“Then you can hire other guys like you,” she said with delight.
He chuckled. “Getting a little ahead of myself there,” he said.
She smiled. “But there’s time, right?”
“There’s time,” he affirmed.
Just then her phone went off. Without thinking, she reached for it and saw it said Private Caller. She groaned. “Damn it. It’s Angel again.”
“Again?”
“Yeah. I had at least four or five calls, but no one ever answered. I finally got frustrated and said something rude. But then I thought I heard someone call out, so I felt terrible and worried someone needed help. And then the next time, it was Angel. But now this one, I don’t know.” She hit Talk. “Angel, is that you again?”
“Yes, it is,” Angel said piously. “Did you think about what I said earlier?”
At Weston’s motion, she put the phone on the table and pushed Speakerphone. “Not a whole lot to think about,” she said calmly.
“Sure there was. I just didn’t give you my terms yet.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious? You actually want something in order to let me continue being Sari’s mother?”
“It’s not like your lawyer will back you up, will he?”
“Why not?” Daniela asked, staring down at the phone, then at Weston. And the grim look on his face had her heart sinking. “What are you talking about, Angel?”
“You should read the news first. Don’t worry. I’ll be calling you back.” And, with that, she hung up.
Daniela stared at Weston. “What did that mean?”
“Your lawyer is dead,” he said. “I ran by to have a talk with him about the paperwork,” he said slowly. “And I found the body in the office. As far as I know, it was your lawyer.”
Weston hadn’t really expected to break the news to her that way. And he really didn’t like the idea that Angel was hassling Daniela and coming back around, looking for something more. And he especially didn’t like the idea that Angel was already aware of Daniela’s attorney’s death.
“We’ll have to stop Angel somehow.” Daniela stared at her phone and realized she had gripped her fingers together so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.
He grabbed both of her hands with his and gently opened them. “Look. Detective Kruger said the paperwork looked like it was all fine and dandy. Let’s not get panicked over something we don’t know yet is wrong.”
She took several deep breaths.
“I realize I’m not the one who should be saying this,” he said, “because obviously you’re afraid of losing custody, and your feelings are totally understandable. But you’re doing a wonderful job, and we have to trust in the system.”
“The system doesn’t always work,” she said softly.
And he could feel the fear rippling up and down her back. He looked down at the phone. “There was no number?”
She shook her head. “No, it kept coming in as Private Caller.”
“I wonder if she’s using a burner phone.”
“If I knew what that was, I might be able to help you,” Daniela said, “but I don’t.”
“Untraceable,” he said.
“Why would she do that? And how would she even know to think of it?”
“A very good question,” he said, studying her. “Why is she being covert about this at all? That is the bottom line.”
“True,” she said. “Why doesn’t she just show up and ask for five thousand dollars or something?”
He studied her curiously. “Could you do five thousand dollars?”
She looked at him and shook her head. “No, not at all.”
He nodded as if that lined up with what he knew. “So, if she knows you don’t have any money, why would she be asking you for some?”
“My sister has money,” she said sadly. “And she knew my sister too.”
“So she’d expect you to go to your sister, but would your sister give it to you?”
Daniela hesitated and then shrugged. “I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out.”
He picked up his phone and sent Badger a text about Angel. We need more information. She’s now making harassing and threatening phone calls. She may have killed Daniela’s adoption attorney. Angel’s looking for something but isn’t being clear as to what she’s after.
“Who are you contacting?” Daniela asked.
“My ex-boss. Or still my boss really, I guess,” he said. “We need information on Angel, and we need it now. That’s the fastest way to get it.”
“If it was so easy to get, wouldn’t the detective have it?”
“Sure, but why would he?” he asked.
She looked at him in surprise. “Well, the dead lawyer is Angel’s brother.”
Stunned, he stopped and stared. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “You didn’t know?”
“Of course not.” He picked up his phone again and dialed Detective Kruger. When his tired voice answered, Weston said, “So, your case and my case just connected. What I didn’t realize is the legal documents I showed you today—the mother, the person who gave over the child—she’s apparently the sister of the dead lawyer.”
“Interesting,” the detective said. “I didn’t know that. I suppose we’d have figured it out eventually.” There was a moment of silence on the other end. “Oh, and he didn’t die today, he was killed yesterday as far as we can tell.”
“Wow,” Weston said. “Murdered? And he was lying there all this time undetected?”
“Yes,” the detective said. “And I hate to ask this, but when did you hit town?”
Weston looked over to see the shock and horror on Daniela’s face. “Yesterday,” he said. And he gave his flight info. “I’ve also been with Daniela 90 percent of the time. Or with you.”
“Yeah, getting in trouble the rest of time,” the detective said with a note of humor.
“Absolutely,” Weston said. “But now we need to pursue the Angel line of inquiry.”
“I know you were probably a hotshot in the navy,” the detective said, “but unless you’re actually signing up to do this job that I’m doing on a full-time basis, you’ll have to back off and let us do what we do.”
“I hear you,” Weston said. “But Angel’s
