Page 44 of Lone Star Rescue

“Did you know you were pregnant then?” Rafe asked.

“I’d just taken the test that day so, yes, I knew. And I was already having morning sickness, and I think that’s why his wife guessed I was pregnant. In the middle of her lecture about leaving her husband alone, I had to run into the bathroom and throw up. When I came out, she demanded to know if I was pregnant, and I told her I was.”

Rafe tried to imagine how Arlene would have reacted to that. Not well at all. Again, there was that whole image she wanted to maintain.

“She was furious,” Nancy continued a moment later. “But it was a cold kind of fury, if you know what I mean.”

Rafe did indeed, and judging from the soft sound of agreement Bree made, so did she.

“What did Mrs. Wainwright do?” Bree pressed.

“She wrote me a check for ten thousand dollars and told me if I knew what was good for me and my bastard kid, I’d never tell anyone who fathered my child. I tore up the check,” Nancy explained. “But I promised her no one would ever know. I didn’t want to cause that kind of trouble for Wade. And I knew I wouldn’t want my baby to have a relationship with him because he or she would have to also deal with this woman.”

Nancy stopped again, and her eyes widened. “Did Wade’s wife kill Sandy Lynn?” she asked on a rise of breath.

“No,” Bree answered. “She passed away about two months before Sandy Lynn disappeared.”

The relief seemed to flood through her, but it was temporary. She was probably glad her ex-lover’s wife hadn’t killed her daughter. But someone had.

And this could possibly go back to the photo Nancy had mentioned earlier.

“Do you still have Sandy Lynn’s computer so you can show me the picture of me she had?” Rafe asked.

Nancy shook her head. “I’m sorry. That computer quit working years ago, and I didn’t think to save anything on it. But I remember you in the photo.”

“And the woman who was with me in it,” he commented. He took out his phone and pulled up a picture of Tessa. “Was it this woman?”

Nancy’s expression confirmed that it was a yes. “Is she Wade’s daughter?”

“She is,” Bree verified. “Her name is Tessa, and she went missing around the same time your daughter did.”

He watched Nancy process that. Then, she gasped. “Did someone kill them to get back at Wade?”

“We’re looking into that, too,” Bree assured her, and she took out her own phone to show Nancy the photo of Buckner and Tessa that Davy had sent them. “Do you recognize this man?”

Nancy got up and went closer to study it. She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Who is he?”

Rafe had been hoping that Nancy would instantly know who Buckner was. Better yet, maybe she could say that was Sandy Lynn’s boyfriend. Buckner, going by an alias, Parker Livingston. And maybe that was exactly what had happened. Buckner could have altered his appearance.

“Did you ever meet Parker Livingston, or do you have pictures of him?” Rafe asked.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t. And I never actually met him. But Sandy Lynn did show me a photo on her phone that she’d takenof them together.” Shock coated the woman’s face again. “You don’t think he did this to Sandy Lynn.”

“We don’t have anything that points to that, but we’ll be looking into it,” Bree said.

Rafe pulled up another photo, one that Jericho had sent him in one of the reports, and he showed Nancy the picture of Tessa wearing the red leather jacket. He didn’t get a chance to ask her about it before Nancy spoke up.

“That’s Sandy Lynn’s coat,” Nancy insisted. “Why is Wade’s other daughter wearing it?”

“We believe both daughters had the same coat,” Bree explained. “Where did Sandy Lynn get hers?”

“It was a gift from her boyfriend. From Parker. He said he’d seen a girl on campus wearing it, and he thought it’d look good on Sandy Lynn. It must have been very expensive since it was custom-made.”

That, too, had been included in Jericho’s report. Not the actual cost but an estimation of about five hundred dollars. So, a generous gift. And it meant at some point this Parker had crossed paths with Tessa.

Yeah, Rafe intended to take a hard look at Parker Livingston.

“Is there anyone I can call to be with you?” Bree asked Nancy.

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