Page 42 of Off Limits Daddy

I glanced over at Duncan. There was something about his tone that made me think he wanted Aiden to share something with me. He wasn’t trying to include me. He was trying to get Aiden to tell me something about the case. It was strange how disappointed I was at that when I should have been glad.

Aiden continued chewing as he used his fork to move his food around on his plate.

"It's nice having a friend, isn’t it?" I said.

His shoulders rose up to his ears, but I wasn't sure whether he was shrugging or hiding. Finally, he said, "Olivia was with a bad lady."

That did get my intention, but I did my best to keep my expression schooled. Children were very astute at reading people, and I didn't want a reaction that would cause him to think I couldn't handle what he was telling me.

"My goodness. But she's with her mommy and daddy now, right?" Of course, I knew she was because I had interviewed her the other day.

"You talked to her."

"I did. It's my job to find bad men and women. She was very helpful in giving me information to help me do that even though I think she was nervous."

By now, Aiden had dropped his fork and his hands were in his lap and his head was looking down. I was losing him. I looked over at Duncan again for help. He was studying the boy, and I imagined he was trying to decide whether or not to change the subject.

While Aiden's head stayed down, his gaze lifted to mine. "I saw a bad man."

This was it. I could feel it in my bones. Here I thought I was going to have to be here for weeks, maybe even months, and now barely a full day in, Aiden was going to tell me everything he knew.

"Well, if you want to tell me who he was, I can try and get him. We could put him in jail. Do you know what jail is?"

Aiden nodded.

"Can you tell me about your bad man?"

Aiden shook his head.

"She can help us, Aiden," Duncan encouraged him.

But Aiden shook his head again.

I studied Aiden for a moment. "Did the bad man tell you not to tell anybody?"

Aiden shook his head. In some ways, I was relieved because it suggested that Wally didn't know what Aiden had seen. Of course, all of this was conjecture. It was possible Aiden didn’t see anything.

“Are you nervous about telling me?" I asked.

"He's gone now."

Once again, I glanced over at Duncan, wondering what he meant. Duncan shrugged.

"What do you mean by he's gone? Did he go away?"

Aiden nodded. "He went to live with fish."

Duncan's eyes rounded, but again, I tried to keep my face impassive even though I was sure Aiden was telling us that the bad man he knew had been murdered and possibly dismembered and tossed in the river.

The problem was, I knew for sure that Wally Creighton was alive and well. So, was I wrong that Aiden was in Wally’s car? But why would Aiden be in someone else’s car? Maybe somebody else had been with Wally. One drove, the other killed Donovan and Patrick?

“How’s your food?” Duncan asked.

Aiden picked up his fork and started to eat. I took that as a cue to let the topic drop. Probably just as well. I wanted to think about his comment and figure out who this other person could have been.

After dinner, I took care of the dishes in another attempt to do my fair share. Duncan and Aiden went off to play something.

Once I was done with the dishes, I headed up to the third floor, stopping at the second floor to get my computer and files before proceeding up to the office. It was probably twenty degrees outside with the temperature dropping, but I opened the window to air out the scent of sex that I swore lingered in theroom. It didn't do much to dim the memory of what Duncan had done to me just hours before on the desk, but right now, I had to ignore that.

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