Daddy Devastating (8 page)

“I told them, but they aren’t listening. They aren’t leaving either. They’re demanding to talk to
you
now.”

“Why me?”

“Because they believe you’re the one who’ll be in direct contact with the seller.”

That was true. Russ would be in direct contact with Milo. But that didn’t mean he should give in to their demands and meet with them.

“My advice?” Silas added. “Listen to what they have to say, because they’re claiming they have new information about who has their son.”

Chapter Six

Julia changed Emily and started the bottle, but her attention was on the phone call that Russ had gotten. She could tell he was talking to Silas, but the conversation wasn’t going well. Something had obviously gone wrong.

Zoey came out of her room, glanced at Russ and then joined Julia. “Is there a problem?” Zoey asked.

“Too many to name,” Julia mumbled.

And after the all the danger, one of the biggest problems was Russ. She’d thought their relationship was already complicated enough, but that breast kiss had sent this crazy camaraderie spinning out of control. She needed to attend the meeting with Milo so she could take Emily and get far away from Russ. She couldn’t think when he was around.

Russ finally ended the call and walked into the sitting room, but he didn’t offer an immediate explanation as to why his forehead was bunched up with worry. Zoey obviously noticed there was a problem, because she took Emily and the bottle into her bedroom.

“Well?” Julia asked Russ, when he still didn’t say anything.

“The stolen baby’s parents are here at the hotel.”

Surprised, she shook her head. “Was that planned?”

“Not even close.” And his tone and body language indicated it wasn’t just unplanned, it might be a huge complication. He went into the bathroom, and when he came back out, he was putting on his shirt. “I need to talk with them, because they might possibly have some new information about the case, but I want to make it look like a social meeting.”

Julia thought about that a moment. “You want me to go with you?”

“I don’t want you to go,” he said, gritting his teeth, “but I think it’s better than any alternative I can come up with. I certainly don’t want to meet with them here, with Emily in the next room. And since Milo’s man is still watching, I don’t want him to get the idea that I’m doing a deal with another seller. That might send him to look for another buyer.”

Julia nearly laughed. Not from humor, but from the irony of the situation. Two weeks ago, she’d been closeted away at her estate, only leaving a couple of times a year when it was an absolute necessity. She had even arranged to have her therapy sessions done at the estate.

Now, here she was in the middle of a dangerous FBI investigation. And while she was scared for Emily and herself, she was more frightened of not being able to get the stolen child back to his parents.

“What do you need me to do?” she asked. She sounded far more certain of herself than she was, but Russ likely knew that.

“First, get dressed. I’ll give you instructions on the ride down in the elevator.”

Julia forced herself to move. She hurried into the bedroom, grabbed a wine-colored, loose-fitting dress, and sandals from the closet. She wasn’t sure what a person was supposed to wear to a clandestine meeting, but she dressed as quickly as she could, put on some makeup and brushed her hair. When she finished, she found Russ talking to Zoey. Specifically, telling her to double lock the door and not let anyone in.

That nearly caused Julia to panic.

“You think Milo’s man will try to sneak in here?” she asked and then held her breath.

“No,” Russ answered, quickly. “But just in case, there’ll be an agent in the hall outside the room. He’s posing as a housekeeper.”

Good. Julia would help with this investigation, but not at the expense of Emily’s safety.

Russ took her by the arm and led her out of the suite, but he didn’t leave the door until they heard Zoey engage both locks as Russ had instructed.

“After the two o’clock meeting with Milo, my plan is to get you and Emily out of San Saba,” he explained, on the way to the elevator. He nodded to a man wearing a hotel uniform, who was in the room next to the suite changing sheets.

The undercover agent, no doubt.

“You think Milo will agree to me leaving?” she asked.

“He’ll have to. One meeting is bad enough. I don’t want you involved with this any longer than necessary.”

“I don’t want to be involved, either, but does that mean you think you’ll have the little boy by this afternoon?”

“It’s possible, but even if it’s not, you and I are going to stage an argument for Milo.” He turned and faced her while they were in the elevator. “I want you to call me all the names you’ve been thinking about calling me. I want you to say it’s not going to work between us, and for me to get out of your life. And then I want you to leave. An agent will keep an eye on you when you go to your car, and someone will make sure you get safely back to the hotel.”

