Drury. Delores Fossen
Grayson agreed. “Gage had eyes on the car, and he said the driver turned around and sped off. He got the license plate numbers, but they’re bogus. Gage and Dade went in pursuit.”
Both men were Grayson’s brothers. And his deputies.
“I’ll take the back roads to get to the sheriff’s office. I should be there in about twenty minutes.” Drury paused. “Caitlyn Denson is with me.”
Grayson paused, too, and then cursed. A rarity for him since he was the father of a five-year-old son and had cut way back on his bad language.
“Caitlyn?” Grayson repeated like the profanity he’d just used. “You’re not involved with her again, are you?”
“No, not like that.” And Drury couldn’t say it fast enough.
“Good. Because the last time you hooked up with her...”
Grayson didn’t finish that. Didn’t need to finish it. Because Drury remembered it well enough without any reminders. Caitlyn had been a CPA in those days. A CPA who’d been helping Drury investigate the crime family that had employed her.
At least Drury had believed she was helping him.
However, he’d been wrong. Because Caitlyn had ended up marrying the very man whose family Drury had been investigating. But those were old memories, and he didn’t have time for them now.
“So, why is Caitlyn with you?” Grayson pressed. “And are those gunmen after her?”
“They’re after her.” That was the easy question to answer. The first one, not so much. “There might be another baby from Conceptions Clinic.”
He gave Grayson a moment for that to sink in.
“Caitlyn and Grant Denson’s baby,” Grayson concluded.
“Yeah. At least that’s what a man told Caitlyn.” Drury could still see her in the glimpses that he was making in the rearview mirror, and she was hanging on to every word. “According to her, a man demanded a ransom. She paid it, but he reneged.”
Grayson mumbled some profanity. “Where’s the baby now?”
“In the backseat of my car with Caitlyn. She was waiting inside my place when I got home.” He figured it wouldn’t take Grayson long to fill in the blanks.
And it didn’t.
“Caitlyn came to you for help.”
Drury settled for another yeah and didn’t miss Grayson’s disapproval about that. Well, Drury wasn’t so happy about it, either.
“I don’t know for sure, but the guy you caught is probably the same one who had the baby. He should have stun-gun marks on...” Drury looked back at her so she could provide that.
“The left side of his neck.”
Grayson made what sounded to be a weary sigh. “I’ll have the doc check for it. I got a name on the guy already. Ronnie Waite. He was in the system not because he had a record but because he used to be a prison guard.”
Interesting. Drury would have bet his paycheck that the guy had a record. But then maybe whoever was behind this had made sure to use someone who was clean.
“Ronnie Waite,” Drury repeated to Caitlyn. He turned onto another road and glanced around to make sure they weren’t being followed. “Do you know him?”
Caitlyn repeated the name, then shook her head. “Is he in charge of this or just a lackey?”
“Don’t know yet,” Grayson answered. “How did Ronnie or anyone connected to this contact you?”
“Only one man contacted me,” Caitlyn answered, “and he always called. I used the internet to do a reverse number lookup, but it wasn’t listed.”
Probably because the phone had been a burner or disposable prepaid cell. No way to trace that. But if Ronnie still had the phone on him, Grayson would have it checked.
“Does Caitlyn, or the baby, need to see a doctor?” Grayson asked.
“Yes,” Drury said at the same moment that she answered.
“No. I mean, I want the baby checked out, but I’m fine. And I don’t want to be in the hospital while Ronnie is still there.”
“Caitlyn’s not fine,” Drury argued. “She might have a concussion. But I agree about not going to the hospital. She shouldn’t be there until we’re certain Ronnie can’t get near her.”
“I’ll have a medic come to the office then.” Grayson paused. “We’ll get into all of this once you’re here, but I’ll need you to think of anyone who could have hired this man.”
“Helen,” Drury and Caitlyn said in unison.
“All right. I’ll get your former mother-in-law here for a chat,” Grayson agreed without hesitation. “I’ll also see if there’s any way to connect her to Ronnie.”
“There has to be a surrogate out there, too,” Caitlyn added. “I’m not sure how to find her, but she might be linked somehow to Ronnie.”
“I can question Ronnie about that. And check for a Jane Doe DB who might have recently given birth.”
DB as in dead body.
Caitlyn made a slight gasping sound. Probably because she’d just realized what Grayson was saying—that the surrogate could have been murdered after she gave birth. Whoever was behind this wouldn’t have wanted to keep a surrogate alive unless, of course, the surrogate was in on the plan.
“I’ll have Mason call the lead investigator who handled the Conceptions Clinic case,” Grayson went on, “but if Helen’s the one who did this, would she have had access to the embryo? In other words, could someone at the clinic have legally given it to her?”
“No. Not legally.” Caitlyn drew in a long breath. “In fact, when Helen found out that Grant and I had visited the clinic, she tried to bribe one of the nurses to get info about what we were doing. When I found out, I had our counselor put a note in my file that no information should be given to the woman.”
“That doesn’t mean Helen played by the rules,” Drury reminded her. In fact, he’d be surprised if she had. But there was someone else in that scummy family who was also a rule breaker. “What about Grant’s brother, Jeremy?”
Drury couldn’t be sure, but he thought Caitlyn shuddered. “Jeremy wouldn’t have done that. And yes, I’m sure. The last thing Jeremy would want is another heir to share the inheritance he’ll get from his mother.”
“Okay,” Grayson said, “this is enough to get things started. How far out are you now?”
“About ten minutes. No one’s following us, but when we get to the sheriff’s office, I want to get Caitlyn and the baby inside ASAP.”
“No problem. Park right in front of the door.”
Drury hit the end-call button and took another glance back at her. “I know you don’t want to go to the sheriff’s office, but you can trust Grayson. If there’s anything to link Helen to this, he’ll find it.”
And so would Drury. He hadn’t especially wanted to get involved with Caitlyn, but this wasn’t about her. It was about that baby in her arms.
“You think I’m a fool for getting involved with Grant,” she said. “But I swear, I didn’t know what Grant was when I married him.”
“You should have. You knew what his family was, knew that I was investigating them.”
“Yes,” she whispered. And she repeated it. “His family but not him.” She paused. “I think Jeremy might have been the one who killed Grant.”
“Killed? I thought he died in a car accident.”
“He