Risky Return Page 15

  Rebecca noted her cousin hadn’t answered her question. She didn’t really have to. Rebecca saw fear simmering beneath her expression. Fear that her child might have been stolen and could thus be taken from her. Fear of losing her child. Rebecca shared her fear but she wouldn’t allow it to stop her from doing the right thing.

  “You’re being ridiculous,” Janice told her. She turned her back and began picking up toys from the floor.

  “He’s a monster, Janice. We have to do something. Tell me, how did he find Matthew? What attorney did you use?”

  Janice turned to her, tears pooling in her eyes. She placed the toys in her arms onto the side table then leaned against it for support. “No,” she cried, her own anguish evident. “This cannot be happening.”

  “We need to go to the police. If we can backtrack Matthew’s adoption, we would finally have evidence linking Rayburn to the baby-selling ring.” She reached for her phone on the bar and started dialing Kent’s number. She was excited to finally have a break in the case but, as she glanced at Janice still leaning against the table, she was saddened at the personal costs of this case. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t put it all together sooner.

  She hadn’t even finished dialing when a guttural scream erupted from her cousin. Janice grabbed the lamp from the table and lunged for her as Rebecca spun to face her. Pain shot through her as Janice hit her. The room spun and her knees buckled. She managed to glance at Janice and saw her eyes on fire with anger as she swung the lamp again, hitting Rebecca and sending her to the floor, where darkness quickly pulled her away.

  NINE

  Pain ripped through Rebecca’s head as she regained consciousness. She groaned then remembered Janice attacking her. What was that about? She tried to lift her hand to her aching head and discovered she couldn’t. Her hands were bound behind her back. She opened her eyes and pain sliced through her head at the light flowing inside from the curtains. Something wet and warm was on her face. Blood, she assumed, from where Janice had smacked her.

  She glanced around and saw Janice sitting on the couch. She was biting her nails and looked like she was about to lose control.

  “What happened?” Rebecca asked, realizing she was tied up with duct tape. What was going on and why had her cousin attacked her?

  “Shut up,” Janice told her as she stood up and began pacing. She checked her phone. “Where are you, David?”

  “Janice, why am I tied up? What’s going on? Why are you doing this?

  Janice spun on her, her expression full of anger and contempt. “You’re trying to take my baby from me.”

  “No, no. I wasn’t. But if Dr. Rayburn was involved in your adoption, Matthew might have been stolen from his real mother.”

  “I’m his real mother,” she shrieked. “And you’re not going to take him from me!”

  The back door slammed and Rebecca heard David’s voice calling out for his wife. “Janice, I got your message. What’s going on?” He followed her glance down to Rebecca and he paled. “What have you done, Janice?”

  Rebecca was relieved to see him. If anyone could calm down Janice and make her see reason, it was him.

  “She was going to call the police. She was trying to take Matthew.”

  “I wasn’t,” Rebecca insisted. “I just wanted to know if Dr. Rayburn was connected to Matthew. He’s a bad man, David. He kidnapped a girl and stole her baby from her.”

  David kneeled beside Rebecca. “I know all about your investigation, Rebecca. Why couldn’t you just leave things alone?”

  A sick feeling rolled through her at the coldness in David’s face. He wasn’t there to help her or calm down his wife. She glanced up at her cousin. They were practically sisters. She couldn’t believe Janice could be involved with Rayburn. Tears filled her eyes. David and Janice had stolen Matthew away from a woman held captive and they’d both done it with open eyes.

  “What are you going to do with me?”

  He shrugged. “As long as you’re alive, you’re a danger to our operation.”

  “Our operation? So you didn’t just get Matthew from Rayburn? You’re working with him, too?” This was so much worse than she’d initially thought. How could these people she knew, her own family, be involved in kidnapping and baby selling?

  “Well, it’s Rayburn’s operation, at least here in Moss Creek, but I’ve managed to make myself important to him over the years by supplying vehicles and buildings.”

