Page 86 of Forged in Steele

She started to say something, but he held up a hand. “All of what you say is true, which is why we got the warrant for Holloway’s home and office. I just wanted to let you know I’m not feeling it.”

“Fair enough. Just keep an open mind.”

“Trust me, it’s so open a Navy destroyer could sail through it.”

She chuckled, just the response he wanted, although his mood was anything but fun-loving. As he wound closer to the office, he let his thoughts wander. At this point, was Luna still alive? If Holloway was behind taking her, he could’ve decided she was too hot to place with anyone—even a custom order—and then what? Could the man kill a baby? Or maybe he would place her out of the country?

Jared couldn’t let that happen. He had to do better. Work smarter. Harder. If something happened to Luna, he would lose it. Sure, it wasn’t about him. It was about the baby, but he would sustain collateral damage that he didn’t know if he could recover from.

The urge to take Bristol’s hand and hold tight nearly had him reaching out. The GPS voice told him to turn ahead, interrupting his thoughts, and he turned into Holloway’s parking lot. Colin waited for them, leaning against his car. Jared parked, and Colin raced to his door, his hand held out. Jared got out. Bristol too. Jared gave the phones to Colin.

Colin studied the phones through the plastic bags. “If they’re not locked, these will be done in a flash.”

“And if they are locked?” Bristol asked.

“Could take some time, but don’t you worry. I can crack them.” He jerked his head at the building. “The others have already gone in. Holloway and his assistant aren’t here. Had to get the building manager to open the door.”

“Thanks.” Bristol’s expression tightened.

Holloway not being on-site wasn’t unexpected, but it was still disappointing.

Colin went back to his car and slid in, leaving his door open. Jared and Bristol wound through the vehicles in the lot and up to Holloway’s office. Even the warm breeze and sun beating down on Jared didn’t clear the chill, raising his apprehension. He couldn’t shake the thought that finding Luna had already taken too long, and he might’ve failed her too.

Hunter Lane met them at Holloway’s office door. “Holloway cleaned the place out. Back room is filled with garbage bags of shredded documents. Computers are gone. About all we’ll get out of this place is whatever forensics might recover.”

Jared hadn’t expected this response, and it set him back for a moment. There had to besomethingthey could do. But what?

He looked around the place, and his gaze landed on the assistant’s desk. “What about an employment file for Holloway’s assistant? Anything on her?”

“Gone.”

“Amelia or the other women might know her name.” Bristol’s expression continued to hold the hope that Jared was trying to keep. “After Colin images the phones, we can review them and then head out to the farm to talk to the women.”

Hunter took a deep breath. “You should also know that the gang task force hasn’t heard a thing about the Hoovers being involved in a kidnapping. The members seem to think they would take a much more straightforward approach to retaliation.”

“You mean take out Pratt himself.”

Hunter nodded. “Or his wife. Or wait until the whole family got home and take out all three.”

“Sounds like this isn’t a top priority but keep after it until we know for sure.” Jared’s phone rang. “It’s Reed. Maybe he found something actionable at Holloway’s house.”

Jared answered. “This about Holloway?”

“Partly. He’s not home as expected, and he’s purged his home office of anything that might help. We will, of course, do forensics.”

“And the part that’s not about Holloway?” Jared asked, hoping for good news this time, though honestly hearing that the Hoovers might not be involved in the kidnapping was good news. Real good news. If the task force members were right.

“Adair took another run at Osborne. The guy finally admitted to impersonating Aaron King. A woman paid him ten grand to disable the security alarm for the stairwell and pose as the guard. He swears he didn’t know a baby would be kidnapped.”

Finally. A lead. “And the woman who paid him?”

“Osborne claims he doesn’t know her name. She came to his apartment. Paid him five grand in cash and gave him Aaron King’s address. Then met him off-site and paid him the final five grand after the woman left the hospital.”

Jared resisted slamming a fist into the wall. “Did he describe the woman?”

“He said she’s short with curly black hair. That’s all he could say.”

“Think he’d meet with a sketch artist to do a sketch of this woman?”

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