Chuckling, Dallas winked. “I’ll do my best.”
“I’d hate to hear what Marvin would say if this car ends up wrecked, too. He loves to tell everyone what a bad job I’m doing.”
“The people know what type of person he is. You were voted in. Not him. He’s quick to criticize but never has any plans to fix a problem.”
She slid behind the steering wheel of her cruiser and started the engine. “Wait until he finds out I’m taking this car home with me until I replace my own.”
“When we solve this case, he’ll have to shut up.”
“I’m not sure he’s capable of doing that.” After pulling out of the parking lot, Rachel drove in the direction of Lenora’s house. “How are your sister and Paul doing?”
“I talked to Mom a little while ago. They’re barely holding themselves together. Every time the phone rings, they hope it’s the kidnapper demanding a ransom. Deputy Carson has been screening the calls, and if it’s someone they know, Mom talks to them. If anyone can handle it, it’s my mother. She’s a remarkable woman.”
Rachel’s late husband rarely wanted to go with her to visit her parents. She’d often gone alone. Justin hadn’t even seen his own parents much, even though they lived in Austin. Listening to how Dallas felt about his family only reinforced the type of man he was—caring and loving. She hadn’t seen that red flag with Justin until after they were married. She’d been young and madly in love. She wouldn’t let that happen to her again. Ever.
Rachel exited her cruiser at the same time as Dallas, and they walked up to his sister’s house.
Deputy Carson answered the door. “I heard what happened this morning. I’m glad y’all aren’t hurt.”
“Do Lenora and Paul know about the ambush?” Dallas asked.
“Your mom does, but I don’t think she said anything to them.”
“Good. I’d rather they not hear. Lenora and Paul have enough to deal with right now. I’ll let my mother know the details, and she can decide when to tell them.”
“They’re in the kitchen.” Deputy Carson shut the front door as they all stepped inside.
Rachel followed Dallas into the kitchen. His expression suddenly turned solemn as he approached the table where his family sat, staring at the half-eaten sandwiches in front of them.
Dottie quickly stood and hugged Dallas. “How’s Michelle?” She kissed his cheek and whispered, “And you and Rachel?”
“Fine, Mom.” He glanced to Lenora and Paul. “We have some clues to investigate after visiting the Chesterfield Shopping Center yesterday and this morning.”
Lenora looked up, a ray of hope in her eyes. “What clues?”
Rachel sat diagonal to Dallas. “Michelle remembered more about the woman who kidnapped Brady. I have three drawings. One with her sunglasses on and two with them off. Because the suspect had dark eyebrows, Michelle did one drawing with the curly blond hair and another with dark. We don’t know if the suspect wore a wig, bleached her hair or normally was brown headed.”
Dallas slid the three drawings from a folder and put them side-by-side. “Do you recall ever seeing someone like her anywhere?”
Lenora looked at the first illustration, then focused on the next one, then on the last drawing. When she raised her head and looked at Dallas, hope flashed again into her expression. “Yes.” She tapped the illustration with no sunglasses and blond hair. “First at Baby and Things, then she came into the Knit n’ Pearl a few minutes before I left, but by then she had on sunglasses.”
“Was she in Baby and Things before you?” Rachel asked.
“Yes.”
“What was she doing? Was there a man with her?” Dallas stacked the drawings and slipped them into the folder.
Lenora cocked her head to the side and stared up at the wall behind Rachel. Then she looked her square in the eye and said, “She was stocking the shelves. She must have been a worker at the store, or at least, that’s what I thought at the time.”
Rachel exchanged a look with Dallas. Surprise flashed across his face.
“That lady is one of the kidnappers?” Paul slipped his arm along Lenora’s shoulders.
“Yes, we think so. We’ll be putting her picture out to the press. I’m hoping someone will come forward with information about who she is and where she lives.” Rachel rose. “If you remember anything about that Friday and about the man who was with her in Knit n’ Pearl, please let us know.”
Dallas pushed to his feet. “I’m only a phone call away if you need me. This is a solid lead, Lenora. I’m doing everything I can to bring Brady back to y’all.”
Lenora’s eyes teared. “I’ve been praying. God’s protecting Brady.” She touched her chest. “I know it in here.” She placed her splayed hand over her heart.
Dallas gave his sister a hug.
As they made their way to the front door, Dallas’s mother followed them. “Son, please take care of yourself. I heard one of your attackers today was killed by his partner.”
He stopped. “Where did you hear that?”
“I overheard Deputy Carson talking to someone. I know I shouldn’t eavesdrop, but when it comes to my family, I don’t want to be kept in the dark. Please, Dallas.”
Dallas hugged his mother, then stepped out of the house.
As Rachel and Dallas headed for the cruiser, she said, “We’ll stop by the station and give Deputy Jones these drawings to distribute to the local law enforcement agencies and the media, then we need to pay the other employees at Baby and Things a visit.”
“We may also have to have another conversation with the owner.”
“Sounds good to me. I can talk with Jan Thomas again.” Rachel backed out of the driveway. “I’m glad Lenora seems better today.”
