Lauri’s eyes turned glassy as she stared at Olivia. “It’s been a hard week,” she mumbled finally. She pushed back from the table and rose. “I’m going to go shower,” she said.
When Lauri left the room, Kade leaned across the table. The back of his hand brushed Bree’s jaw, and he gazed into her eyes with loving intent. “We’ll make it through this, Green Eyes,” he said.
She caught his hand and pressed it against her cheek. “Yes, we will, Kade. We’ll get it sorted out. I love you.”
“That’s all I needed to hear. That you’re not sorry you married me.” His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat.
“Of course I’m not!” She clung to his hand for support. Though she was befuddled by all that had happened, she didn’t doubt her love for him.
Jenna entered the room before he said any more. Bree let go of his hand and leaned back in her chair. “Anything new with Victor?” she asked.
Jenna poured milk over her cereal and shook her head. “Just more of the puzzles. He’s still not talking. Mason is calling in a psychiatrist to see if he can get through to Vic, especially now that he found the dead baby.” She carried her bowl to the table. “I thought I might take Davy cross-country skiing after school if it’s okay.” She directed a brilliant smile at Kade.
Jenna’s offer evaporated Bree’s continuing irritation with her houseguest. “That’s so sweet of you, but I need to keep him close to home. A situation has come up.” She broke off, unwilling to explain it all to Jenna.
“It would solve our problem this afternoon,” Kade said.
Bree frowned. “I can probably get Anu or Hilary to pick him up,” she said.
“Look, I know you think I’m a complete airhead, but I can take care of him just fine. I already mentioned it to him, and he’s all excited,” Jenna said. “We’ll take the path along the lake with lots of people. I don’t know what’s worrying you, but he’ll have fun.”
Bree exchanged a long look with Kade. “I think it’s probably okay, babe, but it’s your call,” he said.
Bree bit her lip. “Take Samson with you, okay?” The dog would protect Davy no matter what.
Jenna shrugged. “Whatever you say.”
“You’d better get to work,” Bree said to Kade. “I’ll get Davy.” She called her son down for school, then kissed Kade and Davy good-bye. She spent the day surfing the Web for information about dead husbands returning when the smart thing to do would be to wait and see what Ursula had to say.
At two, she loaded Olivia in the carrier and drove to Ursula’s office. She left Samson at the house so he could go skiing with Davy. The receptionist took her back right away. “What did you find out?” she asked the minute Ursula entered the room.
An attractive brunette of about fifty, Ursula inspired trust in everyone she met. “It’s not bad,” Ursula said, sitting at her desk.
Her friend’s brisk, confident manner put Bree at ease. She set Olivia’s carrier on the floor and pulled back the quilted cover. The baby was awake and sucking on her thumb. “So what’s the scoop?”
Ursula adjusted her reading glasses and opened a file on her desk. “A death certificate was filed with Rob’s insurance. All legalities were met. So your marriage to Kade is legal. As far as the law is concerned, Rob was dead and you were free to remarry.”
Bree breathed a prayer of thanks. “Kade will be so relieved too.”
“That’s not to say there aren’t issues to work on. Rob will want to see Davy. We’ll need to reach a custody agreement and ask him for child support payments.”
Bree’s gut clenched. “Kade is in the process of adopting Davy. It’s not final yet.”
Ursula pursed her lips. “Now that the biological father is back in the picture, that might be difficult. Unless you get Rob to agree.”
“He abandoned his son to die! Don’t we have a legal recourse?”
“The circumstances might carry some weight with the judge. If you want to take it that far.” Ursula sat back in her chair. “Have you thought this through, Bree? What it’s going to do to your son to have all this come out?”
Bree tugged on a curl by her ear. “I’ve been able to think of little else. Davy idolized Rob. When he realizes what his father did, how he left him . . .” She choked up. “I don’t want to tell him.”
“Maybe Rob will just disappear again. It might be the kinder thing if you can talk him into it.”
Bree bit her lip. “He wants to see Davy.”
“Talk to him about it,” Ursula advised.
“I will if I can find him.” Bree rose and grabbed Olivia’s carrier. “Thanks for working me in, Ursula. I won’t take up any more of your time.”
“If you need anything, just call.” She embraced Bree. “Hang in there, Bree. It could have been worse.”
Bree managed a smile. Right now she couldn’t see how. Their family was about to be ripped to shreds.
