I get there. Oh, and Laine Braddock will be with me.... Yeah, I know,” he added a moment later. “Like I said, I’ll explain everything.”
“Still convinced that taking me there is a good idea?” Laine challenged when he ended the call.
“The house has a security system,” he said, obviously ignoring her argument. “The ranch hands can help guard the place.”
“But your family—”
“Cooper and his wife aren’t there. They’re on their honeymoon, and their son, Liam, is staying with his grandmother in Austin. Jewell’s in jail, as you well know, and my sister Rosalie and Jewell’s stepson, Seth, are in the guesthouse.”
“That leaves your father and Rayanne,” she immediately reminded him.
“My father won’t object to me keeping you safe. I hope,” he added. “And Rayanne’s opinion doesn’t count. She’s only living in the house to irritate the rest of us and to rub it in our faces that it’s her house, too.”
Laine couldn’t argue with the reason Rayanne was staying at the ranch. It was pretty much what she’d heard around town, though that wouldn’t help with Laine’s own situation.
But what would?
She couldn’t take the babies and go to her place. The missing gunman could easily find her there. She definitely didn’t want to turn the babies over to Hague, either. Not until Tucker and she had figured out what was going on. Her brother was the county sheriff, but he, too, was out of town and wouldn’t be back for days.
That left her hiring a bodyguard of some kind.
But that would take time, and she didn’t have much of that. It wouldn’t be long before the babies would need to be fed, and Tucker had already made plans for that. So for now, Tucker and his family seemed to be her best short-term option.
Heaven help her.
“How long will we have to stay there?” she asked.
“Probably a lot longer than either of us want.”
Heck, two minutes would qualify as way too long.
Cowboy Behind the Badge Page 5