A tear spilled from Kelsey’s eyes and rolled down her cheek. Lizzy jumped up. “That’s enough,” she said. “Leave her alone. She’s not on trial here. Can’t you see you’re just upsetting her more? Hasn’t she already been through enough?”
Dylan felt some of the tension drain out of Kelsey as she finally shook her head, evidently resigned to the inevitable. She touched a restraining hand to Lizzy’s arm. “It’s okay. I’ll tell him. I should have told someone when this first started.”
Lizzy stared at her. “Are you sure?”
“What difference does it make now?” But instead of looking at Jeb, she eased around in the chair until she could meet Dylan’s gaze. “Paul wants drugs, prescription painkillers,” she blurted in a rush. “He’s addicted to them. He has been for a couple of years now.”
“And that’s why you left him?” Dylan guessed, more relieved than shocked by the admission. Finally, they had something to work with.
“I left him because of that and because he was forging my name on prescriptions to get them. I agreed not to turn him in, if he would give me full custody of Bobby and stay out of our lives. I know that was wrong and probably stupid, but it was all I could think of to do at the time.”
“And now his supply of pills has run out and he’s desperate,” Dylan concluded.
She nodded. “I’m sure that’s it, even though he hasn’t said as much. He wants me half-crazy, so I’ll do whatever he says, give him whatever he wants.”
Jeb whistled. “So we’ve got a guy who’s hooked on drugs and not thinking rationally out there with your son.”
“Jeb!” Dylan protested, seeing Kelsey’s face turn a ghastly shade of gray at the harsh assessment.
“Sorry. My mouth runs ahead of my brain at times.”
She waved off the apology. “I’m terrified of what he will do if he finds out I’ve told you all this. I promised to keep the secret.”
“And he promised to stay away,” Dylan said. “I’d say you’re even.” He hunkered down in front of her. “This helps, sweetheart. We have to assume he won’t go far, because he’s going to want to make a quick exchange for Bobby when the time comes. He may be moving from motel to motel, but I’ll bet he’s within a hundred miles or less.”
“But you’ve checked all the motels over and over,” Kelsey said. “He’s not there.”
“What about campgrounds?” Jeb suggested. “Are there any close by?”
“No,” Lizzy said. “But there are acres and acres of open land. He could have pitched a tent anyplace.”
Dylan exchanged a look with his brother. “Feel like taking a drive?”
Jeb nodded. “I’ve been dying to get a better look at this part of the country.”
“I want to come with you,” Kelsey said, half rising. Then her expression registered dismay and she sank back down. “But I can’t, can I?”
“No,” Dylan agreed. “You need to stay here in case he calls again. If he does, see if we’re on track with this camping idea. Maybe you can get Bobby to say something about sleeping outdoors.”
“Bobby hates bugs,” she murmured. “If that’s what they’re doing, it’s no wonder he was so cranky the last time we talked.”
“I hate to burst your bubble, but I just remembered something. I thought Bobby said something about Paul not letting him leave the room,” Lizzy said. “Doesn’t that mean they have to be in a motel?”
“He did,” Kelsey agreed. “Was that last time? Or the time before? I’m getting it all mixed up.”
“It’s okay,” Dylan reassured her. “We’ll take a look around anyway. Call me on the cell phone if anything comes up.”
She nodded, then opened her mouth to say something, but fell silent, her expression guilty.
Dylan had a pretty good idea what she’d been about to say, though. He gave her a grin. “It’s okay, darlin’. I know I’m fired. This one’s on the house.”
Chapter Nine
Dylan and Jeb were almost out the door when the phone rang. Everyone froze. Kelsey’s heart began to thud dully as it had every time a call came in. She reached for the receiver with fingers that trembled so badly she could barely grasp it.
“Hello.”
“Mommy?”
Bobby’s voice sounded scratchy and hoarse. “Baby, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“Don’t feel good, Mommy.”
