L.A.P.D. Special Investigations Series, Boxed Set: The Deceived, The Taken & The Silent (22 page)

Oh, my. Her heart swelled. She threw her arms around him. “Oh, Adam. That’s wonderful. You’re wonderful!” He returned her hug.

Standing in the circle of his arms, she realized how much she needed this. So she just remained there, excited and happy and feeling his heart go thub-thub-thub against hers.

He was wonderful—and she knew then that she really was falling in love with him.

No, that was wrong. She was already in love with him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“I’M READY.” AT THE SOUND of the small voice, Adam and Jillian stepped apart. He looked down to see the boy standing next to him and holding a ragged stuffed animal of some kind.                “Well, that was quick.” Adam ruffled his hair.

The kid was marginally cleaner than before, still barefoot, but now dressed in a clean pair of shorts and a T-shirt. The woman came down the steps, sashayed over to Adam and handed him the shoe box.

“Can you tell her to please pack his things?” Jillian asked.

He held up the box. “This is everything.”

Her mouth fell open.

“Now we have to figure out what to do with—” He cut himself off, remembering the boy spoke English. He inclined his head toward him.

Adam didn’t know what Jillian had in mind when she’d insisted on bringing the boy along, but she was right. They couldn’t leave him here.

“We can check with Father Martinez,” Jillian said, glancing from Adam to Bobby. “Maybe he’ll know what to do. He works with children all the time.”

Adam nodded. Father Martinez had told him he’d contacted someone at the State Department in D.C. about the babies being smuggled illegally into the U.S. through the Central American corridor, and when Adam and Jillian had first arrived at the church, he’d thought they were government agents sent to help.

There was another aspect that deserved consideration. If Bobby was with Adam, the boy’s father, if he was still alive, might come looking for his son. And if the boy was with Father Martinez, the priest could alert Adam if Sullivan showed up. All Adam had to do was sit back and wait. It couldn’t have worked any better if he’d planned it.

And if that didn’t happen, at least the priest could find a home for the child. It occurred to Adam suddenly that he didn’t care as much about nailing Sullivan as he had before.

Odd. For so long now, nailing Sullivan had been his personal vendetta, but somewhere along the way, the intensity of his quest had diminished. He began to recognize that it really didn’t matter who brought the guy to justice. All that mattered was that someone did.

Adam looked at Bobby, then back at Jillian. “Okay. We don’t have a lot of room, so I’ll shove the box over and you can sit next to it, Bobby.” He handed Bobby the small duffel bag. “You can use that as a cushion.”

The boy beamed as Adam got the rest of their bags and then chucked them into the trunk.

“So, what’s the plan again?” Jillian asked as she leaned against the car on the opposite side. “We go to Cabacera, then Mirador and then we’ll drive back to San José?”

“You got it.”

“On the same roads as before?”

“Afraid so. Is that a problem?”

She heaved a sigh. “The rain forest is beautiful and all that, but I can’t stand to think of that ride again. I’ll be a cripple.” She narrowed her gaze at him. “And yes, I know I’m whining, and don’t you dare tell me again that I should’ve stayed in San José.”

He grinned. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Bobby climbed into the back while Jillian pulled out the map, shook it open and laid it on the roof of the car. “Do you remember when Father Martinez mentioned there was another road that came into Cabacera?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe there’s another way to get to San José. Maybe a much longer road that bypasses the rain forest. Anything would be better than the one we took to get here. Or—” her eyes lit up “—maybe we can drive to another city close by that has an airport and we can fly back to San José and not even go to Mirador?”

“That would be great, but first, we have a kid to deliver. After that, we’ll see what we can arrange.”

Within minutes they were on the road again, and he mentally plotted out their course of action. Once they arrived in Cabacera, he’d contact Father Martinez, who could take the kid. Jillian’s idea about getting to San José was a good one if there was another road to a city with an airport, they could fly and save time. He wasn’t sure how he would play the rest of it, though.