That didn’t seem difficult, but it left a lot of things unanswered, too. “Then what?”

“The next part will be easy. You’ll take Emily and Zoey, and leave for the estate. I’ll get the Richardson baby and hand him over to his parents.”

That was exactly what she wanted to hear. So, it might all be over by early afternoon. Julia didn’t want to think beyond that, but she was certain this wasn’t the last she’d see of Russ Gentry.

Once this investigation was over, he would return to San Antonio and challenge her for custody. The anger came with that reminder, and she could already think of some names to call him in front of Milo, when Russ and she had their fake argument.

“As for this meeting with the Richardsons, I’ll just introduce you as my fiancée,” Russ continued. The elevator doors swung open, but he caught onto her arm to stop her from stepping out. “And don’t say too much around my partner, Silas. He’s the one who told the Richardsons where we were.”

Julia couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. “What?”

“Yeah. That was my reaction, too. He’s either incompetent or…” But Russ didn’t finish the thought. “Don’t worry. I’ve arranged for extra security for you at the meeting. I don’t intend to rely on Silas for anything.”

Great.

So, she was walking into a meeting with terrified parents and an idiot agent who was possibly dangerous. Julia checked her hands. She wasn’t shaking, and she didn’t feel a wave of panic. Maybe she’d had so much anxiety dumped on her in the past twenty-four hours that her body was adjusting.

“By the way, you look hot,” Russ mumbled to her, a split-second before they walked into the café off the lobby.

“So do you,” she mumbled back, and was pleased that it actually caused him to pause a step. She was betting not too many things off-balanced a man like Russ.

Russ smiled at her and ushered her toward the trio seated at a table in the corner. A tall blond woman immediately jumped from her chair.

“Her name is Tracy Richardson,” Russ told Julia, in a whisper. “She’s the mom, and I want you to greet her as if she were an old friend.”

Julia did. She walked to the woman and pulled her into a hug, probably surprising everyone at the table, especially Tracy Richardson.

“We need to look friendly and cozy,” Russ whispered to all of them. The other two men stood, as well. “Because we almost certainly have an audience.”

Julia glanced around the small café and didn’t see anyone suspicious, but that didn’t mean Milo’s man wasn’t using the infrared device to watch them.

“Aaron.” Russ greeted the father in a louder voice. They shook hands. “Julia’s told me all about you.” The thin-faced man was dressed to perfection in a dark blue suit, white shirt and Ivy League tie. He had old money written all over him, and being from old money herself, Julia recognized it.

Since the man in the suit was Aaron Richardson, that meant the other man was Silas Durant. Like Russ, she wouldn’t have picked him out of the crowd as an agent, which was probably why he was one.

Silas was around six feet tall and heavily muscled, as if he’d once played football. He was younger that Russ, probably by at least five years, and he wore khakis and a pale blue shirt. Unlike Russ, who still wore jeans and a black T-shirt. His rough haircut and attire was probably the reason he’d wanted her to pretend to be friends with the Richardsons.

“I ordered all of us coffee,” Tracy said, her voice shaking.

Everyone sat, but Russ’s gaze was firing everywhere. He was keeping watch.

“You said you had information about who might have taken your son?” Russ prompted. He kept his voice low, and held the coffee mug in front of his mouth.

“We think our nanny, Marita Gomez, might have been involved,” Tracy said.

Russ exchanged glances with Silas. “But we checked on Ms. Gomez and cleared her as a suspect. Yes, she was with your son when he was taken, but she was also clubbed on the head and had defensive wounds. It seems to us that Marita Gomez did everything within her power to stop your son from being taken.”

Aaron shook his head. “Tracy found a note.”

Tracy reached into her purse and produced the folded piece of paper. “It’s not an actual note. I went through Marita’s room and saw this pad of paper on the desk, and I thumbed through it. I didn’t see any writing, but I saw these indentations on one of the last pages of paper, so I used a pencil to rub across it.”

Russ unfolded the paper, and Julia glanced over and saw the numbers.

“It’s a phone number,” Aaron explained. “But it’s probably for one of those prepaid cells that can’t be traced.”

“How do you know that?” Russ asked.

