by Donna Grant
Cooper and Jace shared a look. They’d both been with Brice and Caleb last night. Brice was excited but more nervous about the possibility of the adoption falling through. His and Naomi’s attempt to have their own children hadn’t worked out, but they still wanted to bring a child into their lives.
“Are you going there now?” Betty asked.
Cooper nodded as he rose and rinsed off his plate to put in the dishwasher. “Brice and Naomi already left, but Jace and I are going to help get the house ready for them.”
“Isn’t the baby’s room finished? I thought the girls went shopping already?” Betty asked.
Jace choked on his coffee. “If you call what they did shopping. I didn’t realize women could buy so much in one day.”
Betty chuckled and shook her head as she leaned back in her chair. “You boys have a lot to learn about women.”
“I know all I need to know,” Jace stated and quickly got to his feet.
The uncharacteristic anger from his friend caught Cooper’s attention. He shrugged when his mother gave him a questioning look because he had no idea what was going on with Jace. Surely, it wasn’t about Jace’s ex. That had been over for some time now. By all accounts, Jace had moved past that, but this comment made Cooper rethink things.
“You boys leave the dishes,” Betty said when Jace began cleaning. “I’ve got a couple of hours before I open the salon. I can clean.”
Jace shot Betty one of his bright smiles. “If my momma taught me anything, she taught me that I always help clean after someone fixes me a meal.”
“One of the many reasons I love your mother,” Betty replied.
Cooper joined Jace. Before long, the kitchen was cleaned. He wiped his hands on a towel to dry them and then looked at his mom. Betty Owens was the strongest woman he knew. But he worried about her. He didn’t like her living alone. His father might have been her soul mate, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t find someone else to love.
“See you tonight,” Cooper told her before kissing her on the cheek.
Jace followed with a kiss on the other cheek. “Bye, Mom.”
It was a running joke that they had been friends so long that it was like having two sets of parents. Cooper even called Jace’s parents Mom and Dad. They were all that close.
“Be safe, boys,” Betty called as they walked out.
Jace was still smiling while walking to their trucks. “You’ve got a great mom.”
“So do you.”
“Oh, I know, but Betty is truly something special. She handled both of us on her own when my parents sometimes didn’t know what to do.”
Cooper laughed as he recalled some of their rowdier antics. “That’s true. But we also gave your parents more of a hard time because there were two of them.”
They reached their vehicles. Instead of getting in, Jace smiled, a faraway look in his eyes. “The world was so simple back then.”
“It stopped being simple a long time ago,” Cooper stated.
Jace shrugged. “I suppose so.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Of course,” Jace said, shrugging off the question. “I’ll follow you to the Rockin’ H.”
Cooper wanted to say more, but when Jace decided to clam up, there was no getting him to talk—about anything. Cooper got into his truck and started the engine. He waited for Jace, then he backed out of his mother’s drive before heading down the road.
He glanced to the side and looked at his mother’s house. After the work accident that had killed his father at the sawmill, the company had given Betty a large sum of money. That, along with the life insurance, had left them sitting very pretty. She could’ve moved into a bigger house, one the size of the Easts’, but she had chosen to remain here.
She had paid off bills, settled the mortgages on the house and the hair salon she owned, and began investing. Cooper had always known things were good for her financially, but he hadn’t realized how good until a few years ago when he resigned his commission in the Air Force and returned home. That’s when his mom had transferred most of the investments into his name. Cooper had gotten a look at just how good his mother was. She had tripled the money.
It meant that neither she nor Cooper ever had to work again. That knowledge relieved a lot of Cooper’s worry about his mom. If nothing else, she would never have to be concerned about money.
He drove down the road toward the Rockin’ H horse ranch that Brice and Caleb owned together. Brice had an eye for picking horses, and Caleb could train any equine. It was a match that brought in a ton of business for the brothers.
They, along with Cooper and Jace, had spent years on the rodeo circuit. Brice and Caleb did team roping, while Jace had chosen steer wrestling, and Cooper calf roping. They had all been very good at their chosen sports. Even after Brice and Caleb walked away to open their ranch, Cooper and Jace had continued.
But Cooper was ready to hang it up. Not that he didn’t enjoy it, but it didn’t satisfy him like it used to. Nothing did anymore, if he were honest. He worked jobs at the East Ranch and helped Caleb and Brice when they needed it. Hell, a year ago, he helped Danny Oldman, the sheriff, out with a sticky situation.
Cooper needed to find his direction. He just wasn’t sure where that might lead. He was finished with the military, and he was done with the rodeo. He enjoyed helping his friends, but there had to be more.
A FOR SALE sign caught his attention. The overgrown pasture had been on the market for years. And this was the fourth time it had caught Cooper’s attention. If he told his mom, she’d say that it was a sign he should look into it.
Maybe she was right.
Once at the Rockin’ H, Cooper parked and turned off his truck, but he didn’t get out. Instead, he grabbed his cell phone and called the realty company. As he spoke to someone on the phone, giving the location, he watched as Caleb handed Jace a handful of ribbons attached to balloons. There were so many, Cooper was surprised that Jace didn’t float away.