He could send her home and stay on himself to finish the job, or he could go back to L.A., attempt to get division approval and extradition papers, then return with help. But that wouldn’t happen if he didn’t find Sullivan first.

Bobby, he noticed when he checked in the rearview mirror, had fallen asleep, despite the bumpy ride and the roar of the engine. Jillian continued to examine the map.

“There’s a road from Cabacera to a town called Puerto Viejo. But—” her words trailed off as she searched the map some more “—no road to San José.”

“We’ll decide when we get to Cabacera,” he said. “It might be good to get input from someone who knows the area.”

At that, she folded the map, stuffed it into the visor and then pulled out the Nike shoe box.

“What’s in here?” she asked.

“Not much, I guess.” He still had the birth certificate.

She opened the cover, poked around, then pulled out what appeared to be a U.S. passport. “Look.”

The woman must’ve added it to the box. He didn’t remember it being there before. “Whose is it?”

She flipped it open. “Bobby’s. Maybe his mother got it so his father could take him out of the country.” Looking at the pages, her eyes widened. “Oh, my.” She took a deep breath and slapped it shut. Finally she turned to Adam and said, “He was born in California. He’s a U.S. citizen.”

“So?”

“So, that hadn’t occurred to me, and I’m surprised, that’s all.” She frowned, then stared at the information in the passport again. “Gosh, a lot of things didn’t occur to me.” She spoke quietly, talking more to herself than to him. “His father’s name is the same as Rob’s.”

“That’s no surprise.”

She sighed deeply. “No, I suppose it shouldn’t be. It’s just that seeing it all…so official—” she held up the passport “—and seeing the boy…”

Adam heard the tears in her voice. He reached over and touched her hand. “Don’t think about it.”

“I wish it was that easy. But I can’t think about anything else. It’s…all so surreal, like a dream, and I…I’m not sure of anything anymore. Knowing that Rob is still alive should be wonderful…but the idea that he had another family, that he could have left us…” Her voice cracked. “And then there’s this sweet little boy whose eyes are…”

He squeezed her hand again. “Don’t start second-guessing, Jillian. Once we get to Cabacera, Father Martinez will find a place for the boy to stay, and you can go home and get your life back to normal again.”

“I don’t know how it can be normal after all this.” Her voice was a whisper. She reached into the back seat and picked up the stuffed rabbit Bobby had dropped when he fell asleep. “Chloe used to have a rabbit just like this. It disappeared around the time Rob died. Do you suppose…” She shook her head and tucked the toy back in Bobby’s arms. “What kind of life will Bobby have in Cabacera?”

“He’ll have a better life than what he had back where we just came from.”

Her eyes came to life. “But we don’t have to do that, do we?”

“Do what?”

“Leave him in Costa Rica with Father Martinez. We—I can take him home with me.”

Adam gritted his teeth. “Pardon me? This heat must be making me delusional. I’m hearing some really strange things coming out of your mouth.”

“I’m his aunt, remember? I’m supposed to be taking him to America. And the more I think about it, the more I think it’s a good idea.”

“You’re crazy.”

Her expression hardened with resolve. “On the contrary. I’m finally thinking clearly.”

He sputtered for words. “You…you can’t just decide to take a kid out of the country.”

“I can and I did.”

“There are laws—”

“There are laws against exploiting children, too. And this is different. His mother wanted him to live in the U.S. Besides, it’s the right thing to do.”

Okay. The woman wasn’t rational. He kept on driving, trying not to act as if that wasn’t the most idiotic, impulsive, totally irrational decision he’d ever heard anyone make about a life-changing event.

“And why, pray tell, is it the right decision?”

“Because.”

He snorted. “Because? You decide you’re going to smuggle a kid into the U.S. posing as his aunt and the only reason you can give for doing it is because?” He jerked the steering wheel to avoid going over a hump in the road. “I don’t believe it,” he said. “I was right the first time. You are certifiably crazy.”

She laughed. “Maybe. Maybe I am a little crazy, but you know what?” She didn’t wait for a response. “It feels good. Damn good. That’s why I know it’s the right thing to do.”