“Because I tried to call it, and when no one answered, I phoned directory assistance. They said the account didn’t have any minutes remaining, so it was no longer active. Now, why would Marita have been calling someone with a prepaid phone?”

Julia could think of one reason—maybe the nanny was phoning a friend who just happened to have that type of cell service.

“If you thought this was important,” Russ said, “you should have turned it in to the FBI office near your home in Houston.”

“We couldn’t. I had to see you, to show you.” Tracy’s voice was still a whisper, but the low tone couldn’t conceal the emotion.

“Tracy.” Julia reached across the table and placed her hand on the woman’s. “It’ll be okay. They’ll find your son.”

Tracy stiffened, probably because she didn’t care for the intimate gesture offered to her by a stranger, but she finally nodded. “Silas said it could all be over soon. I pray he’s right.”

From the corner of her eye, Julia saw Russ scowl. Like her, he was probably wondering what else Silas had told them that he shouldn’t have.

“Here’s what I need you to do.” Russ set down his coffee cup and directed his comments to the Richardsons. “I need you to go home and wait.”

“You’re not helping by being here,” Silas added. “In fact, you could jeopardize the plan for us to rescue your son.”

Tracy gasped, and tears instantly sprang to her eyes. Beside her, her husband didn’t make a move to comfort, her as Julia had done.

“We can put up more money,” Aaron told Russ. “When you meet with the buyer, offer him two million.”

“Three,” Tracy insisted. “Or more. Offer him whatever he wants. I just want Matthew back safely with me.”

Aaron didn’t immediately jump to agree to that, but he finally nodded. “Offer them whatever’s necessary.”

“Money might not be an issue if the seller loses trust in me,” Russ pointed out. “So, finish your coffee, hug Julia goodbye, and then leave. If anyone asks, you were in town on business and dropped by the hotel to say a quick hello to an old friend. That’s it.”

Aaron gulped down the coffee and shook his head. “I knew we shouldn’t have come. I told Tracy, but she wouldn’t listen.”

“Because you didn’t listen to me,” Tracy fired back. “I can’t sit around like a block of ice, waiting.” She looked at Julia. “I just can’t.”

Julia could relate, unfortunately. If Emily had been taken, she would have done worse than shown up in the San Saba. She would have P.I.s out searching for the baby, and no one—not even the FBI—could have stopped her.

Tracy took a sip of coffee and seemed to calm down a bit. “I’m sorry. I haven’t been myself since Matthew was taken. I shouldn’t have had the nanny take him to his pediatric checkup. If I’d been with him, I would have fought to the death to stop them from taking him.” Her pale green eyes landed on Russ, then Silas. “You’re doing your best. I know that. But please check on the nanny. Make sure she wasn’t calling the person who stole Matthew.”

“Let’s go,” Aaron insisted, getting to his feet.

Tracy stood, too, and as Russ had instructed, she gave Julia a hug. “Please,” she whispered to Julia. “Bring my baby back to me.”

“I’ll try,” Julia promised. She watched them walk out of the café, and then sank back in her chair next to Russ. “What now?”

But Russ didn’t answer. His attention was on Silas. “We’ll talk later,” Russ said. And it sounded like a warning.

“You have a right to be upset—” Silas started.

“I said we’ll talk later,” Russ interrupted.

Silas looked ready to argue, but his phone rang. He glanced down at the screen and then excused himself so he could walk to the other side of the room and take the call.

“You don’t trust him?” Julia asked, following Russ’s suddenly stony gaze that was aimed at his partner.

“I’m not sure.” He blew out a weary breath and scrubbed his hand over his face. “But then, I’m not sure I trust the Richardsons. Meeting them was a real eye-opener.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean they put their son in more danger by coming here. They’re not stupid, and they should have known that.”

“True, but I think they’re working from a purely emotional level. Well, Tracy is anyway. I’m not so sure about Aaron. He seems immune to her tears.”

“Yeah. Their marriage doesn’t seem to be on solid ground, does it?”

Julia agreed. “This might seem like a callous question, but why are you, as the intended buyer, offering so much money for the child? I mean, won’t the large amount make Milo suspicious? Because I suspect someone greedy and resourceful, like your theoretical buyer, could go into a poor neighborhood and buy a child for far less than a million.”