Kelsey had never felt so thoroughly helpless in her entire life. Maternal instinct as much as her professional training kicked in. Thank heaven Bobby was now old enough to answer a few simple questions. “Where does it hurt, sweetie? Your tummy? Your head?”
“All over. I’m hot, Mommy.”
Her fury and frustration boiled over. “Put your daddy on the phone, baby. Okay?”
Paul came on the line. “He’s fine,” he said before she could get a word out. “It’s just a little fever. It’s no big deal, so don’t go making a federal case out of it.”
“I want him home, Paul. I’m the doctor. I’ll be the judge of whether or not he’s seriously ill.”
“Kids get fevers. It’s nothing,” he insisted.
“Does he have a cold? Is that it? Have you been taking him in and out of air-conditioning?”
“Tsk-tsk,” he chided. “You know I’m not going to answer something like that. Gotta run, Kelsey. Bobby wants some orange juice. I’ll be in touch.”
“Paul!” she shouted, but she could hear the click of his receiver being put back into place. “Dammit, Paul.” This time the words came out as a frustrated whisper.
Her gaze sought out Lizzy, then automatically shifted to Dylan. It didn’t seem to matter that she was furious at him for deceiving her about his own custody situation. She still looked to him for strength. How had that happened in such a short time? How did she know that despite everything, despite the angry accusations she had hurled at him, she could still trust him? With just a glance from her, he crossed the kitchen in three long strides. He pulled a chair up close beside her.
“Bobby’s sick?” he asked.
“Paul says it’s just a fever. Maybe he’s right. He’s probably right,” she said more emphatically. “But I hate not being there, not knowing for sure.”
“Of course you do,” Lizzy said. “But stop a minute. Bobby’s never had more than the sniffles. He’s the healthiest little boy I’ve ever seen. There’s no reason to imagine that this is anything more than that.”
“Maybe he’s overdue,” Kelsey whispered, wishing she shared Lizzy’s certainty. “Who knows where he’s been the past few days or what he’s been exposed to. He said he hurt all over.”
“Could be the flu, then,” Lizzy suggested, still maintaining a positive outlook. “It’ll be over and done with in a day or so.”
“Or it could be measles or chicken pox,” Kelsey retorted, her imagination whirling into overdrive. She was suddenly thinking like a panic-stricken mom, rather than a cool, rational doctor. “We don’t know. That’s the problem.”
Dylan gave a nod to Lizzy and Jeb, who vanished on cue. “Come here,” he said, reaching for her.
Kelsey instinctively gravitated into his embrace, the previous night’s argument forgotten. Dylan might not be able to cure whatever ailed Bobby, but she found comfort and reassurance in his touch. It was a reaction she didn’t care to examine too closely.
“You heard what Lizzy said,” he soothed. “Bobby’s as healthy as a kid can be. This is probably nothing.”
“But what if it’s not?” she whispered.
“Then Paul will get medical attention for him.”
She backed away. “Why on earth would you think that? He’s not going to give up this game just to help Bobby, not until he gets what he wants from me.”
“Then he’ll make a demand. You’ll give him the pills. And we’ll get Bobby back. He won’t risk that little boy’s life. No father could do that, even if he’s not thinking clearly.”
“I wish I shared your faith,” she said.
“You m
arried the man, Kelsey. He can’t be all bad. Wasn’t there a time when you trusted him, when you had faith he would do the right thing?”
She thought back to the early days of their courtship, when Paul had been tender and funny and attentive. He had actually taken time off from work once to nurse her through a bad cold. So, Dylan was probably right. The man she had fallen in love with wouldn’t let his son suffer.
“Thank you for reminding me of that,” she said at last. “It’s just that he changed so much after the pills.”
“You hang on to the fact that he was a decent guy when you met him, okay?” He cupped her cheek in his hand. “A few prayers wouldn’t hurt, either.”
“I’ve prayed so often the last few days, I’m sure God is sick of hearing from me.”
Dylan chuckled. “I don’t think it works that way. I think He expects us to check in regularly with updates in circumstances like this.”
