“Are you talking to doctors?”
“Who?” They said in unison, their expressions growing equally grim.
Charlotte suffered a stab of doubt.
Ah well. Too late now.
She plunged ahead.
“Um, I was just thinking it would be a good idea to find the doctor who diagnosed the baby as blind—you probably already thought of that but—”
“Who told you the baby was blind?” asked the male officer. His badge read Jackson.
Charlotte opened her mouth but nothing came out. She’d forgotten the baby being blind wasn’t common knowledge. “Uh, the neighbor, actually, I guess his wife is friends with—”
“Why don’t you come inside with us?” asked the female of the pair.
Charlotte put the hand not holding Harley on her chest. “Me?”
The female officer nodded. “Sure. You could tell your idea to the captain.”
Something about the expressions on the faces of the officers told Charlotte they weren’t asking her in because they were so impressed with her idea.
They think I’m involved.
She took a step back. “No, it’s okay. It was just an idea—”
She started to turn, but the female cop reached out to put a hand on her arm. According to her badge, her name was Rosey, but she didn’t seem very rosey as she glared at Charlotte.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist,” said Rosey, making unsettling eye contact with her.
Shoot.
Charlotte could tell she’d passed the point of sweet-talking her way out of her predicament.
“Fine.”
She fell into step behind Officer Rosey. Jackson took a spot behind her, no doubt to keep her from running.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The officers led Charlotte through the hedge gate and into the Bennetts’ house. Inside, a woman who appeared near her own age stood on her tippy toes in the kitchen, retrieving a plate from a high shelf. Her head turned as the officers entered and she froze, still on her toes, before lowering to her feet.
“Is that her?” she asked, paling.
The officers shook their heads. “We found her outside. Do you recognize her?”
The pretty woman took a step forward. Charlotte could see every part of Shana straining to recognize her as the kidnapper, but after a moment, her body sagged as if someone had released her strings and she shook her head. “No.”
A man appeared from a hallway located between the front room and the kitchen.
“Who’s this?” he asked. Charlotte assumed he was Carl.
“This woman was outside asking questions about the investigation. Do you recognize her?”
The man shook his head. “No. Should I?”
Charlotte offered the confused couple a smile. Both of them looked as if they hadn’t slept in days, dark circles bagged beneath their eyes. “This is all a misunderstanding. I was just asking your neighbor if the baby had been found yet.”
“Is that who told you the baby was blind?” asked Officer Rosey.
Charlotte nodded. “Yes. That’s what I was trying to tell you outside—”
“Is that possible?” Rosey frowned at the couple.
“No,” said the husband, quickly. “You told us not to tell anyone.”
He looked at his wife, and she looked away.
“Ask her,” suggested Charlotte.
Rosey glared at her and Charlotte could almost see the words you shut up in her eyes. She zipped it.
The officers locked their gazes on the wife, whose own eyes pointed towards the floor as if pulled there by a magnet.
“I might have told Judith next door,” she mumbled. “By accident.”
The husband’s face flashed red. “Shana, you weren’t supposed to tell anyone—”
“I know, I’m sorry, I just needed to tell someone and it slipped—”
Her husband raised both hands into the air. “So you tell the woman who’s married to the biggest busybody on the street?”
Shana’s eyes brimmed with tears. “She said she wouldn’t tell.”
The husband decided to turn his anger on Charlotte. “What are you doing asking around anyway? It’s none of your business.”
Charlotte felt the eyes of the officers on either side of her burning into her skin. They clearly wanted to know the answer to that same question.
She decided to come clean. “I’m a freelance private investigator. I was trying to help.”
Shana took a step forward, the plate still hanging in her hand. “Do you think you can help?”
“All right,” said Officer Jackson, motioning for Shana to stop. “We only wanted to see if you recognized her. We’ll take her to the station and get this worked out.”
“To the station?” peeped Charlotte, her voice growing pitchy. “But I haven’t done anything.”
“That’s what we’re going to figure out,” said Jackson, taking her arm and pulling it behind her back. Charlotte heard the jingle of cuffs.
“Are you kidding?”
“Give me your other hand.”
“I can’t.” Charlotte held up Harley.
Officer Rosey took the dog and Jackson finished cuffing her. “We’ll work this out.”
Charlotte huffed. “You could just ask me to come. You don’t have to cuff me.” She glanced at Harley, held suspended in the palm of the female officer. “Be careful with her. She’s built like a bird.”
“I can feel that,” muttered Rosey. Charlotte could tell she thought the dog was ridiculous.
Probably more of a German Shepherd person.
Jackson urged her towards the door.
Charlotte turned to the couple, still standing in their spots, staring at her.
“Look, I really am a private investigator. I’ll try to help.”
“No, you won’t,” said Jackson, irritation dripping from every word.
Shana nodded. “Come back when they’re done with you.” Her husband shot her a look before closing his eyes and rubbing his hand over his balding skull.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Hunter watched the officers lead a woman into their patrol car outside the Bennetts’ home and lowered her binoculars.
What’s that about?
She’d watched the woman pull up in her old Volvo and start walking her dog, a tiny little
