Crying.
Oh, Jesus. He lunged blindly forward, images slamming into him. He could hear the fire coming. Crackling. Roaring. The baby’s screams growing louder and louder and louder in his head. His baby. Going to die! Got to save him!
Jesse scrambled wildly across the boulders toward the cave, toward the sound, toward his son. Perspiration drenched his shirt, trickled down his brow. Small stones clattered loudly down the slope.
“Jesse!” June hissed. “Stop! What…in hell are you doing!”
She began to clamber after him, panic lacing through her. It was as though some switch had triggered in him, and he’d gone stark, raving mad. She reached him as he struggled to ascend a large slab of rock to the cave above, and she grabbed his ankle.
“Jesse!’ Her heart was racing.
He spun around, eyes wild. He was wire-tense, muscles amped, sweat soaking his T-shirt, gleaming on his face. He looked totally unfocused, dazed.
“What’s going on, Jesse?
Talk
to me.”
His hand went to his brow. His eyes seemed to come back into focus. Then shock rippled through his features as he realized what he’d just done.
“Come down here,” she said softly. “Come under this overhang before someone tries to fire on us or throw rocks from above.”
He allowed himself to slide down and he slumped back against the rock under the slab he’d been trying to mount. He was breathing hard.
“What happened, Jesse?” she whispered, gathering Eager to her side, thinking they might have put themselves in a real bad spot. If they tried to move now, they’d be sitting ducks. At the same time, June could still hear the baby crying above them somewhere. Tension coiled through her stomach.
Rafe’s son?
And someone had to be with the infant—it could not have survived up here by itself. A mix of urgency, thrill, fear, cocktailed through her.
“I thought I was…in another time, another place,” Jesse was saying. He raked his hand through his hair, which was damp with perspiration.
June offered him water, and he drank deeply. Head injuries were strange things, she thought as she watched him. Perhaps she should take him to the hospital in Little Gulch.
“I thought it was another baby,” he said finally, his voice hoarse.
“Whose baby, Jesse?”
His features twisted with some inner anguish. “I…” His gaze met her eyes square, held for a moment.
“I don’t know.”
She held his gaze, wondering if it was a lie. And something slipped inside her chest.
“I thought there was fire.”
“What happened in the fire?”
He shook his head, pain in his eyes. “I don’t know.”
“Jesse—” But she stilled at the sound of a male voice coming from above them.
“Hello! Who’s there?”
They both froze.
“Can anyone hear me?”
“Go that way, Jesse,” she whispered, pointing to the far side of the overhang. “I’ll create a distraction by stepping out from under the overhang on the opposite side. You keep me covered from the rocks on the far side.”
He inhaled, collecting himself, and nodded.
“Eager, you park here. Park, boy.” Her dog sat, his body tense as he watched her intently with his trusting brown eyes.
June tossed a rock out from under the overhang. It clattered loudly, starting a diversion. Jesse began to move.
She called out loudly, “I’m coming out. I’m unarmed.”
June stepped out from under the rock overhang. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jesse with his gun ready. He nodded.
June edged out into full view, hands to her side, palms open.
A man stood on a rock slab above her, tousled dark hair blowing in the hot breeze. He was slender, young. Pale face. No weapon in his hands.
His T-shirt was stained with dirt.
“My name is June Farrow,” she called up to him. In her peripheral vision, June saw Jesse creeping higher up the side of the ridge. He placed shotgun stock to shoulder, drawing a bead on the young man.
“I thought I heard a baby crying,” she called.
“Where’s the guy you were with? I saw two of you coming up.”
“He’s still under the ledge below me,” June lied. “He twisted his ankle when he tried to climb too fast. He’s resting it.”
“I know you,” the young man said. “You’re from Cold Plains. You’re the K9 search-and-rescue handler. I recognize your red hair and the dog. Where’s the dog now?”
“With my friend.”
She racked her brain. He was vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place him.
“What’s your name?”
“Tyler.”
“Tyler who?”
He hesitated, and June saw him glancing over his shoulder. A small hatchet of panic struck her chest.
“Did you take Dr. Black’s baby, Tyler? Is that who we can hear crying?”
“No,” he said. “I took my baby.”
