Mystery Child

“Okay. I was. Agent Spellings just finished interrogating me. I’m a little frazzled.”

“She’d probably prefer to refer to it as an interview.”

“Whatever it was, I’m frazzled.”

“You shouldn’t be. You haven’t done anything wrong. You’ve got nothing to hide. You’ve got no reason to be worried about speaking with law enforcement.”

“That’s what she said.”

“Did she say anything else?” he asked, and she knew there was something specific he wanted to know. Maybe about Jubilee and her biological father.

“She said a lot of things. Most of them were about my sister and not very flattering.”

“I’d apologize, but your sister has done a pretty good job of making herself look bad.”

“I know.”

“Did Agent Spellings ask when you realized you were being followed?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“Is this your version of an interrogation?”

“I prefer to refer to it as an interview,” he said, and she almost laughed.

Almost.

Except there was nothing to laugh about.

Her sister was in trouble.

She was in trouble.

Jubilee’s entire life was about to be turned upside down.

“As far as I know, they started following me right before I hit New York.”

“You’re sure they didn’t follow you from home?”

“Agent Spellings asked me that, too, and I gave her the same answer I’ll give you—I’m sure. I would have noticed if they’d started following me earlier. There’s not much between Echo Lake and Boston.”

“It seems odd that they were able to pick up your trail so far from home, don’t you think?”

She hadn’t thought. Not about that, and Agent Spellings hadn’t mentioned it. She’d been too busy asking questions about Tabitha’s life. Questions Quinn hadn’t been able to answer.

“I guess it is.”

“It makes me think that someone besides Tabitha knew her plans.”

“No way. She was scared out of her mind. She wouldn’t have told anyone anything.”

“Not a friend? A lover?”

She hesitated, then shook her head. “No.”

“You’re not sure, Quinn. We both know it.” He said it kindly, but she heard the accusation in his words the same way she’d heard them in Agent Spellings’.

“You’re right. I’m not. My sister and I hadn’t spoken in years. I sent her Christmas cards and birthday cards and hoped they’d be forwarded to whatever place she’d moved to. I never got anything in response. I didn’t even know if she had my address. Then, she showed up on my doorstep, terrified. Was I supposed to turn her away?”

“No. You weren’t,” he said simply. “She was terrified of her husband, right?”

“Yes. She said he would be following her, trying to get her back. She also said he wouldn’t care about Jubilee.”

“I guess that wasn’t the truth.”

“There were a lot of things she said that weren’t the truth.” She didn’t want to discuss them, though. Not until she could wrap her mind around what her sister had done. Taken a child that wasn’t hers or her husbands? If that were the truth, how had Jubilee ended up in Las Vegas with them?

“Have you seen Jubilee?” She changed the subject, because that was easier than discussing her sister’s mistakes.

“She’s back in one of the bedrooms with a couple of CPS workers. I tried to get in, but it was a no-go. They’ve got her guarded tighter than Fort Knox.”

“When will her father be here?”

“Boone? Not for another twenty-something hours. If he’s her father. We haven’t established that yet. I’m hoping you can help me out, though.”

“How?”

“I heard a couple of the CPS workers talking about a birth certificate. Have you seen it?” There was no emotion in his voice, none on his face, but she could feel the energy in him, could sense his tension.

This was what he’d come into the kitchen to find out, and she had no reason to keep the truth from him. “Yes. It was in the envelope my sister gave me.”

He stilled, his dark eyes spearing into hers. “You got a good look at it?”

“I saw her father’s name and her mother’s.”

“And?”

“Your friend was listed as her biological father. Which matches with what my sister told me.” The one truth among the many lies.

“You don’t seem happy about it.”

“I’m not happy about any of this. The FBI seems to think Tabitha has been keeping a missing child for years. She may end up in jail and poor Jubilee—”

“Will be back with her father. Where she belongs.”

“It is a rough thing for a child to be pulled away from everything she knows.”