by Barb Han
Abigail, Tommy’s secretary, appeared in the doorway before Dallas could answer. She’d been with the sheriff’s office long before Tommy arrived and had become invaluable to him in the five years since he’d taken the job. She threatened to retire every year, and every year he made an offer she couldn’t refuse.
“I can take care of that for you,” she said. “Where’s the bottle?”
“In there,” Kate said, attempting to handle the baby and make a move for the diaper bag next to her. She couldn’t quite manage it and started to tear up as Abigail shooed her away, scooping the bag off the floor.
“Thank you,” Kate said, glancing from Abigail to Dallas.
“Don’t be silly.” The older woman just smiled. “You’ve been through a lot this morning.” She motioned toward Jackson. “It’ll get easier with him. The first few months are always the most difficult with a new baby.”
Dallas felt as out of place in the conversation as catfish bait in a tilapia pond. And then a thought struck him. If he was a father—and he wasn’t anywhere near ready to admit to the possibility just yet—he’d need to learn about diaper bags and 3:00 a.m. feedings. Kate’s employee had taken her up-all-night excuse far too easily, which meant it happened enough for her to be able to know using it wouldn’t be questioned.
Speaking of which, Allen seemed to know way too much about Kate’s personal life, which could mean that the office employees were close, and it was clear he wanted more than a professional relationship with her. The guy was a little too cozy with his boss and Dallas didn’t like it. She obviously refused his advances. A thought struck. Could that be enough for him to want to punish her by removing the only obstacle between them—her child?
He was probably reaching for a simple explanation. Even so, it was a question Dallas intended to bounce around with Tommy.
Dallas made a mental note to ask Kate more about her relationship with Allen as soon as the baby was calm again, which happened a few seconds after Abigail returned with a warmed bottle and he began feeding.
The look of panic didn’t leave Kate’s face entirely during the baby’s meal, but she gazed lovingly at her son.
Dallas had questions and needed answers, the quicker the better. However, it didn’t feel right interrupting mother and son during what looked to be a bonding moment.
But then, not being a father himself, what the hell did he know about it?
Sipping his coffee, he waited for Kate to speak first. It didn’t take long. Another few minutes and she finally said, “I want to apologize about my behavior this morning. I’m not normally so…frazzled.”
“You’re doing better than you think,” he said, offering reassurance.
“Am I?” she asked. “Because I feel like I’m all over the place emotionally.”
“Trust me. You’re doing fine.”
Her shoulders relaxed a little and that made Dallas smile.
“I do have a question for you, though,” he said.
She nodded.
“How well do you know your employees?” he asked, ignoring the most probable reason Allen’s attraction grated on him so much. Dallas liked her, too.
“Some more than others, I guess.” She shrugged. “We’re a small office, so we talk.”
The baby finished his bottle and she placed a cloth napkin over her shoulder before laying him across it and patting his back.
“What does that do?” Dallas’s curiosity about babies was getting the best of him. His stress was also growing with every passing day that Morton didn’t return his texts.
“Gets the gas out of his stomach. Believe me, you want it out. If you don’t he can cramp up and become miserable.” She frowned.
“And when he’s miserable, you’re miserable.”
“Exactly,” she said, her tone wistful. A tear escaped, rolling down her cheek. She wiped it away and quickly apologized. “This whole parenting thing has been much harder than I expected.”
“Whoever did this to you and left should be castrated,” Dallas said. And he figured he was a hypocrite with that coming out of his mouth, given that he might have done the same to another woman. However, he had very strong feelings about the kind of man who didn’t mind making a baby, but couldn’t be bothered to stick around to be a father to the child. The operative word in his situation was that he might have unwittingly done that to someone. And he had no proof that Susan had actually been pregnant with his child, given that she’d disappeared when he’d offered to bring up the baby separately, instead of agreeing to her suggestion that they immediately marry. Her call had come out of the blue, months after they’d parted ways.
His gaze didn’t budge from Kate. He expected some kind of reaction from her. All he saw was genuine embarrassment.
“Oh, I have no one to blame. I did it to myself,” she said.
“I may not be an expert on babies, but I do know how they’re made. And I’m fairly certain there has to be a partner.” It was Dallas’s turn to shoot her a confused look.
“Adoption,” she said.
He gave her another.
“Surely you’ve heard of adopting a baby?” she asked tartly.
“Of course I have. I just didn’t know that was your circumstance,” he said stupidly.
Looking closer at the baby, Dallas couldn’t help but notice the boy had dark curly hair.
Not unlike his own.
CHAPTER THREE
Kate recognized the sheriff as soon as he stepped inside his office. Not only had she seen him around town, he’d stopped by the kitchen to welcome her when she’d first opened her doors.
He was close to Dallas O’Brien’s height, so at least six feet tall. His hair was light brown and his eyes matched the shade almost perfectly.
She was relieved for the interruption, after sharing the news about Jackson being adopted, and especially after Dallas’s reaction, which made no sense to her. He seemed fine with her being a single parent, but lost his ability to speak once she’d mentioned the adoption. What was up with that?
