Drury. Delores Fossen
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from the beginning,” he demanded.
Caitlyn didn’t exactly jump to do that, but she did nod again and then took a couple of seconds to gather her breath. “The year before Grant was killed, we were trying to have a baby, and we went to the Conceptions Fertility Clinic in San Antonio.”
Everything inside him went still. He was well aware of the clinic because of the shady things that’d happened there just a month earlier. Specifically, embryos had been stolen and implanted in surrogates so that the former clinic manager could then “sell” the babies to the biological parents.
Ransom, extortion and black-market babies all rolled into one. Nasty business.
“All the babies were recovered and given to their parents,” Drury reminded her.
Caitlyn paused a heartbeat. “Not all.”
“Are you saying...?” But he stopped. “What the hell are you saying?”
“Day before yesterday I got a call from a man who said a surrogate had given birth to mine and Grant’s daughter and that if I wanted the child, then I’d have to pay him a million dollars. He sent me a swab with the baby’s DNA, and I had it analyzed. The man was telling the truth.”
DNA could be faked. So could test results.
“And?” Drury questioned. “How did you get Grant’s DNA to do a comparison?”
“From a comb I found in his things that I’d boxed up.”
Drury made a circling motion for her to continue.
“I arranged payment, draining nearly every penny from Grant’s estate, but when I went to get the baby, she wasn’t there. Instead, the man demanded even more money.”
Drury groaned. “Let me guess. They told you not to go to the cops or that you’d never see her again?” He waited for her to confirm that with a nod. “That’s what criminals tell marks like you. Hell, they might not even have the baby. Or there might not be a baby at all. Even if the DNA appears to prove it’s your child, they could have gotten the DNA from an embryo sample stored at the clinic.”
Other than a soft moan, she didn’t get a chance to respond because Drury’s phone rang. “It’s Grayson,” he said, glancing at the screen.
That got her back on her feet, and Caitlyn shook her head. “Please don’t tell him I’m here. Not yet. I’m not sure who I can trust.”
“Well, you can’t trust me,” he snapped.
But that was a lie. He was a lawman and would do whatever it took to protect her or any other bleeding woman who showed up at his house.
“Please,” she repeated, sounding just as desperate as she looked.
Drury wasn’t going to let that please or desperation sway him. He intended to tell Grayson everything because while she might not trust his cousin, Drury darn sure did.
“We found the shooter,” Grayson said the moment Drury answered the call. “He’d crashed his SUV into a tree about three miles from the ranch. He’s hurt but alive.”
“Who is he?” Drury asked.
“No ID, and the vehicle is registered to a woman in Austin.”
Maybe that meant the SUV was stolen. Of course, Drury already knew this guy was a criminal capable of murder. “Did he happen to say why he fired shots at me or what he was doing at my place?” Drury pressed.
Caitlyn moved closer. Too close. No doubt trying to hear the conversation.
“He’s not saying much of anything. He’s groggy, slipping in and out of consciousness,” Grayson added. “We’ll get him to the hospital, but I did find something in the SUV that was, well, disturbing. Some rope, a ski mask, duct tape and rubber gloves.”
No baby. Though Drury hadn’t expected there would be. Caitlyn had likely been the victim of a scam, and now that they couldn’t milk any more money from her, this thug had been sent to get rid of her.
“I’ll head to the sheriff’s office now,” Drury insisted.
“You need a ride? When I drove by earlier, I saw your truck was messed up.”
“Yeah. That thug shot the radiator. But I have a car in the garage. I’ll also have someone with me who can shed some light on this.”
Caitlyn was shaking her head before he even finished.
“Who?” Grayson asked, but he continued before Drury could respond. “Gotta go. Ambulance is here. You can tell me when you get to the office. See you in a few.”
“No,” Caitlyn said, still shaking her head when Drury ended the call. “You shouldn’t have done that. You shouldn’t have told Grayson you were bringing someone in.”
And she took off. Not toward the door but rather into the living room.
“What the heck do you think you’re doing?” Drury asked.
She didn’t answer that. Caitlyn hurried to the side of the sofa, and she grabbed something from the floor. Even though the room was dark, Drury had no trouble seeing the bundled-up coat.
And the stun gun.
Caitlyn picked up both, and with the coat clutched to her chest, she started running, headed to the back door this time.
Drury stepped in front of her, blocking her path, but Caitlyn tried to dart around him. He didn’t want her to get a chance to use that stun gun on him, so he caught onto her arm and knocked the stun gun from her hand.
“I have to go,” she insisted. “It’s not safe.”
Maybe it wasn’t, but that didn’t mean Drury was just going to let her head out. He pulled her closer and had a better look at the coat.
Damn.
In the middle of that bundle, Drury saw something move.
And that something was a baby.
Caitlyn hadn’t expected Drury just to let her walk out of there, but she also hadn’t thought this insanity would go from bad to worse.
This definitely qualified as worse.
Now that he’d seen the baby, there was no way he’d willingly let her leave.
“The baby’s yours?” he snapped.
“Maybe.”
She’d figured Drury wasn’t going to like that answer, and he didn’t. He groaned. Then cursed.
“But I believe she’s mine,” Caitlyn went on. “And the man said she was. I figured I could have her tested later, but for now I have to go. That man who shot at you wants to kill me and take the baby.”
“Yeah. I got that. According to Grayson, he had rope, tape, a ski mask and gloves in his SUV. All the makings of a felony or two.”
Oh, God. Her stomach dropped. Even though Caitlyn had known the man didn’t have good intentions, it sickened her to hear it spelled out like that. It also confirmed what she’d felt in her heart.
That he had no intention of giving her the baby.
He’d had plans to kill her then and there. She doubted he had just stopped trying to do that, either.
“The man will send someone else after me,” Caitlyn tried again. Tried also to move past Drury, but, like before, he stopped her.
Mercy, she had to convince him to let her go. But how? Too bad her head was throbbing and she was dizzy because it made it hard to think.
“Look, I know you don’t owe me any favors,”