Page 77 of Forged in Steele

She was thankful he at least had stopped pacing.

“He didn’t miss the chance to remind me not to let this turn into another Wyatt situation. He even threatened to take me off lead if we have any other issues.”

She resisted taking his hand. “But you aren’t responsible for losing Olive. Adair is just looking for a scapegoat.”

“In this situation, I know that. Still not sure with Wyatt, but this and your prayer are opening my eyes to at least thinking I could get rid of this blame.” He cracked a tight smile.

Bristol’s phone rang. She looked at the screen, and her mouth dropped open. “It’s Amelia.”

Jared raised an eyebrow. “The woman you met in the lot?”

Bristol nodded and answered on speaker, holding the phone closer to Jared.

“She’s here.” Amelia’s voice whispered quietly through the phone. “The woman who brings babies is here.”

“Slow down. Slow down. I can’t hear you.” Bristol turned up her phone’s volume.

“The lady. The one I told you about. She’s here looking for Mr. Holloway. Yelling and screaming, ‘Where’s my money? Where’s my money?’ She is angry. So very angry. She said he is not at his office or home so he has to be here.”

Bristol looked at Jared and cupped her hand over her phone. “How can Holloway be missing when the surveillance teams we have on his office and home are not telling us he’s gone?”

“Good question. One I want an answer to.” Jared got his phone out again and stepped to the other side of the room.

Had Olive seen through Jared and Bristol’s façade and that’s why she was so frantic to find Holloway? Maybe figured out they were lying about their identities? Could also be why she went through the study so quickly.

Or maybe she was just afraid that Bristol would check up on her ID since Bristol paid so much attention to it and it freaked Olive out. Maybe it had been a mistake to demand to see it again.

Bristol couldn’t waste time thinking about that now. “Give me your address, and I’ll come over,” she said to Amelia.

Amelia rattled off an address only ten minutes away.

“Try to keep the woman there, but don’t use force,” Bristol said with emphasis. “Or if she seems dangerous don’t try to stop her. If Holloway shows up stay well away from him, and unlock the front door for me.”

“Hurry. Please.” Amelia’s anguish cut through Bristol.

Hopefully the stress wouldn’t send Amelia into labor. The last thing they needed was to put another baby in jeopardy.

16

Jared pulled close to the sprawling single story house at the address given by Amelia and pointed out his windshield. “Olive’s car is still in the driveway. No other vehicle so Holloway likely never showed up.”

“How do you think Holloway got out of his office without our team seeing him?” Bristol asked.

“My best guess is his assistant helped somehow. Maybe let him ride on the floor in the back of her car.”

“I guess we won’t know until we find him.”

“The team is working on that.” Jared pulled in behind her car to block it. “Right now we need to focus on Amelia and Olive.” And forget that Adair was going to lose his cool when he found out.

The backup team who’d lost Olive parked at the road. Jared shifted into park, and Bristol jumped from the car before he could get the key out of the ignition.

He jerked it free and raced after her. He caught up and rested a hand on her shoulder. She’d taken a few minutes to change into her uniform that she’d stowed in the trunk so she could carry her sidearm and affect an arrest when they arrived.

“Take a beat to calm down,” he said.

“I’m good. Been to plenty of tense situations while on patrol.” She shifted her Kevlar vest. “Especially domestics.”

“This isn’t a domestic. Just because Olive’s name didn’t return any priors, doesn’t mean Olive’s even her name.” His eyes narrowed. “She’s broken the law and doesn’t want to go to jail. She might indeed have priors and have served time. If she has, she’ll likely do just about anything not to go back to prison. She could be armed and very dangerous.”

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