Читать книгу Drury - Delores Fossen - Страница 11

Chapter Four

Caitlyn felt as if someone had knocked the breath right out of her. She shook her head, tried to deny what Ronnie had claimed, but the words were trapped in her throat.

“Is it true?” Grayson snapped.

It was more of an accusation than a question, and Caitlyn was thankful it had come from Grayson and not Drury. Still, that didn’t mean Drury believed she was innocent. He was staring at her, clearly waiting for her to say something.

“Everything happened just the way I told you,” she insisted.

Drury just kept staring, but Grayson made a sound, one to let her know she was going to have to do a whole lot better than that if he was to believe her.

“The baby isn’t his,” Caitlyn tried again. “I paid him one ransom, and he demanded a second one. Since I figured he wasn’t just going to hand over the baby, I hit him with a stun gun and took her from him.”

“I don’t suppose you recorded any of that encounter?” Grayson, again. And he used the tone of the lawman in charge. Which he was. He also made this sound, and feel, like an interrogation.

Mercy. If she couldn’t convince him of her innocence, he might take the baby. He might arrest her. That couldn’t happen because if she was behind bars, she wouldn’t be able to protect the baby.

“He clubbed me on the head,” Caitlyn added, and she looked to Drury for help. She held her breath, hoping that he would back her up, and he finally nodded.

“When I found Caitlyn in my house, she was scared. And bleeding.”

Grayson lifted his shoulder, and even though he didn’t say the actual words, his expression was a reminder that she’d fooled Drury before. That’s the way the Rylands would see it anyway. But she hadn’t fooled him so much as she’d been fooled.

By Grant.

But that was an old wound of a different kind.

“Think this through,” Caitlyn continued because she clearly had some more convincing to do with Grayson. “Why would I steal a baby and run to Drury?”

Grayson stayed quiet, probably because there was no scenario he could come up with where she’d do that. Because she wouldn’t.

“So, the baby is really yours?” Grayson asked.

Caitlyn hated to hesitate, but she didn’t want to withhold anything. Considering her track record with the Rylands, it would be hard enough to get them to trust her if they caught her in a lie.

She looked down at the newborn. At that precious little face, and she got that same deep feeling of love that she’d gotten the first time she saw her. Of course, she’d been wrong about her feelings before, but Caitlyn didn’t think that was the case right now. In fact, she would stake her life on it.

“Other than the test I had run on the DNA sample the kidnapper sent me, I don’t have any proof,” Caitlyn admitted, “but she looks like the pictures of me when I was a baby.”

Grayson groaned, an almost identical reaction to the one Drury had had when she’d first told him.

“I can get the proof,” she insisted. “I can have her DNA tested again and compared to mine and Grant’s. I just need time.” She stepped closer to Grayson and looked him straight in the eyes. “But I’m not going to give her to you so you can hand her over to the very man who tried to kill us.”

Grayson’s attention shifted to Drury then. “You believe her?”

Drury didn’t answer for several long moments. “The guy shot at me when I pulled up in front of my house. If he was truly just after Caitlyn to get his child back, then why go after me like that?” He tapped his badge. “I identified myself, and he still shot at me. Plus, he had those items in his vehicle.”

No head shake from Grayson this time. He nodded. Apparently, that was enough to convince him that Ronnie was lying.

“I’ll post a deputy outside his hospital room and keep digging into his background to see what turns up,” Grayson said. “Why don’t you two wait in my office while I call the doctor and get him down here?”

Caitlyn wasn’t sure she could trust the doctor. Any doctor. But her options were limited. She couldn’t just go running out into the rainy night with the baby, and she didn’t even have any supplies.

“Could you please have someone get the baby some formula and diapers?” she asked.

Another nod from Grayson, and he got started on that while Drury led her to Grayson’s office. It wasn’t the first time she’d been there. Once when she’d still been seeing Drury, he’d brought her here to meet his cousins. Of course, they had been a lot friendlier to her than they were now.

Because her legs felt ready to give way, Caitlyn sank down into one of the chairs and looked up at Drury. “Thank you.”

He huffed, clearly not meant to convey “you’re welcome” because he probably hated her for getting him involved in this. Maybe soon she could convince him that she truly was sorry along with making plans to put some distance between them.

