Bone Deep (12 page)

Jill feared this one was not going to just go away. If they didn’t find Cody soon—she couldn’t think about that. Perhaps that was her boundary before reaching the denial stage. Everyone had a limit.

Phillips braked at an intersection. “We’ll park and take a stroll. Hattie’s is our destination.”

Her sister’s words echoed as Jill climbed out of the SUV and fell into step with Phillips. What could she have seen in this little out of the way town? Well, actually, the question was who. She’d said, she saw
him
.
That’s when it began
. What began? Better yet, saw who?

A dozen possibilities filtered through Jill’s mind. Had she seen Karl with another woman? Had she met another man here? Cullen Marks’ suggestion that the DA would try and insinuate an affair scenario on Kate’s part zoomed into the midst of Jill’s muddled thoughts. She dismissed that idea. Kate simply wasn’t the kind of woman who dabbled in affairs. But, as a defense attorney, Jill knew that overlooking that possibility, however unlikely, was a risk she shouldn’t take. Somehow she had to set aside her emotions and find some answers.

Beside her, Phillips remained silent. Quietly absorbing all that he saw and heard, she imagined. There was a stillness about him that made her want to peel back the layers concealing his whole story. Power emanated from him so subtly, that you really had to pay attention to feel it. His strength was like a sleeping lion, peaceful and nonthreatening, but instilling urgency and fear with a single low growl when disturbed. Two days ago she had him pegged for a conman. But she realized now the go-to-hell persona was just that, a façade to keep the world at a safe distance. What kind of demons drove a man so well educated and skilled to withdraw so completely? What made her yearn so to trust him? To know him…better?

More importantly, what made her want to know all those intimate details?

“You keep looking at me that way and I’m bound to get the wrong idea.”

That deep voice startled her back to attention. She’d been staring and he’d caught her.

“Sorry. I was just thinking.”

“About whether or not you can trust me?” He stopped, faced her and looked directly into her eyes.

She blinked, forced all emotion from her expression. “In a sense,” she hedged. Telling him that she wanted to know him better might not be a brilliant move.

His gaze fell to her mouth. Heat rushed through her veins.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said, his voice quiet and low. “Trust me on this.” He cranked up the intensity in that dark gaze. “You don’t want to go there.”

The heat that had surged through her, now pooled in her cheeks. “Is mind reading a part of your vast repertoire as well?”

“It doesn’t take a mind reader to see what you think you want.”

Resisting the urge to retreat, she managed to stand her ground. “Fine,” she confessed, the single word shakier than she would have liked. “I’m human. I feel,” she dragged in a ragged breath, “alone in all this and you’re the only one…standing here with me.” She cleared her throat, refusing to feel as foolish as she sounded. “Forgive me for committing such a grievous error.” She glared at him, forcing steel into her voice and fire into her eyes. “I suppose the idea hasn’t even crossed your mind?”

Why the hell were they having this conversation?

“Do you want the truth or do you want me to tell you a pretty little lie?”

“The truth.” Her answer startled him. Clearly he’d expected her to drop it the moment his darker side surfaced. But she’d be damned if she would. “I’ve never cared much for lies.”

“I’ve thought about it. But then, I have a reputation for bad decisions.” He turned and started forward once more, leaving her to follow. “Anything else you want to know?” he called back to her.

Fury snapping along her nerve endings, Jill trailed after him, reminding herself to breathe. “I think that covers it.”

~*~

Four hours later, with lunch behind them, Jill wasn’t the only one losing patience with this lead. Paul’s instincts couldn’t have failed him this badly. The impression that they would find something here had been strong, still was. But, so far, the effort was a bust.

As an attorney, Jill needed tangible evidence to keep her motivated. She worked on instinct, to a degree, just as Paul did. But he looked for that intangible, almost imperceptible something that made his instincts sit up and take notice. Like when Kate had spoken directly to him.
You’re back
. She recognized his presence although they had not spoken on his previous visit, they hadn’t even made eye contact, except for his little flash of insight. Still, the connection was there. Kate instinctively knew he was there to help. Those instincts had propelled a sense of urgency and another piece of the puzzle had bobbed to the surface of the lake of nothingness that was her existence just now.

