Читать книгу Hard Core Law - Angi Morgan - Страница 9

Chapter Two

How were you supposed to tell someone you’d allowed their kids to be kidnapped? Tracey would have a doctorate in nutrition soon, but none of the courses she’d taken prepared her to face Josh. Or the future.

When someone found Tracey unconscious on the sidewalk and the paramedics revived her, she’d cried out his name. She could never articulate why she was calling to him. Once fully awake and by the time anyone would listen, the twins had been missing for almost an hour. Tracey hadn’t been able to explain to Josh what had happened. The police did that.

“He’s going to hate me,” she mumbled.

“I don’t think he will. I’ve dealt with a lot of kidnappings. This isn’t your fault. Major Parker will realize that faster than most.” Special Agent George Lanning had answered her with an intelligent response.

The problem was...

“Intelligence has nothing to do with emotional, gut-wrenching pain. I lost his kids. He’ll never trust me again and I don’t blame him.”

After she awoke in the hospital, she’d only been allowed to talk with one police officer, her nurse and a doctor. The door had been left open a couple of inches. She’d recognized rangers passing by, even heard them asking about her. But the officer had refused her any visitors. At least until this FBI agent showed up.

Two hours later she was sitting in a car on her way to the Parker home to face Josh for the first time. Where else was she supposed to go? She’d refused to return to her apartment as they’d suggested. “How bad is my face?”

“As in? What context do you mean?”

She flipped down the passenger mirror to see for herself. “Well, I don’t think makeup—even if I had any—would help this.” She gently touched her cheekbone that felt ten times bigger than it should. “I don’t want to look like...”

“Tracey. Four men yanked you from a car and hit you so hard they gave you a concussion. They kidnapped Jackson and Sage. No matter what you think you could have done differently, those men would still have the Parker twins.”

She wiped another tear falling down her cheek. Agent Lanning might be correct. But nothing anyone said would ever make her feel okay about what had happened.

Nothing.

The road to the house was lined with extra cars and the yard—where they needed to park—filled with men standing around. The police escort in front of them flipped on the squad car lights with a siren burst to get people out of the way. Tracey covered her ears.

Everything hurt. Her head pounded in spite of the pain medication the doctor had given her. But she was prepared to jump out of the car as soon as it slowed down. First she needed to beg for Josh’s forgiveness. And then find out what the authorities had discovered.

“You really took a wallop,” he said. “You should probably get some rest as soon as possible.”

She had rested at the hospital, where so much had been thrown at her. Part of the argument for her going home was to sleep and meet with a forensic artist as soon as one arrived. She’d refused, telling Agent Lanning it was useless to draw a face hidden with a ski mask. Then they’d finally agreed to take her directly to Josh.

The sea of people parted and the agent parked next to cars nearer to the front porch. She didn’t wait for the engine to stop running. She jumped out, needing to explain while she still had the courage.

Moving quickly across the fading grass of the lawn, she slowed as friends stared at her running inside. She completely froze in the entryway, looking for the straight dark hair that should have towered over most of the heads in the living room. But Josh wasn’t towering anywhere. She pushed forward and someone grabbed her arm. A ranger waved him off.

Everyone directly involved in Josh’s life knew who she was. The ranger who had spotted her was Bryce Johnson. He put his hand at her back and pushed the crowd of men out of her way.

“You doing okay?” he asked, guiding her through probably every ranger who worked in or near Waco. “Need anything? Maybe some water?”

She nodded. There was already a knot in her throat preventing her from speaking. She’d assumed a lot of people would be here, but why so many? “Why aren’t you guys out looking for the twins?”

Everyone turned their attention to a man near the window seat. But she focused on the twins’ dad. Josh looked the way he did the day Gwen had died. From day one, neither of Josh or Gwen had felt like employers. They were her friends. She wanted to be there for him again, but didn’t know if he’d let her. He glanced at her, and then covered his eyes as though he were afraid to look at her.

The guy in the suit near the window jerked his head to the side and they left. All of them. Except for a woman and Josh, both seated at the opposite end of the breakfast table. They were joined by Agent Lanning, who pulled out a chair and gestured for Tracey to sit.

It was a typical waiting-on-a-ransom-demand scene from a movie. The three professionals looked the parts of FBI agents. The woman sat at something electronic that looked as if it monitored phone calls. Agent Lanning moved to the back door and turned politely to face the window. The other man, who they both seemed to defer to, uncrossed his arms and tapped Josh on the shoulder.

Josh’s head was bent, almost protected between his arms resting on the table. He hadn’t acknowledged the fact that nearly everyone had left. He hadn’t acknowledged anything.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry doesn’t seem like enough,” she began.

Josh’s head jerked up along with the rest of him as he stood, tipping the chair backward to the floor. She winced at the noise. She assumed he’d be disappointed and furious and might even scream at her to get out. But feeling it, seeing it, experiencing the paralyzing fear that they might not get the kids back...

“This might sound stupid, but we need to verify that Jackson was wearing his insulin pump,” he whispered without a note of anger.

“Yes. I checked it when I picked him up.”

“Thank God. I knew you would. You always do.”

