Sawyer (11 page)

“But you have a motive, too,” Sawyer reminded him. “You were jealous of April because she’d broken things off with you. That’s a big motive, if you ask me. Besides, why would Bennie and Diane want April dead?”

Willy casually lifted his shoulder as if he wasn’t affected by the accusation Sawyer had just tossed at him. “Maybe Bennie wanted April dead because she was a loose end. If she knew about the kidnapping, was maybe even a part of it, then the poor rich boy here wouldn’t have wanted her hanging around to rat on him. It’s the same for Diane.”

“If she’s alive,” Sawyer replied, and he volleyed glances between both Willy and Bennie. Both men seemed surprised that she might be dead.

Seemed.

“Maybe Diane is a loose end, too,” Sawyer added. “Because she’s missing, and there are signs of foul play.”

There were just a few seconds of silence before both men started to declare their innocence. And maybe they were. But Sawyer kept pressing. “Where were you both last night?”

“At home,” Bennie immediately answered. “With a deputy guard at my front door. If I’d left, he would have known about it.”

Not necessarily. The O’Neal estate was huge, and Bennie could have slipped out.

The phone rang, and even though there was no dispatcher or receptionist out front today, Grayson or one of the deputies must have answered it because it stopped after just two rings.

“And what about you?” Sawyer asked Willy. “Where were you last night?”

“I was at home, too. Alone. I didn’t figure I’d need to have an alibi for every minute of my life.”

Sawyer gave him a flat look. “Well, you figured wrong. I’ll check your phone records to see if you’re telling the truth.”

That pretty much drained the color from Willy’s face, but the man didn’t get a chance to change his story or balk again about his innocence. Grayson stepped out from his office, and he motioned for Sawyer to come closer, which he did, bringing Cassidy along with him. But Sawyer motioned for Willy and Bennie to stay put.

“What’s wrong?” Sawyer asked after noticing Grayson’s concerned expression.

“It’s someone from the lab.” Grayson handed Sawyer the phone. “They just got back the results of the baby’s DNA test.”

Chapter Thirteen

Cassidy held her breath and watched Sawyer as he took the phone from Grayson. He didn’t put the call on Speaker, probably because Willy and Bennie were still there, and she couldn’t tell from Sawyer’s expression what the person from the lab was saying to him. She could only stand there and wait to see whose baby had been put in the middle of this dangerous mix.

The cops didn’t have DNA from Monica Barnes, but they had Sawyer’s. If he was Emma’s father, then Monica was almost certainly the little girl’s mother.

And maybe the kidnappers had known that all along.

It would explain why they’d had her take the child to Sawyer and get that photo. The proof that would have made him pay any amount of ransom.

But she had to stop and shake her head.

The kidnappers had told her to leave the baby with Sawyer and bring back the photo. Why? If they’d just held on to the baby, then they could have collected more money.

So, what was this about?

Ruining Sawyer’s reputation by uncovering his involvement with a cocktail waitress? That would hardly ruin him unless the person behind this wanted to somehow tie him to the kidnappings.

And that brought her back to her brother.

Of their suspects, Bennie was the only one who would want revenge on Sawyer. It all went back to that investigation a year ago and Sawyer’s attempt to arrest Bennie.

Mercy, had her brother decided to get even by embroiling Sawyer in a kidnapping? If so, she prayed she could deal with the consequence.

“Yes, run it,” Sawyer said to the person on the other end of the line. He clicked End Call, turned and immediately snared her gaze. “April is Emma’s biological mother.”

The relief washed through her. For a few seconds anyway. And then she realized what this meant. Emma wasn’t Sawyer’s child, and he had no claim to her. Yes, Sawyer and she had only had the baby for a short period of time, but Cassidy felt the loss.

Apparently, Sawyer did, too, because that wasn’t happiness she saw in his eyes.

“Who’s the kid’s father?” Willy snapped.

The man’s eyes were easy to read, too. The anger had returned with a vengeance. No doubt because they already knew that Emma wasn’t Willy’s, and that meant April had indeed cheated on him.

Sawyer shook his head. “We don’t know.”

“Maybe I’m looking at him.” Willy glared at Sawyer.

“I already told you that I never even met April.”

Willy’s glare got worse. “Prove it. Or prove to me the test isn’t fake.”

“It’s not fake,” Sawyer insisted.

But judging from the sound Willy made, he obviously didn’t agree. “For all I know, you could be covering up your guilt in all of this. Where were you last night?” Willy added, repeating the question Sawyer had asked him earlier.

But Sawyer didn’t respond to that. He turned to Grayson instead. “I was never with April, so there’s no chance Emma could be mine, but I told the lab tech to go ahead and compare her DNA to mine. To exclude me so we can focus on finding the real father. Maybe April’s killer, too.”

Sawyer’s gaze landed on Bennie. “My DNA’s already in the system at Quantico, but since you’ve never been arrested for a felony, yours isn’t. I want you to give us a sample of your DNA so we can run it against Emma’s.”