Go easy, June—he could be delusional, thinking Rafe’s child is his.
“Do you know where Dr. Black’s baby is, Tyler?”
“It
wasn’t
his baby!” She saw he was shaking. And she thought she could see the glimmer of tears running down his face. “It never
was
his baby! Samuel Grayson’s men made me leave my own son at the police station so Chief Fargo could pretend it was Dr. Black’s boy.”
Jesus.
“Okay, Tyler, listen to me. I’m coming up.”
“No! You’re
not
going to take my baby.”
“I’m not going to take your son, Tyler.” June climbed up as she called out to the young man. “I want to help you both. I have a first-aid kit in my pack. I have water, food. Are you hungry, Tyler?”
He nodded. As she got closer, June deduced Tyler was maybe in his early twenties—a very young father, if he was telling the truth.
Where was the mother?
June reached the slab of rock that jutted out in front of the cave and climbed up. Tyler shot a nervous glance into the dark space behind him.
“Is the baby in there, Tyler? Do you mind if I call my friend and dog up? They can help.”
Uncertainty crossed his face. His eyes were huge with fear, his skin bloodless. His shirt hung loose over a gaunt frame. He’d been trying to live in the wilderness for some time, thought June. She hoped the baby was okay.
June signaled to Jesse and whistled for Eager, then she ducked quickly into the darkness of the cave. It was hot inside, the air still.
The baby was lying on a wad of clothing. Silent now.
Too silent. Her heart dropped
“He’s fine,” Tyler said. “We just ran out of formula this morning. I go into town after dark and steal it from the day care—there’s a window that doesn’t lock.”
The infant indeed had a good pulse. It wasn’t emaciated. And it was sleeping now, having cried itself out. June shot Tyler a glance.
“Do you leave the baby here when you go thieving?” She shrugged out of her pack as she spoke.
He hesitated. “I—I don’t know what else to do.”
June cursed under her breath. “You’re lucky as the blazes. There are wild animals in these mountains. You—” June stopped. Tears were rolling down the young man’s face and he was shaking hard.
She examined the infant in silence. There were no bruises, cuts. Its little limbs seemed fine. Emotion, relief burned into her own eyes as her adrenaline began to ebb.
She gathered the baby boy into her arms and sat with him out in the sun on the plateau, just holding him for a while, Tyler watching.
Jesse had come up onto the ledge with Eager. He stared at the baby boy, his features tightening. He shot a fierce look at Tyler.
“I was scared,” Tyler said softly.
“What’s the baby’s name, Tyler?” June said.
“Aiden.”
She felt blood drain from her head. Speech eluded her for several moments. When she spoke, her voice came out hoarse. “It’s a good name.”
Jesse was watching her intently now. She knew he understood the significance—it was the name of her own dead son.
“Where’s Aiden’s mother?” June asked, her voice thick.
“She’s dead.” Tyler suddenly sank down onto the rock and clutched his arms around his knees, rocking slightly.
Compassion mushroomed in June’s chest, along with a cool whisper of suspicion.
“Tyler,” she said, “I’m going to ask you a question, and you need to trust me with the answer. You need to be honest. Are you a Devotee?”
Fear, almost sheer terror, whitened his face.
“I can help you if you are, Tyler. You won’t ever have to go back to Cold Plains.”
“No police?”
“Not the Cold Plains police.”
“I’m not a Devotee, but my wife was.”
“Aiden’s mother?”
He nodded.
“Tell us about her. Tell us what happened with Chief Fargo, and why you left Aiden on his desk.”
He began to rock again.
“Aiden’s mother’s name was Sally. We got married against Samuel’s will. We did it in Cheyenne. But we came back—we should never have come back.”
“Why did you?”
Tyler sniffed, rubbed his nose. “Work. I’m a mechanic, and I could get work in Cold Plains. We needed money. Sally still believed in Samuel. She was confused. He promised her things she didn’t have, that I couldn’t give. Samuel had wanted her to marry an older guy. He was furious when he learned she’d married me instead and was carrying my baby. But even though he was mad as hell, Samuel still wanted to do private counseling sessions with Sally. I—I don’t know why she listened to him, why she went.” Emotion surged and his voice cracked.