“It feels good? Jillian, this isn’t…” Glancing at her and seeing the hopeful, excited look in her eyes, he stopped. Hope was infinitely better than the despair that had consumed her less than ten minutes before.

“Okay, I can understand not wanting the boy to stay where he was. I couldn’t leave him there, either. But why on earth would you want to take him with you? Wherever he goes, he’ll get put into foster care, and he won’t be any better off in Chicago than he would be here with Father Martinez. At least the priest can find a family for him in his own country.”

“If he goes with me, he’ll be in his own country. He’s an American citizen. Says so on his passport.”

“Which doesn’t change anything. He still wouldn’t be any better off.”

“If I can…I’ll adopt him.”

The air left Adam’s lungs in a whoosh. He stopped the car, took her hand in his and looked directly into her eyes. “One word. Why?”

“Because—” her voice faded to a whisper “—he has no one. He’s Chloe’s brother, Adam. How can I do anything less?”

As they rolled into Cabacera an hour later, Jillian realized she’d been so intent on finding the man in the photograph she hadn’t really given much thought to the ramifications if the man in the photo turned out to be Rob. Oh, the worry had been there, festering in the back of her mind. But now she had to deal with it.

Her mind reeled with random thoughts. Adam had said she was crazy to consider taking Bobby home with her, and maybe he was right. She had to think of Chloe, too. What would she think or feel about it? What on earth would she tell her daughter? Or anyone else, for that matter?

What could she say without telling people that Rob had been a bigamist? Wouldn’t hearing that break Chloe’s heart? Her daughter idolized her father. How could she knowingly rip that belief to shreds? Especially when she didn’t know the truth herself.

Jillian realized then that it didn’t matter what anyone else thought. If Rob was alive, sooner or later, everyone would know. And if he loved his son, he’d come looking for him.

The bottom line was, she couldn’t leave Bobby here, not when she could give him a loving home with his sister. Chloe would adjust.

Adam drove directly to the church. “We’ll see if Father Martinez has any suggestions on getting to San Jose. We may have to stay overnight again if we can’t take a different route out of here.”

Once the car had stopped, Jillian leaned into the back seat and gently rubbed the child’s arm to wake him up. He’d slept the entire trip, so he must’ve been exhausted. “Bobby, we’re in Cabacera,” she said.

Bobby yawned, stretched and sat up. He looked a little confused at first, but then smiled brightly at her. “Is that in America?” Both Jillian and Adam laughed.

“We’re still in Costa Rica, kid,” Adam said. “And we’ve got a few things to do before we go anywhere.” He shoved open the car door, flipped the front seat down and reached in to give Bobby a hand.

As the three of them headed toward the church, Bobby skipped between them, reaching up to hold both her hand and Adam’s. The gesture seemed completely natural, almost as if they were a family. The irony was almost laughable ... if it wasn’t so tragic.

Inside the church, Father Martinez stood near the altar talking with a man in a flowered shirt. The man looked like a tourist, but something about him made Jillian think he wasn’t.

“Wait here with Bobby,” Adam said, and immediately headed toward the priest.

Watching the two men greet each other with exuberant handshakes and then the priest introducing Adam to the other man, Jillian had a feeling that something was going on that didn’t include her.

She nudged Bobby toward an ornately carved wooden bench near the door and sat there with him. As before, it was cooler inside than outside. She scanned the church’s interior, noticing things she hadn’t before: a marble basin by the door, a sign in front of a long narrow hallway on her left that read Alto, and a stairwell leading up to a tiny archway.

A musty antique-shop scent permeated the air. Farther inside the church, on both sides, two racks of candles flickered in the shadows, while refracted light from the stained-glass windows near the altar glittered like diamonds off the gilded statues.

A peaceful feeling settled over her. Everything would turn out okay, she was certain of it.

Her gaze returned to the men, still deeply engaged in conversation. Moments later, a smiling Adam strode to the bench where Jillian and Bobby were sitting.