Page 94 of Justice Denied

His heart rate skyrocketed at the news. This wasn’t how he wanted to hear from Jetta. With Gene Topher’s arrest and FinCEN investigating Yasmine, he thought the danger to Jetta was over, but apparently not. He prayed for her and the baby while dialing 911. After relaying what little info he had to the dispatcher, he ignored her admonition to stay put until first responders arrived and dashed out the back door.

He slipped through the side entrance to Jetta’s backyard, then eased up onto the patio. He paused outside the sliding glass doors leading to the dining room, listening for any noise that would indicate where the intruder was. Hearing nothing, he jiggled the handle to slip the lock. He’d noticed it was loose last year and had pointed it out to Emily, who hadn’t seemed overly concerned. Now he was glad she hadn’t fixed it. The door lock disengaged, and he slid it silently back on its runners. Once inside the house, he gently closed the door to prevent any intruders from escaping easily and crept toward the front of the house.

Nothing stirred. The study door stood open, and he glanced inside as he passed. Someone had turned on the desk lamp, and he glimpsed papers strewn across the desk and spilling out of an open filing cabinet drawer. Someone had been searching, but for what? Emily had said she’d gone through Jay’s papers searching for clues as to who the embezzler might be but found nothing.

A noise from upstairs made him hurry. Hugging the wall, he climbed the stairs. At the top, he paused to listen again. Bingley growled, and a woman’s voice commanded Jetta to quiet him.

Seth eased toward the baby’s room, the door partially open. He flattened himself against the wall and concentrated on slowing his breathing to keep as still as possible—and to hear what was happening inside the room.

“You will tell me what your father has on the embezzlement.” A familiar female voice demanded.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. My father was the one accused of stealing that money.” Jetta’s voice sounded strained, as if she were hanging onto to her composure by a thread.

You can do it. Hang on a little longer, my darling.His silent encouragement turned into a prayer God would help her until he could figure out how to rescue her. While every fiber of his being wanted to burst into the room, he couldn’t risk it with the baby and Jetta inside. The other female may have a weapon, so he needed to get the lay of the land before he did anything.

“Your mother told Gene he was collecting information about the embezzler.”

The mention of Gene clued Seth in that Yasmine Topher was in the room with Jetta, but why would she risk confronting Jetta? She’d gotten away with embezzlement for years without anyone being the wiser.

“She never said anything to me, and she’s been through all his papers,” Jetta said. “Please, I don’t know anything.”

Yasmine mimicked her last words, the sarcasm coming through loud and clear. “You are pathetic. You and your mother thought you could figure out what my own brother had no idea was going on right under his nose. He underestimated me, and so did you.”

The baby whimpered, and Jetta must have made a move to the crib because Yasmine snapped, “Stay where you are.”

“She needs to be fed. She’ll start crying harder soon.”

“Then you’d better tell me what I need to know.”

“There’s nothing to tell! If my father had evidence, we don’t know where it is.” Jetta appeared even more distraught as the infant’s wails increased in volume.

“Your precious baby’s getting worked up. You’d better stop messing around and tell me the truth. Where’s the evidence your father hid?”

Seth sensed time was running out. He needed to act fast, or Jetta and her baby might not survive. He shot a prayer heavenward and concentrated on Yasmine’s voice as she harangued Jetta over the baby’s screams. Once he had been very good at figuring out where people were by listening to their voices. His life had depended on being able to slip by open doors without notice. Yasmine’s tone changed slightly, telling Seth her back was to the door. Time to make his move.

ChapterThirty-Five

Jetta struggled to keep Bingley quiet and her own emotions in check as the baby wailed her displeasure and Yasmine cursed Jetta’s obstinance in not revealing where Dad had hidden his evidence about the embezzlement. Jetta had no idea what the woman was talking about, but the youngest Topher sibling’s presence in her house had revealed the answer to thewhoin the original embezzlement case. Yasmine had taken all that money and blamed Dad for it. Jetta would bet Yasmine was still redirecting company funds into her own account. Why didn’t concern her—that could be sorted out later. If she did have a later. The compact pistol in the other woman’s hand gave Jetta grave doubts she would live to see another day. Yasmine hadn’t gotten away with embezzlement for more than fifteen years without having an exit plan.

Had Seth seen her text? She wouldn’t blame him if he decided to ignore her or had blocked her number.Please, God. Let Seth have seen my text and called for help. Please keep my baby safe.She couldn’t ask for safety for herself, not when she’d made such a mess of things after the baby’s birth.

Yasmine turned her back to the door, directing her tirade at Jetta, who cowered on the floor with Bingley across the room from the baby’s bassinet. Something moved in the doorway behind Yasmine, then Seth sprang at Yasmine, pinning her arms to her sides from behind in a bear hug. Bingley broke Jetta’s hold on his collar and lunged for the woman, biting the hand that held the gun.

Yasmine screamed and dropped the weapon. Seth kept her arms immobile as she thrashed about while Jetta scrambled on all fours for the gun. She kicked it under the dresser, then dashed for the crib and her sobbing baby. Picking the infant up, she held her daughter close to her chest as sirens split the air. Her daughter’s cries simmered to a whimper as Jetta rocked her in her arms.

Yasmine continued to struggle and curse, but Seth didn’t loosen his hold. His gaze sought Jetta’s, concern and some deeper emotion flaring in their brown depths. “You okay?”

Jetta nodded, her legs shaky, but she didn’t want to sit down until Yasmine had been secured by the police. “You came.”

“Of course I did.” His quiet words soothed her jagged nerves, as if his coming was never in doubt.

Yasmine wailed louder, her words jumbling together into incoherence. Jetta’s head ached from the constant noise, first from her baby, now Yasmine.

Seth shook Yasmine with enough force to snap the woman’s head back and forth once. “Shut up. You’ve caused enough trouble.”

Bingley gave one sharp bark as if to echo Seth’s admonition, and the combination must have made an impression on Yasmine because she firmed her lips and didn’t utter another sound.

In the silence, a pounding on the front door alerted them to the arrival of police. Jetta hurried down the stairs with her baby and let them in, explaining Seth was holding the intruder upstairs. The next hours were a blur of feeding the baby, giving her statement to a detective, and trying to stay out of the way as crime scene techs gathered evidence of Yasmine’s break in. The woman herself had been led away in handcuffs after an EMT had treated the minor injury Bingley had inflicted on her hand.

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