Kelsey sighed and rested her forehead against Dylan’s chest. She could feel the steady beating of his heart. “I was so nasty to you last night. Can you forgive me? I know you’ve been doing your best on this case. I had no right to accuse you of doing anything less.”
Dylan sighed. “Yes, you did. The truth is I did come into this case with enough baggage to keep a shrink busy for a year. I never let it interfere, but it was there. And you had every right to know about it, to make a choice about whether you could trust me. I suppose I didn’t want you to know for fear you’d dump me right at the beginning when time was critical. I knew right then that I was all you had to count on and that I’m damned good at what I do. My ego got in the way.”
He tipped her chin up, then gazed directly into her eyes. “I’m with you a hundred percent on this, Kelsey. Okay?”
She nodded, unable to speak because she knew how terribly difficult it must be for him to side against a father who’d been cut off from his son, even under these extenuating circumstances.
“Dylan, will you talk to me about Shane?” She felt his muscles tense at the mention of his son’s name. “Please? I’d like to hear about him.”
“After this is all over, you and I will talk,” he promised eventually. “About Shane and a good many other things, I imagine. Will that do?”
She was disappointed by the delay, but she nodded. “Yes. That will do.”
“Then it’s a date, darlin’. Now let me get out of here and catch up with Jeb. I’m not doing you a bit of good standing around here in your kitchen.”
“Yes, you are,” she said, but she stepped back just the same. “You’re just not finding Bobby. And that’s the only thing that matters now.”
He bent down and pressed a hard kiss to her lips, then took off without another word. Kelsey watched him go, then sat down at the table and rested her head on her arms.
“Dear God,” she whispered. “Make this the day that my son comes home to me. And in the meantime, please keep him and all the people looking for him safe.”
“Amen,” Lizzy said, adding her voice to Kelsey’s.
Either her timing was impeccable or she had never strayed far from the kitchen and had heard Dylan leave. Kelsey looked up at her friend. “I am so incredibly lucky,” she told her. “I have you and your family and this community to lean on.”
“And Dylan,” Lizzy reminded her.
A half smile formed. “And Dylan,” she agreed. “He’s an amazing man, isn’t he?”
“Definitely one of the good guys.” Lizzy searched her face intently. “Have you fallen for him, Kelsey?”
“I can’t even think about something like that right now,” she insisted, but in her heart she suspected that she was indeed falling in love with Dylan Delacourt. Finding out for sure was something that would have to wait until her son was safely home again.
Dylan drove himself to exhaustion that day and the next. He kept thinking of that little boy, his body flushed with fever, missing his mommy.
“I could wring the man’s neck,” he told Jeb.
“Which is why I’m here, to keep you from doing something stupid. We’re going to find Bobby, take him home to Kelsey, and leave his daddy in one piece for the authorities to deal with.”
Dylan regarded his brother ruefully. “Don’t make me regret bringing you over here.”
Jeb laughed. “You know I’m right. That’s exactly why you brought me over here, to temper your hot head. I’m the cool, rational thinker, remember?”
“Since when?”
“Okay, compared to you, I am,” Jeb amended.
“And you don’t have the slightest urge to pummel Paul James’s face to a bloody pulp?” Dylan asked.
Jeb drew himself up and returned Dylan’s skeptical look evenly. “Absolutely not. Do I look like a thug?”
“No, you look like a man who’s having the time of his life. When are you going to tell dear old Dad that you want to come to work with me full-time?”
Jeb’s expression fell. “On his deathbed, probably. The news will probably revive him just so he can make sure it doesn’t happen.”
“Life’s too short to waste it doing something you hate,” Dylan said.
“I did talk to him about doing some corporate investigative work for him,” Jeb revealed. “He looked at me as if I’d suggested there were cockroaches in the pantry and I wanted to play at being an exterminator.”
“Is there something going on at the company that needs investigating?” Dylan asked, startled by the suggestion that there might be. “He hasn’t mentioned anything.”
