Читать книгу Bravo, Tango, Cowboy - Joanna Wayne - Страница 9

“Why didn’t you tell me about the photo?” The words tumbled out of Alonsa’s mouth in a rush of frustration.

“Which photo?”

“The one of Lucy being led away from the zoo.”

Her question was met with silence. “It was Lucy in the photo, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Craig admitted. “It was Lucy, but you need to stay calm, Alonsa. I can explain everything.”

“And you darn well will. Why didn’t you call me?”

“I was waiting for an opportune time to talk to you.”

“You got the photo months ago.”

“I didn’t want to get into this with you over the phone. I’d planned to come to Texas as soon as I got a chance and show you the picture in person. Not that it changes anything.”

“How can you say that? It means we know that Lucy was abducted by a woman and not some sick perverted male. That changes a few things for me. I live on hope, Craig. I’ve lived on nothing else for two years. What else have you kept from me?”

“Nothing. How did you find out about the photo?”

“From Elle Carrigan.”

“Tell me you are not still trying to investigate this on your own.”

“No. Not on my own. I’ve hired a private investigator.” Her bitterness over having been kept in the dark about the photo made telling him about Hawk a lot easier. She didn’t have to justify anything.

“That is a ludicrous waste of money and you know it,” Craig sputtered. “No private investigator has the resources the FBI does. No one else is going to give this case the attention I have. I’ve supervised a lot of it myself and assigned some of my top men to assist.”

“And all of you ignored the photograph of Lucy and the abductor.”

“I haven’t ignored it, Alonsa. The photo doesn’t show anything of the abductor but the back of her head. All we know now that we didn’t know before is that a woman was involved.”

“You should have called me,” she insisted. “I have a right to know.”

“I’m checking every lead, Alonsa, including the photo. You know how I feel about you, how I’ve always felt about you. I was right there with you through the worst of this. You cried in my arms and I cried with you. Do you think some high-priced private investigator is going to stick by you the way I have or care about you and Lucy the way I do?”

Her anger subsided. Craig had been there since the beginning and had put in lots of hours. He’d personally been involved in every aspect those first critical months, staying in Houston for several weeks. Perhaps she had been hasty and grasping at straws in hiring Hawk.

She turned so that Hawk was directly in her line of vision. She studied his profile, his muscular physique, his broad shoulders, the confident stance. The way Elle was hanging on his every word, clearly drawn to him by the pure magnetism of his virility and personality, the way Alonsa had seen every other woman react to him.

“What kind of expertise does this new investigator bring to the table, or has he just sold you a bill of goods?” Craig asked, putting words to her doubts.