Page 12 of Lone Star Hostage

There was no usual look of revulsion when he said that. Not from Ari either. But Billie noted that Olivia turned a little pale. Good. At least someone here was disgusted with what had happened.

“You’re both fired for incompetence,” Jesep barked. “You should have found Victoria by now and brought her home.”

That got Billie’s attention back on the man, and before she could say anything, Presley shrugged. “Fine. The kidnappers requested us, so I’ll just let the cops know that along with refusing to pay the ransom, you’ve now put up a roadblock to getting your wife back.”

Olivia bolted from the sofa and hurried to her father. “Dad, you can’t fire them.”

“I can and will,” Jesep snapped. “They’ve failed to do their jobs. They’ve—”

“No, the kidnappers lied,” Olivia corrected. “They’re playing around with us, maybe building our desperation to have Victoria safely returned home. And we do want her back,” Olivia stated, directing that at Presley and Billie.

“They’re not even sure if the blood and that finger is Victoria’s,” Jesep spat out.

“It’s hers,” Billie verified. “Your wife’s DNA was in the bone marrow registry.”

Olivia dragged in a breath, nodded. “Because she donated marrow when I was eight.” She paused. “My father and Victoria got close after that.”

That reminder seemed to cause Jesep to throttle back some. “I’d been a widower for six years by then,” he rattled off as if to explain that he hadn’t jumped straight from one wife to another.

But Billie had to wonder if Jesep’s gratitude for Victoria saving his daughter’s life had played into them getting married. She was certainly having a hard time figuring out why anyone would have wed Jesep. Then again, she didn’t know anything butbackground facts about Victoria. Maybe Jesep and Victoria were a perfect match.

“So, the finger is Victoria’s,” Ari said, clearly directing his comment to Presley and not Billie. “What’s next? Why haven’t the kidnappers been in touch?”

Those were both good questions, and there didn’t seem to be any hidden subtext in that. Unlike his father, Ari didn’t appear to be blaming Presley and her for what had happened. But that talking man-to-man crap must have riled Presley because he motioned for Billie to dole out the response.

“There could be several reasons why the kidnappers haven’t contacted us,” Billie replied. “One is building the desperation that your sister mentioned. They could be hoping to capitalize on that and either make a higher or faster demand.”

Ari nodded, sparing Billie a glance. “Give us the diamonds now or we cut off more fingers?”

“That’s a possibility,” Billie confirmed. “But something could have gone wrong with the drop. Maybe the kidnappers thought they were about to be captured and fled to set up another venue for the exchange.”

“Bullshit guesses,” Jesep snarled. “You don’t know what happened to my wife. She could be dead for all you know.”

Presley gave the man that look. The one Billie had seen him use when interrogating the worst of criminals. It was a flat-eyed, quit pissing me off glare. And it was very effective.

“Yes, she could be dead,” Presley said, his voice low and with a dangerously calm edge. “The kidnappers could have learned the diamonds were fake and killed us. Whose idea was it to try to con people who had total and complete control over Victoria’s life?”

Silence fell on the room, and Billie didn’t need the answer verbalized. She could tell just by the way Ari and Olivia had their gazes fixed on their father.

“Those diamonds aren’t mine to give away,” Jesep spat out.

“And you couldn’t purchase them for your wife’s ransom?” Presley was quick to ask.

The muscles in Jesep’s jaw went to war with each other. “No.” That was it. He didn’t add any further explanation as to why a man of his estimated wealth couldn’t shell out money to give his wife a fighting chance of being returned alive.

And in one piece.

“Have the cops taken DNA and fingerprints from you?” Presley asked, keeping his attention pinned to Jesep.

Oh, that didn’t set well with the man. “Why would they?” Jesep snarled.

Presley shrugged. “They normally do in situations like this. It’s to exclude family members’ DNA or prints from any evidence they might find. While we’re waiting on the kidnapper to contact us, I can have someone from SAPD lab come over and do that.”

Jesep snatched up his phone. “I’ll talk to my lawyer about that.”

Billie had no idea if the man was just doling out more of his asshole ways or if he had an actual reason why he wouldn’t want the cops to have his DNA.

“Ella, get Tate on the line now,” he barked.

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