“Her faith is strong. She was the one, when I moved here, who persuaded me to come to church and reacquaint myself with the Lord. After Patricia left, I was angry at God. At first I wouldn’t go, but then Michelle started attending with Lenora and Mom. When Michelle was the narrator of the children’s Christmas play at church, I had to go. I wasn’t going to let my daughter down and not see her perform. There are times my job does get in the way, but I didn’t have that excuse then.”
“How do you reconcile all the evil acts we’re exposed to with the idea God is in control? Why would He let something like this happen?”
“This is a fallen world, and we have free will. God wants us to come to Him because we choose to and believe in Him. Challenges and problems make us stronger. We learn to appreciate the good times.”
Rachel sighed. “My parents have been taking Katie to church on Sunday since I moved back here. To be honest, I always manage to be busy. I have so much anger toward Justin. He betrayed me, betrayed our marriage.”
“We go to the same church as your parents. I hope you’ll come with us next time. Our pastor has a gift. I always feel uplifted by the time I leave, and there have been times I didn’t think that was possible, especially with the crimes I’ve worked in San Antonio.”
“Have you forgiven your ex-wife?” Rachel asked as she parked in front of the sheriff’s station.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I’m not cautious. I’ve doubted my ability to read people. I’d always thought I was good at it.”
Rachel twisted to face Dallas. “Me, too. I couldn’t understand how I could have read someone so wrong. How did I miss the signs of Justin having an affair or the fact he really didn’t want a child? Every time I think of what he did to me, I get angry again. Like you, I don’t want to go through that again.”
“Being able to forgive Patricia has helped me. I found that the anger ate into me and that invaded all parts of my life, even my relationship with Michelle. That first year we fought all the time.” Dallas grabbed the folder with the drawings and pushed the passenger door open. “I’ll have a deputy make copies and spread these
pictures to law enforcement agencies and the media.”
Rachel leaned back in the car and closed her eyes, relishing the first couple of minutes she’d had alone since the attempt on their lives. Three days ago, her life had been routine and calm in spite of Marvin’s caustic criticism of her abilities. Coming home to Cimarron Trail had been a good decision for her. She’d missed her family being so close by. Today’s shooting only reinforced that she was a target and needed to keep vigilant at all times. She’d grown up here and would never have imagined that a baby would be kidnapped by a stranger. But her small town was becoming more of a suburb of San Antonio. Life in Cimarron Trail was changing.
Challenges and problems make us stronger. Sometimes, however, she would rather not have to deal with problems. Over the past couple of years, it felt like that was all she’d done. And she’d turned away from the Lord. Maybe she should seek His help, because what she was doing was obviously not working.
Dallas left the station and walked back toward the car. He was full of self-assurance, and yet he’d dealt with a problem similar to hers—a failed marriage that had left them both questioning their judgment. She admired his perseverance.
He climbed into the passenger seat. “Deputy Jones is making sure the pictures go out to the press ASAP.” He laid the copies in his lap. “I’m hoping one of the Friday workers at Baby and Things will be able to tell us who this woman is.”
“According to Lenora, she is one of the workers, and yet Jan hadn’t been able to ID her when we showed it to her earlier today.”
“Or maybe the lady was only pretending to be a worker.”
“You think the woman wasn’t actually working at the store?”
“It’s a possibility. She was at the front. The others were at the rear or the other side. When I go into a situation, I try to look at it from all angles. That way, I’m not as surprised if something happens because I’ve considered all sides.”
“We only have two more people to talk to about working Friday. Carrie Zoeller and Lynn Davis. We know that Betty, Jan and Steve, who also worked that day, aren’t even similar to our suspect, so if it’s someone at Baby and Things, it would be either Carrie or Lynn. The nearest one is Lynn.” Rachel headed for her apartment.
As she passed the lake where Dallas’s SUV had been forced off the road, her grip on the steering wheel grew tighter and her attention kept shifting between what was in front of and what was behind her.
“My car has been pulled out of the lake and towed away. A new vehicle for me is being delivered later today at your family ranch, although I think we should stick together.”
Together. Back in Austin she’d had a partner, but she’d never felt this kind of connection with him. “After what’s happened the past few days, I have to agree. I hope our shooter today will be identifiable. We need a lead.” As she drove by the grove, she could see that the crime scene had been processed, but there was nothing among the trees to indicate a man had been murdered. “Whoever is behind the kidnapping doesn’t want to leave any loose ends. The guy who was killed was the man I caught at the side of your sister’s house.”
“So the driver killed the male kidnapper rather than leave him alive to talk. That’s half the team who attacked Michelle.”
Rachel tossed Dallas a quick look. “She seems to be better today. More relaxed at the ranch.”
“Katie has something to do with that.”
Dallas smiled.
Ten minutes later Rachel pulled into the parking lot at the apartment building where Lynn Davis lived. There were only a few cars around. “It looks like most everyone is at work.”
Dallas knocked on the door of apartment 2E on the second floor. He waited a minute and rapped his knuckles against the door again.
“Hold your horses. I’m coming,” a female voice shouted from inside.
Dallas held up his badge so Lynn could see his identification.
