scrubbed his hand over his face. “No. But I doubt she remembers mine, either. And if you think I’m proud of that, I’m not.”
He stood, as if ready to take the baby from her, but then they heard footsteps. Clearly, they were both still on edge because Sawyer stepped protectively in front of her and the baby. But it wasn’t a threat.
Well, not a real one anyway.
It was Mason.
“Just got off the phone with Gage,” he said.
“Did they find Bennie?” Cassidy immediately asked.
Mason shook his head. “They’re still looking. The doc’s still working on the papers for Social Services, and then he’ll examine you.” Mason turned his attention to Sawyer. “But Gage found out the dead woman, April Warrick, was a con artist with a mile-long rap sheet.”
“Any kidnapping charges on it?” Sawyer wanted to know.
“None.” Mason shifted his attention to the baby. “But April gave birth about ten days ago. She had a girl. We don’t know much more than that, but she was a criminal informant for the San Antonio P.D. Nate’s looking into it now and should be calling you any minute.”
“Nate and Gage are Mason’s brothers,” Sawyer explained to her, but she could tell his mind was on other things.
Mason reached for the baby. “Why don’t I go ahead and take her to the hospital nursery. It could take a while for Social Services to get here.”
“No,” Cassidy jumped to say. It was crazy, but she wanted to keep the baby with her as long as possible.
Mason looked at Sawyer, obviously waiting for his say in the matter, and Sawyer finally nodded. “After the doc’s checked out Cassidy, I’ll bring the baby to the nursery and then head to the sheriff’s office so we can write our reports.”
Mason didn’t question that, though it probably did seem strange to him. He made a sound that could have meant anything and strolled away.
“You can’t keep her, you know,” Sawyer said, standing. He went to her, looking down at the baby, and he touched the little girl’s cheek with this finger.
The corner of the baby’s mouth lifted as if she was smiling.
And that caused Cassidy to smile, too. Well, for a few seconds anyway, and then reality hit her.
“If April was her mother, then her next of kin is her father.” She hated to say it aloud, but she figured Sawyer was thinking it, too. “What if her father’s the other kidnapper?”
“It’s possible,” Sawyer readily admitted. “That’s why we need to catch him and then get the results from the DNA and blood tests. We might be able to exclude him on the blood test alone.”
Yes, but it wouldn’t solve her other problem of finding Bennie. If the kidnapper had murdered his own lover, the mother of his child, and used that child in some kind of kidnapping scheme, then she wanted her brother far away from this monster.
Sawyer’s phone buzzed, and because he was so close to her, she saw the name on the phone screen.
Nate Ryland.
His cousin and the cop from SAPD that Mason had mentioned. Sawyer stepped away from her, but he did put the call on speaker.
“Mason said you wanted some info on April Warrick,” Nate started. “Well, that’s her body you found in Silver Creek. Grayson sent me a photo, and I was able to confirm it with Doug Franklin, the detective who used her as a criminal informant.”
Cassidy was glad the baby was too young to understand the news they’d just gotten.
“Did April really have a baby?” Sawyer asked.
“Yeah. A girl, but I can’t confirm if it’s the baby that the kidnappers had. Still working on that. But we do have a lead. Doug said last year April was involved with a real hothead. A guy named Willy Malloy.”
Sawyer took a notepad from his pocket and wrote down the name. “I want to talk to him.”
“Figured you would. I’ll track him down and get him out to Silver Creek so Grayson and you can question him.” Nate paused. “There’s someone else you’ll want to talk to. A couple of months ago, April was ordered to see a court-appointed therapist, Dr. Diane Blackwell. She’s already called here looking for April, and I told her to get in touch with you.”
A therapist could definitely give them some info. If she’d talk, that is. Cassidy hoped she didn’t play the client-confidentiality card, especially now that her client was dead.
“There’s more,” Nate said a moment later. “Doug said April hadn’t mentioned Willy in months, that she’d been seeing some rich guy, and that April was worried that the guy might be up to no good.”
“You got a name?” Sawyer asked.
“Yeah. It’s a name you’re not going to like. Doug said it was Bennie O’Neal.”
Cassidy wasn’t able to bite back her gasp. No. This couldn’t be happening. But Sawyer only tossed her an I-told-you-so look.
“The detective said if you want to find April’s killer,” Nate added, “then start with Bennie—that judging from the way April talked bad about him, he’s the one who probably murdered her.”
Chapter Five
Sawyer finished up the call with his brother, Josh, and gave him both an apology for having to leave the reception early and well-wishes since Josh was about to leave on his honeymoon with his new bride. Even though Josh had asked about the kidnapping, Sawyer kept the details brief. No need to trouble his brother with a case that didn’t make sense anyway.
When he ended the call, he glanced up to check on Cassidy. Sawyer had no idea what to do about her. Obviously waiting, she was pacing the hall of the Silver Creek sheriff’s office. The trouble was, it might be a long time before they heard anything from the kidnappers.
If there were indeed kidnappers.
It was possible this was all some kind of elaborate scheme concocted by Bennie to get his sister’s money under the guise of a ransom. That part of the twisted plan actually made sense, but not much else did.
Like why had April been murdered?
And why had the kidnappers demanded a photo of Sawyer holding a stranger’s baby? A baby who may or may not belong to April.
One thing was certain—the little girl wasn’t Laurie’s and his. Sawyer wanted to be relieved about that, but there was a flip side to this coin. At least if he was her father, he could have decided her fate. He could have made sure she was in a good place where she’d be safe—with him. As it was now, the baby would become a ward of the state, and that was, sadly, a best-case scenario.
There was a birth father out there. And judging from April’s rap sheet, that father might be scum.
Either her ex-boyfriend Willy Malloy.