“Because he’s in denial. You know Dad. He thinks he’s in total control of his universe. You were his first slipup. Then Trish’s defection shook him badly. He’s got the rest of us under tighter rein than ever. As for anyone stealing from him, to hear him tell it, it’s impossible.”
“But you don’t think so?”
“There are too many coincidences for my liking. Twice now, just when we were about to close a deal for a new site, another company has come in and snatched it out from under us.”
Dylan was stunned. He didn’t believe in coincidences of that magnitude, either. He was surprised that his father did. “Why isn’t Dad acting on this?”
“Either he’s in denial or he doesn’t want to admit the obvious, that his new geologist is on the take.”
“Beautiful Brianna is selling corporate secrets?” He thought he heard something else in his brother’s voice, too. “You’re unhappy about more than the soured deals, aren’t you? Is it Brianna?”
Jeb sighed. “She’s a terrific woman. I don’t want to believe she’s involved, but everything points to it.”
“Then forget Dad. Investigate on your own. Find out if she can be trusted.”
“What if my judgment’s clouded by my hormones?”
“Believe me, Jeb, you won’t be the first one. Look at me. Kelsey’s got me tied up in knots. Besides, even though I know she was justified in going after full custody of Bobby, a part of me is still sympathetic to her ex. Of course, I’ve been getting over that in a hurry the last few days. I’ve finally concluded the man is pond scum and doesn’t deserve so much as a glimpse of his son ever again.”
He spotted a diner up ahead and pulled into the lot. “I don’t know about you, but I need coffee and some food. The last decent meal we had was that breakfast Trish cooked yesterday.”
“And the cinnamon rolls Lizzy sent along,” Jeb said.
“Cinnamon rolls? I never saw any cinnamon rolls.”
“Oops. Sorry. I think what we both need is a good night’s sleep,” Jeb countered, quickly changing the subject. “We must have covered a thousand miles today, going in circles. I never knew so many sleazy motels existed.”
“After we eat, if you want to go back to Trish’s I’ll drop you off. I want to check in at Kelsey’s anyway.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Dylan drank three cups of lousy coffee with his burger and fries. He figured that was enough caffeine to carry him through the night. Once he’d seen K
elsey, he was going out again. There was a better chance of spotting Paul’s car at night. The man might stay on the run during the day, but surely he would stop to sleep.
He dropped Jeb off with a promise to pick him up again at daybreak, then headed for Kelsey’s. It was already late, but the lights were still blazing and there were cars in the driveway, including the sheriff’s. Dylan rang the bell. It was Justin who answered.
“Hey, Dylan, come on in. I was just filling Kelsey in on what we learned today.”
“Which is?”
“We found Paul’s car abandoned at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.”
Dylan muttered a harsh expletive. “He’s taken off, then?”
Justin shook his head. “We don’t think so. I put every man on it. They’ve checked every flight roster, every ticket counter in the airport. If Paul and Bobby were there, they were well disguised and traveling under assumed names.”
Relief spread through Dylan. “Thank God. You figure they just dumped the car because he’d concluded by now that we might be trying to trace it?”
Justin nodded, then smiled. “And here’s the best part. Either he’s right there at the airport, in one of the hotels nearby, or he’s managed to get his hands on a rental with a phony ID. We’re getting close, pal. I can feel it.”
“How’s Kelsey taking it?”
“Like a trouper. She’s mad enough to spit nails. If she didn’t have to stay here in case Paul calls, I think she’d tear that airport area apart on her own.”
“No need,” Dylan said. “I’ll do it for her. As soon as I talk to her, I’m on my way.” He started for the living room, then turned back. “What if Paul bought an electronic ticket? Or bought the tickets in town? No one at a ticket counter would have seen him. Did you cover the people who work the gates?”
Justin muttered a curse. “We’ll get on it now. I’ll call the lead guy I have over there. I sent about ten volunteers to scour the place, along with one deputy. It was the best I could do without bringing in the Dallas area authorities. Kelsey’s still opposed to that. Any idea why yet?”
Dylan and the Baby Doctor Page 11