When Bennie didn’t respond, Cassidy reeled in his direction. “Please tell me you’re not going to argue about this, too?” she said.

Oh, her brother didn’t like that. “All right,” Bennie finally said, and he repeated it in a much louder, firmer voice when Cassidy continued to stare at him.

Had Bennie hesitated for a reason?

He’d already said the child wasn’t his, so there should have been no hesitation in giving them a sample of his DNA. Besides, Bennie had to have known this would happen. If neither Willy nor Sawyer was the baby’s father, then the next likely person was her brother. Well, the next likely person in the room anyway. It was entirely possible that April had had lovers none of them knew about.

Grayson disappeared into another room, and a few seconds later, he came back with a plastic bag that contained a swab. “Use it on the inside of your mouth,” Grayson instructed.

Bennie took the test kit, stared at it, before his gaze came back to hers. “The cops and FBI set people up all the time. You know Sawyer has it in for me.”

It took her a moment to tamp down the anger so she could speak. “No, I don’t know that. Because Sawyer wouldn’t set you up.”

“Yeah, you say that because you have a thing for him, but I don’t trust him.”

Sawyer hitched his thumb at Grayson. “The sheriff will send your DNA sample to the lab. Unless you think Cassidy’s got a thing for him, too.”

“No.” Her brother dragged that out a few syllables. “But you and the sheriff are cousins.”

Sawyer huffed. “What possible reason would we have to falsify DNA evidence?” He didn’t wait for Bennie to respond. “Emma’s mother is dead, and we need to find her father. Not a fake one. But the real one so he can have a say in her future.”

That hurt, too. It was stupid to have gotten this attached to Emma. After all, there had been no guarantees that Sawyer was her father. Now, Emma’s father would come and take her. Give her a real name. And Cassidy might never see her again.

“Do the test,” Willy demanded.

Her brother turned as if to blast Willy to smithereens, but Sawyer stepped between them.

“Just do the test,” Sawyer repeated to Bennie.

But Bennie still stared at the bag. “Swear to me that you won’t use this to set me up for April’s murder.”

The muscles in Sawyer’s jaw stirred. “I swear.” Though she wasn’t sure how he could speak with his teeth clenched like that.

Bennie finally opened the bag and scrubbed the swab inside his mouth. As if he’d declared war on it, he crammed the swab back in the bag and tossed it to Grayson.

“Satisfied?” Bennie snarled, and the snarl was aimed at her.

“Yes. Thank you.” She hated this tension between Bennie and her, but it couldn’t be helped. She trusted Sawyer and his cousin to do the right thing. They wouldn’t tamper with the test, and soon Bennie would be excluded as Emma’s father.

And that would take them back to square one as far as the baby was concerned.

Cassidy almost hated to ask, but she had to know. “Did the lab try to match Emma’s DNA with people already in the system?”

In other words—criminals.

With April’s shady past, it wasn’t much of a stretch to believe that she’d had an affair with a criminal. And that might make things tricky when it came to Emma’s
future
.

“The lab’s running that now.” Sawyer touched her arm, rubbed gently. “They’ll let us know if they get a match.” And he sounded as troubled by that as she was.

Cassidy heard her brother mumble some profanity, and when she looked in his direction, she realized he hadn’t missed Sawyer’s arm rub. It no doubt caused Bennie to believe that Sawyer and she were sleeping together again.

Willy laughed. He obviously hadn’t missed it, either. “Bennie, I almost feel sorry for you.
Almost
. I figure by this time tomorrow, one of these Rylands will be arresting you for murder. And you know what? I can’t wait. Somebody’s gonna pay for killing April, and I have a good feeling it’s gonna be you.”

Willy’s phone rang, the music from his ringtone way too perky for the tension in the room, and he glanced down at the screen. His eyes widened, and he made a slight sound of surprise. “Gotta go,” he mumbled, and as he pressed the button to take the call, he walked out of the building.

Sawyer stared at Willy on the other side of the reinforced glass.

“Don’t worry,” Grayson said. “We’ll keep an eye on him. And I’ll call you the moment the lab has anything. Go ahead and get Cassidy out of here.”

“You mean, take her back to the safe house,” Bennie said with the same disdain he’d used discussing the DNA sample.

Her brother stared at that sample in Grayson’s possession and cursed under his breath. “I have to talk to you,” Bennie said to Cassidy. “In private.”

No
. Cassidy didn’t like the sound of that, and she didn’t like Sawyer’s reaction, either. He was shaking his head before Bennie finished.

“She’s not going anywhere with you,” Sawyer insisted. “You’re a suspect in her kidnapping.”

Even though Bennie already knew that, she saw the temper flare in his eyes. “I wouldn’t hurt my sister,” he insisted. And he waited as if he expected her to jump to defend him.

Normally, she would have done just that, but Cassidy was too weary—and too troubled—to do it today. Besides, right now it wasn’t safe to go anywhere with anyone other than Sawyer.

Grayson excused himself, saying something about having a courier pick up Bennie’s DNA sample, and disappeared into his office. Bennie stayed as if waiting for Sawyer to do the same, but he didn’t move.

