Page 46 of The Sheriff's Baby

Duncan nodded. “He said you believed you were in danger.”

“I am,” Kate was quick to verify. She glanced away, then. “Maybe in danger from my own son. Did you arrest him?”

“I’m questioning him,” Duncan supplied, and he considered that the end to him answering the woman’s questions. He hadn’t come here for that. “Tell me why you called the sheriff’s office last night and asked to speak to a prisoner we had in custody.”

Kate didn’t look surprised. Probably because she would have known all calls would be logged. Especially calls made to a criminal like Willie Jay.

“That PI, Al Hamlin, phoned me,” Kate snarled with plenty of venom in her voice now. “He told me you’d arrested a man named Willie Jay Prescott, and that the man was going to tell you and the deputies that I had been the one who arranged to kidnap the dispatcher and Deputy McCullough.”

“Did you?” Duncan demanded.

“No.” That came out as a howl of outrage, followed by a groan and a lot of head shaking. “Of course not. I wouldn’t do something like that.”

The jury was still out on that, but Duncan tried a different angle. “Tell me about Arlo Dennison.”

No howl of outrage this time, but there was plenty of surprise. “Why do you want to know about him?”

Duncan gave her a hard look to let her know she would be answering questions, not him.

Kate’s mouth tightened. “Arlo managed one of my gyms. And I know what you’re going to say,” she continued when Duncan’s look hardened even more. “That PI told you he talked with Arlo when he and his girlfriend were giving up their baby for adoption.”

“He did.” And Duncan made a circling motion with his finger for her to continue.

She obeyed, after she huffed. “I was very busy with work when all of that was going on, but a friend of a friend wanted to adopt a baby. So, when I got word of Hamlin and his girlfriend, I made the initial contact. Arlo followed up with them. But you should know that I had no idea Hamlin and his girlfriend wanted money for the baby. They were convicted, you know.”

“And you and Arlo were questioned,” Duncan reminded her. Ruston had come across that tidbit and passed it along.

“We were,” she admitted, “but nothing came of it because there was nothing to find. I was trying to do this friend of a friend a favor, and I got caught up in the middle of an ugly mess. Now Hamlin thinks I took his sister and am running some kind of baby-selling business. I can assure you, I’m not.”

Kate looked ready to add more to that protest, but the sound of some loud talking in the hall stopped her. “Brad,” she muttered when she obviously recognized one of those voices.

Duncan knew the other voice was Clyde’s, and the deputy was clearly in an argument with Kate’s son.

“I want to see my mother now,” Brad demanded.

His first thought was to send Brad on his way to the sheriff’s office so he could wait for the interview. But then Duncan figured it would be interesting to see how mother and son reacted to each other, especially since there were four deputies ready to intercede if Brad did try to go after Kate. Or vice versa.

Throwing open the door, Duncan silenced Brad with one of the glares he’d been doling out to Kate for the past five minutes or so. Brad froze for a moment, but then moved darn fast when Duncan motioned for him to come inside.

“I don’t want him here,” Kate snapped.

Duncan ignored her, but he also blocked Brad when he attempted to charge closer to Kate. “Since you clearly have something to say to your mother, say it,” Duncan invited.

Brad had another momentary freeze before he speared his mother’s gaze with his. “You told Hamlin I hired gunmen to go after Deputy McCullough and the dispatcher.”

Kate’s shoulders went stiff. “I most certainly did not.” She muttered some profanity. “And I’m tired of being accused of things I didn’t do,” she added to Duncan.

“Hamlin said he called you and that you said I should be arrested before I tried to kill you,” Brad insisted.

Kate huffed. “No.” She stretched out that word. “Hamlin’s the one who pointed the finger at you, and he didn’t say anything to me about you trying to kill me. Hamlin, however, did warn me about that prisoner, Willie Jay Prescott. Hamlin claimed you hired him.”

Silence fell over the room while they all took a moment to process that. Duncan didn’t need a moment, though, since he’d already come to a conclusion.

“Hamlin could be trying to stir up trouble between you two,” Duncan pointed out. “More trouble,” he amended, “since it’s obvious that things aren’t lovey-dovey.”

“They aren’t,” Kate muttered, and her face tightened. Duncan figured it had occurred to her that he was right, that Hamlin had called both Kate and Brad to get them at each other’s throats.

And it had worked.

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