Sawyer

“You can’t keep her, you know,” Sawyer said, standing. He went to her, looking down at the baby, and he touched the little girl’s cheek with this finger.

The corner of the baby’s mouth lifted as if she was smiling.

And that caused Cassidy to smile, too. Well, for a few seconds anyway, and then reality hit her.

“If April was her mother, then her next of kin is her father.” She hated to say it aloud, but she figured Sawyer was thinking it, too. “What if her father’s the other kidnapper?”

“It’s possible,” Sawyer readily admitted. “That’s why we need to catch him and then get the results from the DNA and blood tests. We might be able to exclude him on the blood test alone.”

Yes, but it wouldn’t solve her other problem of finding Bennie. If the kidnapper had murdered his own lover, the mother of his child, and used that child in some kind of kidnapping scheme, then she wanted her brother far away from this monster.

Sawyer’s phone buzzed, and because he was so close to her, she saw the name on the phone screen.

Nate Ryland.

His cousin and the cop from SAPD that Mason had mentioned. Sawyer stepped away from her, but he did put the call on speaker.

“Mason said you wanted some info on April Warrick,” Nate started. “Well, that’s her body you found in Silver Creek. Grayson sent me a photo, and I was able to confirm it with Doug Franklin, the detective who used her as a criminal informant.”

Cassidy was glad the baby was too young to understand the news they’d just gotten.

“Did April really have a baby?” Sawyer asked.

“Yeah. A girl, but I can’t confirm if it’s the baby that the kidnappers had. Still working on that. But we do have a lead. Doug said last year April was involved with a real hothead. A guy named Willy Malloy.”

Sawyer took a notepad from his pocket and wrote down the name. “I want to talk to him.”

“Figured you would. I’ll track him down and get him out to Silver Creek so Grayson and you can question him.” Nate paused. “There’s someone else you’ll want to talk to. A couple of months ago, April was ordered to see a court-appointed therapist, Dr. Diane Blackwell. She’s already called here looking for April, and I told her to get in touch with you.”

A therapist could definitely give them some info. If she’d talk, that is. Cassidy hoped she didn’t play the client-confidentiality card, especially now that her client was dead.

“There’s more,” Nate said a moment later. “Doug said April hadn’t mentioned Willy in months, that she’d been seeing some rich guy, and that April was worried that the guy might be up to no good.”

“You got a name?” Sawyer asked.

“Yeah. It’s a name you’re not going to like. Doug said it was Bennie O’Neal.”

Cassidy wasn’t able to bite back her gasp. No. This couldn’t be happening. But Sawyer only tossed her an I-told-you-so look.

“The detective said if you want to find April’s killer,” Nate added, “then start with Bennie—that judging from the way April talked bad about him, he’s the one who probably murdered her.”

Chapter Five

Sawyer finished up the call with his brother, Josh, and gave him both an apology for having to leave the reception early and well-wishes since Josh was about to leave on his honeymoon with his new bride. Even though Josh had asked about the kidnapping, Sawyer kept the details brief. No need to trouble his brother with a case that didn’t make sense anyway.

When he ended the call, he glanced up to check on Cassidy. Sawyer had no idea what to do about her. Obviously waiting, she was pacing the hall of the Silver Creek sheriff’s office. The trouble was, it might be a long time before they heard anything from the kidnappers.

If there were indeed kidnappers.

It was possible this was all some kind of elaborate scheme concocted by Bennie to get his sister’s money under the guise of a ransom. That part of the twisted plan actually made sense, but not much else did.

Like why had April been murdered?

And why had the kidnappers demanded a photo of Sawyer holding a stranger’s baby? A baby who may or may not belong to April.

One thing was certain—the little girl wasn’t Laurie’s and his. Sawyer wanted to be relieved about that, but there was a flip side to this coin. At least if he was her father, he could have decided her fate. He could have made sure she was in a good place where she’d be safe—with him. As it was now, the baby would become a ward of the state, and that was, sadly, a best-case scenario.

There was a birth father out there. And judging from April’s rap sheet, that father might be scum.

Either her ex-boyfriend Willy Malloy.

Or Bennie.

Sawyer didn’t want either man to have a claim on the newborn and didn’t want the baby to be placed in their care. Of course, he might not have to worry about that if it turned out that April wasn’t the baby’s mother. And if she wasn’t, he really needed to remember the name of the woman he’d met at the bar.

Because if that woman was the mother, then it meant the baby could possibly be his after all since they’d had a one-night stand.

Yeah, this was a tangled mess, all right.

Cassidy paced by the office door again, and Sawyer saw her check the clock on the wall next to the sheriff’s desk. It was going on 6:00 p.m.

“The kidnappers should have called by now,” she grumbled. “Maybe I should check and make sure the calls to my house are routed here.”

“If a call comes in there, you’ll get it here,” he assured her.

He’d made the arrangements for that himself. Ditto for getting her a replacement cell phone with the same number, and he’d had it delivered to the office so the kidnappers could contact her. She had a death grip on the phone now, and other than some emails having to do with her family business, there had been no communication from anyone.

Especially not from Bennie.

She huffed, pushed her hair from her face. “Maybe I should just go home and wait for the call.”

He gave her a flat look to let her know that wasn’t going to happen. Not without him anyway. “Should I remind you one more time that you were kidnapped, too? Those thugs might try to take you again, and the safest place you can be is here with me.”

Sawyer hoped that was true anyway.

He didn’t have time to add to his argument because his phone rang, and he saw Mason’s name on the screen.

“There’s been a snafu with Social Services,” Mason said, “and they want to know if we can keep the baby overnight. It’s either that, or she can be admitted to the hospital.”

Even though Cassidy probably couldn’t have heard what he said, she was studying Sawyer’s face and obviously saw the concern in his expression.

“No hospital,” Sawyer insisted. “Go ahead and take the baby to the ranch. Cassidy and I will be there soon to pick her up and take her to my place.”

He ended the call, knowing that she’d want an explanation about several things. “It’s either the hospital or my house for the baby,” he said. “I figured she’s already been through enough. And besides, there are plenty of us at the ranch to help take care of her.”

“Including me?” Cassidy asked with a boatload of skepticism.

And here was the part she was not going to like. Heck, Sawyer didn’t like it much, either. “You need to be in protective custody. So does the baby. Because the kidnappers could come after either of you again.”