  “You’ve been using my father’s company to assist a human-trafficking ring.”

  “And making myself a lot of money doing it.” He grinned, seemingly pleased with himself.

  A car door slammed outside and David leapt to his feet.

  Janice ran to the window. “It’s Collin!”

  Rebecca’s heart lurched with hope until David pulled out a gun. “I’ll take care of him.”

  “Don’t hurt him!” she cried. All the anger she’d felt toward him evaporated the moment she saw the gun and knew his life was in danger. “He doesn’t know anything. Janice knocked me out before I could call him.”

  He glanced at Janice. “It’s true. She never had the chance to call him. He’s probably just here hoping to make up with her.”

  David slipped the gun into his pocket. “Then I’ll get rid of him another way.” He looked at Janice as the knock came at the front door. He grabbed the duct tape from the table, ripped off a piece and clamped it over Rebecca’s mouth. “I will shoot him if I have to. Don’t make a sound or try to cry out for his attention and he’ll walk away from here alive. Do you understand me?”

  She nodded, willing to remain quiet to keep David from hurting Collin. How had she never seen the coldness in David before today? He’d hidden it well.

  The knock came again and David hurried to the door. He opened it and Rebecca heard him greeting Collin cordially, as if he wasn’t holding her captive only a few feet away. The man was a monster who’d been living right in front of her for years.

  Rebecca craned her neck, trying to see Collin. She’d been a fool to leave him. She’d walked away from him and right into the lion’s den. Had it been their plan all along to get her away from Collin? Was her own cousin and her husband behind the threatening notes and attacks on her life? Had Janice told her about Collin just to separate her from him?

  Part of her wanted to try to scream to get Collin’s attention but David had promised to kill him if she did and something in his eyes told her he wouldn’t hesitate. But if she didn’t try to cry out, would Collin even know she was in trouble? Would he even bother trying to find her?

  “I want to apologize to her,” Collin was saying. “How can I say I’m sorry if she won’t see me?”

  “Give her some time,” David told him, his voice full of feigned empathy. “Maybe in a few days, she’ll feel more like talking.”

  A few days? Where would she be in a few days? Would she even still be alive? If she was, knowing the kind of operation Rayburn was running, she would probably wish she was dead.

  As David closed the door, tears sprang to Rebecca’s eyes. Collin was gone and he had no idea how much she needed him. She’d wasted her opportunity with him by letting something that happened years ago send her running from him. The money didn’t matter and neither did their past mistakes. Because now she knew she would give anything to have another chance to tell him how much she loved him.

  “That was ugly,” David said, coming back into the room and kneeling beside Rebecca. “He must really love you. It’s a shame. I suppose now, finally, he’ll be able to move on.” He stood and pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “Jack, it’s David. We have a problem. Rebecca knows about Matthew.” He listened, then nodded and ended the call.

  “What did he say?” Janice asked him. “Does he want us to kill her?”

  Rebecca sucked in a breath and waited to hear her fate.

 
; “No. Call the nanny and see if she can watch Matthew. I’m going to load Rebecca into the back of the SUV. Rayburn wants us to bring her to him. He said he was looking forward to taking care of her personally.” He smiled when he said it and glanced Rebecca’s way.

  Fear shuddered through her. Rayburn had already tried to have her killed multiple times. With David and Janice delivering her to him like a turkey trussed up for Thanksgiving, he was sure to succeed this time.

  He pulled a syringe from his pocket and Rebecca flinched.

  “Don’t worry,” he assured her. “It’s just a sedative we keep on hand to deal with the unruly types.” He kneeled down and pressed the needle into her neck and after only a few moments, she felt its effects. The room began to spin and David and Janice’s conversation sounded far away. She was losing consciousness quickly and although she knew this wouldn’t kill her, what was waiting for her when she awoke would.

  She was going to die today.

