Page 43 of Operation: Return

“Why don’t we go inside and you can tell us what happened, show us where it happened, and tell us what you’ve done since it happened. We’ll work hard to find your boy.”

She led them inside and indicated the hall and that the surveillance camera hadn’t really caught anything, but they could have the image if they wanted it. Deputy Blake wrote down everything she told him, then wrote down everything they’d done.

“And where are all these other men? We’d like to talk to them,” Deputy Blake asked.

“Edwyn sent them out to check out potential breaches in our security,” Brendon said.

“And do you think you have breaches? Our most likely targets are those who know the boy, and those nearest the boy. I’d like you to call those men in and we’ll get started there. No one leaves until we talk to every last man and woman on the ranch.” He took a seat at one of the dining room tables and motioned Teddy over first.

“He’s going to interview everyone?” Dominic asked.

“That’s his job. If you or your men have nothing to hide, it shouldn’t be an issue.” Cole couldn’t place why he felt tension from Dominic over what should’ve been an expected situation.

“I don’t have anything to hide and neither do my men, but we’ve been the source of suspicion since we arrived. Is this how our help is going to be treated?”

Cole stood, leaving Erica for the first time since they’d arrived back on the ranch. He hated the separation, but if Dominic was there to repay him, then he had something to understand. “Around here, we’re all equal. That’s why Teddy is first up to answer questions. If Connor was here, he’d be second. I don’t know what makes you think you’re above suspicion when they aren’t, but if you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ll sit down and answer them.”

* * *

Cole sat nextto Erica as they waited for their turn with Deputy Blake. He could feel the tension coiling in her arms where his touched hers and he wished he could do something to ease her mind. That wasn’t his job though. Nothing he said or did could do that.

While he’d been fighting with himself for the past five years, she’d been Pete’s everything. She’d changed every diaper, provided and cooked every meal. She’d struggled to clothe him and put him in school. Cole might be mad that she was breaking through his iron wall, but she had no wall. She couldn’t, because the only one a wall would protect her from was Pete and she’d never do that.

He reached out and took her hand. Her chin trembled slightly and she looked away. “Why is this taking so long?”

“He wants to be thorough. We don’t want to rush him.” The thought had crossed his mind that this might be a coincidence. They’d been looking at Scarlet and Trace this whole time, but Pete was an unlikely trade. They were hardly connected. Pete had only known them for a few days and was too young to lead anyone to Wayside. Was this someone from Erica’s past who was angry with her leaving town? Like Pete’s biological father?

Deputy Blake came out and called the next member of the Guardian’s back into Connor’s office, which had been turned into the questioning room. Erica shot to her feet, dropped his hand, and headed for the window. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and though she probably thought she was searching, her eyes looked vacant.

The pain on her face gnarled his insides even worse than anything he’d been through. What right did he have to complain? He might be dead on paper, but he wasn’t dead where it mattered. He was still flesh and blood. He pushed to his feet and followed her to the window, then wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. He couldn’t take the pain away, but he could give her someone to lean on. If what she’d said was true, she hadn’t had that since he left.

“I’ve gone through a lot of situations where I didn’t have control, but I’ve never felt so completely out of control as right now,” her voice came out barely a whisper.

He closed his eyes and prayed silently for guidance and help, something he should’ve been doing all along. He wished he’d be doing that back when he’d known Erica the first time. “They will find the right information. We’ll get some clue, something, that will lead us to the next step. That’s how this all works.”

“Don’t leave me,” she mumbled. “I can’t be all alone. Not again.”

He closed his eyes and held her tighter. “You are never alone. Even knowing that, I won’t. I will do whatever I can to bring him back to you.” Another wall crumbled inside him.

“I just don’t understand. None of these men could possibly know Pete. They arrived twenty minutes before you left. Teddy and the rest of the guys here love Pete. There is no reason for this. If I’d thought for a second letting him leave my sight might harm him, I never would’ve . . .”

He squeezed her tighter. “Stop. I’m sure that’s a road every parent who has been through this has gone down and it won’t do any good. Someone came into this house, uninvited, and took your son. I know you probably wish you could be in your son’s place. Even if you would’ve gone with him, there’s no guarantee whoever took him wouldn’t have just killed you. We don’t know who did this. We can’t eliminate anyone right now.”

“Not even me?” She turned her head to look up at him and he had to focus on the conversation, not her trembling lips that were now inches from his.

“Not yet. They will as soon as they talk to you. There is no way that huge dark figure in that security footage could be you. But until they talk to you and rule you out, you’re a suspect, and so am I.”

Now was the time to mention his suspicions, but if there was any absolutely sure-fire way to make her unhappy and to leave his arms, asking that question would do it. He took a deep breath and gentled his hold on her.

“Erica, I need to ask you something. I skirted around this question before because your past is your business. I didn’t invite you here to rehash our entire history, just the part where I personally messed up.”

She turned around, pulling herself from his hold. “What do you need to know?” Her shoulders stiffened. “I thought we’d already talked about our past.”

“We did. You mentioned you had information to share with me about Pete’s childhood, his baby books and other things. I didn’t ask for clarification then, because if it was my business you’d share with me. Now that Pete is missing and we need to know everything, I have to ask . . .”

He hated to. Absolutely hated to. There was no turning back from here, but she’d never come right out and said who Pete’s father was. “Is it possible that the man in that blurry image is Pete’s biological father? Could he be the one following you, angry that you’re here with me?”

* * *

---