She pulled the cover back around Olivia and went to the Jeep. A hint of moisture hung in the air. More snow was coming. “Let’s stop and see Mason,” she told the baby once Olivia was fastened in.
She wanted to tell Kade the news, but he was probably still in his meeting. She decided to call anyway and leave it on his voice mail. She smiled as she left the message. “It’s okay. Our marriage is valid.”
She hurried with the baby through the cold air. The deputy out front buzzed her back to Mason’s office. Bree lifted a fussy Olivia from the carrier and pulled a bottle from her bag while she waited for Mason.
“Bree, you okay?” Mason asked, closing the door behind him.
“As okay as I can be with this. How’s Hil?”
“She hasn’t slept much. I didn’t know there were that many tears in the world. She jumps between mad and glad. She’s desperate to see him, but he’s nowhere I’ve looked.” He went around his desk and sat down in his worn leather chair. “Did you find out anything from Ursula?”
Bree nodded. “She says my marriage to Kade is valid. That’s one good thing. But the adoption is up in the air unless Rob doesn’t contest it.”
Mason rolled his eyes. “Who knows what he’s going to do.” He jiggled his mouse and leaned toward his computer. “I found out some interesting stuff. I lifted some prints from the doorknob on your back door after you said he’d been out there. They match a Quinn Matilla. He’s been implicated in some small-time smuggling, some bigger racketeering, and a suspected bank robbery. But the interesting thing is that he’s suspected of dabbling in black-market babies too.” He nodded toward Olivia. “I suspect we’re going to find she’s part of that too.”
Her arms tightened around the baby. “You think Ellie Bristol sold her?”
Mason shrugged. “It looks that way to me.”
“And Pia’s death?” Bree whispered. “Surely Rob didn’t kill her.”
“I hope not. It would hurt Hil and Anu too much.” Mason’s face was grim. He glanced up, his eyes shadowed. “The coroner suspects the baby we found buried in the snow died of tetanus. Could have had it from birth if the umbilical cord was cut with a knife. It wasn’t murder.”
Bree’s vision swam and she closed her eyes, then reopened them. “I don’t want to think about that,” she whispered. “How could he steal babies?”
“This stuff might be the least of what he’s done.”
Nausea churned its way up her esophagus. “How do we find out more?”
“I need to talk to Rob. Did he give you any hint at all where he’s staying?”
“No.”
“If he contacts you again, try to get word to me. Text me or something while you keep him there.”
“Maybe he’ll agree to come in and talk to you. You’re family.”
Mason snorted. “Not likely, Bree. He’s not the Rob we knew.”
The knowledge of how much her former husband had changed kept slapping her when she least expected it. “What about missing persons around the time the plane went down?”
“Several actually. I’m still checking them out. The one I have my eye on is a young state cop by the name of Henry Boxer. Lived in Houghton. He told his wife he was going fishing and never came home.” He rose. “I want us to talk to Victor.” He glanced down at Olivia, whose eyes had drifted shut. “Maybe seeing the baby will break through to him. Stay here and I’ll go get him. It’s a little unorthodox to bring him in here, but I don’t think he’s dangerous. I’m going to release him today in light of the new evidence.”
“What about him buying baby stuff? And Ellie’s mother said he’d been in contact with her.”
“I thought you believed in his innocence.”
“I do. But I thought maybe you could explain what he was doing.”
Mason shook his head. “Not that. But whatever Victor’s done, it’s not murder. I suspect he’s been used by Florence.”
Bree nodded. “I’d like to talk to Palmer Chambers.” She’d been thinking about it ever since she realized Rob was alive. Palmer had been convicted of Rob’s murder by tampering with the plane. “He should know who was in the plane when it left.”
“I’ll put in a request for an interview. He has the right to turn you down though.”
“I don’t think he will.” She and Rob had been best friends with the Chambers family once upon a time.
Mason left the room. Olivia spit the nipple out, and a dribble of formula trickled from her rosebud mouth. A wave of love swept over Bree. She didn’t understand how the baby’s mother had been willing to sell her. There were so many tentacles in this situation, and she had no idea how they all connected.
She burped Olivia and laid her back down in her lap, inhaling the baby’s milky aroma. The baby’s delicate blue-tinted eyelids fluttered, then opened. Her lips lifted, and Bree realized she was smiling.
“Oh, such a sweet girl,” she cooed. The baby’s head turned at the sound of her voice, and Bree was rewarded with a smile focused in her direction.
