Page 27 of PenPal Hero

He was wondering the same thing. Shaking his head, he lifted his phone to his ear and called his sister.

She picked up on the first ring. “Do you have any earthly idea where my partner is?”

“With me,” he returned cautiously.

“And that is?”

“Yates Ranch. I can explain.” He turned and strode out of earshot of Bonnie’s family. “Listen, uh…someone passed a note under Bonnie’s door at the B&B, telling her she was adopted.”

“Oh, my goodness!” His sister’s voice grew faint.

“We reported it to K&G Security, and they confirmed it’s true. So have her adoptive parents.” He wasn’t sure how much to tell his sister. “It’s complicated.”

“You can say that again.” Alice sounded completely blown away.

“Naturally, she’s upset.”

“Naturally!”

“She’s moving out over it,” Holt informed her quietly, “and she needs a place to stay. Any chance one of those tiny houses at Zayden’s place is vacant?”

Police detective Zayden Wolfe was Alice’s fiancé. He’d recently purchased the old Parker homestead across town and set up some tiny houses around his largest pond to rent out. Alice had advertised it as “waterfront property,” which Holt considered a stretch. However, the tiny houses had rented out pretty quickly after that, and her fiancé was using the income to renovate the old farmhouse.

“As a matter of fact…” Alice paused. “Let me check with Zayden to be sure it’s been cleaned since the last renters left. It was a short-term thing. They were only renting month to month.”

She put him on hold but returned to the line in two snaps. “It’s all hers if she wants it. Clean and move-in ready.”

“What about tonight?” Holt pressed.

“Tonight?” his sister squeaked. “In case you’ve forgotten, Bonnie and I have one day left at the retreat.”

“About that,” Holt sighed. “I’m not sure she’s in any frame of mind to continue debating workloads and stress levels. Pretty sure hers is through the roof right now.”

“I bet.” Alice sounded sympathetic. “Okay.” She drew a bracing breath and seemed to be collecting her thoughts. “Okay,” she said again. “How about I meet you two over there within the hour?”

“Deal.” By the time he turned around, Bonnie’s brothers were traipsing down the porch steps with their arms loaded with boxes.

Jackson pulled him aside, speaking in undertones. “Need to beg a favor.” His troubled gaze remained on his sister. “Bonnie is angry right now, angrier than I’ve seen her, and I get why. She’s hurt and confused, and that’s on us.”

“Her whole world just got turned upside down,” Holt muttered. Surely, the Yates had known this day was coming, and that was before they’d known the worst of it — the part about their daughter being taken when she was just shy of three-years-old. But they’d known enough. They should’ve been honest with her about what they did know.

“No one’s arguing whether she has a right to be angry with us.” Jackson ducked his head closer to Holt’s. “Problem is, she doesn’t want anything at all to do with her family right now.”

“Do you blame her?” Though Holt felt sorry for the guy, the Yates kind of had it coming. Bonnie was an adult now. They needed to start treating her like one.

“Nope. But I still need you to promise me you’ll look after her in my absence.” Jackson’s voice was terse. “This isn’t how she was supposed to find out she was adopted, and it certainly wasn’t how she was supposed to move out. I’m really worried about her.”

“Why?” If the guy had something to say to him, he needed to spit it out.

“Like she said, she can’t remember anything about the kidnapping, bro.” Jackson ducked his head in dejection. “She was a teenager at the time. She should’ve been able to at least describe where she was taken. Maybe even identify her kidnappers, but…” He shook his head again.

“But what?” Holt prodded.

“But nothing.” Jackson raised his head, revealing a tortured expression. “She was waiting in the truck while I jogged inside the general store to grab a soda. When I returned, she was gone, and it was like she’d never been there. The door was closed. Her seatbelt was back where it belonged. No sign of a struggle. Nothing. She showed up three days later, walking barefoot down the driveway toward home.” He raised a hand to gesture in front of his face. “There was this blank look in her eyes. Glazed over. Kinda staring into outer space, if you know what I mean. Like she was in a trance or something. She didn’t snap out of it until I hollered her name a few times.”

The final puzzle piece fell into place about Bonnie’s love-hate relationship with Jackson. The guy blamed himself for what had happened to his sister. That was why he’d been keeping her in bubble wrap, so to speak. In an attempt to protect her from further harm, he’d been all but smothering the life out of her.

Man, it was a tough situation, tougher than Holt could’ve ever imagined. “So, you were the last one to see her before she was kidnapped and the first person to lay eyes on her when she returned?” It felt significant. He wasn’t sure why, but it did.

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