Undeniably Yours (28 page)

Even though I didn’t think the remodel party worthy, Dovie insisted, and I was in no position to tell her no after deceiving her. Or so she told me repeatedly—every chance she got.

Normal would have to wait, too, until the last few loose ends were wrapped up in Kira’s case. Then I could put it behind me for good. Examine my scars, mental and physical, and tuck it away as another case solved. Another bad guy brought to justice.

It was a hot Saturday afternoon, the sun was shining, the ocean sparkling. Wind sent my hair into my face, and I kept pushing it back as I watched a family of three build a sandcastle. Today was a day to tackle one of those loose ends.

Patty Keefe gripped my hand tightly, and I didn’t even mind. I’d signed her out of the hospice for the trip down here, a three-hour drive, round trip.

Worth every second to bring a little closure.

She sat next to me on the bench, a rolling oxygen tank next to her. “He looks…so happy,” she said, watching her grandson shovel sand into a neon-green bucket.

“He does.” Happy and healthy.

A floppy hat shaded his face, and his fish-printed bathing shorts were sagging, even though he’d put on some weight. He didn’t look scrawny and underfed anymore. A woman kept applying sunscreen to his pale skin, and he wiggled, trying to get back to playing.

The woman was Cecelia Wright. Her husband Neil was nearby, busy hauling buckets of water from the ocean. Cecelia tied the little boy’s shorts more tightly, and he ran off, trotting alongside his father, his toothy smile flashing as he laughed.

Almost six months ago, Cecelia, a graphic designer, and Neil, a dentist, adopted a bright-eyed, light-haired little boy through a Boston baby broker, who charged them a small fortune. A price they were more than willing to pay after years of failed infertility treatments.

That broker had been Ross Bennett, using an assumed name.

The Wrights had no idea their little boy, Brandon, was Dustin McDaniel, a stolen child. I wouldn’t say they were entirely guilt-free as they didn’t seem to do much digging into Ross’s background, but they were too overjoyed at the possibility of having a family to question where the child had truly come from.

Desperation often wore blinders.

Because I could only see images through Dustin’s eyes, it had taken me nearly a week of scent readings on the baby blanket Patty had crocheted to locate the town where he was living. Another three days of investigating his new family. A day to drive down here and scope out the situation. And one day to get enough courage up to broach Patty with my suggestion.

Now here we were, sitting on a bench, watching Neil scoop up Dustin and buzz him around like an airplane. Dustin screamed with happiness.

Patty squeezed my hand. Tears welled in her eyes.

I blinked and looked away, watching the white-capped surf slam against the shore. The water was dotted with swimmers.

My phone rang, and I checked the readout. Aiden.

To Patty, I said, “I’ll be right back.”

She patted my hand. “Take your time. I’m happy right here.”

I stood and answered the call, limping a little farther down the sandy boardwalk, searching for privacy.

“Where are you?” Aiden asked.

“The beach,” I said, glad I didn’t have to lie. “How’d it go?”

“Strange. Shocking.”

I glanced at Dustin, who was back to shoveling sand. He crouched, focused on the task at hand, oblivious to all around him. I looked at Patty, whose skin was so thin it was nearly translucent. Her heart was in her eyes as she watched his every move.

I’d found Dustin only because of the blanket that Patty had crocheted. After the showdown with me in the Shaw’s parking lot, and being arrested on a multitude of charges ranging from attempted kidnapping to murder, Ross Bennett hired a fancy lawyer and clammed up. Way up. He absolutely refused to talk. Not about Kira’s murder. And certainly not about the missing children.

However, Lillian Moore had finally come out of her coma and was more than willing to spill her guts. Her attorney cut a deal with the district attorney’s office in exchange for her testimony.

Her interview was today. I wasn’t invited—it was a meeting reserved for detectives and attorneys only.

Sea oats swayed in the stiff breeze. “How so?”

“First shocker was that she and Ross were a couple. Started seeing each other on the sly after meeting at the CFC office Christmas party, a year and a half ago.”

I recalled the photo on the mantel at the Bennetts’ house. I wondered if Ross smirked at it every time he walked by.