Tears flooded her eyes. Was she going to have to give up this precious little one? She brushed her lips across Olivia’s soft head and cuddled her close. She and Kade hadn’t talked about it since discovering Rob was alive.
The door opened and Victor shuffled into the room with his wrists and ankles in cuffs. “Does he have to wear those?” she asked Mason.
He shrugged. “I’ll take them off. I started the release proceedings.” He unfastened the cuffs. “I’m going to release you, Victor. You can go home in a little while.”
Bree stood and approached Victor, who stood with his gaze focused on the ground. “Victor, it’s Bree. Look, I brought the baby to see you.” Victor still didn’t raise his gaze. She exchanged a helpless glance with Mason. “Did you see a man bury a baby?” she asked softly. “Did Florence see it too?’
Victor rubbed his wrists. He glanced at the baby, then ducked his head. “Miss Florence was sad when the baby died,” he croaked. “The man took it away.”
Bree exchanged a glance with Mason. “What baby, Victor?”
Victor rocked back and forth and began to sing in a rusty voice, “Hush little baby, don’t say a word, Papa’s going to buy you a mockingbird, and if that mockingbird don’t sing, Papa’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.”
No matter how much she tried to get him to say more, he continued to sing the same stanza over and over. Bree sighed and let Mason lead him away before she hurried to the Jeep.
Bree got back in the Jeep and drove toward home. As she passed Naomi’s house, Bree noticed Sheila MacDonald’s blue Escort in the drive. The older woman was Naomi’s mother’s best friend and had her fingers in every pie. If there had been any rumors going around about Rob, Sheila would know, though she wouldn’t have told anyone since it affected Naomi’s best friend. Bree parked behind the small car and retrieved Olivia. Charley barked from inside the house as they approached. She rapped on the door, then walked in. Charley’s tail drooped when he saw no sign of Samson.
“Naomi, got a cup of coffee for me?” she called. She unsnapped the baby’s carrier cover and lifted Olivia out. The baby looked around with wide eyes as Bree walked to the kitchen.
“Hey, girlfriend, glad you could stop by,” Naomi said. She held out her hands. “Come see Auntie Naomi, sweetheart,” she cooed. She lifted the baby from Bree’s arms and tucked her into the crook of her arm.
Bree poured herself a cup of coffee and joined Sheila at the table. “Sheila, I stopped when I saw you were here.”
The older woman raised her brows. “You were looking for me?”
There was no way she was going to find out what she wanted without revealing the truth. What possible reason could she have for asking questions about Rob four years after his disappearance?
Bree glanced at Naomi. “Something has happened. I need you both to promise not to repeat it.”
“You don’t even have to ask,” Naomi said, her tone a reproof.
“If you ask me not to speak of it, rest assured I won’t, Bree,” Sheila said.
Bree’s pulse hammered in her throat. It was still so hard to talk about, to even believe. “Rob isn’t dead,” she said.
Naomi gasped, and the baby gave a start, her face puckering. Naomi jiggled her. “I don’t think I heard you right.”
“Rob didn’t die in the plane crash. He walked away and left town. I thought I saw someone who reminded me of him the weekend of the winter festival and a few other times. Then I actually talked to him. It’s Rob, no doubt about it.” She turned to Sheila. “Something made him walk away that night. He says he thought Davy was dead, but if that were the truth, I believe he would have come home to comfort me. It’s more than that, and I have to know the reason. Did you hear any rumors about Rob before he disappeared or right afterward?”
Sheila reached over and took Bree’s hand. “You sure you want to hear this? I never wanted you to know. I never even told Martha.”
Bree gripped Sheila’s warm fingers. “I have to know.”
Sheila held her gaze. “His secretary was my cousin. She turned him in when she discovered he was embezzling money from the city. He was about to be brought in by the state police and questioned.”
Bree shook her head, unable to take it in. “If that’s true, why wouldn’t Mason have known about it—and told me?”
“Maybe the state cops didn’t tell Mason,” Naomi suggested, jiggling Olivia.
“I don’t think they did,” Sheila said. “I’ve never heard a mention of it from anyone but my cousin. It all ended with the plane crash.”
“Embezzlement,” Bree said. The word sounded foreign on her lips. It didn’t fit the Rob she knew. “We were having some financial problems, but I can’t see him resorting to that to fix them.”