Drury. Delores Fossen
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than Drury, that is.
And that trust was on shaky ground. Yes, he would protect her because he was an FBI agent and it was his job, but she’d already put him in danger once and didn’t want to risk doing that again.
“Can you help me arrange for a safe house?” she asked.
A muscle flickered in his jaw, and he pulled a chair from the corner and sat where he was facing her. “Yes, I can do that, but I want you to do something for me. Tell me everything—and I mean everything—about who could be part of this.”
Caitlyn was certain she looked confused. Because she was. “You mean about the baby?”
“For starters. You didn’t have anything to do with what went on at Conceptions, did you?”
That put a huge knot in her stomach. Not because it was true. It wasn’t. But because he would even consider she’d do something like that.
“No. I gave up on having Grant’s baby months before he died.” And she made the mistake of dodging his gaze.
Drury noticed.
He put his fingers beneath her chin, lifting it and forcing eye contact. “Explain that,” he insisted.
Caitlyn hadn’t wanted to get into all of this now, but it could be connected. Could. Still, it would mean reopening old wounds that still hadn’t healed. Never would. Plus, it was hard to discuss any of this when she was holding the baby. Perhaps Grant’s and her baby.
“When Grant was killed, he’d been having an affair,” she said.
“Is that the reason you were divorcing him?”
“Among other things.” Caitlyn paused. “The only reason I’m bringing it up now is because his girlfriend, Melanie Cordova, could be responsible for at least part of this.”
Of course, he looked confused, and Drury motioned for her to continue.
Caitlyn did, after she took a deep breath. “Melanie was devastated after Grant’s death, and it’s possible she’s the one who arranged for the baby to be born. So she could have some part of Grant.”
“Even if that part meant the baby would be yours?” he questioned. “Because as a mistress, you’d think the last thing she would want around was her lover’s baby with another woman.”
“I know,” Caitlyn admitted. Obviously, there were holes in her theory about Melanie’s possible involvement. “But maybe Melanie was so desperate to have Grant’s child that she didn’t care if I was the biological mother.”
Judging from the way his forehead bunched up, Drury clearly wasn’t on board with this. “Then why would Melanie have demanded a ransom? Why even let you know that the child existed?”
Caitlyn had to shake her head. “Unless she just wanted the money to raise the baby. Of course, that doesn’t explain why that thug Ronnie had her.”
“Maybe that wasn’t Melanie’s choice. If she hired him to extort the ransom, he could have double-crossed her and kidnapped the baby.”
Mercy. Caitlyn hadn’t even thought of that. Maybe this was a sick plan that had gone terribly wrong.
“How long has it been since you’ve seen Melanie?” Drury asked. “Is it possible she carried the baby herself, that she’s the surrogate?”
It was yet something else Caitlyn hadn’t considered, but she had to nod. “I haven’t seen her in over a year. For a few months after Grant died, she stalked me. Followed me, kept calling, that sort of thing, but that all stopped about a year ago.”
Perhaps around the time Melanie would have been arranging for the procedure to have the baby.
Caitlyn didn’t have to ask how Melanie would have gotten the fertilized embryo from Conceptions. She could have bribed someone in the clinic, possibly even the former clinic manager who’d orchestrated several births just so she could extort money from the babies’ biological parents. Something that Drury knew all too well.
Since two of those babies were his twin niece and nephew.
The clinic manager was dead now, killed in a gunfight with Drury’s brother Holden so she couldn’t give them answers, but it was possible that Melanie could.
Drury stood. “I’ll make some calls and get Melanie in for questioning.”
He took out his phone, but before he could do anything, Grayson stepped into the doorway. One look at his face, and Caitlyn knew something was wrong.
“Ronnie called Child Protective Services,” Grayson said. “He wants the baby in their custody.”
That robbed Caitlyn of her breath, and she stood, as well. She also pulled the baby even closer to her. “It’s some kind of trick. Ronnie probably figures it’ll be easier to snatch the baby from foster care than from me.”
Grayson made a sound of agreement. “But that won’t stop CPS from taking her. They’re on their way here now.”
Caitlyn would have bolted for the door if Drury hadn’t stopped her. No. This couldn’t be happening.
“If I let them take the baby, it’d be like giving her back to Ronnie,” Caitlyn pleaded. “I can’t do that.”
She braced herself for an argument, but one didn’t come.
“Ronnie tried to kill me,” Drury reminded Grayson. “Anything he does is suspect, and Caitlyn is right. He or one of his thug friends would have a much easier time getting the baby from CPS. In fact, the plan could be to kidnap her as soon as she’s taken from the building.”
Still no argument from Grayson, but he did stay quiet a moment. Before he nodded. “I don’t trust Ronnie, either. Or rather I don’t trust the person he’s working for.” Grayson looked at Caitlyn. “That still doesn’t mean I can give you a blank check on this. How much time will you need to prove she’s your daughter?”
Caitlyn had to shake her head. “How much time for you to arrange another DNA test, one that would hold up against a court order?”
“Forty-eight hours, maybe even sooner, if we put a rush on it,” Drury answered. “We’ll need the lab you used to process Grant’s DNA, though.”
Yes, because she didn’t want to take the time to try to find another hair sample. “I used Bio-tech in San Antonio. They’ll have both Grant’s and my DNA on file there.”
She could see the debate Grayson was having with himself. He was a lawman. A good one, judging from everything she’d heard. And it likely didn’t set well with him that this would essentially be an obstruction of justice since he was allowing Caitlyn to walk away with the baby rather than turning her over to CPS.
“All right,” Grayson finally said. “Forty-eight hours. I’ll get the DNA test kit. After that, go ahead and get Caitlyn and her out of here.”
The relief was instant, and it left her just as breathless as the news of Ronnie calling CPS. She wasn’t going to have to give up the baby. Not just yet anyway. But that didn’t mean she had a safe place to take her.
“Where?” she asked Drury and hoped he had some idea.
“Don’t tell me where you’re going,” Grayson quickly added. “I don’t want to have to lie to CPS. Oh, and figure out how the baby can get a checkup from the doctor.” He walked away, no doubt to get that kit.
She certainly hadn’t forgotten about the checkup but didn’t know how to make it happen.
“It’s not a good idea to go back to my place,” Caitlyn insisted before Drury could say anything. “Or yours.”
“Agreed. But there’s a guesthouse on the back part of the ranch. It’s out of sight from the other houses, including Grayson’s, and we can use it just for tonight. Since my cousins