“But you didn’t go to college,” Stan said, his tone now bewildered.
Randi’s mouth bent sadly. “Oh, yes, I did. Got my CPA when I was twenty-two, before I ever met you. How do you think I did the books for you all those years, Stan? I walked away from an entire life because of Sue Conway. I had parents, a career. Friends.”
“What happened, Mrs. Vaughn?” Dana asked and Randi took another deep breath.
“I was living in the city, when one day I get this knock at my apartment door.”
“It was Sue,” Dana said softly. “And she said she needed your help.”
Randi jerked a painful nod. “She was eight months’ pregnant with Alec. Told me how some man had forced her. She cried so pitifully. She couldn’t go home to her aunt and uncle. I had to help her since it was all my fault anyway.”
“Because you were the one to turn her into the police all those years before.”
Randi’s eyes slid closed. “Yeah. I was the cause of everything wrong in her life, but I could make it up to her. She said she just needed a place to stay until the baby was born.”
“But she didn’t stay, did she?” Dana asked. “You bought her things for the baby and made sure she saw a doctor, but after a week or two she left?”
Randi’s eyes opened and in them Ethan saw stunned respect. “Yeah, she did. I’d bought her vitamins and baby clothes. But I came home from work one day and she’d cleaned out my jewelry box and stolen three pairs of my shoes.”
“And her feet weren’t even your size,” Dana mused.
Randi blinked. “How did you know?”
Dana’s smile was gentle. “I am a professional, Mrs. Vaughn.”
Randi blanched. “I’m sorry I said that.”
“It’s all right. I recognized the potential for this kind of behavior when I saw the scars on Sue’s arms. It’s a common behavior in borderline personality types. They make some of the best manipulators you’ll ever meet. I’d planned to dig deeper into this aspect of her background, but everything happened so fast and . . .” She faltered and her shoulders, held so steady, now sagged. “I was distracted at the time.”
“Sue’s been pretty active this week at Dana’s shelter, Randi,” Ethan said quietly and took Dana’s hand. “The police believe Sue was responsible for hitting Dana’s pregnant best friend with a car on Monday night.”
Randi’s gaze flicked from Ethan back to Dana. “Is she all right?”
“She was lucky. Both she and the baby will be fine.”
Randi paled. “I’m sorry.”
Dana shook her head. “You didn’t do this. Sue did.”
Randi sighed, so wearily. “I’m sorry, Miss Dupinsky. I was cruel and wrong about you.”
Dana’s grip on Ethan’s hand was punishing, but her voice was even. “It’s all right. So, back to your story. I’m guessing a few weeks went by and you worried about the baby and then Sue shows back up, sorry for stealing and crying about being desperate and scared.”
Randi nodded. “That’s exactly what happened. She begged me to help her with the baby—she was in labor. I took her to a clinic and stayed with her while Alec was born.” She swallowed hard. “I was the first one to hold him. He was so precious.”
“And you took care of him because Sue would come and go.”
Again the nod. “I found someone to watch him during the day when I was at work and at night . . . At night it was like he was my baby. I loved him and he loved me. And I lived in fear that Sue would come and take him.”
“Which she did.”
“A time or two, for a few days at a time. She always brought him back when she got tired of playing house. Alec was always dirty or sick or hungry. Once she broke into my apartment and just left him there. I’m lucky I got home a little early that day. He was starving and had diaper rash and . . .” Her voice cracked and tears spilled from her eyes, down her cheeks. “Then Sue came back, a few weeks later. I told her I was going to call a social worker, that she was an unfit mother. As soon as I said social worker she went ballistic. She slapped me so hard I fell on the floor, then she threatened to take Alec away and never come back. I didn’t know what to do.”
Dana’s grip on Ethan’s hand had lessened and now she let go, reaching over to pat Randi’s knee. “What was the straw that broke the camel’s back, Mrs. Vaughn? Drugs?” Randi nodded and Dana leaned a little closer. “Using or selling?”
“Both.” Randi’s lips quivered and she bit them sternly. “She’d bring these guys to my place. Dirty, scary men. I was afraid to sleep in my own bed. Then one night I overheard them talking. They were all high as kites. They were running drugs from outside the country, which would have been bad enough, but they were talking about using Alec.”
Dana’s eyes widened. “They planned to use an infant as a mule?”
Ethan’s stomach turned over at the thought. Poor Alec. Poor Randi.
