Page 19 of The Sheriff's Baby

Ten thousand. That wasn’t a huge ransom so maybe the kidnapper just wanted some cash to get away. Joelle was betting that the account would be offshore and not traceable. But they still had the blood.

“He also said I was to tell you not to look for him,” Molly added. “Please don’t look for him,” she said, her voice breaking into a sob. “I just need this to be over, and it won’t be if he gets spooked. I need to come home.”

“We’ll get you home,” Duncan promised, but he was talking to the air because the call had already ended.

Duncan took her phone and immediately tried to call Molly back. There was no answer, and Joelle suspected in a minute or two the burner phone would be disabled.

A flood of emotions slammed through Joelle. The relief, the fear, all mixed together with the adrenaline crash. It was a bad combination because she started to shake. She headed toward the sofa so she could drop down onto it, but Duncan pulled her into his arms.

“We will get her home,” he repeated, and he eased her even closer to him. Until they were right against each other.

Joelle knew she should move away. But she couldn’t. She needed this. Needed Duncan. Even though there’d be a high price to pay for it. This kind of closeness could lead to dangerous feelings. Ones that would drown her in guilt because Duncan was the ultimate reminder that she hadn’t saved her father. That she might have been able to stop him from dying or her mother from vanishing if she hadn’t been with Duncan.

“I’m okay,” she managed to say.

It wasn’t anywhere close to the truth, but when the heat came, swirling in with the other emotions, Joelle forced herself to move. Not far. Just one step back, and she made the mistake of looking up and into Duncan’s eyes.

Yes, the heat was there. But there was so much more. He was worried about her. Heck, she was worried about herself, about what the stress of this was doing to their baby. The best way to minimize that worry, though, was to try and forget the heat and focus on getting Molly safely home.

“I can transfer the money into that account,” she said. Her voice was still shaky. So was the rest of her, but Duncan must have realized, too, that the work was what they both needed now. “I can get it from my savings so we don’t have to go through the bank to get it from Molly’s.”

“Use the sheriff’s office funds and instruct the bank to delay releasing the money,” Duncan told her. “The kidnapper will see the funds deposited and maybe go ahead and release Molly. Once we have her, we can try to trace the kidnapper’s location when he or she attempts to withdraw or transfer the money.”

Like her, he didn’t seem hopeful of that happening, but they had to check and double check. Even if Molly was safely returned, a serious crime had been committed. The kidnapper, and anyone who hired him, should pay and pay hard.

Since Joelle had never done a transfer like this, it took her several minutes to work through the process of it. While she did that, Duncan called the tech who’d been trying to trace the call. They were both still busy with their tasks when Carmen appeared in the door. She had her laptop balanced in the crook of her arm and continued to read whatever was on the screen until Joelle and Duncan finished.

“The kidnapper was using another burner,” Duncan said. “Couldn’t be traced, and like the other, it’s already been disconnected.” He glanced at Joelle. “Did the transfer go through?”

Joelle nodded, and she looked at Carmen. “The kidnapper called again and had Molly tell us that he wanted ten grand.”

“Is Molly okay?” Carmen immediately asked.

“She said she was,” Joelle relayed. “I hope that’s true.”

“So do I,” the other deputy muttered, and she turned her attention back to her laptop.

“Please tell me you have something on the blood that was found at Molly’s,” Duncan said to Carmen.

“No. Luca’s calling about that now. But I got a preliminary report on Hamlin. Since his sister went missing, he’s focused only on that. No other clients.”

Duncan huffed and put his hands on his hips. “It’s hard to earn an income when you don’t have clients.”

“He inherited life insurance money from his parents who died in a car accident three years ago. It was about half a million, so I’m guessing he lives off that and apparently devotes all his time to finding his sister. There’s no sign of her, by the way,” Carmen added. “But Austin PD believes she ran away with her then boyfriend since he went missing, too.”

“Is there anything in that prelim report to indicate that Hamlin could have been behind the kidnapping and attack on Joelle?” Duncan asked.

“No criminal record or anything like that, but I’ll keep digging. I should be able to get access to the background that would have been done on him to get his PI license. That would give us a bigger picture of him.”

“Do that,” Duncan said just as his phone rang.

Joelle immediately got to her feet, and everything inside her went tight again until she remembered the kidnapper would likely be calling her number, not Duncan’s.

“It’s Dr. Benton,” Duncan relayed, answering the call. “I’m putting you on speaker so my deputies can hear. I hope you’re about to tell me we have the green light to question Kate.”

“Not yet. She’s sedated, and I want her to stay that way for at least another hour or two,” the doctor explained. “I’m calling because I got back her tox results, and I thought you’d want to know.”

“I do,” Duncan verified. “She was drugged?”

---