Jessica couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t rest, and no way she would move more than a foot away from her son. It was now midmorning. The sun was up high; she’d had one pot of coffee and sat at the kitchen table, wondering how she would get through the day. She wouldn’t nap until her son did, and he was looking a little bit groggy and uncertain too.
The paramedics on the ambulance had checked Danny over and said that she could take him to the hospital if she was still worried, but they were confident that Danny would be just fine. She decided that she’d make an appointment with her doctor later if she was concerned.
The police had given her a lift home. Her son was a little cranky and maybe not feeling great, but he also wasn’t tired enough to sleep. He sat on the floor next to the couch, playing with some blocks. She sat at the kitchen table, just feet away from him, watching his every move.
In the back of her mind she still couldn’t believe all that had happened. It was just too unbelievable, too scary to think about. Not only had that asshole made it into her house, but he’d stolen her son right out from under her. And if he could do that—
When the doorbell rang, she froze. Danny looked up at her, and his little face screwed up as if he would cry. She quickly picked him up in her arms and said, “It’s okay, sweetie.” When she heard a voice calling out from the door, she recognized it as Greyson’s.
She walked to the front door, unlocked it, but left the chain on and peered through. It was definitely him, and he was alone.
Smiling, he said, “I’m glad you kept the chain on.”
She quickly undid the chain and let him in. “I don’t think I’ll ever not keep the chain on again,” she said. “I’ll be lucky if I ever sleep again.”
He leaned over, kissed her gently on the temple, and said, “Understood.” He looked down at Danny in her arms and smiled. “How you doing, buddy?”
Danny just looked up and rubbed his eyes.
“Bad night, rough morning,” she said. “The ambulance paramedics gave him a clean bill of health but said, if I grew concerned, I could either go to the hospital or go to my doctor later today.”
“And are you concerned? How is he?”
She shook her head. “Not really. I’m just exhausted, and, from the looks of him, so is he.” She stepped back a little farther and yawned.
He looked at her and said, “Looks like we’re all in the same shape.”
“I thought I had a little bit of sleep, but then I don’t know,” she said, rubbing her face. She closed and locked the door behind him, then moved the chain back over.
“Have you seen or heard anything since I left?”
“I had to deal with the police, the ambulance, and, other than that, no,” she said. “They dropped me off, and I just holed up here.” She stopped, looked at him, and said, “Does that mean you guys didn’t catch him?”
He gave her a grim nod. “That’s exactly what it means,” he said. “Unfortunately we tracked his brother’s truck out of the back gate, but Frank dumped it, and we lost him in the malls and the car parks. I’ve just come back from there now. The police are scouring the area, and my people have satellite running, but, so far, we’ve found no sign of him.”
“Of course. When he ditched the truck, he could have grabbed anything and disappeared,” she said quietly. She walked into the living room, put Danny on the floor next to the couch, where he’d been happy earlier, and went into the kitchen to pour Greyson a cup of coffee. “Well, I’m really sorry you didn’t catch him,” she said.
“I am too,” he said, and such frustration was evident in his voice that she understood how he felt.
“At least with the cops being attacked too,” she said, “they’ll be looking for Frank with their entire police force.”
“I know,” he said, “and that helps, but it’s still not the right answer. We had him,” he said, his hand curling into a fist. “He never should have gotten away in the first place.”
“I know,” she said. “I was pretty dumbfounded at his brazenness.”
“I think it was desperation as much as anything,” he said. “But then he got away and comes back and took the child right out of his bed.” He sank down at the kitchen chair, where he could watch Danny. “I’m sorry he got hurt.”
“I am too,” she said, “and the whole thing obviously has Danny a little cranky, but, other than that, he appears to be fine. Hopefully the cops will find Frank,” she said, trying to make Greyson feel better.
He gave a clipped nod. “The next problem,” he said, turning to face her, his gaze direct, “is that I don’t think he should be left alone.”
“Unfortunately that was made pretty obvious this morning,” she said, “when Frank managed to sneak in and walk out with Danny while I was right here.” She shook her head. “I’ll never get away from that nightmare.”
“It will pass with time,” he said, “especially as soon as we catch this guy.”
“Catch him again,” she corrected.
“Exactly,” he said. “This time he won’t be walking away.”
