Sienna stayed in the car, just as Devin directed her to do. But she could hardly breathe as she waited to see what happened.
She fully expected for someone to step out of the car they’d been following with a gun in hand and for a shootout to begin.
Instead, the doors to the other car opened. Two people stepped out with their hands raised. They turned toward Devin, the headlights of the truck illuminating them.
Sienna sucked in a deep gasp of air.
The Brightons.
The Brightons had followed them? Were they somehow involved in this?
She shook her head, unable to make sense of things.
When she saw Devin lower his gun, Sienna stepped from the vehicle and cautiously walked toward them. She strained to hear the conversation.
“Please, don’t shoot,” Joyce said, tears streaming down her face. “We didn’t mean any harm.”
Devin’s entire body looked stiff and ready to act, if necessary. “Why were you following us?”
“Because we thought you knew something about Liam.” George glanced mournfully at his wife. “We thought maybe you could lead us to him.”
“We told you we’d let you know,” Devin said. He didn’t sound angry, but he didn’t sound pleased, either.
“Yes, but we’ve heard that before,” Joyce said, lowering her hands slightly. “We’ve been left in the dark before. We just want answers.”
Sienna could only imagine. She’d probably do the same thing in their shoes. “I understand that this must be difficult for you. But we’re not intentionally leaving you in the dark. We don’t want to get your hopes up, either.”
“I’d welcome some hope right about now.” Joyce’s voice cracked. “I don’t think you understand the agony we’ve been in. Nothing’s been the same without Liam. And nothing will be.”
Again, Sienna’s heart panged with grief for the couple.
Devin pressed his lips together, his thoughts obviously heavy as he weighed his options. “Look, there’s another case we’re following. There’s a baby involved who matches Liam’s description.”
Joyce let out a gasp.
Devin raised a hand, trying to slow her thoughts. “We don’t know that he’s Liam, though. That’s why we didn’t want to tell you. We’re trying to be cautious here.”
“But it could be Liam?” Joyce’s voice lilted with hope and her eyes were wide.
“We’re trying to figure it out.” Devin’s voice was low and easy—not making promises, but not a coldhearted professional, either. “But, in the meantime, the best thing you can do is return home. We’re dealing with some dangerous people. We don’t believe they’ll hurt Liam. But they will hurt anyone who gets in their way.”
George stepped closer, wringing his hands together. “Is Liam in danger?”
Devin stole a quick glance at Sienna before responding. “If this baby is Liam, then he’s somewhere safe and unreachable right now. We’re trying to keep it that way.”
Tears poured down both Joyce and George’s faces as they hugged each other. Sienna really hoped—and prayed—that their hearts didn’t break again. She felt certain that Colby was theirs, but there were still a lot of obstacles they needed to conquer to confirm that and before Colby could go back to them. Namely, they had to keep Anita away.
“Please, take us to see him,” George said.
He looked desperate. Sienna couldn’t describe it other than the look in his eyes—it was heart wrenching.
“Please,” George said.
Sienna glanced at Devin and saw the agony on his face. He wanted to alleviate this couple’s grief. But it wasn’t time yet.
There were too many unknowns, too many dots to connect. But there were getting close.
“We can’t do that,” Devin said. “Please understand that the situation is complicated. Give us another day to figure things out.”
“A day will feel like a year to us,” Joyce said. “You have no idea.”
“Please.” Devin’s voice held an edge of desperation. “I know it’s hard. I do. But I just need a little more time. I don’t want to act prematurely.”
“You don’t understand.” Joyce’s face crumpled into a mess of emotions and grief. “You don’t know what it’s like to lose a child like this!”
Devin’s face tightened again, and Sienna put her hand on his back, trying to comfort him.
“I understand more than you’d think,” he finally said. “Every day, I’d give anything to get my daughter back. I miss her every single day. I think about her. I wonder what she would be like. So I do understand.”
George and Joyce hugged each other, both crying. Finally, they pulled apart, and Joyce nodded while dabbing her eyes with a crumpled tissue.
“We’ll wait,” she said, her voice trembling. “I’m sorry for any trouble we might have caused. We just…we just want answers.”
“That’s all we want,” Devin said. “Believe me, it’s all we want also.”
* * *
Back in the truck, Devin’s heart felt like it had been crushed.
Seeing the couple’s grief. Understanding their loss. Being unable to offer any comfort…it nearly broke him. He wanted nothing more than to give them good news, but he knew he couldn’t. Not yet.
Sienna reached for his arm, her eyes wide and compassionate. “I’m sorry, Devin.”
He nodded stiffly and took several deep breaths. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”
“I know that had to be difficult.”
“It comes with the territory, I suppose.” He leaned his head against the seat behind him a moment, a headache coming on. Just as he did that, rain began splattering the window again. They’d hit patches of the storm earlier, but soon it would be fully upon them.
It was already 3:00 a.m. They were still two and a half hours from where they’d left Colby. And both Devin and Sienna were on their last legs.
Sienna was injured. They were both exhausted. Hungry. In need of some rest.
Yet the clock was still ticking. The urgency of the situation hadn’t waned.
Colby’s life was in danger. The Brightons were waiting to find out if Colby was theirs.
There just wasn’t any time to rest.
“What are you thinking?” Sienna asked softly.
“I’m thinking we need to get back to Colby.”
“And then what? How do we find Anita? How do we find this Justin guy?”
“You know, maybe the best thing we can do is wait for the police to find answers. Maybe we should just keep an eye on Colby and let everyone else do their jobs. We’re targets right now, and I’m not sure there’s anything else we can do other than wait.”
Sienna nodded. “Okay then. That’s what we’ll do. For a little while, at least.”
“We should get back as soon as we can. We’re not safe out here.”
But before he could take off, his phone rang. It was Jenson. He’d probably gotten less sleep than they had.
“By the way, I just did a search on that Ruth woman you gave us the name for. The one who worked at the day care. We didn’t get any hits on her name. It was probably an alias. But we found something in Anita’s house that didn’t make sense to us, and we decided to dig a little deeper. It turns out that Anita is actually Angela Williams.”
Devin sat up straighter. “And who is Angela Williams?”
Sienna leaned closer, trying to hear.
“Angela Williams was in the army. But she was in an accident that caused her to have both physical and mental issues.”
“Can you expound?”
“She was injured in a training exercise. She fell from a wall she was trying to climb, and she landed hard. She injured her pelvis, and doctors told her she’d never have a baby.”
“Wow,” Devin muttered.
“She didn’t recover well—physically or emotionally. The military kicked her out—dishonorably discharged her. She’s originally from Kansas, but she lived several places before moving to Utah. She disappeared from there six months ago and showed up in Colorado with another identity.”
“That’s very useful,” Devin said. “Do you have any more information about the man who’s with her? Justin Henderson.”
“We’re still running all the information on him. It does appear that Justin Henderson is his real name. He has a rocky past, including jail time for assault on two different occasions.
“Good to know.” It also confirmed what Devin already knew—the man was dangerous.
“It looks like he was a bouncer at a club in Utah. I’d guess that’s where he and Angela met. You can probably fill in the rest of the details just as easily as I can.”
“If you learn anything else, please let me know.”
“Will do, Matthews.”
Devin hung up and exchanged a look with Sienna.
A woman who’d gone crazy after learning she couldn’t have a baby. A man with a violent criminal record. And a baby in the crosshairs.
He was determined this story would have a happy ending. He just wasn’t sure what path he had to take to get there.