Page 26 of The Sheriff's Baby

“Yes. A loud ugly argument. I poured myself a shot of scotch, and it’s possible Brad could have put one of my sleeping pills in it.”

Now Duncan was the one to shake his head. “Why would he have done that?”

“I don’t know. To get back at me,” Kate suggested. “Maybe because he realized I was going to see Joelle. I didn’t tell him that, but it’s possible he guessed since just the day before he’d been ranting about how much Joelle needed to pay for what’d happened to his precious Shanda.”

Duncan still wasn’t convinced. “If Brad wanted to drug you so you couldn’t drive to Saddle Ridge, why not put more than one pill in the drink?”

“Because he might not have wanted to risk me tasting it,” Kate answered without hesitation. “And I probably would have. I did notice a funny taste after I drank the scotch in a big gulp, but I didn’t think anything about it. Not until later, when I was here at the hospital.”

Everything the woman was saying could be true. Or it could all be lies. Duncan knew he was going to have to compare Kate’s and Brad’s responses side by side and try to figure how this had actually all played out.

Joelle’s phone rang, the sound shooting through the silence that had fallen over the room, and he sawUnknown Callerwhen Joelle showed him the screen.

“We have to take this,” Joelle said, and Duncan and she went out into the hall. They moved away from Kate’s door before Joelle accepted the call.

“Thanks for wiring me the money,” the man said. “I’m taking Molly to the drop off now.”

It was the kidnapper, the same one who’d called earlier.

“Where?” Joelle asked.

“You’ll know soon enough,” the man said. “Keep your phone ready because in exactly twenty minutes, I’ll be calling you back to come and get Molly.”

Chapter Seven

Even though Joelle knew that Duncan still had plenty more questions for Kate, that would have to wait. Twenty minutes wasn’t a lot of time to get ready for the kidnapper to drop off Molly.

Or for the kidnapper to put the finishing touches on a ploy to draw Duncan and her out.

Joelle was well aware that might be the case. So was Duncan, and he would almost certainly insist that she stay at the sheriff’s office. That wasn’t what Joelle wanted to do, but she figured she would end up going along with it. There was no need to put the baby at even greater risk.

“I’ll have to come back to finish this interview,” Duncan told Kate, and he didn’t wait for the woman to respond. He motioned for Joelle to follow him, and they headed out the door.

“Keep a close watch on Kate,” Duncan muttered to Anita. “And if she makes any calls, I want to know about it.”

Yes, because Kate could be behind whatever was about to happen, and she might want to make a call to someone she’d hired to do her bidding.

They hurried back toward the ER doors where Slater was waiting for them. The moment they were back in the cruiser, Duncan took out his phone. “I need to assemble some backup,” he muttered.

Yes, that was a must, and Joelle could see how this could play out. She’d man the sheriff’s office, probably along with Luca and Carmen, and then every other available deputy would go with Duncan. Joelle prayed that would be enough protection if something went wrong.

Before Duncan could even make a call, her phone rang, and Joelle frowned when she saw theUnknown Calleron the screen. She showed it to Duncan, and the sudden alarm on his face no doubt mirrored hers. Joelle answered, put it on speaker, and the kidnapper’s voice poured through the cruiser.

“Molly’s at the former sheriff’s house,” the man snarled.

Oh, mercy.There. It would be there. The house where Joelle had been raised. But where her father had also been murdered. She hadn’t been able to step inside the place since the initial investigation.

In the background, Joelle heard Molly call out, “Joelle.” That was all Molly managed to say before the kidnapper issued an order for her to shut up.

“If you’re not here in ten minutes, the deal is off,” the man warned them.

“But you said twenty minutes,” Duncan snarled right back.

“Ten,” the kidnapper repeated.

Slater and Duncan both cursed. “I want proof of life,” Duncan demanded.

The kidnapper cursed, too. “You already got it. You heard her yell Joelle’s name.”

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