Page 39 of Protecting the Newborn

“I told him. Well, I guessed because I’d seen the file with places where you might be, and I’d taken a picture of it with my phone. You know, just in case I wasn’t able to track you down.”

So, that was how Marty had gotten the address. Ruston figured Gracelyn was mentally kicking herself for that. All those security precautions down the drain because of Allie.

“You said you saw Zimmer at Marty’s,” Gracelyn went on a moment later.

“Yes, but not last night, not when I found his body. Zimmer was there on my first visit. I got the impression he worked for Marty. Maybe like an assistant or something.”

Ruston was going with the “or something” on this one, and it made him wonder if Zimmer had been around when he’d met with Marty. Maybe. Zimmer certainly hadn’t been in the room with them, but it was possible Zimmer had seen him.

“So, how was the fake kidnapping supposed to work?” Duncan asked.

Allie lifted her shoulder. “I’m not sure. Marty said he’d take care of all of that. He just told me to come back when he had the baby and that he’d give me the money. But I didn’t want to wait for him to call me. He’d said he’d have the baby last night, so I went to his place to wait.”

“Did you know Marty intended for me to be kidnapped as well?” Gracelyn asked.

Allie dismissed that with an eye roll. “That was only so you wouldn’t interfere with the men taking the baby. Marty would have let you go.”

“Not a chance,” Gracelyn muttered. She didn’t mutter the rest, though. It came out loud and clear. “You set me up to either die or be sold. You set me up so that I had to fight to save Abigail, Ruston and myself. You did that.” She jabbed her index finger at Allie.

Allie huffed once more and got to her feet again. “I did what I had to do to get my daughter. You can’t just keep my baby. She’s mine, not yours.”

Gracelyn stood, too, and, oh, Ruston didn’t like that her entire body seemed to make her sister pay. “Yes, biologically you’re her mother, and you were planning on selling her. Hear this, Allie—I’ll see you locked away for the rest of your miserable life before I let you anywhere near Abigail.”

“You can’t do that.” Allie drew her hand back as if she might slap Gracelyn, but Duncan put a stop to that.

“Sit down and shut up,” Duncan ordered Allie.

For a moment, Ruston thought Allie might launch herself at him, but she must have realized that assaulting a cop would only add to the mess she’d gotten herself into.

“I want that deal,” Allie snarled. “I want immunity.”

“Did you miss that ‘shut up’ part to my order?” Duncan growled. “Now, sit there and don’t say another word until I’m ready for you to talk.”

Duncan motioned for them to step out into the bullpen. “You’re going to have to turn this over to SAPD, aren’t you?” Gracelyn immediately asked him.

“Afraid so.” Duncan didn’t sound at all pleased about that either. “Every crime she committed, including the most serious ones, are in SAPD’s jurisdiction.”

Ruston knew that was true, and it was also true that Allie would need to go through this all again with the San Antonio cops. “I’ll call Noah,” he said. But before he could do that, Woodrow motioned to get his attention.

“You got a call on the station’s landline,” Woodrow said. “Actually, the caller wants to speak to both Gracelyn and you.”

“Who is it?” Ruston asked.

“The guy says he’s Terry Zimmer.”

Hell. That caused the squad room to go quiet, and there was no need for Ruston to explain to Woodrow who the caller was. Or rather who he was claiming to be. Woodrow and Carmen both knew that was the name of their murder suspect.

“He used your rank, Ruston,” Woodrow added. “He knows you’re a cop. And he says there are some things you need to know.”

Chapter Ten

Zimmer.

Of all the people who she thought might try to contact them, he wasn’t one of them. Not unless he wanted to taunt them about the attack. But even if that was Zimmer’s intentions, this was a call they had to take.

“Use the landline in the interview room,” Duncan offered, glancing back at his office. “And I’ll try to have the call traced.”

Allie was still in the chair and had moved on to biting her nails instead of just scraping off polish. Just the sight of her made Gracelyn’s stomach twist. She would never forgive Allie for trying to sell Abigail. But she’d have to deal with her sister later. For now, she wanted to hear what Zimmer had to say, so Ruston and she headed back to the interview room.

---