by Donna Grant
“You’re telling me you can sit here and honestly tell me that none of your friends have been involved in anything illegal?”
He jerked back as if hit. “Damn straight, I can. Danny Oldman, the sheriff, made sure we kept our noses clean and did so all the way back to when he was a sheriff’s deputy. Ryan Wells, the chief of police, is also a friend. You don’t have friends like that if you’re engaged in anything illegal.”
“Some might claim that having those kinds of friends that you can ask to look the other way is exactly what you want.”
Cooper leaned back and put an arm along the back of the booth. He had the feeling that Marlee was after something specific, and he wished she’d get there. “I’m a straight shooter, Marlee. If you have a question, just ask it. I don’t do well with beating around the bush. And by the things you’re saying, you know the question you want to ask.”
She slowly sat back, though her hands still rested on the table. She clasped them together and drew in a deep breath. “I don’t want to ask it.”
“I think you need to. For both our sakes.” Their food arrived, though neither looked at the waitress. Cooper’s gut clenched. All this time, he’d held out hope that she might find him attractive, but he was beginning to suspect that she had an agenda.
“You really want me to ask it?”
He gave a single nod. “Yes, ma’am.”
Marlee licked her lips. “Is there a chance that Brice and Naomi paid someone to kidnap a baby for them?”
The question hung in the air between them. Cooper was shocked to his very bones that Marlee would even think such a thing. But it was the way she worded it—as if she knew Brice and Naomi personally.
That wall around Marlee? It was put up out of fear. She erected it to keep people like him from learning anything about her.
Anger boiled within Cooper, but he kept his temper in check. He leaned forward, his voice low as he said, “I’ve been sitting here, charming you, making sure not to ask questions I know you wouldn’t answer and otherwise doing my damnedest to woo you. And all this time, you only wanted to find out about my friends. You should’ve asked instead of wasting our time.” He slid out of the booth and drew out his wallet to toss down enough cash to pay for his meal. Then he grabbed his jacket. “The answer to your question is, no, they would never do anything so heinous. They’re good people. You’d know that if you talked to them.”
Cooper left the café, got into his truck, and drove off. He had no idea where he was going until he ended up headed straight for the Rockin’ H. Cooper didn’t want to talk to Brice or Caleb about this now. He needed to calm down first. Cooper altered his course and went to Jace’s apartment instead.
He banged his fist on the door.
A second later, Jace opened it. His smile died as he took a step back to let Cooper enter. “What the hell happened?”
Cooper walked farther into the apartment and found Ryan Wells there. He nodded at Ryan, though he still hadn’t said anything.
“Whoa,” Ryan said as he quirked a brow from where he sat at the kitchen table. “When I saw you earlier, you were all smiles, talking about that redhead you met. Does this mean she turned you down?”
Jace frowned. “Wait. What? I thought I had dibs on the redhead.”
“You can have her,” Cooper stated and strode to the fridge to get a beer. But as he reached for one, he changed his mind and slammed the door. Then he turned and grabbed the bottle of bourbon.
“Ah, shit,” Jace said. “It’s bad if he’s skipping beer and going straight for the bourbon.”
Ryan was all serious as he said, “Coop, tell us what happened.”
Cooper went to drink from the bottle but Jace took it from him and poured some into a glass. Cooper tossed that back before he yanked out a chair and sat at the table. “I ran into Marlee at the café. I thought it was innocent, but she was there to meet me.”
“Why do you say that?” Jace asked as he leaned back against the counter, watching him.
Cooper shrugged. “Oh, because all she wanted to know was if Naomi and Brice paid someone to kidnap a baby for them.”
“What?” Jace bellowed in outrage. “She’s out of her mind!”
“What if she’s not?” Ryan asked calmly.
Cooper swung his gaze to the chief. “What do you mean?”
“I know you’ve both heard about the string of murders and the babies that have been taken.”
Jace made a face. “Yeah. Crazy assholes.”
“Without a doubt,” Ryan said. “However, recently, a week-old infant was abducted at a shopping mall in Dallas.”
Rage still burned in Cooper, but not nearly as brightly. He held out his glass for Jace to fill again. After tossing back another swallow, Cooper looked at Ryan.
“What can you find out about Marlee?”
Chapter 8
She’d blown it. Marlee couldn’t believe she’d been so fucking stupid as to blurt out the very thing she wanted to know. All because Cooper had drawn her in and made her think she could ask him anything.
“Stupid. So damn stupid,” she reprimanded herself once she was back in her motel room.
She paced the small space, her mind going through the various options she had. Usually, she liked to scrutinize an area and the subjects to gather as much evidence as she could. Only then did she approach law enforcement with her proof and let them take it from there.
This job had been different from the very beginning. She thought it was because she had just come from her last case that hadn’t ended well.
Being unable to locate a missing child always struck her particularly hard. Sometimes, she was able to uncover things the authorities missed, which helped to find the child. Other times … well, other times it didn’t go so well.
In some cases, the child seemed to simply vanish. In those instances, she never gave up hope and never stopped looking. Those cases—and there were more than she wanted to admit—were filed at her home office. She often looked through them, seeing if she could find something new.