But how?

She didn’t even have a phone, and besides even if she had one, Caitlyn wasn’t sure who to call. Maybe a bodyguard, but at this point, she didn’t even know who she could trust.

Other than Drury, that is.

And that trust was on shaky ground. Yes, he would protect her because he was an FBI agent and it was his job, but she’d already put him in danger once and didn’t want to risk doing that again.

“Can you help me arrange for a safe house?” she asked.

A muscle flickered in his jaw, and he pulled a chair from the corner and sat where he was facing her. “Yes, I can do that, but I want you to do something for me. Tell me everything—and I mean everything—about who could be part of this.”

Caitlyn was certain she looked confused. Because she was. “You mean about the baby?”

“For starters. You didn’t have anything to do with what went on at Conceptions, did you?”

That put a huge knot in her stomach. Not because it was true. It wasn’t. But because he would even consider she’d do something like that.

“No. I gave up on having Grant’s baby months before he died.” And she made the mistake of dodging his gaze.

Drury noticed.

He put his fingers beneath her chin, lifting it and forcing eye contact. “Explain that,” he insisted.

Caitlyn hadn’t wanted to get into all of this now, but it could be connected. Could. Still, it would mean reopening old wounds that still hadn’t healed. Never would. Plus, it was hard to discuss any of this when she was holding the baby. Perhaps Grant’s and her baby.

“When Grant was killed, he’d been having an affair,” she said.

“Is that the reason you were divorcing him?”

“Among other things.” Caitlyn paused. “The only reason I’m bringing it up now is because his girlfriend, Melanie Cordova, could be responsible for at least part of this.”

Of course, he looked confused, and Drury motioned for her to continue.

Caitlyn did, after she took a deep breath. “Melanie was devastated after Grant’s death, and it’s possible she’s the one who arranged for the baby to be born. So she could have some part of Grant.”

“Even if that part meant the baby would be yours?” he questioned. “Because as a mistress, you’d think the last thing she would want around was her lover’s baby with another woman.”

“I know,” Caitlyn admitted. Obviously, there were holes in her theory about Melanie’s possible involvement. “But maybe Melanie was so desperate to have Grant’s child that she didn’t care if I was the biological mother.”

Judging from the way his forehead bunched up, Drury clearly wasn’t on board with this. “Then why would Melanie have demanded a ransom? Why even let you know that the child existed?”

Caitlyn had to shake her head. “Unless she just wanted the money to raise the baby. Of course, that doesn’t explain why that thug Ronnie had her.”

“Maybe that wasn’t Melanie’s choice. If she hired him to extort the ransom, he could have double-crossed her and kidnapped the baby.”

Mercy. Caitlyn hadn’t even thought of that. Maybe this was a sick plan that had gone terribly wrong.

“How long has it been since you’ve seen Melanie?” Drury asked. “Is it possible she carried the baby herself, that she’s the surrogate?”

It was yet something else Caitlyn hadn’t considered, but she had to nod. “I haven’t seen her in over a year. For a few months after Grant died, she stalked me. Followed me, kept calling, that sort of thing, but that all stopped about a year ago.”

Perhaps around the time Melanie would have been arranging for the procedure to have the baby.

Caitlyn didn’t have to ask how Melanie would have gotten the fertilized embryo from Conceptions. She could have bribed someone in the clinic, possibly even the former clinic manager who’d orchestrated several births just so she could extort money from the babies’ biological parents. Something that Drury knew all too well.

Since two of those babies were his twin niece and nephew.

The clinic manager was dead now, killed in a gunfight with Drury’s brother Holden so she couldn’t give them answers, but it was possible that Melanie could.

Drury stood. “I’ll make some calls and get Melanie in for questioning.”

He took out his phone, but before he could do anything, Grayson stepped into the doorway. One look at his face, and Caitlyn knew something was wrong.

“Ronnie called Child Protective Services,” Grayson said. “He wants the baby in their custody.”

That robbed Caitlyn of her breath, and she stood, as well. She also pulled the baby even closer to her. “It’s some kind of trick. Ronnie probably figures it’ll be easier to snatch the baby from foster care than from me.”

