Page 77 of Missing Justice
Chapter Fourteen
A make-out on a stakeout—it was a first for Taylor.
Stakeouts generally ranked right up there with hell in her opinion. A stakeout with Matt, however, wasn’t all that bad.
In fact, it was currently rocking her world.
Through the windshield of his car, the setting sun hit him right along his strong jawline, growing stubble showing as he sucked her tongue into his mouth and stuck his hand up her shirt.
What had started out as a simple kiss while they waited for Kristina Caldwell to come home had turned into a full-on make-out session.
Taylor had tried to process all the emotions churning in her gut and blowing up her heart while staying focused.
Right. Like that was happening.
Grey went out on a limb. You have to solve this case, come hell or high water.Don’t let Matt distract you.
Fat chance that. Matt had been doing that ever since he’d walked up to her at the bar that night at the conference. Even at the armory, surrounded by Grey, Mitch, and Teeg, she’d struggled to keep her mind focused on the investigation instead of sneaking Matt off to one of the empty rooms and doing him right there.
The FBI had employed plenty of closers over the years who were top-notch. Each knew how to kick over the smallest pebble to find the lead that would solve the case.
Taylor had a gut instinct that rivaled the best of them. Hers had told her to switch the focus of the investigation and follow every avenue Baby Jarvis might have taken. Grey had agreed.
None of the legal adoption agencies in the area had turned up anything fishy, and the TriCare Birthing Center didn’t cater to women who wanted to give up their babies, but the overlap of Kristina Caldwell and Hearts of Love Adoption agency was a red flag. Much like the sticker on the silver pickup truck, this could be the small, seemingly insignificant element that could blow the case wide open.
Taylor and Matt had a list of questions to ask the woman, but Kristina wasn’t home. She wasn’t at any Lamaze meetings either—none were being held in the area, according to all the calls Matt had made.
Teeg was investigating black market adoption agencies. They couldn’t stakeout any of them, so Grey and Teeg were working on a cyber investigation, using Mitch and Caroline as prospective adoptees.
Matt had mentioned what a scary idea it was for Mitch to procreate. In a way, Taylor thought it might be cool. He could be an ass, but she bet if you put a baby in his arms, he’d turn all soft and gooey.
Somehow, Taylor was sure she and Matt had gotten the safer, less fun assignment, and yet, it didn’t feel that way. Matt had loaded them up with food from a hole-in-the-wall Greek restaurant, plenty of drinks, and he’d shared some funny stories from his childhood before they’d gotten sidetracked with that kiss. A few of his stories even involved his sister, but there was no sadness when he talked about her. He’d obviously loved her deeply and still missed her, but he focused on the happy times they’d spent together.
He’d managed to find that gap between devastation and survival. Taylor hoped that one day she could do the same with the memories of Isabel. She wanted to talk about her and remember how much fun they’d had together before her entire family’s lives had gone to shit.
At some point in the past hour, she’d made a decision—once they were done with the Jarvis case, she was hiring Matt and the sisters to help bring closure to her own family. One way or another, she needed to know what had happened to Isabel.
And maybe if she didn’t have an FBI job to return to…well, she’d have extra time on her hands.
Unless she kept Matt in bed…
“Heads up.” Matt had somehow kept one eye on Kristina’s place. “Black Lexus pulling in.”
Taylor slid off his lap into her seat, buttoning her shirt. Sure enough, Kristina was finally coming home. Maybe they could get answers and figure out if she’d had any connection to Baby Jarvis.
Taylor shuffled napkins and empty pop cans out of the way and grabbed her binoculars. “Thank God, we didn’t have to sit here all night waiting.”
Matt took the binoculars and dropped a kiss on her lips. “I would have kept you entertained, sweet cheeks.”
No doubt about that. “How exactly are we going to do this?” Taylor checked her makeup in the visor mirror. Her cheeks were flushed and her black eye was even more pronounced. “I’m not FBI anymore. I have no badge to flash, and she’ll obviously remember us from the birthing center, so if we come clean, she’ll know we duped her and Dottie. Not the best way to start our visit.”
Kristina’s car pulled into the garage and she hustled out, grabbing the rolled up newspaper lying on the wide, concrete driveway.
“Hold up,” Matt said. “She’s got company.”
Taylor squinted into the sinking sun. From what she could make out, a brand new white Escalade was sliding into Kristina’s driveway.
“Damn. Guess we’re sitting for a while longer.” She edged over, shading her eyes from the sun to get a better look at the woman getting out of the Escalade. Kristina took a step back, looking left then right before she said something to the woman and waved the newspaper in front of her like she was trying to shoo her away. “Hey, isn’t that the gal from the other night? The one Dottie and Kristina were both talking to in the back of the room?”