But the worst cases were the ones when she had to inform parents that their child was dead. Those weighed heavily on her. And that was what’d happened with her last job. She could still hear the mother’s grief as she wailed her misery, her husband simply holding her, his tears falling silently down his face.
The scene was so reminiscent of her parents when she’d told them about Macey and the baby that it took her months to shake it off.
Marlee stopped in the middle of the room next to the bed. She looked at the pictures scattered across the duvet and on the wall. The one of Naomi and Brice Harper looking lovingly at each other struck her. Maybe it was because of the strange and unwanted feelings Cooper stirred within her, or perhaps it was his icy fury at the thought of his friends doing something unlawful. Still, Marlee knew she had to deviate from her usual modus operandi.
Now that Cooper knew what she was about, she only had two choices. She could go to the police and give them what little she had, or … she could go to the Harpers and talk to them.
It only took half a second to decide. She strode from her motel room to her rental. All the way to the Rockin’ H Ranch, Marlee went over how she would approach the couple. She listed her qualifications, how she came to have her current assignment, and detailed what she needed. It was so good that she went over it a second and a third time.
But the minute she stood before their door, and it opened to reveal Naomi, everything Marlee had planned rushed out of her head.
“Hi,” Naomi said with a small frown, her chestnut eyes filled with concern. “Can I help you?”
“Who is it, babe?” a deep voice asked from behind her. A moment later, Brice’s tall frame came into view. His dark brown hair was trimmed neatly as he wrapped an arm around his wife. “Hi there,” Brice said. “How can we help?”
Marlee’s stomach tightened with anxiety. A part of her wanted to make up some excuse and run away, but she couldn’t. She kn
ew that. So, she steeled herself and swallowed. “I’m sorry to intrude and to come by so late. My name is Marlee Frampton. I’m a private investigator, and I was wondering if I could speak with the two of you.”
Unease had Naomi’s hand tightening on the door. Brice didn’t so much as twitch. Marlee met the couple’s stare and waited for them to make a decision.
Brice’s voice was even as he said, “We got a call from the chief of police, Ryan Wells. Cooper told him about you. Ryan suspected you might stop by.”
Naomi nodded to Brice. He then released his wife so she could move and open the door wider. “Please, come in,” Naomi told Marlee.
As soon as she walked into the house, she felt its welcoming embrace. There was love here, and it gave off an energy that couldn’t be dismissed. Marlee looked at the entry that was both simplistic and amazingly stylish. An elegant table with iron legs and a thick wooden top sat against the wall. Two stacks of books were piled on its surface, one on either side of a clear vase with a floral arrangement inside. A large, oval mirror hung on the wall above the table. Opposite the table was a large photograph of a pasture at sunset with horses grazing. It was so stunning that Marlee couldn’t look away.
“That picture is … I can’t even put it in words,” she said.
Brice smiled. “Naomi has a gift, that’s for sure.”
“Thank you,” Naomi told her.
Marlee glanced at the floor, embarrassed to have forgotten that Naomi was a photographer.
“Let’s go into the living room,” Naomi said and motioned to a doorway.
She led the way with Marlee following her. Brice brought up the rear. After being invited to sit in a chair, Marlee quickly took in the clean lines of the furniture and the neutral colors that gave her a feeling of peace.
“Would you like some coffee or tea?” Naomi asked.
Brice raised a brow. “Or something stronger? You look like you might need it.”
Marlee smiled despite herself. “I’m not going to lie, a stiff drink sounds nice, but I think it’s better if I refrain for now.”
“Then why don’t you tell us what brought you here?” Brice stated as he sat beside his wife on the sofa.
In an instant, she knew that Brice was on edge, but he was keeping it in check for Naomi. Marlee didn’t blame them. She’d likely be acting similarly if the roles were reversed. That didn’t make things any easier, however.
“I don’t normally come to the family first,” she began. “I have a set path I take on cases, and I rarely deviate from it. But this case isn’t like any others.”
Naomi glanced at Brice. “What case?”
Marlee leaned forward to brace her forearms on her legs and clasped her hands together. Her chin dropped to her chest, and she gave a small shake of her head before looking up again. “Long ago, I worked as a police officer for a small town in California. A case there led me to where I am now.”
Brice leaned back, his pale blue eyes locked on her. “I have a friend who is a private investigator.”
“Then you might understand that while most PIs take on all sorts of cases, some of us specialize in specific areas.”
Naomi fidgeted. “What kind of area do you specialize in?”
“Missing children.”
The moment she said the words, the couple stiffened. Naomi’s face paled with shock, while Brice looked as if he wanted to tear someone in two.
Brice asked, “Why are you here? Specifically.”
“Because I believe the child you adopted is the same little boy who was cut from his mother a little over a week ago,” she told them. She hadn’t meant to be so graphic, but the sooner they realized how serious the issue was, the quicker they might be willing to help her.
Brice said nothing as he closed his eyes. Naomi held his hand as if it were the only thing keeping her grounded. Her frantic gaze searched Marlee’s face. “We did everything we were supposed to do. You must be mistaken. We never would’ve been involved in anything so horrible. You don’t know us, but let me assure you, we did everything by the book.”
