Page 11 of Tracking Down the Lawman's Son

Her mother shook her head, and she lifted her hands while she stood. She staggered a little but kept her hands raised.

“I don’t have a gun, and I wasn’t going to hurt Gabriel,” her mother said. Her face was a mix of shock and fear. “I’d never hurt him or any of you.” She added that last part when she shifted her attention to Slater.

Slater swallowed hard. “What are you doing here? Where have you been all this time?”

Those were both very good questions, but Bree had another question of her own. “Why did you feel the need to kidnap my son to protect him?” She didn’t ask it nicely either, not with the terror of nearly losing her son still coursing through her.

The sigh that left her mother’s mouth was long and weary. “Because someone else was going to take him.”

“Who?” Luca and Bree asked in unison.

Sandra shook her head. “I don’t know.” She repeated that while she shook her head again and continued to cry. She took a step toward them, staggered a little and caught onto the barn wall.

“Are you hurt?” Slater asked. He lowered his gun but didn’t holster it.

“Just my ankle.” Sandra squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “I twisted it when I escaped.”

Bree was trying to grasp each word her mother said. Trying to examine her body language, too. Butescapedflashed like a neon sign in her head. Luca picked right up on it, too.

“Escaped from who and from what?” Luca still sounded like a cop interrogating a suspect.

Again, her mother didn’t get a chance to answer because there was a shout from outside the barn. “Bree?” someone called out.

Joelle.

And judging from the sound of more footsteps, her sister wasn’t alone. Bree was betting Duncan was with her. Moments later, she got confirmation of that when Joelle and Duncan hurried in. Since they didn’t have their baby with them, Bree figured they’d left Izzie at home with the nanny.

“We came to help look for Gabriel,” Joelle said.

Bree looked back at her sister. Their gazes connecting, for a couple of seconds anyway, before Joelle saw Gabriel in her arms. Relief flooded her face, but it, too, passed quickly when Joelle’s attention landed on Sandra.

“Mom,” Joelle muttered on a rise of breath. Unlike the rest of them, Joelle didn’t stand back. Just the opposite. She hurried to their mother and pulled her into her arms.

“She could have a gun,” Bree was quick to point out.

Joelle’s shoulders went stiff, and she shifted from worried daughter to cop in a blink. She stepped back, way back, volleying glances at Slater and Bree. “What’s going on?” Joelle asked.

Bree wanted to know the same thing. Clearly, so did Duncan, Luca and Slater, but Slater obviously wanted to make sure they weren’t about to be attacked.

“I’ll check her for weapons,” Slater volunteered, stepping forward.

Joelle’s mouth dropped open, and it seemed as if she was about to object to their mother being frisked. She didn’t though. It must have occurred to her that they needed a whole lot of answers before they could trust the woman who’d given birth to them.

“She’s not armed,” Slater relayed. “She doesn’t have a phone or a wallet. Just some keys.” Slater lifted out the keys and held them in the air. “There’s one here marked with a B.”

Bree was pretty sure that was the key to her house. Her mother had had one like that anyway. But Bree didn’t recognize the rest of the keys. Or the clothes her mother was wearing. Loose jogging pants and a baggy T-shirt. Definitely not her mom’s usual fashion choices, especially since she was barefoot. And she’d clearly lost some weight. All possible signs of, well, Bree couldn’t be certain, but she wanted to know.

“What happened?” Duncan demanded. “Is Sandra the one who kidnapped Gabriel?”

Luca nodded. “She hacked into the baby monitor—”

“No,” her mother interrupted. “I didn’t do that. The kidnapper did.”

That got their attention, and all of them pinned their attention on Sandra. She sighed again. “Eleven and a half months ago, I was kidnapped, and I’ve been held all this time.”

Bree had to admit that fit with her mom’s appearance. Well, maybe it did. But it could also fit with someone who’d been on the run.

“Did you kill Dad?” Bree came out and asked.

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