What did she really know about him? Other than he cared about his dog?
She deftly changed Rory, then bundled him back up in the sling, hoping he would calm down enough to fall back asleep.
Not hardly.
“Maybe the kid is hungry?” the officer suggested.
She stifled a sigh. “I’m well aware of that fact. I have a can of powdered formula from the store, but it’s useless without water.”
“I have bottled water.” He rummaged beneath the passenger seat and pulled out a fresh bottle of water, handing it to her over his shoulder. “I always keep a case in the SUV for my dog, Duchess.”
“Thank you.” The water wasn’t warm, but it wasn’t cold, either. Hopefully, he’d take it without a problem.
She made Rory’s bottle, shaking the thing with enough force to make her teeth rattle in an effort to be sure the powder was completely dissolved. Then she shifted the baby in her arms so that she could feed him.
Rory latched onto the nipple with the strength of a linebacker. Apparently he was too hungry to care if the water bottle was warm or not.
With a sigh of relief, she gazed into Rory’s wide eyes. This poor baby was in danger for no reason other than his father was an abusive, controlling lunatic.
She squeezed her eyes shut and lowered her mouth to press a kiss against the top of his downy head. He smelled like baby shampoo, and she had to fight against another wave of tears.
No child should have to grow up without his mother. Or with the knowledge that his father had killed his mother.
A sense of hopelessness hit hard, and she forced herself to shove it aside. Self-pity wasn’t going to help.
She needed to remain strong, for Rory’s sake.
Rory released his viselike grip on the bottle, so she lifted him up to her shoulder and lightly rubbed his back in slow circular motions. Duchess stuck her nose through the crate, pressing it along the back of Lacy’s neck, making her smile.
Rory let out a wet belch and she instantly praised him. “Good boy! Yes, you’re such a good boy!”
He lifted his head from her shoulder and smiled up at her with a toothless grin. She kissed him again, then turned him so that his head rested in the crook of her arm. As he finished the rest of the bottle, she glanced up and caught the officer staring at her through the rearview mirror.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To a twenty-four hour veterinary service,” he answered. “Why don’t you tell me exactly what took place tonight?”
“Look, Officer,” she began, but he quickly interrupted.
“Matt. My name is Matthew Callahan.”
Matt was a nice name, one that carried an inner strength. She shook her head quickly. She was acting irrational again. As if a name mattered. Wasn’t David the one in the Bible who took down Goliath with a slingshot? It didn’t mean her sister’s husband was a good man.
Quite the opposite.
She gave herself a mental shake. “Okay, Matt. I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I’m Lacy Germaine, and this baby is Rory Williams. There’s an Amber Alert out on the baby and I understand we’re in your custody.”
“Is that why you chose to sit in the back seat?” he asked.
“No.” Not only had she wanted to change Rory, but she secretly preferred being closer to the dog than to him. She forced herself to stay on track. “I’ve been staying at my sister’s house for a few days to help her with Rory. I woke up to the sound of arguing and heard my sister begging not to be hurt. Before this happened, she had told me she was afraid of her husband, David Williams, because of his temper. In fact, she recently filed for divorce. He was clearly angry about that—I overheard him threaten to kill her and Rory, too, right before I heard two gunshots. And the biggest problem of all is that David Williams is a police officer working in the third district.”
“He’s a cop?” Matt demanded, his expression turning grim.
“Yes.” She could already tell that he didn’t want to believe her. “When I heard them arguing, I called 911 and gave the dispatcher my sister’s address. Then I took off with Rory.”
“So why the Amber Alert?”
Rory had fallen asleep, the bottle just about empty, so she pulled it away and set it aside. “I don’t know. I can only assume that David somehow convinced his cop buddies that I’m the one who killed Jill and took Rory. Which doesn’t make any sense.”
He snorted in derision. “I’ll say. Even a rookie would have a hard time buying that story. There has to be something else going on.”
She clenched her jaw. “I don’t know what else is going on. You saw that David had a gun, didn’t you? And he took a slice out of Duchess. What more do you want from me? I can’t tell you what I don’t know!”
Rory shifted restlessly in her arms, and she mentally berated herself for raising her voice. Rory shouldn’t have to listen to her arguing with a cop. He’d had enough exposure to violence in his short life.
She let out a sigh and stroked the tip of her finger over his plump cheek. Now that Jill was gone, it would be up to her to take care of Rory. To raise him as her own.
To love him.
She swallowed a sense of panic. Okay, she didn’t know much about babies, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t take a crash course to learn.
Lacy silently promised to give Rory the stable life he deserved.
* * *
Matt didn’t understand why he was so captivated by Lacy taking care of Rory. He came from a large family, sure, but he wasn’t like his two eldest brothers, Marc and Miles, who’d both married women with children.
Truthfully, he’d gone down that path with devastating results. He’d begun dating a divorced woman named Debra who had a four-year-old daughter, Carly. He’d been about to propose when Carly had gotten sick and had been diagnosed with a rare form of lethal cancer. During the next few months, he’d been forced to watch the child he’d come to love die a horrible death. On top of that, the crisis had caused Debra and her ex-husband, Kyle, to grow close again. After Carly’s death, Debra had broken up with Matt, claiming she and Kyle were going to reunite.
Logically, he knew he should have been happy for them, but he’d felt Carly’s loss as keenly as they had. Losing a child, even one who wasn’t his by blood, had been the most painful thing he’d ever experienced. Debra’s rejection afterward hadn’t helped.
When Debra walked away, he’d decided it was easier to avoid romantic entanglements and to focus on his career. Dogs were better than people any day of the week. He’d loved K-9 training, and Duchess made the best partner he could have imagined. He still had the closeness he shared with his twin, Maddy, and was truly happy she’d found love with his former partner, Noah Sinclair.
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