  * * *

  He probably deserved the communication blackout he was getting from Rebecca, but that didn’t mean he liked it. He couldn’t keep her safe if she wouldn’t even return his phone calls or come to the door to talk. And he wasn’t giving up on her, not until he knew the threat to her life was over.

  David had been insistent at the door that she didn’t want to see him. He knew she was angry, but she had to see reason soon and at least be civil enough to allow him to keep her safe. She couldn’t have had time to hire a bodyguard yet and, if she had, he would have come to the door to insist Collin leave. He turned and looked back at the house, hoping to catch a glimpse of Rebecca peering out at him as he left. He wanted so badly to see her face, even if only for a moment, to know she was okay, but he spotted no curtains moving anywhere.

  It felt wrong to leave but what else was he going to do? Storm inside and demand she talk to him? She’d made it crystal clear she didn’t want to see him. It was time he accepted it and moved on.

  But he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. He’d made a vow to himself to protect her and he would see it through. He owed her at least that.

  He got into his car, started the engine and drove away. She had court scheduled for this afternoon. It was the one thing he knew she wouldn’t miss, so he would be there, too, just to make sure she was safe and hopefully convince her to talk to him.

  * * *

  Rebecca awoke on a hard surface. She opened her eyes and realized she was lying on concrete. She was still bound, but the duct tape had been replaced with zip ties. She tried to sit up but her head swam and she lay down again. Someone called her name and Rebecca jerked fully awake.

  Janice sat on a step a few feet away watching her.

  “Why couldn’t you just leave well enough alone? David and I tried to stop you from digging into this. The notes, the warning on your wall, even my getting attacked were all meant to keep you from investigating further. Rayburn wanted you dead but we thought we could make him see reason if you would stop, but you didn’t. You refused to stop even for me. Even when I was in danger.”

  The guilt she’d felt at seeing her cousin’s bruises faded now that she knew the truth. “You were never in danger, were you? It was all for show.”

  “Yes, it was a show for you, but I guess keeping me safe wasn’t as important as protecting some girl who isn’t even family.”

  Missy! She was talking about Missy. Janice might know where they’d taken her. It was possible she was even here in the same building where they’d brought Rebecca. “You know where she is, don’t you?”

  Janice sneered. “Your precious girl is gone, Rebecca. Because of you and your meddling, Jack had to ship her off to another provider.”

  “Another provider?” Rebecca gasped at the implication. “You mean another kidnapper, don’t you?”

  “You cost us money, and Jack isn’t going to let you get away with that. Besides, you’ve become a liability to me, as well. As long as you’re alive, Matthew is in danger from you.”

  “I would never hurt Matthew.”

  “No, but you would keep on and on until you finally shut down our operation and that would cost me my son. I’m sorry, Rebecca, but I can’t allow that.”

  Rebecca could understand her cousin’s desire for a child, but she also knew the pain of losing a baby and Janice’s knowingly taking another woman’s baby was unfathomable. If she was capable of that, what else was her cousin capable of?

  “You have to know this is wrong, Jan.”

  “What’s wrong is that some teenage girl with no job and no money can have a child and I can’t. Life isn’t fair, Rebecca. We’re just leveling the playing field.”

  Rebecca saw there was no getting through to her. She’d justified her actions and those actions had led her down a dark path.

  Janice stood and walked out. Tears slipped down Rebecca’s face. How had such evil existed right under her nose and she’d never had a clue? She’d considered Janice like a sister to her for most of their lives. How was it possible her cousin was responsible for the disappearance of teens under her care? Rebecca had spent her life caring for others, while Janice had spent her life using them to get whatever she wanted.

  God, how has everything gone so wrong?

  She’d tried to stay strong after her life fell apart. She’d lost her baby, her husband and her future all in one fell swoop, but she’d always tried to remain strong and believe God was in control. But how much more could she take? She’d tried to live her life to mean something, tried to make a difference. But now, just when it seemed things were turning around for her and Collin, her life had spiraled and she was going to lose it all again.

