Enchanting Baby

“I understand about patient confidentiality, ma’am.” Greg kept his voice low. “But I have reason to believe that the woman I’m looking for might have come to your clinic for prenatal care and I don’t know how else to find her. I really need to see her. It’s…it’s fairly urgent.”

The expression in Lydia Kane’s sharp blue eyes indicated she was not inclined to divulge any information. “I’m sorry,” she said slowly, making it sound vaguely like a threat instead of an apology, “I don’t think I caught your name.”

Greg realized, a little late, that maybe he should have sent the private investigator to Enchantment to flush out Ashleigh Logan before he came tearing down here himself. If he invented a fake name his poor lying skills would undoubtedly trip him up. But if he said anything now besides a name—my name’s not important or I’m nobody or she wouldn’t recognize me—it would sound lame, even suspicious. And if he kept up this lying now, what would they think of him when the baby came?

Again, he opted for a diversion, a partial truth. “I understand that you can’t give me any information, but I have…something she needs, and I was hoping you might at least contact her for me.”

Lydia Kane didn’t look at all amenable to that idea, either, even though she asked, “And what is her name?”

“Ashleigh Logan.”

“Ashleigh Logan…” Lydia repeated in a musing way, as if she were trying to place the name. “Ashleigh Logan.” She fingered the pendant again and glanced over Greg’s shoulder.

“Maybe you’ve heard of her?” he persisted. “She has a syndicated TV show. All About Babies. I mean, in your line of work—”

“I have seen that show,” Lydia said slowly. “So, is this urgent business somehow related to Ms. Logan’s television show?”

“Uh. No. It’s personal.” Again, Greg settled for a vague truth.

“I see.” Lydia shot another quick glance over Greg’s shoulder, toward the women clustered behind the receptionist’s desk. “Is it a medical matter?”

“Well, no. Maybe I shouldn’t have said it was urgent. It’s not anything of immediate importance….” Greg hesitated while he did some fast thinking. His gaze flitted to the pictures of healthy babies decorating the clinic walls. If this woman ran this clinic, then the welfare of babies must be a very high priority for her. “But it might eventually impact Ms. Logan’s unborn child.” That was the absolute truth, so Greg had no trouble keeping his expression sincere.

“I see.” Lydia Kane shot another furtive glance out the large window, then in the direction of the small waiting room, toward her patients, who appeared to be tuned in to the conversation. Even the two little children had gravitated toward their mothers and now sat still and quiet.

“I’d like to help you. But I’m afraid we’re very busy right now.” She smiled nervously at the women in the waiting room. “Would you mind waiting back in my office while I check on something?”

Greg decided there was definitely something fishy going on at this clinic. “Oh, that’s okay,” he said casually. “I’m running late, actually.” He looked at his wrist as if to check his watch, and realized that in his hurry to hit the road, he hadn’t put it on. The futile gesture seemed to undermine his credibility even further. “I think I’d better be on my way.”

“It will only take a minute. Please. My office is this way.” She swept a graceful arm toward the long hallway.

The woman was clearly trying to detain him—he saw that now. It was what she’d been doing all along. And in the next instant, Greg understood why.

The whoop of a siren caused everyone to turn to the paned window. A black-and-white cruiser braked behind Greg’s Navigator and a trim, muscular young cop jumped out and trotted around the trunk of the squad car. He was wearing a gray Stetson, a flawlessly pressed uniform, dusty brown cowboy boots and a sidearm in a swivel holster. He came bursting into the door of the clinic like a marine at a battle landing.

“This is the man, Miguel,” the Lydia Kane woman said loudly. She had stepped farther away from Greg.

“Come with me, sir.” The cop was about Greg’s size, clean cut and serious-looking. His heavy dark brows formed into a sharp chevron as he indicated the door with one outstretched palm. His name tag read “Eiden,” but this guy didn’t look German. With his hawkish nose and piercing dark eyes, he looked like he could be part Hispanic or maybe Navajo. The deep dimples etched on either side of his mouth somehow made his appearance even more threatening.

“Now, wait a minute,” Greg said as he backed up. Why in the hell did the cops show up every time he started asking questions about Ashleigh Logan?

“I need you to step outside, sir.” The cop reached for Greg’s arm, but again Greg instinctively backed away. The women and children had receded to the far edges of the room.

“Are you arresting me?” Greg demanded. He knew the law, and knew he hadn’t broken it.

“I’m simply conducting an investiga—” The cop’s shoulder radio squawked. He listened, then touched it off. “I just need you to come outside and answer a few questions.”

“Why?”

When Greg still didn’t move, the cop said, “Okay. Sir, I’ll need you to turn around and put your hands behind your back.”

“What?” Greg couldn’t believe this.

But the cop had already reached behind his belt and flipped out a pair of handcuffs. His other hand was poised near his holster.

“Okay!” Greg threw up his palms like a criminal in a TV drama. What choice did he have? He wouldn’t be much good to his baby if he got himself shot.

Before he could so much as blink, Eiden twisted Greg’s arms behind his back and slapped the cuffs on his wrists. With one hand on the cuffs and one hand on Greg’s shoulder, the cop pushed him outside.

Stunned, Greg tried to turn his face toward the man. “Officer, are you arresting me?”

The cop gave the cuffs an instructive jerk. “I could. For interference with official process. But I’ll settle for taking you down to headquarters for investigative detention.”

“What is this all about? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

The cop didn’t answer. He quickly patted Greg down, making Greg grateful he’d left his firearm in the lockbox inside his Navigator.

When the cop was satisfied that Greg was clean, he said, “Please get in the vehicle, sir.” He opened the back door of the squad car.

“What about my vehicle?” Greg jerked his head toward the Navigator.

“I’ll lock it. If necessary, I can impound it later. Otherwise, I’ll bring you back here to get it.”

Again, Greg had no choice but to climb into the musty, plastic-lined back seat. He’d only ridden in the front of a squad car, never in the back. He’d never been on the bad end of an arrest, either. He felt awkward, like an animal in a cage, forced to sit sideways in the cramped space because of the cuffs. As he stared at the Plexiglas barrier to the front seat he thought, Great. This Ashleigh Logan woman is complicating my life more by the minute. He’d been in this backwater town less than an hour and already he was being hauled down to the local pokey.

CHAPTER TWO

AS SOON AS THE DOOR CLOSED behind the men, Lydia Kane and her staff rushed into the waiting room where the two mothers were clutching their toddlers to their pregnant bellies.

“Everything’s all right.” Lydia stretched her arms forth. “He’s gone now. Is everyone okay?”

“We’re fine,” both of the patients answered at once, but their expressions remained wide-eyed and fearful.

“Was that guy dangerous?” one of them asked.

“I hope not,” Lydia soothed. “But we couldn’t take any chances. We have a patient here who has a restraining order against a stalker back in Denver, so we can’t be too cautious.” She turned to her staff. “Lenora, why don’t you go ahead and move these clients back to exam rooms where they can be more comfortable?”

As soon as the patients were gone, the receptionist, Trish, covered her mouth in shame. “I shouldn’t have put her real last name on the board.”

Lydia patted her shoulder. “It’s been a hectic day and you were just following the routine.”

“Don’t worry, Trish,” Katherine said, adding her reassurances. “While Lydia was calling the cops, I called Ashleigh and warned her. Another officer went out to the Coleman cabin while Miguel was on his way here.”

“Still, that awful man saw her name. Now he knows she’s in Enchantment!” Trish wasn’t going to forgive herself so easily.

“You had no idea he’d look back there,” Katherine reassured her further.

“I’m so glad you were alert!” Trish’s shoulders relaxed a bit.