“This is a private discussion,” Bennie argued. “It’s between me and my sister.” But he stopped, stared at her. Cursed again. “Whatever I tell you, you’ll just repeat to him, won’t you?”

She nodded. “If it pertains to this investigation.” And she prayed it didn’t, but one look at Bennie’s body language, and Cassidy could only groan.

Yes, it did pertain to the investigation.

“Tell me,” Cassidy ordered.

Her brother shook his head. Mumbled something. Dodged her gaze. “Am I free to go?” Bennie asked Sawyer. Not a troubled tone and expression, just furious.

Cassidy was sure she was the cause of a lot of that fury. But she wasn’t backing down. Bennie had something to say, and he was going to say it—even if it got him arrested.

“What did you need to tell me?” she demanded.

Even though Bennie had been the one to insist on this discussion, it still took him several moments to get started. “I did have an affair with April.”

Sweet heaven. There it was, all spelled out. Bennie’s motive for murder.

“That’s not exactly a news flash,” Sawyer said under his breath.

Bennie cursed, looked away. “And the timing is right, so the baby could possibly be mine.
Possibly,
” he repeated.

Now it was Cassidy who wanted to curse. “So, you lied to us earlier when you denied it.”

“Yeah, I lied,” he readily admitted. “Because it was a private matter between April and me.”

Cassidy’s mouth nearly dropped open. “This is a murder investigation and therefore no longer a private matter.” She groaned and stepped away from Bennie when he reached to take hold of her arm.

It sickened her to think of the lies he’d told. Lies that could cause Sawyer to bring charges against him. Of course, there was something more important in all of this.

Emma.

If she was indeed Bennie’s daughter, then he would have a claim to her. Cassidy still loved her brother, but he was nowhere near responsible enough to raise a child. However, there was a silver lining in all of this. If Bennie was the father, then maybe that would mean Cassidy would have an easier time getting custody of the little girl.

If that’s what she wanted to do.

And she realized she did.

Except it was more than that. Her stupid mind had been weaving a fantasy of Sawyer, her and Emma. A fantasy that she was certain Sawyer didn’t share, even though it was obvious he cared for the baby. Of course, he might not care for her so much now if it turned out that Emma had Bennie’s blood.

She glanced at Sawyer to see if he, too, was thinking of Emma, but he had his attention nailed to Bennie. “No more lies,” Sawyer warned him. “Did you kill April?”

“No,” Bennie snapped. And he repeated it when he glanced at both of them. “I had no reason to want her dead.”

“Really?” Sawyer said with a boatload of sarcasm. “From what we’re learning, April was mentally unstable and a gold digger. I’m betting she didn’t take it calmly when you tried to end things with her.”

“She didn’t,” Bennie admitted under his breath. His gaze fired to Sawyer again. “But that doesn’t mean I killed her. I figured eventually she’d find someone else and move on.”

“Hard to move on when she was pregnant,” Cassidy pointed out.

“Yeah.” And that’s all Bennie said for several moments. “But I didn’t believe her when she said the baby was mine. I thought it was just her way of hanging on to me.”

Cassidy huffed. “For Pete’s sake, you were sleeping with her. You must have at least considered that Emma could be yours. Why didn’t you offer to help out, maybe pay April’s medical bills? If you’d come to me with that, I would have helped you.”

Bennie shook his head. “I needed your help with those loans from Rex Ross. I figured April had her own sources to pay the bills.”

Cassidy wanted to scream at his sheer selfishness. Wanted to scream at herself, too, since she’d helped to make him this way by always getting him out of trouble. Well, that ended today.

She got right in his face. “If Emma is yours, you
will
do the right thing for her, even if it means giving her up. And if there are criminal charges, you’ll face those, too.”

Bennie didn’t argue, but he did look as if she’d slapped him. “Am I free to go?” he repeated to Sawyer.

Sawyer didn’t jump to answer that, but he eventually nodded. “Don’t leave town.” That was likely the best he could do since he couldn’t arrest Bennie without evidence.

Cassidy watched her brother skulk away, leaving through the front door. Only then did she realize Willy wasn’t out there any longer. She hadn’t noticed him leaving, and she wondered just how much of their conversation he’d heard.

“I’m sorry,” Sawyer said. He slipped his arm around her.

Cassidy was about to tell him that she was okay, that she didn’t need him to hold her. But she quickly realized she was wrong. She was trembling. And furious. And terrified that her brother might have indeed murdered the mother of his own child. If so, that made him the worst kind of monster.

The tears came, and she swiped them away, hoping they wouldn’t return. But they did.

“Come on,” Sawyer whispered. “Let’s head back to the safe house.”

She didn’t resist when he started leading her down the hall, though it would take them an hour or more to get back to the house. That’s because Sawyer wouldn’t take the direct route, and he would have to drive around first to make sure no one was following them. It would mean a lot of time in his truck while she was on the verge of falling apart. Still, if anyone could help her through this, it was Sawyer.