“They’d already done it at least one other time, one of the times Sue had disappeared with Alec for a few days. They filled baby formula cans with coke, strolled through Customs with Alec in their arms. Nobody thought twice about white powder in baby formula cans.” Her jaw tightened. “Alec could have been killed.”
“I’ve read about drug rings like that,” Clay said. “They’re big in New York.”
“Well, they were alive and well in Chicago, too,” Randi said bitterly. “I didn’t know what to do. I thought about going to the police, but I didn’t want Alec to end up in a foster home or back with Sue. I wasn’t sure if Mrs. Lewis would take him. She really hated Sue. And I knew if the police came around that Sue would take Alec. I’d never know if he was safe.”
“So you took him,” Dana murmured. “And left your life behind.”
Randi drew a deep, deep breath. “I took him and left my life behind.”
Dana got up out of the chair and took the space on the sofa next to Randi. She took Randi’s hand in hers. “I would have done the same thing.”
Randi lifted her chin. “And I reported them all to the police.”
Dana’s mouth curved into a wry smile. “Anonymously, of course.”
Randi’s smile was equally wry, but fleeting. “Of course. I ran east until I hit ocean—Baltimore. Then I got a job waiting tables and followed the trial with Chicago newspapers I got at the library. Sue got fifteen years for drug running and child endangerment. They knew she had a kid, but she couldn’t produce him. They assumed the child had been harmed, but couldn’t prove the child was dead, of course, so they went for endangerment instead. I didn’t think about her taking Alec now because she was still supposed to be in jail.”
“She obviously got out early,” Ethan said, still unable to believe it all.
“Obviously,” Randi agreed dully. She looked from Ethan to Clay, plaintive. “Now that we know who has Alec, what are our chances of finding him?”
Ethan exchanged a glance with Clay. His friend was thinking the same thing. Their chances sucked. “I don’t know, Randi,” Ethan said. “We do have to tell the police.”
Abruptly Randi’s eyes filled. “Oh, God, Ethan, she has my son.”
Grimly Ethan pulled out his cell phone and handed it to Dana. “Would you call Detective Mitchell, Dana? You know her number.”
Dana took the phone and stepped toward the window to make the call. Ethan squeezed Randi’s knee. “Where do you think Sue will take them?” he asked.
Randi shook her head, her tears still rolling. “I don’t know.”
They were all quiet then, the only sound the murmur of Dana’s voice.
A brisk knock at the door made them all jump. Clay went to get the door and there was more murmuring. Then Clay reappeared, a look of resignation on his face and a woman at his side. Her dark hair barely brushed her shoulders and she appeared to be in her early thirties. Her face was probably pretty when she wasn’t glaring, as she was at the moment. She wore a well-tailored jacket that almost hid the bulge of her shoulder holster.
Clay sighed. “Ethan, this is Sheriff Louisa Moore. Sheriff Moore, Ethan Buchanan.”
Ethan automatically stood up. “Sheriff Moore.”
She nodded. “Mr. Buchanan.” She took curious note of Dana on the phone by the window, then narrowed her eyes at Stan. “Mr. Vaughn.” She turned to Clay. “I got the package. Leaving it with me may be the only thing that keeps your asses out of jail.”
“I was kind of counting on that.” Clay’s voice was dry, very dry.
Ethan lifted his brows. “What’s going on?”
Sheriff Moore sucked in one cheek. “Not pleasant to be kept out of the loop, is it, Mr. Buchanan?” Then back to Clay. “Now you’ll tell me what the hell is going on here?”
Clay nodded. “If you’ll tell me who it belonged to.”
Moore considered it, then nodded. “Deal.”
“Ethan, I left the severed finger with Sheriff Moore’s deputy before I got on the plane. The finger was still fresh enough to get a print.”
It was a detail Ethan had nearly forgotten. “It was the right thing to do.”
“So glad you approve, Mr. Buchanan,” Moore said archly.
Ethan just sighed. “And the victim, Sheriff Moore?”
“Fred Oscola. He was a prison guard at Hillsboro Women’s Penitentiary.”
Ethan looked down at Randi. “Is that where Sue was sentenced?”
Randi nodded. “It was.”
“Well, that gives us some connection.” Ethan saw Dana snap his phone closed.
She slipped the phone into his hand. “Mia said to give them thirty minutes to get here.”
Ethan gestured to an empty chair. “Sheriff, have a seat. If you can be patient for just a little longer, we have detectives from CPD on their way. It would be better to share the whole story at once.”
