Page 19 of Evening Shadows

With her free hand, Beverly wiped her nose with a much-used tissue. She sniffed before responding. “I found it on the table when I got home.”

Some instinct wanted him to walk over and wring the woman’s neck for leaving the child home alone to take care of himself. Hell, for ten minutes while she popped to the mailbox or something, but for six hours or so! She deserved to have her kid taken away. Not by abductors but by a loving family. Every little boy and girl deserved that, but the world was a cruel place. Not a day went by when he wasn’t thankful his parents had provided a loving home.

He’d been blessed with two wonderful parents who loved him no matter the grief he gave them. Since his father passed, his mother’s greatest wish was for him to marry and give her grandchildren. He choked up a bit thinking about his father. How he wished he’d at least given him grandchildren.

A new resolution set inside him. He may not have been able to give those things to his father, but he could give them to his mother who held the same hopes. An image of Sam flashed into his mind.

If only he’d asked her out before Lance had instead of pushing her away. He’d been a fool, but he’d realized it too late. The Ranger team had an unwritten rule that you didn’t encroach on another man’s woman. He’d heeded that rule, but the more he’d been around her, the more he’d fallen in love.

Refocusing, he paid close attention to Beverly’s expression and eyes while she answered the next questions.

“Show me where on the table you found it?”

Beverly pointed to a spot closest to the open kitchen area.

“Were any chairs out of place?”

Stopping her sniffing, Beverly appeared to consider the question. If there had been, they might get a usable print to also send to the lab. Unfortunately, she shook her head. “No. I don’t think so.”

“That’s okay, Bev. Let’s focus on the note again. Tell me what you did when you found it.”

“I—I—picked it up and read it. Then—” She moved her hand as if mimicking the motions she’d completed. “At first, I didn’t understand. I mean, just those couple of words confused me. When it dawned on me what it might mean, I dropped it and ran through the house looking for Cody.”

“What’d you do when you couldn’t find him?”

She looked at Sam for the first time since they’d begun the note discussion and Beverly had almost seemed in a trance. “I called his friends’ parents. None of them had seen him.”

The tears flowed once again. He couldn’t blame her. In no way could he imagine what she must feel, but dammit, he needed to understand her answers.

“Okay, what next?”

Jesse sidled up to him and briskly shook his head before focusing on the two women. That meant nothing useful. He wanted to sigh but didn’t want himself to feel that resigned. He hoped the men positioned outside found something that might make a difference.

“Where have you been?” Beverly shot at Jesse, completely ignoring Sam trying to turn her attention back.

“Investigating.” Jesse took a sip of the water bottle he’d picked back up as if nothing in the world seemed amiss.

“I didn’t give you permission to walk about my house.” Beverly half stood before Sam halted her with a hand on her arm and that soothing voice.

“Bev, he’s just doing what I would’ve done.”

She turned to Sam. “I don’t want them walking around.”

“Sit down. They have to do that in order to help us locate where Cody is being held. You want that, don’t you?”

Looking as if she were in a daze, Beverly nodded and sat, although she turned her gaze to him and Jesse.

“Okay, Bev, tell me what you did after you found out Cody was really missing.”

“I called you,” Beverly stated, as if it were a no-brainer.

He wondered how long Sam’s patience would last. They’d found out absolutely nothing except the woman was a negligent mother. She said she had no friends—although Sam needed to challenge that, asking about her lunch dates. As far as she’d admitted, she dated no one and had no ex. While she went out a great deal, she didn’t frequent the same places on a regular basis. She wasn’t aware of any stalkers. As far as she knew, no one wanted to harm her or her son. While Adam had left a nice insurance policy, they had no real money to their name. No neon signs on hers or Adam’s parents’ sides. And the list of dead-ends continued.

His nerves and muscled tightened. Every minute counted and this crap of no clues was taking too much time away from searching for Cody. When Jesse opened the door to Franks and Cowboy, Ken silently hoped they’d found something. Even a nugget of gossip would be better than what they had to date.

Motioned over by a nod of Franks’s head, Ken set down the water bottle and gave Sam a short nod. The newly arrived agents pulled Ken and Jesse as far from Sam and Beverly as possible to keep them in sight but also keep them from overhearing.

Without the need for Ken to ask, Cowboy slipped back outside to watch over the house. Franks talked low and concise, and with the information they’d learned, rage surged through Ken like none he’d ever felt on an op. He tried to contain the emotion enough to take over the questioning, but as he worked to release the tension in his jaw and body, he still dealt with his blood boiling and sparks of anger shooting through his body.

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