The sheriff acknowledged Dallas first and then offered a handshake to Kate.
Dallas relayed the morning’s events succinctly and Kate’s heart squeezed at hearing the words, knowing how close she’d been to losing her son. She reminded herself that she had Dallas to thank for thwarting the kidnapping attempt.
If he hadn’t been there…
She shivered, deflecting the chill gripping her spine.
“Most kidnappings involve family. Sounds like that isn’t the case here,” the sheriff said. “We can’t rule out the birth parents. What’s your relationship with them?”
“None,” Kate responded. She hadn’t thought about the possibility that Jackson’s biological parents could’ve changed their minds. “The adoption was closed, records sealed, based on the mother’s request.”
“I’ll make contact with the agency to see if I can get any additional information from them. I wouldn’t count on it without a court order, though,” Tommy warned. “What’s the name?”
“Safe Haven,” she stated.
Tommy nodded. “Good. I know who they are.”
Kate held tighter to Jackson. Could the kidnapper have been the birth father? If an investigation was opened, could the birth mother change her mind and take her son away?
“Can you give a description of the man from this morning?” Tommy asked.
“Everything happened so fast. All I can remember is that he was wearing a hoodie and a high turtleneck. He was medium height and had these beady dark eyes against olive skin. It didn’t look like he’d shaved in a few days. That’s about all I can remember,” she said.
“It’s a start,” Tommy said, and his words were reassuring.
He turned to Dallas with that same questioning look.
“He was young and I didn’t recognize his voice, so I don’t think he’s from around here,” Dallas added.
“Is it possible that he’s the father? If he’s not local, then maybe he just foun
d out about the baby and tracked us down,” Kate said, fear racing through her at the thought.
“We can’t rule it out, but that’s just one of many possibilities,” Tommy said. “What about your neighbors on Main? I heard some of them weren’t too thrilled when you moved in.”
“That’s the truth,” she said.
“Someone might have tried to scare you enough to get you to close shop and leave town. That’s a best-case scenario, as far as I’m concerned, because it would mean they never intended to hurt you or the baby. I need a list of names of family, friends, anyone who you’ve had a disagreement with, and your employees.”
The last part caught her off guard. Employees?
That had been Dallas’s first suspicion, too.
“Sheriff Johnson, you don’t seriously think one of my people could be involved, do you?” she asked, not able to fathom the possibility that one of her own could’ve turned on her.
“Please, call me Tommy,” he said. “And I have to search for all possible connections to the guy we’re looking for. You’d be surprised what you find out about the people you think you know best.”
In his line of work, she could only imagine how true that statement was. How horrible that anyone she trusted might’ve been involved.
No, it had to be a stranger.
“I have received threats from some of my business neighbors,” she said.
“Tell me more about those,” Tommy said, leaning forward.
“A few of the other tenants got together to file a complaint with my landlord. They said they didn’t think Main was the appropriate place for a soup kitchen,” she explained.
“And what was his response?” Tommy asked.
“He didn’t do anything. Said as long as my rent was paid on time and I wasn’t doing anything illegal, it wasn’t anyone else’s concern,” she said.
“I’ll send one of my deputies to canvass the other tenants and see what he can find out. We’ll cover all bases with our investigation.” Tommy glanced up from his pad. “How long ago did they make the complaint?”
“Right after we first moved in, so about six months ago,” she said.
“Anyone make a formal complaint since?”
She shook her head.
“What about direct threats?” Tommy asked.
“Walter Higgins threatened to force me out of town,” she said. “But that was a while ago.”
“The town needs your services,” Dallas said through clenched teeth. “What kind of jerks complain about a person doing something good for others?”
Jackson stirred at the sound of the loud voice and Kate had to find his binky to pacify him. She shuffled through the diaper bag and came up with it. Jackson settled down as soon as the offering was in his mouth.
“Sorry,” Dallas said with an apologetic glance.
“It takes all kinds,” Tommy agreed. “I’m guessing they figured it would hurt their business. We’ll know more once my deputy speaks to them.”
“It’s not like people hang around after they eat. There’s no loitering allowed downtown,” Kate said.
“It’s a big escalation to go from complaining to your landlord to a personal attack like this on your son.” Based on the sheriff’s tone, her neighbors weren’t serious suspects. Tommy fired off a text before returning his gaze to Kate. “Now tell me more about your people.”
“We have a small office staff,” she conceded. “Allen Lentz is my second in command and takes care of everything when I’m not around. Other than that, there are about a dozen cooks and food service workers. Only one is on payroll. The others are volunteers.”
Dallas’s posture tensed when she mentioned Allen.
Kate registered the subtle change and moved on. She rattled off a few more names and job descriptions.
The sheriff nodded and jotted a few notes on his palm-sized notebook.
“And then there’s Randy Ruiz. He keeps the place running on our tight budget. He’s our general handyman, muscle and overall miracle worker. Anything heavy needs lifting, he’s our guy. He’s been especially helpful and dependable in the six months he’s been with us.” Despite Randy’s past, she knew full well that he would never hurt her or Jackson.