The lock clicked, and the door swung open. “Has something happened in this building? The cops are here at least once a week.” Her curly hair tousled, the middle-aged blonde, dressed in a robe, blocked their entry into the apartment. “I need to get ready to go to work. I’ve seen and heard nothing.”
Rachel stared at the woman’s hair, almost the same as their suspect, and put her hand on the butt of her holstered gun. “You’re going to Baby and Things?”
“No, that’s only my weekend job. I work at Lone Star Tavern, not too far from here.” Lynn crossed her arms over her chest.
Dallas crowded closer to the woman until she had to step back. “This is about last Friday at Baby and Things.”
Lynn switched her attention to him. “Nothing happened there. It was a boring, uneventful day.”
Dallas held up Lenora’s photo. “Do you remember seeing her on Friday?”
Lynn’s eyebrows crunched together. “Not on Friday but she seems familiar. I could have waited on her once before. What’s wrong?”
“Her baby was kidnapped.” Dallas showed Lynn the drawing of the suspect. “Have you ever seen her in the store?”
Lynn’s eyes grew round. “Why?”
“She’s a person of interest in the case.” Rachel dropped her hand away from her holster. Lynn Davis didn’t look anything like the woman in Michelle’s drawing, except for the hair.
“What time are you talking about on Friday? I was late for work because my car broke down and I had to have it towed to a garage. I didn’t show up until noon.”
Although Rachel didn’t think she had anything to do with the kidnapping, Lynn’s alibi would have to be checked. “Have you seen this lady at any time?”
“Maybe the one as a brunette.”
“When? Where?”
Lynn shook her head. “Maybe the store or the tavern. I don’t know.”
Rachel handed the woman her business card. “If you remember where or when you saw her, please let me know right away. A child’s life is at stake.”
“I will.”
Dallas touched the brim of his cowboy hat. “Thanks, ma’am. We appreciate it.”
When they returned to the cruiser, Rachel glanced up to the window that would be Lynn’s apartment. The blonde was watching them. “For just a second I thought we had our suspect, but she looks fifteen or twenty years older.”
“Yeah. She is, not to mention her eyes and brows are different.”
“And her nose isn’t even close.”
“Let’s go see Carrie Zoeller.”
Twenty minutes later, Rachel parked in front of a small, one-story house in a neighborhood not far from the shopping center. A tricycle sat on the porch.
Dallas rang the bell once, then again a minute later. “She must be gone. The carport is empty.”
Rachel glanced up and down the street and noticed a car in the driveway of a neighbor’s place. “Let’s talk to whoever lives next door.” Before leaving, she took her business card out of her pocket and scribbled a note on it for Carrie to contact her.
With Dallas next to her, she left the porch and crossed the yard, approaching a teenaged boy washing his white Mustang. “Do you know when Carrie Zoeller will be home?”
The boy looked over his shoulder and shrugged. “She left about an hour ago. Don’t know where she went.”
“I saw a tricycle out front. Does she have a child?”
“Yep, two boys.”
“What are their ages?” Dallas interjected.
“Two and four, I think. Is something wrong? She’s a nice lady.”
Dallas held up the two drawings of the suspect. “Have you ever seen anyone around here that looks like this?”
The young man shook his head. “No, sir.”
Rachel smiled. “Thanks.”
As they walked toward the cruiser, her cell phone rang and she noticed the call was from Deputy Jones. “Yes. What’s going on?�
��
“There’s been another baby kidnapped, in Guadalupe County. Same MO as ours.”
Rachel’s heart sank.
EIGHT
As Rachel drove back to Cimarron Trail from Guadalupe County later that day, Dallas’s mind swirled with all the clues and unanswered questions concerning the case. “If there had been any doubt about Lynn, we know for sure she isn’t the woman who abducted Brady nor the Rands’ five-month-old baby boy, Chris. She couldn’t be in two places at one time.”
“The kidnappers are bold, snatching their son Chris from his bedroom while he was napping. I wasn’t even sure it was part of the baby ‘shopping’ ring until Mrs. Rand talked about going to Baby and Things two days ago. It’s too late to go pay the owner a visit at his store.”
“But not his home. I had my office send me his house address. Let’s drop by and have a little chat with the man. It’s only half an hour away.” Dallas plugged where Steve Tucker lived into Rachel’s GPS system in the cruiser.
“Why these babies? It’s as if they are being selected for a reason. There’s nothing random about these kidnappings.”
“Like a designer baby ring. They’re picking the children from a list of certain traits. Mr. Rand is a professor at a college and Mrs. Rand is still on maternity leave from her law practice. Paul is an accountant. Lenora has a college degree in biology, and before she had Brady she worked at a scientific laboratory. We need to check on the backgrounds of the parents of the other babies abducted in Texas.”
“They’re going out looking for certain traits and attributes of a child. That means there’s a lot of money changing hands.” Rachel shuddered. “The ring must have many people working for it if this is the same one as the other places in Texas. I think we need another press conference tomorrow. If we tell people what’s going on, maybe someone will come forward with information that leads to the ringleader’s arrest. I’m going to send a deputy to both sets of parents to make sure they haven’t crossed paths somewhere else besides Baby and Things.”
Texas Baby Pursuit Page 10