  Janice was right. Life wasn’t fair.

  * * *

  Collin arrived at the courthouse an hour before court was to begin. He didn’t see Rebecca so he asked the bailiff to give her a message that he was here and would like to speak with her.

  “She hasn’t arrived yet,” the man stated, “but I’ll tell her when she does.”

  An hour later, court still hadn’t begun and Collin approached the bailiff again.

  “Rebecca hasn’t arrived and no one has been able to reach her. We may have to reschedule all these cases if she doesn’t show up.”

  Something was wrong. Collin knew it the moment he heard Rebecca hadn’t shown up. She wouldn’t leave these cases in limbo without a good reason. She’d fought him and even put her own safety at risk to prepare for this day. She wouldn’t just not show up.

  Collin phoned Kent and updated him on what was happening. “I think something is very wrong,” he said. “Rebecca is missing.”

  Kent phoned the courthouse then called him back. “They’ve been trying to reach her all afternoon. I tried, too, and her phone is going straight to voice mail.”

  “She’s been staying at her cousin’s house. I was there this morning and David assured me she was there, but she didn’t want to see me.”

  “I’ll meet you there in ten minutes,” Kent told him. “She’ll either let me in or I’ll get a warrant.”

  Collin ended the call and headed for his car and back to Janice’s. Recalling how she’d fought him about coming to court today, he knew Rebecca would have been there if she’d been able. Something as minor as a fight between them wouldn’t have kept her away.

  Something was very wrong.

  God, please let her be okay.

  Fear gripped him. He was afraid something had happened to Rebecca and he’d been unable to prevent it. Perhaps something had happened to the whole family. Had someone broken in after he’d left and disposed of David, Janice and the baby as well? The thought sickened him.

  Collin was at the house before Kent, but he arrived only minutes later. He was anxious about barging inside, but he felt in his gut that something was wrong. Rebecca would not have missed court. Very few things could have prevented her from coming and he sh
uddered to think what those might be.

  Kent marched up to the house and knocked. Collin heard sounds from inside and a moment later, the door opened. It wasn’t Janice who answered but a woman Collin didn’t recognize.

  Kent pulled out his badge. “I’m Investigator Morris. I need to see Rebecca Mason.”

  The woman looked confused. “I haven’t seen Rebecca.”

  “Who are you?” Collin asked.

  “My name is Lily. I’m the nanny.”

  “What about Janice or David? Are they home?”

  “No, they’re gone, too. Today was supposed to be my day off, but Janice called a while ago and asked me if I could watch Matthew. She and David had to go out of town for a few days.”

  “Did they say where they were going?” Collin asked.

  “I didn’t ask. It’s not unusual for them to take an impromptu vacation.”

  Kent glanced at Collin. “How likely is it that Janice would take a vacation while her cousin is in danger?”

  “Not very. They’re cousins but they were raised more like sisters. Besides, where is Rebecca? Did Janice or David tell you where she went?”

  “Only that she left town. When I asked about the attacks against her, Janice told me she left town to get away from the danger. It made sense to me so I didn’t question it.” In the house, the baby began to fuss. “I really need to get back to Matthew.”

  Collin glanced upstairs. “Mind if I look at the room where she was staying?”

  The nanny shook her head and Collin raced up the stairs. As he did, he heard Kent telling the nanny that he needed contact information for the Millers.

  He opened the door to the room where Rebecca had been staying. Her suitcase was on a bench by the window and her clothes were still inside. Her briefcase with her court papers sat on the chair by the window. No way she would leave town while these kids’ lives hung in the balance. No matter how frightened or angry she was at him, she wouldn’t have just left without at least tying that up. In the adjoining bathroom, he saw her makeup bag on the cabinet along with the chain and ring she wore. He picked up the ring and fingered it. He might believe she’d leave this behind after how angry she’d been at him over his taking money from her father before he left her, but it wasn’t likely she would leave without her clothes, her purse, or her makeup.