sister, Tricia. Older. She has three children. Eva called her for pregnancy advice. Said she couldn’t talk to anyone else.”
“Is she local?”
“I have no idea.”
She contemplated him in silence.
“I know I should know more about the woman who is carrying my baby,” he said apologetically and with disgust, too. “It isn’t as if I didn’t ask her questions and want to know more about her. She just wasn’t forthcoming.”
“She kept secrets.”
The way Cassie stated it instead of asking it brought his worries to the forefront, too. He’d already realized he couldn’t trust Eva, but he hadn’t known whether to be afraid for her or angry at her.
“In some ways she was open,” he said. She was a distraction when he’d needed it. Or so he’d thought. Turned out he was wrong, but that didn’t relieve him of his responsibilities. “It was like she wanted to keep herself mysterious, like it would keep me more interested.”
“Would it?”
He considered the possibility. “Maybe. To a point. Intrigue boosts adrenaline and interest, but it had gotten tired.”
“Yeah. The rush is great—for a while. How about education?” Cassie asked.
“Currently attending business school. The firm was paying for a paralegal course. She was allowed to attend classes during work hours.” He passed her a piece of paper. “Make and model of the car she drives, and the license plate.”
“Outstanding. Who is her obstetrician?”
Heath handed her a second Rolodex card, which also listed the hospital where the baby was to be born.
“Did you take Lamaze classes? Do you plan on being there for the birth?”
“No and no.”
“Did you go to her doctor’s appointments with her?”
“No.” He almost had, once, when she was to have an ultrasound. He changed his mind at his front door.
Cassie capped the pen and bounced it against her palm as she eyed him. “You said you don’t get out much.”
“Right.”
“Do you get out at all, Mr. Raven?”
“Heath. And, no.”
“For how long?”
“Three years.”
He let her do the math. He hadn’t stepped foot out of his house since his son died.
“You don’t open the blinds, either.”
“No.”
She didn’t ask why, but if she had, he wouldn’t have answered. It wasn’t any of her business.
“Okay,” she said, slipping the pen into her notebook. “I’ve got enough to get started, except I need a photo, if you’ve got one.”
He handed her a file folder.
“Young,” Cassie said when she saw the photo inside.
“Twenty-three. I’m thirty-nine. I figure you’re wondering. Yeah, she was young.” And they didn’t have much in common. “There’s a picture of the baby.”
She turned the page. He’d made a copy of the ultrasound taken months ago.
She turned the picture sideways, then upside down. “I’ve never seen one of these before.”
He outlined the body parts. “Head. Nose. Chin. Arms. Fingers. Legs.”
Cassie smiled. “If you say so. Do you know the sex?”
He tapped the page. “Legs are crossed.”
“Or there’s nothing to see. Could be a little girl.”
“Could be.”
She closed her notebook. He handed her an envelope with a check for the retainer she’d told him on the phone that ARC would require. They walked downstairs in silence.
At the front door she stopped. “Are you in love with her?”
Like he believed in love anymore? “No.”
“Yet you would’ve married her.”
He’d already said as much. He felt no need to explain himself.
“There’s something I need you to do,” Cassie said, her tone businesslike but her eyes gentle. “The investigation may take a turn or reach a point where you will have to leave the house, maybe to go with me somewhere or even to go alone if Eva calls and needs you. You need to get your mind in a place where you can do that.”
“I already have.” He would do anything for his child. Anything. Including fighting Eva for custody, something he wouldn’t have done before. She obviously wasn’t fit to be a mother. “What can I do in the meantime?”
“Let me get things rolling first. Sometimes these kinds of things solve themselves fairly fast. If you think of anything else that might be important, give me a call.”
She held out her hand. He took it automatically, one businessperson to another, concluding a deal. He started to let go, but she tightened her hold.
He got caught in the unwavering intensity of her eyes.
“I will find your child,” she said with conviction.
His throat closed. He barely stopped himself from yanking her into his arms in gratitude.
He believed her.
Two
It didn’t take Cassie long at her computer that afternoon to come up with Eva’s date of birth, social security number, current address and previous address. The rest would take more digging. She expected that the interview with the roommate, Darcy, would yield the most concrete information—unless Eva had been as secretive with Darcy as she’d been with Heath.
Cassie hit the print key then pushed away from her desk and stretched, loosening her shoulder muscles. While her documents and notes printed, she would call Eva’s obstetrician. She picked up the phone, started to punch in the numbers, then stopped the call before it went through and dialed Heath instead.
“It’s Cassie Miranda,” she said when he answered.
“You have news?”
She heard expectation in his voice and was sorry not to be able to give him good news. She didn’t know much about Eva yet, but Cassie knew this much—people who used children were the lowest form of humanity. “I’m sorry, no. I’m about to call her OB’s office
