though that wasn’t new information, it caused fresh tears to spring to Yvette’s eyes. “What about the second man, the one who had the stun gun. Is it possible he had the baby with him?”
Thea had already considered that and had mentally walked through every moment of the attack. “It’s possible. I didn’t even see him. In fact, as I said earlier, it could have been a woman.”
Yes, she had indeed said that earlier, but this time it caused Raleigh to shift his attention to Yvette. And Yvette noticed the abrupt shift, too.
“Well, it wasn’t me,” Yvette snapped. “I’d have no reason to take my own child and murder the woman who carried her for nine months.”
No obvious reason anyway, but it was odd that the woman had assumed they were thinking the worst about her.
“Do you have anyone with a grudge against you?” Raleigh asked Yvette. “Someone who might want to try to kidnap the baby and hold her for ransom?”
Yvette was shaking her head before he even finished the question. “Of course not. My husband and I manage my late father’s successful real estate company. We’ve never even had a serious complaint from a customer.”
No, but that didn’t mean someone hadn’t kidnapped the baby for ransom. That’s the reason Raleigh had told the woman to keep her phone close to her. Yvette had. In fact, she was doing everything a frantic mother would do to find her child. But something was missing here.
Or rather someone.
“Where’s your husband?” Thea asked. “You called him right after we discovered the body, so shouldn’t he have been here by now?”
Since Yvette was still looking a little defensive, Thea expected the woman to blast her for even hinting that Mr. O’Hara wasn’t doing all he could to be there to comfort his wife or look for their child. But Yvette’s reaction was a little surprising. She glanced away, dodging Thea’s gaze.
Now, this was a red flag.
“Nick had some things to tie up at work,” Yvette answered after several long moments.
Raleigh made one of those vague sounds of agreement. “Yeah, Sonya mentioned to me that your husband wasn’t completely on board with having this baby.”
Thea tried not to look too surprised, but she suspected that was a lie. She’d had a lot of conversations with Sonya, and never once had the surrogate brought up anything like that. If Sonya had, it would have been one of those red flags that Thea had been searching so hard to find.
What was equally surprising though was that Yvette didn’t even deny it.
“Nick had a troubled childhood,” Yvette said, still not looking at either Thea or Raleigh. She stared past them and into the yard. “He was hesitant about us having a baby because of all the money it would cost for a surrogate. And because of all the time I’d have to take off from the business to be a stay-at-home mom. But he finally agreed to it.”
Maybe. And maybe Nick hadn’t actually agreed the way that Yvette thought. It seemed extreme though to kill a surrogate so that he wouldn’t have to be a father, especially since the baby had already been conceived. And born. Still, Thea would look into it, and she was certain Raleigh would, as well.
“Call your husband again,” Raleigh told the woman. “I want him to come to the sheriff’s office on Main Street in Durango Ridge in thirty minutes. I’ll take Thea and you there now in the cruiser, and he can meet us.”
Yvette started shaking her head again, and alarm went through her eyes. “He had nothing to do with this, and it’ll only upset him if you start interrogating him the way you did me.”
Thea had watched that so-called interrogation, and Raleigh had handled the woman with kid gloves. He’d treated her like a distraught mother whose child had been stolen. She doubted Raleigh would show that same consideration to Nick. Because Nick apparently had a motive for this nightmare that’d just happened.
Raleigh checked the time and motioned for Yvette to make the call. The woman hesitated, but she finally went to the other end of the porch to do that. Too bad Yvette didn’t put it on speaker, because Thea would have loved to hear Nick’s response to Raleigh’s order.
While Yvette was still on the phone, Raleigh turned back to Thea. “I’ll need you to give me a statement, of course.” He hesitated, too. “And you should be in protective custody.”
He was right, but it riled her a little that he thought she couldn’t take care of herself. After all, she was a cop, and she could point out to him that the thug hadn’t murdered her when he or she had the chance. Still, she needed to take some precautions.
Once Yvette had finished her call, Thea stood, ready to go to the cruiser, but she stopped when she heard the approaching vehicle. Raleigh and Dalton must have heard it, too, because they automatically stepped in front of her and Yvette. Thea slid her hand over the gun that she’d borrowed from Raleigh. But it wasn’t the threat they were all obviously bracing themselves for.
It was Warren.
He pulled his familiar black truck to a stop behind the trio of cruisers and the other vehicles, and he got out and started for the house.
“What the hell is he doing here?” Raleigh asked, turning his glare back on Thea.
“I didn’t call him,” Thea said, but it would have been easy enough for Warren to hear about it. After all, most law enforcement agencies in the state had been alerted to the missing baby.
“Raleigh,” Warren greeted. He obviously ignored the glare his son now had aimed at him, and he walked right past Raleigh to pull Thea into his arms.
It certainly wasn’t the first time that Warren had hugged her. He’d always treated her like family and had practically raised her and her brother, Griff. But it felt awkward now in front of Raleigh—who hadn’t gotten that same family treatment from the man.
“Are you okay?” Warren asked her when he pulled back from the hug.
His attention went to the stun gun marks on her neck, and it looked as if he had to bite back some profanity. When she’d been his deputy, he had always hated whenever she’d gotten hurt or been put in danger, and he still apparently felt that way. Thea appreciated the concern, especially since she’d never gotten any from her own parents, but it made the situation with Raleigh seem even more awkward.
“I’m fine,” Thea assured him. She didn’t especially want to bring this up, but Warren would soon learn it anyway. “Whoever did this also took the newborn, and he left a message on the wall—”
“Two messages,” Raleigh corrected. “There was a second in Sonya’s bedroom. They were both written in red paint and used identical wording to what was left at Hannah’s place. ‘This is for Sheriff Warren McCall.’”
“This man is Sheriff McCall?” Yvette asked. Warren nodded, and she went to him, catching on to his arms. “Who did this? Why would someone take my baby because of you?”
Warren’s face tightened. “I don’t know.”
“But you must have some—” Yvette started, but Raleigh moved