“If I can get some dinner up here, I can be patient another thirty minutes.”
“I’ll order some,” Clay said.
“I’ll pay for my own,” Sheriff Moore inserted and Clay nodded, still grim.
“I understand,” he said and Ethan knew they still weren’t out of the woods yet in terms of their personal culpability, but he’d worry about that later. Now, all he could see was Dana growing paler by the moment. It was as if she’d used all her reserves supporting Randi through her story.
Dana’s eyes slid shut. “None for me. I don’t think I could choke down a bite.”
Ethan slipped his arm around her shoulders, gently pulled her away from the others, toward the window where Chicago lay at their feet. He listened with half an ear as Clay’s deep voice called in the room service order. Pressing his lips against her temple, he felt her sag in his arms. “You were wonderful with Randi.” Another kiss to her temple brought a shudder that wracked her whole body. “I know how worried you are about Evie, but you did what needed to be done. Now you have to eat,” he murmured. “Evie needs you sharp.”
At her friend’s name Dana’s back went stiff. “This woman is desperate and . . . evil, Ethan. We may never see either Evie or Alec again.” The last was barely audible, yet loud enough to send a shudder of dread down his own spine.
“We’ll find them,” he whispered fiercely. “We have to. You have to believe that.”
He simply held her for a long moment, felt her body slowly gain back its strength. Felt his own reserves fill as hers did. “Thank you, Ethan. I needed that.” She stepped back and gently patted his cheek, her eyes now calm again. “You go eat. I have some phone calls to make before Mia and Abe get here. If you’ll give me the key to your room, I’ll go make them down there and you can stay with your friends.”
Ethan caught her gently and brought her back into the circle of his arms. “Not so fast, Dana. If you leave this room, I’m going with you. I don’t want to let you out of my sight.”
Her eyes widened. “She wouldn’t come so close to us, Ethan,” Dana protested. Then her eyes narrowed. “And if she does, I’ll kill her.”
Ethan didn’t doubt she meant every word. “There is the danger factor,” he said evenly, “but more than that I need you here with me.” He rested his forehead against hers. “I need you to help me through this and you can’t do it if you’re passed out from hunger. Please. I need you.”
“You need me?”
Ethan nodded soberly. “Desperately. You’re Glenn Close to my Robert Redford.”
Her lips curved sadly. “The Natural? All right, I’ll eat. But I refuse to wear all white.”
As Glenn Close did just before Redford hit the ball out of the park. “Why not?”
“My tattoo shows through.”
“Born2Kill.” He brushed a light kiss against her lips. “Dana, what were you thinking?”
She rested her head against his shoulder and sighed. “Don’t tell Mia, but a few times I did inhale. Born2Kill was one of those times.”
Ethan smiled against her hair, amazed that he could do so. Amazed that just holding her made his outlook brighter. Wrong place, wrong time, she’d said Sunday morning as she’d lain on the bus station floor. He’d thought her mistaken then. He knew it now. “Dana, I’m so glad you tried to stop that mugger on Sunday.”
She pressed a weary kiss to his jaw. “So am I.”
Chicago, Wednesday, August 4, 7:30 P.M.
David answered his cell phone on the first ring. “Where the hell are you?” he growled. “I’ve been worried out of my mind.”
“I’m at Ethan’s hotel. I’ve just met with Alec’s parents. I spent the afternoon at the police department, working with sketch artists and Mia.” Her voice broke. “She’s gone, David. Evie’s gone. And Jane . . . Jane’s killed . . .” She pressed her fingers to her lips, trying to remember them all. “Six people, David. Maybe more.”
“My God.” There was a moment of stunned silence. “Why?”
Dana tried to think of a way to succinctly tell the tale. There was none, so she blurted it out the best she could.
“We have to find Evie, Dana,” David whispered harshly. “This will break her.”
Dana’s eyes filled. “I know that. Dammit, David, don’t you think I know that? You were right. I took risks and now Evie is in danger.”
“Dana, I’m not blaming you.”
“No, I’m doing that myself.”
“Well, stop it. Look, I wanted you to know, I cleaned out your desk drawer before I called Detective Mitchell. All your tools and driver’s license and passport paper stock are in a box under the seat of my truck.”
Gratitude hit her like a brick. “David, you didn’t have to do that.”
“Yeah, Dana, I did. The only records they’ll find on your hard drive are digital photos.”
“I hadn’t even thought about that,” she whispered.