There was something or someone in Lynchburg relevant to the case.

Hattie’s had turned out to be a simple craft shop that specialized in unique toys for children. Chances were, Kate had shopped there. The owner didn’t remember her and had no idea when she’d last been in her shop. She didn’t accept checks or credit cards, cash only.

Dead end.

They’d flashed both Kate’s and Cody’s pictures around the small town. No hits.

“Oh, my God,” Jill breathed. She froze next to him. “It’s Cody.”

Paul tensed. A too familiar sense of uneasiness erupted inside him. “Where?”

She pointed across the supermarket parking lot. “There! With that woman. The blue van. It’s him! It’s my nephew.”

The next few minutes were a blur of activity. The young woman forgot her groceries, leaving them to defrost in the cart, and snatched up the child when Jill reached for him, calling him Cody. If the child wasn’t Cody Manning, he could have been his identical twin. Silky blond hair and blue eyes. Paul had seen recent pictures of Jill’s nephew. This child was either him or an exact double.

“Lady, I don’t know who you are, but you’re crazy,” the young woman cried, fear in her voice. “This is my son.”

The child whined and clung to the woman.

Paul’s tension escalated. This was wrong.

Jill reached for the boy again, drawn by the sound of his distress.

The woman jerked away. “I’m gonna call the cops if you don’t leave us alone.”

Paul reached in the side pocket of Jill’s bag and produced her cell phone since he didn’t carry one himself. Hadn’t bothered with one since he’d stopped carrying a gun five years ago. Who needed a gun or a cell phone when they didn’t get involved? Well, he was involved now. He punched in nine-one-one. “That’s a good idea. We’ll let the police sort this out.”

Jill and the other woman watched in a kind of shocked horror as he made the call, neither speaking, both looking like cornered animals. The internal nudge that this was way, way wrong somehow came again. He couldn’t shake the feeling.

No one moved or spoke until the police arrived. Then everyone started talking at once.

Officer Dunn, Paul noted the name tag above his shirt pocket, held up a hand. “One at a time.”

The woman, being the local, got first chance at telling her side of the story. “They’re crazy! Ellis, you know me and my boy. Tell’em they’ve made a mistake.”

Officer Dunn, Ellis, looked from the woman, who had identified herself as Sarah Long, to Jill and then to Paul. “I don’t know what you two’ve been smoking, but this is her son. Any other questions?”

“I’m telling
you
,” Jill pressed, fury blazing in her eyes, “he is my nephew. I can prove it. I have pictures.” She jerked her bag around and fished for the photograph she carried.

Officer Dunn shook his head. “Lady, I sympathize with whatever’s going on with your nephew. But I know the Longs, this is their boy.”

“See.” Jill produced the photograph of Cody.

Paul wanted to drag her away from here. To save her from this pain and to make her heart see what her brain likely already knew.

This child was not her nephew. The resemblance was uncanny, no question. He had a theory or two about how that happened, either way the situation warranted further investigation.

One thing was certain, Kate had seen this child.

That’s when it began
.

“That’s not my boy,” Mrs. Long denied, shaking her head at the photo. “I never had a picture like that taken. I don’t know who you are, but that’s not my kid. This” she held her son more tightly “is my boy.”

“Ma’am,” Officer Dunn implored, passing the picture back to Jill, “I can understand the reason you’re upset. But even if I didn’t know these folks and believed for a second that this boy was your nephew, how do you explain the fact that he won’t even look at you?”

Jill’s defiant posture wilted, tears welled in her eyes. “I... I haven’t been to visit for a long time. He...”

Her pained words trailed off. Paul couldn’t take anymore. “Officer Dunn, if we can’t resolve this to the satisfaction of both Miss Ellington and Mrs. Long, we’ll need to call in the FBI. There’s an Amber Alert for Cody Manning,” he reminded the officer. This was getting them nowhere. Whatever was going on here, Jill needed satisfactory answers. Mostly, he just couldn’t watch her suffer any more of this uncertainty.

Mrs. Long’s eyes widened in fear. Her son squirmed in her arms. “Ellis, what’s he talking about?”