Grayson made a sound of agreement. “But that won’t stop CPS from taking her. They’re on their way here now.”

Caitlyn would have bolted for the door if Drury hadn’t stopped her. No. This couldn’t be happening.

“If I let them take the baby, it’d be like giving her back to Ronnie,” Caitlyn pleaded. “I can’t do that.”

She braced herself for an argument, but one didn’t come.

“Ronnie tried to kill me,” Drury reminded Grayson. “Anything he does is suspect, and Caitlyn is right. He or one of his thug friends would have a much easier time getting the baby from CPS. In fact, the plan could be to kidnap her as soon as she’s taken from the building.”

Still no argument from Grayson, but he did stay quiet a moment. Before he nodded. “I don’t trust Ronnie, either. Or rather I don’t trust the person he’s working for.” Grayson looked at Caitlyn. “That still doesn’t mean I can give you a blank check on this. How much time will you need to prove she’s your daughter?”

Caitlyn had to shake her head. “How much time for you to arrange another DNA test, one that would hold up against a court order?”

“Forty-eight hours, maybe even sooner, if we put a rush on it,” Drury answered. “We’ll need the lab you used to process Grant’s DNA, though.”

Yes, because she didn’t want to take the time to try to find another hair sample. “I used Bio-tech in San Antonio. They’ll have both Grant’s and my DNA on file there.”

She could see the debate Grayson was having with himself. He was a lawman. A good one, judging from everything she’d heard. And it likely didn’t set well with him that this would essentially be an obstruction of justice since he was allowing Caitlyn to walk away with the baby rather than turning her over to CPS.

“All right,” Grayson finally said. “Forty-eight hours. I’ll get the DNA test kit. After that, go ahead and get Caitlyn and her out of here.”

The relief was instant, and it left her just as breathless as the news of Ronnie calling CPS. She wasn’t going to have to give up the baby. Not just yet anyway. But that didn’t mean she had a safe place to take her.

“Where?” she asked Drury and hoped he had some idea.

“Don’t tell me where you’re going,” Grayson quickly added. “I don’t want to have to lie to CPS. Oh, and figure out how the baby can get a checkup from the doctor.” He walked away, no doubt to get that kit.

She certainly hadn’t forgotten about the checkup but didn’t know how to make it happen.

“It’s not a good idea to go back to my place,” Caitlyn insisted before Drury could say anything. “Or yours.”

“Agreed. But there’s a guesthouse on the back part of the ranch. It’s out of sight from the other houses, including Grayson’s, and we can use it just for tonight. Since my cousins have lots of babies, it’ll be easier for us to get supplies.”

“It’ll also make them a target if Ronnie and his goon friends attack again,” she quickly pointed out.

“We can lock down the ranch, close the security gate and use some of the hands for extra protection.”

Maybe, but Caitlyn still wasn’t sold on the idea. Think. Where else could she go? And preferably some place that didn’t put others in danger.

“It’s just for tonight,” Drury said as if he knew what was going through her mind. “The baby will need to be fed soon, and it won’t be long before CPS arrives.”

True. Still, Caitlyn didn’t like it one bit.

“Are you, uh, okay with this?” But she immediately waved off her question. “Of course you’re not okay. First thing in the morning, I promise, I’ll start looking for bodyguards.”

He didn’t give her his opinion on that. “I’ll pull an unmarked car to the back of the building.”

Drury headed out as Grayson came in with the DNA test kit. He’d obviously done this before because he did the cheek swab in just a few seconds. The baby still stirred a little and made a whimpering sound of protest, but she went right back to sleep.

“I’ll have this couriered to the lab,” Grayson explained as he started toward the door again. But he stopped. “If the child’s not yours, I’ll expect you to turn her over to CPS. Got that?”

She nodded. Caitlyn understood that’s what would have to happen. Well, she understood with her head anyway. It was her heart that was giving her some trouble because Caitlyn felt as if this baby already belonged to her. It would crush her to learn differently.

Caitlyn heard the footsteps in the hall and automatically tensed, but it was just Drury. He glanced at the DNA packet.

“I’ll call you as soon as we have the results,” Grayson assured them.

