Page 92 of Fatal Betrayal

"Which we still don't know that we have."

"True. But we have the name of an adoption attorney, and that might be even better."

As they walked around the building and into the parking lot, she saw a young woman come through the back door of the shop. She was short and thin, wearing tight jeans and a sleeveless crop top, her blonde hair flowing halfway down her back. She threw an empty box into the recycle bin and gave them a tentative smile as she moved toward a small coupe parked next to their car.

"Hello," she said.

"Hi," Andi said back, her heart skipping a beat as she looked into the girl's bright blue eyes and a completely irrational thought came into her head. That thought got even wilder when she saw the thin-lined scar running down the girl's arm. She sucked in a breath. "Hannah?" she asked in shock. "Is that you?"

The girl gave her a startled look. "Uh, no. Sorry. I'm Natasha."

"Natasha?" she muttered in confusion. Her blood was roaring so fast through her veins, she couldn't even think. "I thought you were someone else."

"I'm not. I have to go," the girl said, as she opened her car door and got in. She quickly backed out of her space and drove away.

"What the hell was that?" Cooper asked. "Why did you call her Hannah?"

"Because I think that's who she is, Cooper. I think that girl is Hannah."

* * *

Cooper stared at Andi in shock and confusion. "Hannah?"

"We have to follow her," Andi said, running to the car. "Hurry."

He jumped behind the wheel and started the engine, speeding out of the lot as fast as he could. Thankfully, he could see her car stopped at a light a quarter mile ahead. "She's right there," he said, shooting Andi a sharp look. "Why on earth would you think that girl is Hannah?"

"Her blue eyes and the way she smiled. It suddenly felt so familiar. And then I saw the scar on her arm. It reminded me of when Hannah fell off the bars at the park two months before she was kidnapped. I was babysitting her, and she cut her arm. There was so much blood. I almost threw up. Don't you remember? You were there. You were playing basketball and you came running over to help."

"I remember. Dr. Grayson was there with his son. He wrapped Hannah's arm to stop the bleeding and then Hannah's dad came and took her to the hospital."

"I felt so guilty," Andi murmured. "I thought I was watching Hannah so closely, but she still fell. And she ended up with a scar on her arm. That scar was listed on all the missing person posters. Everyone was looking for a two-year-old blonde girl with a scar on her arm." She gave him a pointed look. "Natasha had a scar in the same place."

"Are you sure?" he asked, seeing the doubt in her eyes.

"I think so. I only had a quick look before she took off."

"Well, she said her name is Natasha."

"Maybe she doesn't remember who she is. She was only two years old when she was kidnapped."

He could hear the mix of emotions in Andi's voice, the desperation, hope, fear, uncertainty. It was all there, and the same feelings were running through him as well. It would be a miracle if that girl was Hannah, but he wanted to believe it, too.

"Hannah—Natasha—whoever she is," Andi continued. "She was in the backroom at the store. There were two female voices."

"And they were both speaking Russian. Hannah wasn't Russian."

"It's been eighteen years. She could have learned to speak it. She could have been raised by a Russian family."

"It's so unlikely, Andi." He had always believed in Andi's gut instinct. But he also knew how much she'd wanted to find Hannah, to save her. Was she operating on emotion more than instinct? "What are we going to do? Catch her and tell her she was kidnapped?" He changed lanes, edging closer to Natasha's car as they moved through the next intersection. There were still a couple of vehicles between them, but he thought that was a good thing.

"I'm not sure she'd believe us. She was quick to say she wasn't who I thought she was. But we need to stay with her, see where she's going, who she's meeting. Even if she's not Hannah, she works at that store. Maybe we can pick up another clue before anyone realizes we're on to her."

"She looked a little spooked when you asked her name. She might have already called someone and said some crazy woman called her Hannah."

"Hopefully, she just thought I mistook her for someone else. She was on her way to her car. She was going to leave whether I asked her name or not."

Andi was rationalizing and looking for validation. He normally would have reassured her that she was on the right track, but he didn't know if that was true. He was still grappling with the possibility that they might have stumbled upon Hannah after all these years.

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