June’s heart cracked. She thought of Matt, of how illogical his behavior had seemed to her toward the end.
“He took her for several counseling sessions after she had the baby, then when she told Samuel she was going to move back to Cheyenne with me, she had the accident.”
“What kind of accident?” Jesse interjected.
Tyler glanced nervously at him, then June. “She drowned in the lake. I think he killed her. I’m
convinced
he killed her. I—I think he was sleeping with her, too.” Tears sheened down his cheeks.
Rage arrowed through June’s heart. If Tyler was telling the truth, it could make Sally murder victim number six. And June believed more of Samuel’s victims would yet surface.
“I asked for an investigation,” Tyler said. “But Chief Fargo claimed it was obvious that her death was an accident. I
know
it wasn’t. Sally never went near the lake. She couldn’t swim. She was afraid of water.”
“And you’ve been caring for Aiden since she died?”
He nodded. Tears welling again. “One of the people from the Urgent Care Center came to take him away. They said they looked after babies like Aiden. But I refused to let him go. I began to make secret plans to leave, and I started saving money. But then a guy called Jason Barnes and his friend Lumpy Smithers came to talk to me. I knew they were henchmen. They said I must leave Aiden with Bo Fargo and write a note saying my son was Devin Black.”
June’s throat went dry.
“They said they were going to give Aiden to Dr. Black to keep the community whole. I was given two days to make up my mind. Then, when I went to work the next morning, I discovered I’d been fired. I came home and my landlord said I owed him two months rent, which was a lie. He gave me notice at the same time. My truck was stolen, and my bank account was frozen.” He swallowed. “Then Jason Barnes returned and said maybe I better do as he asked—they had contacts, and things would get worse for me if I didn’t obey them.”
“Did Jason say Samuel sent him?” Jesse said.
“No, but I know Jason Barnes works for Samuel.”
So, no evidence to pin on Samuel himself, thought June. That bastard was like Teflon.
“I had no place to stay. No money, no work, no transport. I was afraid for my life, and they promised Aiden would be well cared for by Dr. Black. So I did as they said. Then…I—I just couldn’t handle it. I kidnapped my own son back, and we had nowhere to go so we hid in the mountains.”
“You have a safe place now, Tyler. We’re going to take you and Aiden there. This is my friend Jesse. He—” she met his eyes “—helps me. And this is Eager.” She smiled. “Eager helps just about anyone who lets him. If he doesn’t first love them to death.”
Tyler gave a tremulous smile and tears pooled again in his eyes. “Thank you, June,” he whispered.
“Hey, it’s what I do. And you know what, Tyler?” She glanced down at the baby sleeping in her arms. “It’s worth every moment.”
She felt Jesse’s large hand on her shoulder. He squeezed. And June had to struggle to tamp down her own emotions.
* * *
Later that day, back in the safe house, Jesse sat near the hearth feeding Aiden from a baby bottle. Tyler was sleeping and June was busy in the kitchen making sandwiches. He could feel her watching him, though, and when he glanced up and met her gaze, there was a strange look on her face.
“What is it?” he said.
She inhaled deeply, turned away.
“You’re thinking about your Aiden, aren’t you?”
She stilled, her nose going slightly pink and her eyes watery. “I was thinking how good you look holding that baby,” she said quietly. She picked up a knife and dug it into a pot of mayo. “You look experienced,” she said.
There was an odd tone in her voice, almost accusatory.
She spread the mayonnaise over a slice of bread, her movements jerky, a little angry.
“Back at the cave, when you thought it was another baby crying, when you thought there was a fire—are you
sure
you don’t remember whose baby was in your mind?”
So that was it, thought Jesse. She hadn’t believed him when he’d told her he didn’t know.
He glanced down at the dark-haired infant in his arms. The baby in his memory was dark-haired, too. And he’d believed in that blinding instant that it
had
been his child. But on the back of that feeling rode another, harder sensation, one that told him while the baby in his memory
was
somehow connected to him, it also wasn’t. It was the same mixed-up conflict he had over the hazy memory of the slight, dark-haired woman—the woman he remembered making love to at some point; the woman who brought on emotions of guilt, rage, hurt, sorrow. The woman who made him finger an absent ring.