Drury took her by the arm and led her to the back of the building and through a break room. He paused at the exit, opening the door and glancing around. He also drew his weapon before he helped her out and into the backseat of the waiting unmarked car.

Which wasn’t empty.

Drury’s brother Lucas was behind the wheel.

“Lucas came when he heard about the attack,” Drury said.

Since Lucas was a Texas Ranger, it made sense that he would know about the attack, but it surprised her that he would involve himself in this. Like most of the Rylands, Lucas disliked her, maybe even hated her, because of the nasty breakup between Drury and her.

Lucas didn’t say a word to her, though he did spare her a glance in the rearview mirror. He took off as soon as Drury had shut the door.

Drury kept his gun drawn, and he looked all around them. No doubt for any thugs who might be watching for them to leave.

Suddenly, a new wave of fear crawled through her. As bad as it’d been inside the sheriff’s office, this was worse.

“Is the car bulletproof?” she asked, and she hated the tremble in her voice.

“Bullet resistant,” Drury corrected.

She wasn’t certain, but Caitlyn thought that meant they could still be shot. Drury was certainly aware of that possibility, too. And this had to be bringing back god-awful memories for him.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

There was no way Drury could have known what the blanket apology meant. Or at least she hadn’t thought he would know, but when he glanced at her, she saw it in his eyes. The memories.

Or rather the nightmare.

Of his wife. Lily. She’d been killed by a gunman’s bullet in a botched store robbery, and while Caitlyn didn’t know all the details, she knew Drury had still been grieving her loss when they’d met. Heck, he probably still was.

And she hadn’t helped with that.

Just as Drury had started to risk his heart again, she’d stomped on it. It didn’t matter that she thought she had a good reason. Several of them in fact. No. It didn’t matter.

Drury’s phone buzzed, and Caitlyn prayed this wasn’t another round of bad news. However, that wasn’t a bad news kind of look on Drury’s face when he looked at the screen.

“Don’t say anything,” he warned her. He pressed the answer button and put the call on speaker.

It didn’t take long for her to hear the caller’s voice. “What the hell did you do?” the man asked.

Caitlyn immediately recognized the voice, and it only tightened the knot in her stomach. Because it was her former brother-in-law and one of her suspects.

Jeremy.

“Well?” Jeremy snapped when Drury didn’t immediately answer.

“Well what?” Drury snapped right back.

“You know. You damn well know.”

Drury huffed. “I’m giving you one more chance to make sense, and if you don’t, I’m ending this call. Then you can bother someone else. What is it that you think I did?”

“You sent those men after me,” Jeremy insisted.

Drury looked at Caitlyn, no doubt to see if she knew anything about this, but she shook her head.

“What men?” Drury questioned.

“The men who want money. A ransom, they said. They want me to pay them for Grant’s kid.”

It took Caitlyn a moment for that to sink in. Had the kidnappers really contacted Jeremy? If so, they’d probably done the same to his mother, too. Of course, that was assuming that Jeremy was telling the truth, but Caitlyn didn’t trust him. Trusted his mother even less.

Drury cursed. “Start talking, and tell me everything,” he ordered Jeremy.

“I’ve already told you everything. Two men showed up at my office a couple of minutes ago. Or rather the parking lot at my office. They accosted me, showed me a picture of some kid that they claimed was Grant and Caitlyn’s.”

“Who were the men?” Drury pressed. “And where are they now?”

“I don’t know. Never saw them before in my life. But they said something about the kid being born through a surrogate and if I wanted the kid that I was to pony up a million bucks. They said I had one hour to get the cash, and they left. They drove off in a black SUV.”

“I’m still trying to figure out why you think I had anything to do with this,” Drury said.

Jeremy made a sound to indicate that the answer was obvious. It wasn’t. “The men told me to pay the money to you.”

Because Drury’s arm was touching hers, she felt his muscles tense. “Me?”

But Jeremy didn’t jump to verify that. Instead, he cursed. “The men are back.”

Caitlyn heard some shouts, one of them belonging to Jeremy. “Stop!” he yelled.

“Get someone out to Jeremy Denson’s office,” Drury told his brother. “Jeremy, are you there?”

No answer.

The line was dead.