She wasn’t sure if Greyson meant he would break the kidnapper’s legs or if he would kill him. She was all for the killing part, just so she didn’t have to worry about this guy getting loose again and coming after them.
“Can you think of anybody else who might want to take Danny? We’re assuming it has something to do with your ex-husband, but we don’t have any proof, and it could be just a diversion to keep us looking in that one direction.”
She frowned at him. “I don’t know anybody else who would care,” she said.
“I know it’s a bit far out,” he said, “but do you know any young couples who can’t have children?”
She stared at him, her jaw slowly dropping. “Are you saying somebody might have stolen my baby so they could have one of their own?”
“It’s happening all over the world,” he said. “We can’t assume anything at the moment. We are searching for your ex, and, so far, nobody’s having any luck in finding him.”
“Even if you find him though,” she said, “he’s pretty slippery, and he’ll be gone again soon.”
“Because he travels so much?”
“That, and he’s just not the kind who likes to be questioned,” she said. “He doesn’t believe in authority, doesn’t really believe in a hierarchy within a company, and he doesn’t really believe that he’s beholden to anybody for anything.”
“Nice guy,” he said.
She edged closer to Greyson, whispering now. “It’s the kind of thing that you don’t really understand about a person until you live with them for a while,” she said. “At that point, the façade, the shininess starts to fade, and the real person shows up. But you still don’t really understand until something happens—like, in my case, the pregnancy—and you see just what an asshole he is.”
“He wanted an abortion?” Greyson was whispering now too.
She nodded. “He didn’t want a family, didn’t want the expense of a family, and definitely didn’t want to pay child support.”
“So it doesn’t make any sense that he’s involved in kidnapping Danny now,” he said.
“I know. I keep racking my brain about that. And why didn’t he just get the lawyers in on it? His request started with the lawyers.”
“Lawyers cost money.”
“George had money,” she said, “but maybe he had a midlife crisis and needed to produce a child to continue his lineage or some such nonsense,” she said with a shrug. She shook her head. “It was basically both of us at the same time having our own crises. He was moving out, and I couldn’t afford to keep the place and wanted to get a long way away from him anyway, so a friend of mine moved us here.”
“Would that friend have anything to do with this?”
She laughed. “No, not at all. That’s the definition of a friend. Somebody who helps, not somebody who turns around and tries to steal your child.”
“I get that,” he said, “but all kinds of reasons are in the back of people’s minds for doing stuff.”
“I don’t think I like the way your mind works,” she said with a sad look at him. “I think you’ve lived in the war zone too much so you see something wrong in everybody now.”
“Probably,” he said, “but it’s also the truth.”
She looked at him and asked, “You need something to eat?”
He hesitated and then said, “Do you have anything?”
“There’s always food of some kind,” she said with a smile. She got up, opened the fridge, and said, “Are you up for bacon and eggs?”
“I’m always up for bacon and eggs,” he said. “It certainly doesn’t have to be a morning meal either,” he said with a laugh. “Some foods are good all day long.”
“I got you covered then,” she said.
Now that the adrenaline had worn off, and he’d been in the unfortunate position of having to tell her that they had lost the kidnapper, Greyson now sat hugging a cup of coffee and watching as Jessica whipped up bacon and eggs. It was a joy to see her in the kitchen. She was obviously comfortable and happy to be here. He enjoyed being in the kitchen himself, but he preferred being around a barbecue grill more.
When she turned around with two full plates, he smiled. “Now that looks perfect,” he said. “Thank you so much.”
She shook her head. “No way I can thank you for what you did,” she said. The two of them sat at the island and watched as Danny now played beside them. He was a little on the cranky side, soon getting up to lay on the couch, but he fidgeted still. She saw it, looked at Greyson, and said, “I know he’s not feeling well. Maybe I’ll take him up for a nap after we’re done eating.”
“You do that,” he said, “and I’ll crash on the couch.”
She looked at him in surprise.
He shook his head. “If you think you’ll be alone while this guy on the loose, think again.”
She continued to stare at him, her eyes darkening.
“I’m no threat to you,” he said gently. “I promise.”
She gave a quick headshake. “I know that,” she said. “I hadn’t really given too much thought to what would happen after this,” she said. “The cops weren’t too interested in a protection detail. And, of course, it’s not that big of a deal to them.”
“It is, but they have a shortage of man-hours, and there’s a cost involved,” he said.