Officer Dunn looked a little flustered and a lot irritated. He held up his hands stop sign fashion. “There’s no need to call the feds. How about we follow Mrs. Long home and the two of you look at her family photo albums. She’s probably got pictures all the way back to the day she brought that child home from the hospital.” He glanced at the other woman for approval, then looked proud of himself for coming up with such an easy solution. “Will that clear up this mix-up for you?”

“Sounds reasonable,” Paul agreed. Jill said nothing.

Tension thickened between them during the brief ride from the market to Sarah Long’s modest frame home. When he parked at the curb and shut off the engine, he turned to Jill. “I don’t understand this anymore than you do, but we both know this child is not your nephew.”

She shook her head, fear and uncertainty making the move jerky. “He isn’t my nephew, I realize that. But somehow he’s connected to why Cody is missing. This has to be what Kate meant.”

Paul relaxed. He’d known she would find her way to the logical explanation. “Let’s play this out. See what we can learn.”

Photo album after photo album of little Brady Long’s life history from birth to present, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sarah Long had brought this child home from the hospital with her.

The father, Jill noticed from the photos, had the same dark hair and eyes as his wife. Sarah Long insisted her son got his coloring from one of his grandmother’s. It wasn’t like the occurrence was genetically impossible. Recessive genes did occasionally pop up in the least expected situations. But there had to be a connection to Cody. There was no pretending otherwise, and still she did for the sake of this worried mother.

“I’m so sorry,” Jill offered. “It’s just that, he looks so much like my nephew.”

The heart-wrenching details about Cody’s disappearance had brought tears to Sarah’s eyes. “I can’t imagine what y’all are going through,” she said with an understanding nod. “I would’ve done the same thing.” She patted her son’s head as he raced past, a plastic airplane held high, the sound of its engine rumbling from his active imagination. “I’d surely remember if I’d ever met your sister and her boy.”

“Thank you for understanding.” Jill looked to Phillips for her cue. Her head was still spinning. Forming a logical thought much less the next step was out of the question. Officer Dunn stood by as if he’d feared the need to intervene if Jill grew unreasonable again.

God, she was so tired. She’d checked her phone a dozen times. No calls from her mother. Certainly nothing from the chief.

“Would you mind answering a couple of personal questions?” Phillips asked. “Any information could potentially be helpful in our search for Cody.”

Sarah looked from him to Dunn and back. “Guess not.” She shrugged. “Anything I can do to help.”

Jill felt herself leaning forward in anticipation of what he intended to ask.

“Is there any chance that you and Cody’s mother, Kate, may have run into each other at the same doctor’s office or clinic?”

Sarah frowned. “Can I see her picture again?”

Jill dug for Kate’s photo and passed it to her.

Taking her time, Sarah studied it carefully before shaking her head. “I don’t remember ever seeing her.”

“You and your husband had your son without any assistance from tests or fertility medications?” Phillips flared his hands. “Any invitro procedures?”

“Nothing like that.” Sarah shook her head. “Never been to the doctor for anything related to having babies before I got pregnant with Brady. Except my yearly check-ups.”

Phillips pushed to his feet. “We appreciate your help, Mrs. Long.”

Air rushed into Jill’s lungs. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath until he stood. She joined him, feeling bone tired. “Thank you. It was most generous of you to go through this with us.”

Another wave of emotion hit her and Jill could not wait to get out of this house. She couldn’t bear to look at that sweet child another second.

“Miss Ellington?”

Heart aching, Jill hesitated at the door and turned back. “Yes.”

“When you find you nephew, bring him to see my boy.” Sarah’s smile was a little shaky. “I’d like to see him for myself.”

Jill nodded stiffly.

No matter that it was at least ninety-five degrees outside, Jill felt as cold as ice.

Officer Dunn walked them to the Land Rover.

“I hope you find your nephew safe and sound real soon,” he said, shaking his head sadly. “There’s nothing more heartbreaking than a missing child.”

Jill couldn’t respond to that. She climbed into the passenger seat. How could any of this be real? Her sister was gone, for all intents and purposes. Her brother-in-law was lying on a slab and Cody was missing. And now this! A child, a carbon copy of Cody, who was somehow connected to how this all began.