“I’m sure you did,” Marlee told the couple as Brice lifted his lids and met her gaze. “However, some of the adoption agencies also do adoptions off the books. Meaning—”
“We know what you mean,” Brice interrupted her. “What do you need from us to know if Nate is the missing baby or not?”
Marlee didn’t let herself breathe a sigh of relief just yet. Brice asking what she wanted didn’t mean the couple would cooperate. “A DNA sample for one. Since the infant I’m looking for never saw a hospital, they don’t have any records. However, his father and two other siblings submitted their DNA for comparison.”
Naomi wiped at a tear that ran down her face. “We tried for so long to have a child. When we learned we couldn’t, we weighed our options. Finally, we decided on adoption. Then we began researching all the different agencies. We went with the one with the best rating. You have to be mistaken.”
“I hope I am,” Marlee told them honestly. “I really do. If I am, I begin my search all over again.”
Naomi sniffed, anger filling her face. “If you aren’t, then you’ll take Nate away from us.”
“To return to his rightful family,” Brice told her and wrapped an arm around his wife to draw her close. “You wouldn’t want to do that to a child, would you, sweetheart? Keep him from his parents?” he asked in a soft voice.
Marlee’s heartstrings tugged. Not just for the couple, but also at the idea that she’d probably never have anyone to talk to her in such a manner. She had set out on her path without looking back or regret. Like her mother said, she had a destiny. And she was going to follow it.
Naomi turned toward Brice, resting her head on his shoulder. Marlee hoped they didn’t push back. She had evidence to bring to the authorities, but it wasn’t as much as she usually did. With the fact that the Harpers knew the sheriff and the chief of police, there was a chance the authorities wouldn’t help her. In which case, Marlee would just continue to gather evidence.
“I have this, if it helps.” She pulled a file from her purse and set it on the coffee table. It held a copy of all the evidence she’d gathered so far. Including everything on the Family First Adoption Agency.
Brice stared at the file for a long moment before he leaned forward and spun it around. Then, after a deep breath, he opened it. Naomi was the first to reach for a page and begin sifting through it.
Marlee sat silently, watching as the couple went through page after page. A few items in there didn’t have proof, just Marlee’s gut feelings. Anyone without investigation experience didn’t often understand those hunches. She could only pray that Brice and Naomi would.
It felt like years passed before Brice handed the last paper to Naomi, and she put them together and returned them to the file. The couple then looked at each other, their hands locked together. Once more, Marlee realized that she would likely never have someone she could turn to like that. It set off an ache inside her that she hadn’t felt before.
“We’ll help,” Naomi said as she turned her head to Marlee. She wiped at her eyes again. “The agency gave us hospital records. Do you need those?”
Marlee nodded, relief surging through her. “That would be helpful, yes.”
“What do we need to do?” Brice asked.
Marlee really hoped that Nate wasn’t the child she was looking for. She had spoken to other couples like this, and they were all devastated. But there was something different about this couple. “Can you bring Nate to the hospital tomorrow? We can set up a time to meet. I have the forms needed so the hospital can conduct their tests and get the samples we need.”
“We can do that.” Naomi was once more back in control of her emotions. “Now that you’ve told us these things happen, I want to have everything in the folder we got from the agency confirmed.”
Marlee got to her feet, feeling worse than she normally did at these meetings. “I am sorry. My job is to get the children
back to their families. Trust me when I say that one of the hardest parts is taking a child from people like you.”
At that moment, a cry sounded through the baby monitor. Naomi jumped up and made her way to the stairs. Brice stood and said, “I’ll see you out.”
They were both silent as they walked to the door. Marlee paused once she opened it and then looked back at Brice. “No matter how this goes, please believe me when I say I’m sorry.”
“I can see it in your eyes.” Brice blew out a breath. “How long have you been surveilling Naomi and me?”
There was no need to lie now. The truth of her arrival in Clearview was now known. “About a week. When the baby was kidnapped, I started keeping tabs on any male infants going up for adoption in the area. I then began investigating you, your ranch, and your family.”
“What about the agency?” he asked. “I looked into them myself. Thoroughly. Even the evidence you gave us to look at doesn’t say much.”
Marlee looked away. “Maybe now isn’t a good time to talk about that.”
“When is a good time?” he demanded. “I think I have a right to ask these questions.”
Marlee shut the door to keep the cold out and met his gaze. “You absolutely do. I said that because you won’t like what I have to tell you.”
“I haven’t liked much of what you’ve said since you arrived. What makes this any different?”
She deserved that. Marlee didn’t take it personally, though. “The government watches adoption agencies, but like all things, if someone wants to do something nefarious, they can. Thousands of children and babies are kidnapped every day in the US alone. Most of them are never found again or even realize they have been taken from their families. Some are located, but I only bring back bodies to those families.”
“How many do you return to their families alive?” Brice asked in a soft voice.
“Not nearly enough.”
He sat there for a moment in silence before he asked, “Can you meet us at ten in the morning?”
She nodded. “Absolutely.”
As Marlee walked from the house, Brice said, “Perhaps next time, try not to use someone’s friend to get answers. You should’ve come to us first.”