Page 42 of Forged in Steele

“I wanted a baby.” She clasped her hands in her lap.

“When were you going to tell me about it? The day the baby arrived on our doorstep?”

“I don’t know.” She started to cry. “I just know I was desperate to be a mom.”

Mr. Pratt’s forehead furrowed. “And now you are, but maybe the guy you insisted on talking to took our child from us.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Jared said. “We don’t have any proof Holloway’s involved any more than we can prove the Hoovers gang is.”

“But you’re going to talk to Holloway, right?” Mrs. Pratt asked.

“Yes,” Bristol said. “How did you learn about him?”

“I made friends with a woman—Felicity Wetzel. She was in an online group for couples struggling to become parents. I had several rounds of IVF that didn’t work. I’d lost all hope, and she told me about him.”

“This is exactly the kind of information we need to know.” Jared fisted his hands.

“But why?” Mrs. Pratt cried out. “I doubt anyone in the group even knows about Luna. When I got pregnant, I lost touch with everyone but Felicity. And Holloway arranged an adoption for her so she had no reason to take Luna.” Mrs. Pratt sat forward. “You’re not going to take their son away, are you?”

“We’ll be talking to them for sure,” Bristol said, hoping she wouldn’t have to destroy another family unit. “What happens after that, I can’t say.”

Mrs. Pratt shook her head. “Please don’t. Please fight to keep them together. I can’t be responsible for another woman losing her child.”

Bristol opened her mouth to point out that Felicity might have already done that by going through with an illegal adoption, but there was no point in torturing Mrs. Pratt more. “We’ll need Felicity’s contact details.”

Mrs. Pratt picked up her phone and tapped the screen, but took her time as if stalling might stop them from finding this woman.

“Is Felicity married?” Bristol asked.

Mrs. Pratt nodded and shared the woman’s contact information.

“Is there anything else about Holloway that you can tell us that might help in our investigation?” Jared asked.

“Yeah,” Mr. Pratt said. “One of the reasons I didn’t want to proceed with him is the man is a ruthless money-grubber. So be careful. I don’t think he would hesitate to turn violent to save himself.”

On that very negative note, Bristol started for the door, and Jared followed her out of the room. In the hallway, he called Reed and explained that he and Bristol were going to conduct a surprise interview with the Wetzels.

“Call if anything comes up.” He started down the hallway at a quick clip.

Bristol kept up with him. “Do you think the Wetzels are in danger of losing their son?”

“I suppose it’ll depend on how Holloway got the child. If he has legit consent from the parents, then nothing will happen. If not, and the parents can be found, then yes. I think it’s a good possibility that they will lose the boy.”

“Bad possibility, you mean,” she said as they took the elevator to the ground floor.

“Bad for them, yes, but if the birth family didn’t consent to the adoption, then getting their son back will be positive for them.”

“I hate having to upset the Wetzels, but we have to do everything we can to find Luna.”

Jared nodded and strode out of the back of the building, his head down. The current day Jared was far more intense than camp Jared. She liked this guy even more. Sure, she’d loved camp Jared, but as she’d gotten older, she’d found men with purpose far more attractive. He’d always known where he was going in life, but wasn’t quite this driven.

Inside Jared’s car, she took note of the setting sun in the balmy August night. A night that would remind her of the many nights under the stars at camp if she let herself think about it.

“I was hoping for something else on Nurse Johnson or the Pratts’ phones, but this is a good lead,” Bristol said once Jared got his vehicle on the road. “And I’m glad the team agreed to send the files to Nick too. Just in case.”

Jared glanced at her. “Shows that the team won’t put their egos in front of finding Luna where I’m afraid some people might.”

“Do I detect a hint of your trust issue there?” she asked.

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