“He reeled her in hook, line, and sinker with his big plans to save the world,” Aiden explained. “Threw around a lot of sociology terminology as to why the majority of the kids in the system would continue the cycle and never make anything of themselves.”

“That’s not true.”

“We know that, but Lillian was smitten and believed everything that came out of his mouth, including that he planned to eventually leave Cat. When he first brought up the idea of rescuing,” he emphasized the word, “at-risk children to make sure they went to good homes, she readily agreed. She wanted to save the kids, and if they made a few dollars on the deal, all the better. By the way, they have a secret account set up that has several hundred thousand dollars in it.”

I thought of all the babies that represented and my stomach turned.

Aiden said, “Between him wheedling information from Cat about her case files, and Lillian’s access to databases and office gossip…it was a match ripe for baby brokering. I think Ross had this plan in place for years, Lucy. He just needed a willing accomplice.”

“Did they set out to frame Cat?” They’d used her car in the kidnappings, after all. If it had been identified sooner…

“I don’t think so. She was an easy scapegoat if they happened to get caught. Oh, and the first couple of kids they bought. Paid willing parents a few thousand dollars. Then they decided it would be easy enough to take some of the kids…”

It was all so twisted. A couple brushed past me, carrying a cooler, towels, and chairs. I turned and walked back toward Patty and threw another glance at Dustin. “Was Ross really trying to save the kids?”

“No.” There was a pause before he added, “It was money all along, something Lillian discovered only when he set his sights on kidnapping Ava. Lillian couldn’t understand why Ross wanted Ava, because Kira was a more-than-competent parent, but she went along with it even though it seemed dangerous, because Kira was a public persona. But he claimed that with the sale of Ava, he’d have enough money to leave Cat. The going rate for blond-haired, blue-eyed babies, by the way, is one hundred thousand dollars.”

I knew. It was how much the Wrights paid for Dustin.

“Ross proclaimed with the sale of Ava, he could leave academia behind and he and Lillian could move somewhere tropical.”

“Sick,” I said.

“Yes. Lillian went along with it because she loved him, but doubts were setting in, especially when he had her bring Corey McDaniel into the fold to do some of the dirty work and take some blame if caught.”

Corey McDaniel, who was now back in jail for parole violations, also had new charges pending. Even with the plea deal Aiden helped him get, it would be another five or ten years before he’d be released from jail. I looked at Dustin, running circles as Neil dug a moat, and my throat tightened.

I coughed. “How’d Cat end up in her basement?”

“Ross brought her over. After her chat with Kira at the grocery store, Cat figured out Ross was somehow involved with Dustin’s kidnapping and threatened to go to the police. He knocked her out, put her in the trunk, drove her to Hanover and left her in Lillian’s cellar.”

“Without her insulin.”

“He wanted her death to appear natural. When she died, he planned to relocate her body to a highway underpass so it would be found. Because she had been depressed he counted on the cause of death being believed accidental.”

“Bastard.”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

I swatted a fly intent on inspecting every pore of my face. “Yet, he let me do scent readings. Why?”

“He figured you wouldn’t be able to see much through Cat’s eyes. Nothing identifiable as to her location. No harm, no foul, and it made it look like he was cooperating.”

I thought about what a good actor he was—something I needed to keep in mind for future cases.

“But bringing Cat to Lillian’s freaked Lillian out. The more she thought about it the more concerned she grew. She drove to his house to confront him. He kept trying to reassure her it was the only way. That he had it all under control and that soon they would be well on their way to a new life. First he needed Ava…and to get rid of Kira. It’s when she drew the line.”

“She called Kira to warn her.”

“Exactly. She claims she didn’t want anyone else harmed. So when Ross went to the police station to file a missing persons report, she called Kira and told her to get herself and Ava to safety—and to ditch her car as soon as possible, because it had a tracker on it.”

I kicked a pebble, sending it skittering down the boardwalk. I didn’t know what to think of this information. That she had tried to save Kira, yet she had a dying Cat locked in her basement.

“According to Lillian,” Aiden went on, “Kira did ditch the tracker on her car.”

Obviously neither Lillian nor Kira had known about the one in Ava’s car seat. Smart criminals like Ross Bennett were the scariest kind. Always seeming to be one step ahead.