It took both men to get the balloons into the house. Cooper pulled the phone away from his ear, put the call on speaker, and recorded the hilarity of the situation. It was like watching a silent movie between two of the Three Stooges. Cooper kept his laughter silent as he got the information from the realty company and stopped filming.
He watched the video again. This time, laughing out loud.
Chapter 2
It never ended. Marlee had thought that after ten years, she would make some kind of dent in the never-ending—and growing—pile of cases for kidnapped babies and children. It might have begun with her sister, but it had become Marlee’s passion, the thing that consumed her.
One agency, in particular, had caught her attention. She couldn’t prove it—yet—but she knew the Family First Adoption Agency was moving children illegally. She’d done her own investigation into them, so she knew how legit they looked.
She watched the comings and goings in the small Texas town from the driver’s seat of her economy rental in a parking lot outside of the courthouse and police station. The vehicle was so small, she felt like she was in a clown car, but she had to stretch her budget. Besides, she’d gotten used to driving such vehicles a long time ago.
It felt like another lifetime when she’d tried to get as much car as she could afford—and always spent more than she should. Now, she spent her days in rentals that could be labeled kids’ vehicles, they were so tiny. She had stopped buying cars for herself long ago. The used Volvo parked in California had been paid off for some time, and she was just fine with that setup. Because it allowed her to spend more of her money on her investigations.
Which was what had brought her to Texas.
Her client was searching for his missing newborn son. That had Marlee hunting in Texas, particularly near Dallas since it was the closest city to the family. She had gotten a tip and was about to disregard it when something had caught her eye about the young couple. On paper, they looked normal. All the I’s dotted and T’s cross
ed. For all she knew, they were everyday folks. Yet, she’d learned the hard way that people were rarely who they appeared to be.
Brice and Naomi Harper were young and seemed in love. Marlee had been following them for two days now. Their family and friends were numerous, but that didn’t mean the couple wasn’t involved in something nefarious. People always did crazy things when children were involved. A woman desperate to have her own would do anything for a baby. Marlee had stopped hoping that the people she investigated were good and that there was no reason for her to be looking into them. But that was never the case. It wouldn’t be here, either.
She blew out a breath and reached for the cup of coffee that had gone cold. That was another thing she got used to—cold coffee. She could drink it hot, cold, and any way in between now. Gone were the days when it had to be hot in order for her to get it down. Then again, it wasn’t as if her line of work allowed for a lot of niceties.
She hadn’t had a home-cooked meal in ages. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been to a gym. Or the movies. Shopping was done by necessity only—and usually then for equipment to make her job easier. She racked up loads of frequent flier miles and points at hotels. At the rate she was going, she could take a yearlong vacation on some tropical island and not pay for anything.
Not that it would happen. Every time she thought about taking some time off, she thought about the families that’d had their babies or children kidnapped. She thought of the children yanked away from those that loved them—and she continued working.
Marlee yawned and looked at the last half of her gas station sandwich with distaste. She’d love a hot meal. Ohhh, even better, a long shower. But it would be hours before she got that. She leaned her head to the side and stretched her neck before repeating the movement on the opposite side. A knot had formed in her shoulders. If she didn’t get that seen to soon, she’d be unable to turn her head, which would make her work even harder.
She grabbed her phone and searched for local massage places. Unfortunately, she couldn’t book anything since she had no idea when she’d have any downtime. For the last thirty minutes, she’d been waiting for the Harpers to walk out of the police station. She had been shocked when they pulled into the parking lot and climbed out of the SUV before opening the passenger door and taking out the baby carrier. Marlee hadn’t gotten a glimpse of the infant within since it was swaddled against the cold, and the cover was pulled over it.
Her search for masseuses ended as she went back to reading the file on the Harpers on her tablet. Brice Harper owned half of the Rockin’ H horse ranch with his brother, Caleb. Naomi was a photographer who sold most of her work online. The couple had been married for four years and were both successful in their businesses. They were also connected to the Easts.
Marlee scrolled through the information on her tablet until she got to Clayton and Abby East. Years ago, after his parents died, Clayton had inherited the East Ranch, the largest cattle ranch in the area. He and Abby were well known in the community. They did a lot for the area, including charitable work and making large donations to various nonprofits.
Everyone related to the Harpers and Easts, or friends of the couples, looked like model citizens. That included the local sheriff, Danny Oldman. Marlee wished her view of the world hadn’t been tainted by rich people believing they could buy whatever they wanted with their money or do whatever they wanted, including having a baby cut from a mother. She wished she didn’t know how often the authorities were paid to look the other way. Or, worse, were in on the crimes.
But she did.
She was waging a one-woman war on the world of kidnapped babies and children. She had victories, but there were more defeats than wins. She’d been beaten down many times to the point where she wasn’t sure she could get back up. Then she’d remember the sight of her sister on the street that horrible night a decade earlier.
