Page 9 of Off Limits Daddy

A tumbler fell in place with a loud click in my head and I looked over at the social worker. "Is there any chance that Wally Creighton was Aiden's foster parent?”

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Yes."

I shook my head. "Why is this guy a foster parent?"

"We weren't aware that Mr. Creighton —"

I stared at her incredulously. "Everyone knows that Wally is a part of the Crew. He runs it now."

“Creighton has never been charged with anything," My supervisor said in an admonishing tone.

Still. Surely, the social workers knew about him. Maybe they were in on the identity theft scam too. That was something I had to consider.

"And if I understand it correctly, there's a shortage of foster families,” he finished.

I gaped at him. Was he really saying that it was okay to place children with criminals?

"The point is, agent Marsden, it appears that this child could be a witness."

I turned my attention back to the social worker. "Is that possible?" I thought back to Oliver's statement the day he had gone to give Liam's papers to the kidnappers in exchange for his daughter. He explained that Donovan had driven him to the exchange point under the guise of helping him. He’d sent Oliver into the abandoned warehouse by himself, where inside, Darcy Patrick held the child hostage. They had made the exchange, and Darcy told Oliver to wait five minutes before leaving, which he did. But as he started to the door, gunshots sounded, followed by a car driving away. When Oliver managed to find a window to look out, he saw Donovan and Darcy lying dead by Donovan's car.

Detective Riker, the investigator on Liam’s murder case, and I were able to determine that whoever killed Donovan and Darcy had driven by, shot them, and then driven off. Had the murderer really done that with a child in their car?

"I suppose it's possible. Aiden hasn't told us anything. But how else would he be able to draw this picture?” Carrie said. “And to your question, I had no idea who Wally Creighton was. But I am glad that Aiden isn’t there, and I’ve made it my mission to make sure the two others he has are moved and no more are placed with him.”

“Why?” If she didn’t know about him, why move them?

She shook her head. “Like I said, I don’t know him or about him, but I didn’t like what I saw at the house. And I didn’t like him. He was nice enough, but… I don’t know. But if Aiden did see him kill those people, something has to be done.”

I sat for a moment wondering why Creighton would kill two people in front of a witness. That didn’t make sense. "Is it possible that the child was hiding in the car? Could it be that Creighton didn't know the child was there?"

"We can't even be sure that he was there,” Matthews said.

I ignored him. The child was Creighton’s foster child. And Donovan and Darcy had kidnapped Oliver’s daughter to get documents that could ruin Creighton. Documents that Creighton now had.

"I would like a chance to talk to Aiden,” I said.

The social worker nodded. "I can give you his new foster family’s information, but I warn you that Aiden was never very talkative, and he's less so now. Which is also why I believe he witnessed this. It might help to have somebody who specializes in working with traumatized children when you see him."

I may have made the decision to never get married and have children, but I had plenty of experience with kids, having raised my siblings.

“I know how to talk to kids.”

"I don't suppose there's any way you can wait until after Christmas?" the social worker said as she handed me a piece of paper with Aiden's information on it.

I glanced at her in surprise. "It's possible that Aiden is in danger."

“Except he was fine at Mr. Creighton’s and is now in his new home. I was hoping he didn’t know Aiden had been there.”

“Hoping? You’re willing to risk his life?”

“No. Of course not. It's just that it's Christmas Eve, and Mr. Ashworth was very excited to give Aiden a real Christmas."

"Well, hopefully, I'll be able to see him today and determine whether Aiden is in any sort of danger." I rose from my chair and turned to my supervisor. "Since it is Christmas Eve, may I be excused to take care of this?”

Matthews gave a slight wave of his hand. "Absolutely. Keep me posted."

I turned to the social worker. "Thank you for bringing this to us."

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