Page 25 of Kidnapping of a Myth

“Wendy, get Michael out of here.” Eamon spun her around and aimed her at her family. “He needs you. Let Isobel do her job. She’ll handle Pann.”

Wendy instantly calmed, pinning Bel with a meaningful expression. “Do whatever you need to. I know you’re a cop, but I don’t care what rules you have to break. Nail his hide to the wall and get my brother back.” She drew Michael into her embrace and leaned into Henry, her husband’s scowl still trained on Bel as he lovingly kissed his wife’s head.

“Don’t remove his clothes,” Bel said, unsure why his hostility was aimed at her. He’d been wary of her from the start, but she didn’t have the time to nurse his wounded pride. “The police will want to enter them into evidence. I know you’ll want to clean him up, but we’ve already made a mess of this case. Let’s preserve what we can. Can I use your phone? The water dam… Mine’s dead,” she corrected.

“There’s a landline in the foyer,” Wendy said.

“Thanks.” Bel gripped the woman’s arm comfortingly and then rubbed Michael’s slightly damp hair. “Eamon will monitor Pann. Help is coming, I promise.” She turned to leave, but Wendy caught her wrist and pulled her to a stop. She said nothing, but she didn’t need to. Bel understood her gratitude, and with a soft smile, she broke free and strode for the front door.

“You’re something else,” Henry hissed in her ear, and Bel flinched, not realizing he’d followed her. Eamon grunted, but she shoved her fingers out behind her, signaling him to stay. She could handle an angry rich man, and Eamon was the only one she trusted to keep The Tinker contained.

“The threats clearly said no cops, but you came here anyway and put my family at risk,” Henry continued as she made a beeline for the foyer’s landline. Seemed she had her answer as to why he’d been scowling. “Now you want to bring the entire police force here? Are you trying to get us killed?”

“We caught Pann.” She started dialing, but Henry seized the phone and slammed it back into its cradle.

“But you don’t know what he has planned. You have no idea what’s at stake, yet you’re behaving as if you own the place.”

“Mr. Night.” Bel grabbed his biceps and moved him away from the phone, spying Eamon’s unhinged scowl as he watched from outside. “I understand how traumatic this morning has been for your family.”

“Like hell you do,” he spat, and Bel bit her tongue. If only he knew how painful witnessing Eamon being blown to shreds had been. If only he knew how intimately she understood being chained to a wall.

“I found Michael, and I will find John,” she said instead, breaking her own rules by promising something she shouldn’t, but this case had become personal. The Tinker had tried to kill her, had tried to take Eamon from her. If there was ever a timeto commit that cardinal police sin, it was now. “I’m sorry I lied. I’m sorry you feel I put your family in harm’s way, but I’ll never harm your wife’s brothers. I’ll risk my life for them. In fact, I already did. There was no air in that cellar at the end. It was all water, and I gave Michael my last breath. I’m not here to hurt your family. Let me help you, please. I need to call my boss.”

Henry stared at her, locked in silent conflict with both her and his own emotions, but then he nodded, and Bel seized the phone, dialing Griffin as fast as her fingers could move.

“Sheriff Griffin,” he answered on the second ring, his voice almost a question at the unknown number.

“Griffin, it’s me.”

“Emerson? Where are you? I’ve been calling.” Panic mutated his tone. “I realize you’ve been through hell, and if you need days off, I’m more than happy to give them to you, but you can’t just disappear on me like this. I thought… Are you okay?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry. My phone is dead.” She twisted to look at Eamon, the concentration in his death-black eyes telling her he heard every word she spoke. “Actually, no, I’m not okay. I need you.” The line went unnaturally quiet, and Bel could practically feel Griffin’s fear through the connection. “I need everyone.”

Bel steppedout of the bathroom and handed the waiting tech her still-damp clothes. She’d briefly explained the situation to Griffin over the phone, hearing him slam his car door and start the engine before she got halfway through the necessary details, and within the hour, the Darling Estate was crawling with police. She’d then called her partner Olivia Gold, asking her to stop by her cabin to feed Cerberus and grab a fresh outfit since her current one was considered evidence. The techs had alreadycollected Michael’s clothing, allowing Wendy to clean him up, and after finally changing, Bel joined the family in the living room, her heart breaking at the sight of Michael avoiding the abandoned sandwich on the coffee table.

“Thanks for the clothes,” Bel said as she settled beside Olivia, and her partner reached out to grip her hand. They’d become close over their brief acquaintance, exchanging house keys in case of emergencies. Abel Reus had kidnapped both women, and although Bel’s ordeal had been far more traumatic, they both understood how devastatingly life could change from one second to the next. It had bonded them.

“No problem,” Gold said. “I’m just glad you’re okay, but I wish you had called me earlier.”

“I was here as a guest. An unwelcome one until I returned with Michael. My hands were tied.”

“I know. You were in an impossible situation. It’s just that after… after everything you’ve been through, I hate that you dealt with this kidnapping alone. I could’ve come as a friend.”

“You’re here now.” Bel squeezed her hand. “And I wasn’t alone. Eamon was with me.” She nodded toward Stone as he strode into the room to join the family. He had also changed, forensics needing his evidence-soaked outfit, and he’d dressed in the only items that remained in his overnight bag, the workout gear wildly out of place in the opulence of this home.

“After he got you into this mess,” Gold said.

“He didn’t know,” Bel said, the need to defend him a rising pressure in her chest, and she cleared her throat, forcing her eyes away from the man who stained the room with his darkness. “Wendy told him no cops, but he thought my expertise could help, and it did. I found the kid. One of them, at least.”

Gold sighed, releasing Bel’s hand to wrap her arm around her partner’s shoulders. “The man screams danger, but you trust him, so maybe I’m missing something. I care about you, that’sall. I couldn’t bear it if someone else hurt you while I stood by and let it happen.”

“And I love you for that.” Bel hugged Olivia’s waist. “He cares about me too, though, and neither of us expected this case to be so severe.”

“I don’t even like thinking about it.” Gold shuddered. “Pann was really going to drown that kid?”

“While Wendy watched,” Bel confirmed. After the police arrived, they’d transferred Peter Pann to a squad car, Eamon’s belt replaced with handcuffs. A few deputies had been assigned to watch him, but their presence was proving unnecessary. Pann hadn’t so much as flinched since they caught him. He hadn’t spoken. He hadn’t fought. He simply observed the chaos unfold around him with unnerving calmness.

Griffin stood from his seat beside the family and joined the detectives at the edge of the extravagant living room. He’d arrived on the scene, launching into action with military-type precision, but he’d said little to Bel. She worried he was angry at her for both failing to show up at the station and rushing headlong into danger… again. He wasn’t her father, but he’d become a surrogate parent of sorts, a man who meant so much more to her than a boss. She knew if he’d been in her shoes, he would’ve made the same decisions and taken the same risks, but it didn’t change the fact that even as he created a perimeter, even as he oversaw the evidence collection and computer forensics, he treated her with a cold shoulder.

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