She nodded reluctantly. “That always ends up being the bottom line, doesn’t it?” She sank back on her chair, studying her son morosely. “I’ll have to move.”
“Do you have some place to move to?”
She shook her head. “No, not really,” she said. “I’ve still got vacation time this week and next, but then I have to go back to work too.”
He watched while she pushed the tendrils of hair off her face.
“Well, for the moment,” he said, “I’ll move into your downstairs and make sure nobody else tries to come into the house and take Danny again.”
“And that’s a temporary solution,” she muttered. “I need a long-term solution.”
“The only long-term solution,” he said, “is getting rid of this guy and finding out who hired him. If somebody was hired on, that is.”
She shot him a hard look. “Do you really think it could be anybody other than George?”
“What kind of event would cause him to do something like this, after all this time?” He looked over at Danny. “Why after two years would he come out of the blue and try to take him?”
Her shoulders sagged. “That’s the same question I’ve been asking myself since that fender bender,” she muttered.
“Exactly,” he said, “so we won’t rule it out, but we also have to focus on something other than just that, so we don’t make a mistake. I don’t want to be narrow-minded and get locked into one idea.’
“That’s fine,” she said, hopping to her feet. Grabbing their dirty dishes, she took them over to the sink and washed them. “And I appreciate you staying around to keep us safe,” she said, “but this is hardly what you’re supposed to be spending your time on.” And then she remembered the dog. “Oh, my God, what about the dog?”
“She’s in the backyard,” he said.
“But you said she can easily go over the fence.”
“I left her tied up for the moment,” he said. “I could hardly just bring her into your house without making sure it was okay with you.”
She shook her head. “Of course it’s okay with me. That dog saved Danny’s life. Twice.” She walked to the rear door, turned to look at him, and asked, “Do you think it’s safe?”
“I believe it’s very safe,” he said beside her, stepping out on the veranda. There on the corner, stretched out on her side, was Kona, the rope just letting her reach the veranda. He walked over, untied the end of the rope, and walked her inside the house. Stretching in front of the couch, Kona gave Danny a good sniffing over, then laid down on the floor right in front of him.
Danny had immediately slid off the couch and sat right up against the dog’s belly, then stretched out, with his chest over the dog’s chest. Kona just lapped up the attention from the little boy. She didn’t make any move to dislodge the boy. Not a twitch.
“We need to get her a collar and a lead,” he said. “This rope isn’t the best system.”
“Maybe not,” she said, “but it worked okay in the short-term.”
“It did, indeed.”
She motioned at it. “Do we leave it on?”
He hesitated, then nodded. “For the moment, yes.”
She frowned. “How will you go out and get a leash if she’s here with me? I’m not sure I’m capable of controlling her,” she said cautiously.
“I don’t think anybody needs to control her,” he said, “because she’s obviously pretty attached to your son.”
As they watched, Danny’s hand, which had been scratching Kona, slowed and eventually just stopped.
Jessica said, “Do you think he’s asleep?”
“Looks like it to me,” he said, “and that might solve your problem, since you said he wasn’t settling in so well.”
“Well, I knew he was tired, but this, this is too cute.” She shook her head, and Greyson smiled.
Then he got up with his phone, took a picture of it, and sent it to Badger. His response came back immediately.
Well, there’s the bond you mentioned.
Yes, but not necessarily the bond that will look after Kona, he responded. Then he looked at her and said, “I’ll crash here on the couch. Why don’t you take him up to his bed? He’ll sleep better.”
She nodded slowly and said, “Do you think the dog will be upset?”
“No,” he said, “Kona knows.” And he bent down, gently slid an arm underneath the little boy’s chest and legs, then passed him over carefully to Jessica.
She put him up against her shoulder and walked to the stairs. She stopped at the bottom, turned to looked at him and said, “Are you sure you are okay there?” she asked. “There’s not even a pillow or blanket.”
He pointed to a throw and said, “That’s there if I need it, so I’ll be fine,” he said. “I just want to have a short nap so I can recoup some of my lost energy.”
“All right then,” she said. “We’ll go have a nap and come down in a little bit.” He watched as she headed up the stairs, then he crashed on his back, his feet up on the armrest and his head on a throw pillow, then pulled out his phone. She’s gone to have a nap, and I’m standing guard. We need to find this guy before he comes back again.