Dallas seemed to perk up and she was afraid she’d tried to sell Randy a little too hard. True, she could be a little overprotective of him. He’d had a hard road and she wanted to see him succeed.
“Tabitha Farmer does all our administrative work,” Kate added quickly, to keep the conversation moving. “Her official title is volunteer coordinator.”
“How close are you with donors?” Tommy asked.
Thinking about the possibility that anyone in her circle could have arranged to have her child kidnapped was enough to turn Kate’s stomach. She clasped him closer.
For Jackson’s sake, she had to consider what Dallas and the sheriff were saying no matter how much she hated to view her friends and acquaintances with a new lens.
Maybe she was being naive, but she’d been careful to fill her life with genuine people since moving to Bluff from the city. “I maintain a professional distance. However, I do get invited to personal events like weddings and lake house parties.”
“And what do you do with your son during these outings?” Dallas interjected, no doubt remembering her conversation with Allen earlier.
“I don’t usually go. But I used Allen once,” she replied.
“Allen?” Dallas looked up from intensely staring into his cup of coffee.
“We’re like a family at the kitchen, and we take care of each other,” she said defensively.
Dallas’s cocked eyebrow didn’t sit well with her. She could feel herself getting more and more defensive.
“Despite what you may be thinking about my employees, they really are a group of decent people,” she stated, making eye contact with him—a mistake she was going to regret, given how much her body reacted to the handsome cowboy.
“In my experience, that doesn’t always prove the truth,” he said, holding her gaze. “When did Allen babysit for you?”
“It’s been a while. I used Tabitha one other time recently.”
“There a reason for that?” Dallas asked, lifting one dark eyebrow.
“Yes, but it doesn’t mean anything,” she said quickly. Then she sighed. “Okay, I thought Allen was getting a little too…involved with me and Jackson, so I thought it would be best to use Tabitha instead. He’s made it clear that he’d like to date.” She involuntarily shivered at the thought of going out with anyone, much less someone from work. “And I’m just not ready for that.”
She’d probably emphasized that last bit a little too much, but what did she care if they knew she wasn’t in the mood to spend time with a man, any man.
“How old is your son?” Tommy asked, after a few uncomfortable seconds had passed.
“Jackson? He’s almost three months old.” Kate gently patted her baby on the back, noticing something stir in Dallas’s eyes.
“What about friends and family?” Tommy asked, his gaze moving from her to his friend. “Anyone in the area?”
“I didn’t know anyone when I moved here, and everything about preparing for the baby was harder than I expected, so, yes, I bonded with my employees.”
“You don’t have family in this part of Texas?” Tommy asked.
“It’s just me and Jackson.” She shook her head. “My brother and I are close, but he lives in Richardson, which is a suburb of Dallas. He works nonstop. We started a tech company together after college and made enough to do okay. I sold my interest in the business to have a baby, and now he’s running it alone.”
“Forgive this question…” Tommy hesitated before continuing, “But how did your brother take the news about you leaving the business the two of you started?”
“Carter? He was fine with my decision. He knew how much I wanted to start a family,” she said defensively, a red rash crawling up her neck. And if he hadn’t been the most enthusiastic about her
choice at first, he’d come around.
“Again, I’m sorry. I had to ask,” the sheriff murmured, taking a seat across from her in the sitting area of the office.
“Mind if I ask why you decided to move to Bluff?” Dallas asked.
“There was a need for a soup kitchen, and it’s one of the most family-friendly towns in Texas three years running, according to the internet,” she said with a shrug. “I thought it would be a good place to bring up a baby.”
“Even without family here?” Tommy asked.
“My parents didn’t approve of my decision to have a child alone.” She didn’t really want to go down that road again, explaining the quirks of her family to a stranger. The one where her mother had flipped out and pretended to have a heart attack in order to alter Kate’s course.
She glanced at Dallas, ready to defend herself to him, and was surprised by the look of sympathy she got instead.
“I guess I don’t understand that particular brand of thinking. It’s my personal belief that families should stick together even if they don’t agree with each other’s decisions,” Dallas said, his steely voice sliding right through her.
The sincerity in those words nearly brought her to tears.
Why did it suddenly matter so much what a stranger thought about her or her family?
* * *
DALLAS NOTICED KATE’S emotional reaction to what he’d said about family. If she really was at odds with hers then they couldn’t rule them out as suspects.
“If you’ll excuse us, I’d like to speak to the sheriff in the hallway for a minute,” he said to her.
“Do we have to wait around? Can we go home now?” she asked, clearly rattled from their conversation.
“I don’t think it’s safe,” Dallas said, before Tommy could answer. “This attack was ambush-style and planned.”
His friend was already nodding in agreement. “The kidnapper had a knife and a getaway vehicle,” he added. “This indicates premeditation. I’ll need to run this scenario through the database and see if there are similar incidents out there. In the meantime, I’d like to send a deputy to your house to take a look around.”