Expecting Trouble. Delores Fossen
and Jenna’s names and photos splashed in a newspaper.
“Well?” Cal prompted when Helena continued to look around and didn’t say anything else.
“Where do I start?” She seemed to be waiting for an invitation to sit down, but Cal didn’t offer. Helena sighed. “My brother is determined to carry out Paul’s wishes. They’ve been friends since childhood when our parents moved to Monte de Leon to start businesses there. Holden was devastated when Paul was killed.”
Cal shrugged. “Paul isn’t the father of Jenna’s child, so there’s no wish to carry out.”
The last word had hardly left his mouth when he heard a soft whimpering cry sound coming from the nursery.
“Sophie,” Jenna mumbled.
“Go to her,” Cal advised. “I’ll finish up here.”
Jenna hesitated. But not for long—the baby’s cries were getting louder.
“I do need to talk to Jenna,” Helena continued. She opened her purse and rummaged through it. “Do you have a pen? I want to leave my cell number so she can contact me.”
That was actually a good idea. He might be able to get approval to trace Helena’s calls and obtain a record of her past ones.
Cal didn’t have a pen with him, and he looked around before spotting one and a notepad on the kitchen countertop. He got it and glanced into the nursery while he was on that side of the room. Jenna was leaning over the crib changing Sophie’s diaper.
“Someone was following Jenna.” Cal walked back to Helena and handed her the pen and notepad.
She dodged his gaze, took the pen and wrote down her number. “You mean that reporter across the street? She approached us when we drove up and said she was doing an article about Paul. She said she recognized Holden from newspaper pictures.”
Cal shook his head. “Not her. Someone else. A man.” He watched for a reaction.
Helena shrugged and handed him the notepad. “You think I know something about it?”
“Do you? The man’s name is Anthony Salazar.”
Her eyes widened. “Salazar,” she repeated on a rise of breath. “You’ve seen him here in Willow Ridge?”
“I’ve seen him,” Cal confirmed. “Now, mind telling me how you know him?”
Her breath became even more rapid, and she glanced around to make sure it was safe to talk. “Anthony Salazar is evil,” she said in a whisper.
He caught her arm when she turned to leave. “And you know this how?”
She opened her mouth but stopped. “Are you wearing a wire?” she demanded.
“No, and I’m not going to strip down to prove it. But you are going to give me answers.”
Her chin came up. Since he had hold of her arm, he could feel that she was trembling. “You’re trying to make me say something incriminating.”
Yeah. But for now, Cal would settle for the truth. “What’s your connection to Salazar? Does he work for your brother? For you?”
She reached behind her and opened the door. “He worked for Paul.”
He hadn’t expected that answer. “Paul’s dead.”
“But his estate isn’t.”
“What does that mean?” Cal asked cautiously.
“Yesterday was the first anniversary of Paul’s death. Early this morning his attorney delivered e-mails of instruction to people named in his will. I saw the list. Salazar got one.”
Cal paused a moment to give that some thought. “Are you saying Paul reached out from the grave and hired this man to do something to Jenna?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Helena turned and delivered the rest from over her shoulder as she started down the steps. “Neither Holden nor I can call off Salazar. No one can.”
After Jenna changed Sophie’s diaper, she gently rocked her until her daughter’s whimpers and cries faded. It took just a few seconds before her baby was calm, cooing and smiling at her. It was like magic, and even though it warmed her heart to see her baby so happy, Jenna only wished she could be soothed so easily.
Not much of a chance of that with Holden, his sister and that assassin lurking around. She kept mumbling the poem “The Raven,” and hoped the mechanical exercise would keep her calm.
She heard Cal shut and lock the door, and Jenna wanted to be out there while he was talking to Helena. After all, this was her fight, not Cal’s. But she also didn’t want Holden or Helena anywhere near her baby.
With Helena gone, Jenna went into the kitchen so she could fix Sophie a bottle. Cal glanced at her, but he had his phone already pressed to his ear, so he didn’t say anything to her.
“Hollywood, I need a big favor,” Cal said to the person on the other end of the phone line. “The subjects are Holden Carr, Jenna Laniere and Anthony Salazar.” He paused. “Yes, the Holden and Jenna from Monte de Leon. I need to know how he found out where she’s living. Look for wiretaps first and then dig into her employees. I want to know about any connection with anyone who could have given him this info or photos of Jenna Laniere’s baby.”
Well, that was a start. Hopefully Cal’s contacts would give them an answer soon. It wouldn’t, however, solve her problem with Salazar.
She and Sophie needed protection.
And she needed to clear up the paternity issue with Cal’s director. And amid all that, she had to make arrangements to move. The apartment was no longer safe now that Holden and Helena Carr knew where she was. Packing wouldn’t take long—for the past year, she’d literally been living out of a suitcase, anyway.
With Sophie nestled in the crook of her arm, Jenna warmed the formula, tested a drop on her wrist to make sure it wasn’t too hot, and carried both baby and bottle to the sofa so she could feed her. Sophie wasn’t smiling any longer. She was hungry and was making more of those whimpering demands. Jenna kissed her cheek and started to feed her.
Once it was quiet, it was impossible to shut out what Cal was saying. He was still giving someone instructions about checking on the reporter and where to look for Holden Carr’s leak, and Cal wanted the person to learn more about some e-mails that might have recently been sent out by Paul’s attorney.
She didn’t know anything about e-mails, but a leak in communication could mean someone might have betrayed her. There was just one problem with that. Before the trip to the pediatrician, no one including her own household staff and employees had known where she was.
Now everyone seemed to know.
Cal ended his call and scrubbed his hand over his face. He was obviously frustrated. So was Jenna. But she had to figure out a way to get Cal out of the picture. He didn’t deserve this, and once she was at a safe location, she could get the DNA test for Sophie.
“So, this is Sophie,” he commented, walking closer. “She’s so little for someone who’s caused a lot of big waves.”
“I’m the one who caused the waves,” Jenna corrected.
Cal shrugged it off, but she doubted he was doing that on the inside. “She seems to like that bottle.”
“I couldn’t breast-feed her. I got mastitis—that’s an infection—right after she was born. By the time it’d run its course and I was off the antibiotics, Sophie decided the bottle was for her.” Jenna cringed a little, wondering why she’d shared something so personal with a man who was doing everything he could to