The woman opened her mouth but the agent at the window raised a finger. She immediately smashed her lips together instead. Josh covered his face with his hands again. What had she expected? That he’d be—oh, everything’s going to be okay, Tracey. Don’t worry about it Tracey. We’ll find them together, Tracey.

“Has anyone seen anything? Said anything?” she asked no one in particular.

“Let’s step into the bedroom, Miss Cassidy.” The agent by the window took a step toward her.

“She stays,” Josh ordered, holding up a hand to halt him. “I want to hear everything firsthand. Same for anything you have to say to me. She can hear it, so she stays.”

“All right. I’m Special Agent in Charge Leo McCaffrey and this is Agent Kendall Barlow. No, the kidnappers haven’t called. There’s been no ransom demand.” He pointed to the woman at the table and crossed his arms. “Have you remembered anything else that might help?”

“Not really. A van was broken down. Two men came to my car to help me back up. It seems like one purposely let me reverse into the rental van. Then one came to the passenger window and tapped. I thought they needed my insurance or license or something. They looked like college students until they pulled the masks over their faces. I have to admit that I didn’t pay any attention to their faces when they were uncovered.” Tracey latched her fingers around the edge of the kitchen chair, hoping she wouldn’t fall off as the world spun a little on its side.

“You didn’t think that was unusual?” the woman asked.

“Not really. Students walk a lot around here. That part of Waco isn’t far from downtown.”

It was weird what she noticed about Agent McCaffrey. Average height, but nice looking. His short hair had a dent around the middle like Josh’s did when he wore his Stetson. Or after an afternoon with his ball cap on. She glanced at his feet. Sure enough, he wore a pair of nice dress boots. And then she remembered the men abducting her had worn work boots.

“Wait. The men who got out of the moving truck. They both wore an older Baylor shirt from about five years ago. And they all wore the same type of work boots. I could almost swear that they were new and the same brand. The man who...who pulled me from the car...” Everyone looked at her, waiting. “He had dark brown eyes and thick eyebrows. Not thick enough to hide a scar across the right one.”

“That’s good, Miss Cassidy. Anytime something comes to you, just make sure to tell Agent Lanning. Anything special about the others?”

“I wasn’t close to the other two. It all happened so fast that I didn’t know what to do.” She choked on the last word. She hadn’t known. Still didn’t.

“When you were questioned at the hospital, you had a hard time remembering the small details, but they’ll probably come back.” The woman spoke again, pushing a pad toward the center of the table. “You should keep a notebook handy.”

“I...uh...couldn’t get to the hospital,” Josh said loudly. He swallowed hard and shook his head, looking a little lost.

Tracey had never seen that look on his face before. “I didn’t expect you to.”

“It’s just... I haven’t been there since Gwen...” Josh looked at her asking her to understand without making him say the words. “I guess I had to have been there once with Jackson.” He pushed his hand through his short hair. “But I can’t remember when for some reason.”

“I know. It’s okay,” she whispered, wanting to reach out and grab his hand. “You needed to be here.”

Major Parker was her employer, but she couldn’t stand it. Someone needed to help him. To be on his side like no other person would be. This time she shoved back from the table and her chair was the one that hit the floor. She pushed past Agent McCaffrey and covered Josh with her arms. He buried his face against her, wrapping his arms around her waist as if she were the only thing keeping him from falling off a cliff.

Until two weeks ago, they hadn’t hugged since Gwen had died. Had rarely touched each other except for an accidental brush when handing the kids to each other. Then there’d been that kiss.

An unexpected kiss after an impromptu surprise birthday party with several of his friends. A kiss that had thrown her into so many loop-de-loops, she’d been dizzy for days. But it must have thrown Josh for a loop he didn’t want. He hadn’t spoken to her except in passing. Which was the reason she’d accepted the out-of-state position.

She held him, feeling the rapid beating of his heart through the hospital scrubs they’d given her. They had so much to face and right now he needed to be comforted as much as she did.

Someone at the hospital had said she was just the nanny. She didn’t feel like just the hired help. She’d avoided that particular title and thought it demeaning when Josh’s friends referred to her that way. Months when the rent was hard to come by, her friends asked her why she didn’t move in to take care of the twins.

At first it had been because she thought it was a temporary job. Eventually Josh would hire a real nanny. Then she’d been certain Josh would eventually date and remarry, so she hadn’t wanted to complicate the situation. And this past year it had been because she was falling in love with him.

Now the word nanny didn’t seem complex enough for their situation. She’d been a part of the twins’ lives from infancy. She’d been told to go home and stay there with a protection detail so she could be easily reached if needed. She was just the nanny.

Just the person who provided day care—and any other time of the day care when Josh was on a case. But his lost look was the reason she hadn’t obeyed the order.

Technically, Tracey knew she was just the nanny. Yet, her heart had been ripped from her body—twice. Once for each child.

She held Josh tight until Agent McCaffrey cleared his throat. She sat in the chair next to Josh. Bryce brought the bottle of water he’d offered when she first arrived and dropped back to the living room doorway.

“Is this a vendetta or revenge for one of the men you’ve put away?” Tracey asked Josh, who finally looked her in the eyes. “I tried to convince them to take me instead. They said it needed to be someone you loved.”