Page 12 of Tracking Down the Lawman's Son

Her mother’s eyes widened. “No.” She sounded stunned but adamant. “Of course not.” The tears began to spill again, and a hoarse sob tore from her throat. “I think the person who took me killed him.”

“And who would that be?” Slater demanded.

Sandra shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Bree and Slater both groaned, but Duncan cursed. Maybe because of Sandra’s answer but also because his phone dinged with a text.

“Someone reported seeing a silver truck that matches the description of the one we’re looking for,” Duncan relayed. “It was near here.”

Bree automatically pulled Gabriel even closer to her. Oh, mercy. Had the hit-and-run driver come back for another attack?

“I drove a silver truck here,” her mother volunteered.

Again, that got their attention. Not that it had strayed too far from her mother. “You’re the one who ran me off the road?” Bree asked.

Her mother flinched. “No.” She used that same adamant tone. “I drove the truck here, that’s all, and I parked it on a ranch trail.” She pressed trembling fingers to her mouth for a moment. “Did someone try to hurt you?”

“Someone did hurt me by running me off the road so I’d crash into a tree,” Bree clarified. “And that someone was driving a silver truck.”

Sandra staggered back and sank down onto the floor. “I didn’t do that. I wouldn’t do that,” she amended. “But my kidnapper would.”

“I’ll want to hear all about the kidnapper,” Duncan stated. “For now, tell me where you parked the silver truck.”

Sandra fluttered her fingers toward the pasture. “It’s on the old ranch trail just on the other side of the fence. I left it there and walked to the house.”

“Because you didn’t want the nanny or Bree to spot you?” Duncan pressed.

“No, because I didn’t want the real kidnapper to see me,” her mother was quick to say. “I wanted to get Gabriel away from the house before she had a chance to show up and take him.” She stopped, her forehead bunching up. “I should have figured out another way. I shouldn’t have scared you like this.”

Bree glared at her. “Yes, you should have figured out another way. If you thought Gabriel was in danger, you should have called me.”

Sandra shook her head. “I didn’t have a phone, and when I didn’t see your car in the driveway, I figured you weren’t home.”

“I wasn’t here, but Coral the nanny was,” Bree was equally quick to point out.

“Coral,” she repeated, and her gaze drifted to the nanny. “The woman in the laundry room. I only saw her back so I didn’t know who she was. I wasn’t sure I could trust her so I decided better safe than sorry. I took Gabriel, sneaked out the back door and waited in the barn, hoping you’d show up and start looking for him.”

Bree mentally went back through that. “You said you’d been held all this time so how did you even know about Gabriel?”

“From her. From the woman who held me,” Sandra clarified. “I overheard her talking to someone about Bree and her baby. I don’t know who she was talking to, but it was clear they were planning on kidnapping Gabriel.”

“Who is this woman?” Duncan pressed.

“I don’t know. I don’t,” Sandra insisted when Duncan groaned. “She always wore a mask whenever she was around. I didn’t even know where I was until I escaped.”

Now it was Bree’s turn to groan when her phone rang, and she yanked it from her pocket and answered it without taking her attention off her mother. She instantly regretted not looking at the screen for the caller’s ID though when she heard the man’s voice.

Nathan.

“Bree,” he said, and there was a frantic edge to that single word. “I just heard about your son being missing. I can come and help look for him.”

“No,” she couldn’t say fast enough. She definitely didn’t want to have to deal with the clingy Nathan right now. “We found him. He’s safe.”

And she hoped that was the truth. Hoped that her little boy wasn’t still in danger. But if what her mother was saying was true, then he possibly could be.

“Oh, thank God,” Nathan said, punctuating that with what sounded like a breath of relief. “Are you all right? You must have been shaken to the core when you realized he was missing.”

“I was. And I’m fine,” Bree added, ready to hang up.

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