“However,” Aiden said, “Kira didn’t take Lillian’s advice in its entirety.”

“What’s that mean?” I asked.

“Lillian said that after dropping Ava off with me, Kira drove straight to the Bennetts’ house.”

A jet roared overhead, and I waited for it to go by before I said, “Why in the hell would she do that?”

“Lillian is sketchy on these details, because she’d already left, but Ross told her enough to put it together. An enraged Kira had shown up, knocked on the door, and demanded to speak with Cat or she was going to call the police…. Kira hadn’t quite figured out that Cat wasn’t in on the scheme. Ross was puzzled by her behavior, because,” Aiden explained, “he didn’t know she’d gotten a call that Caller ID identified as coming from his house, but then he took advantage of the situation.” Aiden paused. “Ross let Lillian know the next morning that Kira would no longer be a problem. He’d dumped the body and the car and was hell-bent on getting Ava and getting out of town as soon as possible.”

I took a moment to send cosmic thanks to Jeremy Cross and his security team. Without them, I wasn’t sure if we would have been able to keep Ava safe.

“Why would Kira go there? And why alone if she’d been warned?” It was so bittersweet that Lillian’s plan to save Kira had backfired terribly, luring her to her death.

“I don’t know, Lucy.” I heard the rattle of a Tic Tac box. “I can only imagine that she was still chasing the story. Maybe she figured she could get a confession out of Cat. I don’t think she had any idea the level of danger she was in.”

Over the next few minutes, Aiden filled me in on other particulars. Like when Ross went looking for the flash drive at Kira’s and couldn’t find it. He rigged the explosives so no one would. He’d hacked Kira’s laptop and found her passcodes, including the PIN of her debit card. He wanted the police to think Kira was alive and using her bank accounts. It seemed he’d thought of just about everything.

Except, perhaps, Lillian’s betrayal. It wasn’t until he learned about Lillian’s phone call when told about the phone records that he put it together. That was the night he tried to kill her. She’d been at his place when he attacked her. She somehow managed to escape him, but she’d been woozy, and had crashed her car trying to get home.

The accident had probably saved her life. Otherwise he would have tracked her down to finish the job.

“There’s another thing, too,” he said, sounding hesitant.

“What?” I leaned against a fence post, feeling the need to brace myself. I watched a small sailboat skim across crests.

“Lillian claims…” He broke off.

“Just spit it out, Aiden.”

Finally, he said, “Ross wasn’t only after Ava in that Shaw’s parking lot. He planned to get rid of you, too. He didn’t want you to be able to find Dustin or any of the other kids and figure out what he’d done. You spooked him when you proved your abilities.”

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. It wasn’t the first time someone had wanted to kill me, and it most likely wouldn’t be the last.

“Lucy?” Aiden asked. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just wishing I’d hit him a few more times with that tire iron.”

I heard the Tic Tac box again as he said, “Me, too.”

“What happens now?” I asked.

“Lillian will stay in the hospital until she’s well enough to be locked up. With her plea deal she’ll serve five years before being eligible for parole.”

Hesitantly, I asked, “Does she know where the kids are?”

“No. Ross handled finding families for the kids. Other than pretending to be the mother giving the kids up for adoption, she didn’t know anything about the couples.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding.

“We’ll start tracing the money,” he continued, “and hope it leads back to the adoptive families, but Ross is clever and it’s not going to be easy. And you’ll keep working on trying to find the kids. It’s a shame you couldn’t get a reading from Dustin’s blanket.”

“It is.” The heat of a guilty flush crept up my neck, and I was glad he couldn’t see me.

The truth was that I’d found a couple of the kids already. They, like Dustin, had been placed with decent, loving families, who just happened to be wealthy and unable to have kids of their own.

It made me think that Ross Bennett might possess the tiniest bit of human decency. He’d done a good job of screening potential parents before taking their money.

It left me with a big moral dilemma. I could leave well enough alone and let the kids stay where they were…or return them to the lives they led before. If I did the latter, most would go straight back into the system, into foster care, especially the ones Ross had bought from parents willing to sell their children… And then there was Dustin.