Page 94 of Chasing Dreams
“They should all be locked up,” she said fiercely. “They’re just as much to blame for Maggie’s death as the man who pushed her car into the river.”
“Rossi had a real slick operation going here,” Ken said. “He preyed upon young single mothers, poor, without family support, so they wouldn’t have the means to hire private investigators or continue a search for long.”
“He’s scum,” Shaine said scornfully.
Austin reached over and placed his hand on her arm. “I think you need some rest.”
“What about this boy in Missouri?” she asked Ken.
“You gave me Jack’s birth certificate,” he said. “I entered his footprints into the computer. I’m having someone go to the house, make sure the child is there and take the boy into protective custody to process him. Just like we did with the Cutter baby. There’s a lot of red tape.”
“I should be there,” she said, sliding to the edge of her chair as though ready to leap up and run out.
“You can’t be there,” he said calmly. “If and when he is identified as your nephew, then you can have custody of him.”
“How long will that take?”
“Just as long as it takes the agency to find him, take him into custody and print him.”
“Today?”
“Sorry, I can’t tell you that, Shaine.”
“What would they do with him overnight? I should go there.”
“Baby,” Austin said persuasively in her ear, “nobody’s going to do anything to frighten him any more than he’s already been frightened. If this is him, you’ll be the first one notified.”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and guided her out of the chair. “Let’s wait at the motel. Or take a drive.”
She knew staying here wouldn’t make the time pass any faster. Nor would it hurry the events taking place three states away. She just felt closer to the investigation here. She felt closer to Jack.
But she didn’t want to hinder Ken or his work. He would call as soon as he had something. She gathered her composure. “Let’s go for a run,” she said to Austin.
He stopped and stared in surprise. A run?
* *
Shaine lay on her stomach in total exhaustion, her cheek pressed against the spread of one of the beds. “Why didn’t you warn me it would be so hot?”
“This is Arizona,” he replied dryly, toweling his hair.
“I don’t have the energy to shower.”
“You’ll feel like a new person.”
“You said that before we ran.”
He chuckled.
He had run, sprinting ahead, and then coming back to wait for her time and again. She had huffed and puffed and cursed him for encouraging her insanity.
“I can’t get up.”
He gripped her arms, hauled her to her feet and left her in the bathroom doorway. “I’m going for ice.”
“Good idea, bring enough to fill the tub.” After her shower, she padded to her suitcase, a towel wrapped around her. He hadn’t returned. He’d left his phone on the bed. She picked it up, finding it unlocked and checked for missed calls. Nothing.
She finished dressing just as Austin let himself in.
