Page 40 of Protecting the Newborn

This particular landline had a recording function on it, and Ruston turned that on in the same moment that he answered the call on speaker.

“I’m listening,” Ruston said in lieu of a greeting.

“How about Gracelyn?” the man fired back.

Gracelyn didn’t think she’d ever heard that voice before. Not a Texas drawl but a quick clip pace that seemed to be void of any accent.

“Gracelyn will especially want to hear what I have to say,” the caller insisted.

Ruston motioned for her to stay quiet. And she did. She couldn’t think of a good reason to let a murder suspect know her location. It was possible, though, that Woodrow had already done that, but Gracelyn had no intention of confirming it.

“I’ll pass along anything you tell me to Gracelyn,” Ruston said. “Or you can just turn yourself in, and the three of us can have a face-to-face chat.”

Zimmer didn’t react to that. “I’m guessing she’s there with you,” he commented several moments later. “So, I’ll just go ahead and direct this to her. And by the way, don’t bother with the trace I’m sure you’re doing. I’m using a burner.”

Gracelyn figured that, but sometimes it was possible to trace the location of a burner. Of course, Zimmer would know that, so he could be either driving around or else planned on leaving the scene as soon as he was done with this call.

“I believe your sister was set up, Gracelyn,” Zimmer went on to say. “And, yeah, I know what she tried to do. She wanted to sell her baby. But everything else is a setup.”

That could be true.Could be.However, the attempt to sell her child and commissioning a double kidnapping wouldn’t just end up a slap on the wrist. Allie would be going to jail.

“Did you set Allie up?” Ruston came out and asked.

“No.” And there seemed to be genuine frustration in his voice. Zimmer didn’t add anything to that, though.

“Then who did?” Ruston demanded.

“I’m not sure. That’s the truth,” he snapped when Ruston huffed. “At first, I thought it was Marty. I thought maybe he wanted a way out of paying Allie the ten grand he promised her. And maybe it was him and someone then pulled a double cross and put a bullet in his head.”

Marty hadn’t died from a gunshot to the head but rather to the chest. But Ruston didn’t correct Zimmer. It was possible Zimmer already knew that and had doled out some false information so that Ruston and she wouldn’t think he was guilty.

Gracelyn didn’t buy it, not for a second, and judging from Ruston’s expression, neither did he.

“Are you also going to tell me you didn’t have any part in trying to kidnap Gracelyn and the baby?” Ruston asked.

Zimmer muttered something she didn’t catch. “It’s not what you think.”

“Then tell me what the hell it was,” Ruston snarled.

Gracelyn totally understood the surge of anger in Ruston’s voice. The anger raced through her, too, at the thought of how close they had come to dying. And this scumbag was no doubt responsible.

“I’ve been investigating the baby farm,” Zimmer said after a long pause. “Not officially, but I’ve still got enough cop in me that it doesn’t sit well when someone buys and sells babies as if they were merchandise.”

“You were working at the baby farm,” Ruston pointed out.

“Yeah, so I could dig around and find out who was responsible. I wanted to bring him or her down. I wanted to put an end to it.”

Ruston didn’t appear ready to tamp down his anger or the sarcasm that went along with it. “You seem awfully dedicated to justice, considering you’re a disgraced former cop. Or do you have an excuse for that, too? Maybe someone set you up?”

“No. I used excessive force, and I resigned.” There was some anger in his tone now, too. “And I’m dedicated to justice in this particular matter because when I was a baby, I was sold to a couple in a private adoption. A couple who shouldn’t have been given a pet rock, much less a kid.”

Ruston used his cell to open the site where records of former police officers could be accessed. He used his password to access it and then handed Gracelyn his phone so she could check and see if there was anything in Zimmer’s background to indicate there was a shred of truth in what he was saying.

“Because I wanted to find the person running the baby farm, I managed to get hired as a security guard,” Zimmer went on. “Just like Gracelyn and you did.”

Oh, that reminder didn’t help ease any of Ruston’s anger. Nor hers. “Were you the one who tried to kill Gracelyn and me that night, just like you did when you attempted to kidnap the baby and her?”

“No.” Zimmer paused and repeated that through what sounded to be clenched teeth. “I don’t know who shot at you at the baby farm. And I didn’t shoot at you during the kidnapping attempt either. Yes, I fired shots, but I purposely aimed away from you. That was to convince the thug who was with me that he and I were on the same side. If he’d thought I had my own reasons for being there, he would have killed me.”

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