Page 43 of Special Agent Isabella

“Oh, I did that as soon as I could, after I got the phone away from her. Then I threw it in the bushes. Whoever finds it will either return it to her, or she’ll never see it again. Not my problem. Too many important things to deal with now.”

Satisfied, Bella smiled.At least something good came of the rotten day.

ChapterThirty-Five

When they arrived back at the mansion, Tanner barely stepped into the room before Leslie crowded him, throwing herself against his chest, her face livid. “My phone was stolen today.”

Playing dense, he pretended shock, and set her gently aside as if he needed to see her face. “It was? When? How?”

Bella, wearing a fake smile, stood in the background, the satisfaction in her expression almost making him laugh.

Ringing her hands, Leslie wailed. “I don’t know. It must have been when my purse fell in the park… remember? When you were kissing me.”

Tanner’s glance shot toward Bella, and he saw the instant change in her face. A window of steel dropped over her eyes, her earlier smiling mouth formed a straight line, and disgust appeared before she stalked from the room.

Wanting to follow her, he first had to deal with the mess he’d started earlier. “Must have been one of the fellows who stopped to help pick up your things. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? Can’t you start an investigation or something… anything? I need that phone. I took a video of Bella earlier and intended to send it off to a newspaper fellow I know. It meant a lot to me. Now, it’s too late. But I still need my phone for work.”

“I feel bad you lost it while with me. I’ll help you buy another. But you must understand. There are more important situations to deal with than your missing phone. You do know your sister-in-law has been abducted?”

His patience disintegrated, all he wanted to do was leave her sight. It made him sick to think that she’d make that stupid item more important than Stacy’s crisis.

Leslie frowned. “You’ll find her. I’m sure the whole police force is looking, right?”

Not liking her voice that sounded like a petulant child, he held his hands out to stop her coming closer. “I don’t have a lot of time to deal with anything else right now.” He stalked away from her and headed for the stairs.

Something made him stop and go to Abbie’s room to check on the child. He’d been in contact with Nan throughout the day and they’d arranged to tell Abbie that her mother had been called to a meeting in Washington and would be gone for a few days.

Since this had been an often occurrence in her world, Abbie had taken it well. According to Nan, she’d asked after Tanner and Bella, wanting them to stay with her, and Nan hadn’t known what to tell the little one.

“Just put her off, Nan.” Tanner had decided. “We don’t want to make promises we might not be able to keep. If we get any leads on the suspect, we’ll likely have to follow them.”

“Si. I’m glad you gave Collin permission to let me know what happened. We’re both devastated, but we’re keeping it from la niña.”

Tanner stepped closer to open Abbie’s door and saw the figure of another person, bending over the child. Stricken, he went to reach for his weapon until he heard the voice. Then he stood down, realizing how shaken he’d become from the day’s events.

He stepped up beside Bella and saw the child’s smile. “Hi, Uncle Tanner. Bella came to kiss me goodnight like she promised. You too.” She lifted her arms tiredly, and he leaned over to smooch her cheek twice. “One from me and one from Mommy.” That made Abbie giggle, and she laid back to clutch her stuffed monkey again, her blonde curls flowing around her shoulders. In seconds, she was asleep.

Tanner led the way to the door and waited for Bella to pass in front of him. Before she could run away, he held her arm and stopped her. “Thank you for being so kind to Abbie. She needs all the support we can give her right now.”

Bella hesitated and then quit trying to pull away. “I know. I’m not good with kids, but I can imagine what I would want in her place.”

“She’s sleeping in her wig.” He chuckled, the scene of the small child with all that hair causing a tenderness he related to the little girl.

“Sure is. She loves that silly thing.”

He guided her toward the kitchen, and she went willingly. “Are you as hungry as I am?”

“I am. I never ate dinner.”

“Me either. I hope Nan has some goodies hidden somewhere.” He went to the fridge and began his search. He didn’t see Bella approach until she reached past him for the milk.

Watching to see what her intentions were, he saw the box of cereal on the island and her slipping into a stool with a bowl and spoon in her other hand.

“You’re going to eat cereal for dinner?”

“Not the first time. I don’t cook, never learned how. I make do.”

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