Marlee would then get back on her feet and take on the next case.
It would be easier if she had a team, but no one seemed to work as hard as she did. Or wanted resolutions as much as she. Only those who had been touched by the same tragedy fully understood it. And only those who got it truly wanted to work the cases.
She sat up straighter when Naomi and Brice walked out of the building, smiling. Behind them was none other than the sheriff. He held the baby carrier this time. Danny Oldman was careful as he put the infant into the car. After a few words to the couple and hugs for Naomi and Brice, the sheriff waved and walked back inside the station.
Once the couple was in their vehicle, Marlee started her car and put the heat on full blast. She sighed at the feel of it warming her. She was used to extreme temperatures, and she didn’t let a car idle unless she didn’t have a choice.
She made sure to keep as much distance as possible between her and the navy Mercedes SUV. There wasn’t a lot of traffic, so she used that to her advantage and put even more distance between them. Based on the map she’d memorized of the area, as well as the few days she’d spent in town, the couple was headed back to the ranch.
The SUV didn’t stop again until it reached the Rockin’ H. Marlee couldn’t travel down the drive to follow them, but as she passed, she saw the house in the distance and the number of cars parked there. No doubt there was going to be a party.
Under any other circumstances, Marlee would have said it was indeed a day for celebration. But she knew the awful truth of many of these matters, and she could find no joy in it whatsoever.
She kept driving, letting the entrance to the Rockin’ H—and her quarry—go for the evening. The couple was home now, which would make things much easier. She dialed her connection in Dallas, the one who had agreed to watch the adoption for her so she could stay in town and do more scouting of the area and its inhabitants.
Marlee waited for John Leon to answer. Even before she met him in person, she’d known he was a big man. John was a six-foot-five, two-hundred-and-fifty-pound black man with a look that could stop people in their tracks. He was, in a nutshell, not someone you wanted to fuck with.
“Marlee. How are things?” his deep voice asked when he picked up the call.
She meandered her way back to town. “As good as you can expect. Tell me about the adoption.”
“It was with the Family First Adoption Agency, just as you said it would be. And they beefed up security.”
That made Marlee frown. “What do you mean? You’ve had dealings with them before?”
John sighed loudly. “They landed on my radar once before. When I began closing in on them, the agency suddenly shut down. This is them, just with a new name.”
“What?” Marlee asked with a shake of her head. “You didn’t say any of this when I called last week.”
“Because I wasn’t sure,” John told her. “I didn’t have enough on them the first time to get the authorities brought in, but I sent what I did have to a friend in the FBI. The next day, the company was gone. For the last two years, I’ve been looking to see if they reopened. I started to think they were gone for good when I went to Family First for you. This time, they were in a secure building. When I reached their floor, someone at the elevator asked my name. I pretended I’d read the wrong floor for where I was going, but I’m not sure the guy bought it. I recognized him from the old company. He probably recognized me, as well.”
“Which means they could close up this one also,” Marlee said and slammed her hand against the steering wheel. “Dammit. I’d love to take them down.”
“You’ve got to get the new parents first. That way, it won’t matter if the company folds, the Harpers will have information on them that we can give to the authorities.”
Marlee rolled her eyes. She had given up on the FBI doing anything about these crimes. They might claim to care, but no matter what evidence she brought them, they never followed up. Apparently, they were too busy for such things.
“Did you have a family you could push into helping you last time?” Marlee asked.
>
“No.”
One word. That’s all she would get. But that’s all she needed to know that it had to do with his grandson’s kidnapping.
“Tell me about the Harpers’ visit then,” she urged.
John said, “The couple arrived early. As I mentioned, I tried to follow them up, but since I suspected I was being followed myself, I went two floors above them and made an appointment at the acupuncturist there. Then I left. I waited in my car for the couple to return. It took nearly three hours before they walked out with the newborn and got into their car to leave.”
“Thanks, John. I appreciate the help. You should have the payment for your fee. I sent it earlier.”
“I got it,” he said after a long pause. “Marlee, you’ve been doing this a long time, just like me, so please hear me when I say that I’ve got a bad feeling about this. You need to be careful.”
She scrunched up her face. “I think if anyone needs to be careful, it’s you. I’m not the one who went to the agency.”
“Be that as it may, heed my warning.”
“I’m not walking away from this case. The mother was killed the same way as my sister. This baby might not be the one I’m looking for, but the dates all line up. And whether this child was cut out of its mother or not, we both know the agency isn’t on the up and up.”
John grunted. “That’s the thing. I’ve been doing some research on them while waiting for you to call. They look legit. The kind of lawful that they weren’t before.”
“Then maybe it isn’t the same company.”
“I think it is, but I think they got smarter this time around.”
“That one guy you saw … He’s probably security and moves around a lot.”
“I don’t think so,” John said. “This company—”
“Is moving children off the books,” Marlee interrupted him. “I know just how freaking legit it appears. But I also found at least ten adoptions over the last year that were done off the books. There’s more. I know it.”