Nash studied Brett’s face smeared with dried blood. If he’d been crying real tears, the blood would be running down his face again. “How do you know Jaycee was murdered? Emily didn’t say anything about that. It could’ve been a car accident.”
Brett’s wild eyes shifted to Emily. “Was it?”
“It was murder.” Emily slipped her gun into the side pocket of her purse hanging on her body and crossed her arms. “But what made you think that right away?”
“She was being threatened. She told me two cartel guys came by the apartment. She figured Lanier sent them.” Brett hunched his narrow shoulders. “That’s why she went on the run, and that’s why she left Wyatt with you.”
With Wyatt nestled in the crook of his arm, Nash sank to the edge of the bed. “What do you know about Lanier? Why would he be after Jaycee? Why would he want her dead?”
“You should know that.” Brett swiveled his head between Nash and Emily. “When I told you I was Wyatt’s father to stop your attack, you said I wasn’t Marcus Lanier. So, you know Lanier thinks he’s Wyatt’s father.”
“But he’s not?” Emily’s fingers dug into her flesh.
“I’m Wyatt’s father.”
Emily drilled two fingers into her temple and closed her eyes. “Why would Lanier want to claim paternity for Wyatt? He’s a married man. Wouldn’t it be much easier for him to give up his parental rights when another man is on the scene claiming his paternity?”
“He thinks he’s Wyatt’s father because Jaycee told him he was. They hooked up several times, so it’s possible.”
“Let me guess.” Nash ground his back teeth together. “Jaycee told Lanier he was the father so she could blackmail him. Am I on the right track? Get some cash out of the guy?”
“That’s about right.” Brett blew his nose on the towel. “You probably know Jaycee better than I do. She told me how your sister was her best friend in high school, and they’d get into all kinds of trouble.”
A muscle throbbed in Nash’s jaw. “If that’s true, you two were playing a dangerous game.”
“If that’s true—” Emily strolled to the sliding door to the patio, still standing open in the sultry evening, and then spun around to face Brett “—why not just call off the attack dogs? Why not tell Lanier the truth? If he were coming after Jaycee and Wyatt, it’s obvious he wasn’t going to pay up.”
“I told Jaycee to come clean with him. I told her we weren’t going to get anything out of him.” Brett bunched the towel in his fists.
“And?” Nash switched a fussy Wyatt from one arm to the other.
“She wouldn’t listen to me. She said even if Lanier got a paternity test, she had a couple of their hookups on video and she was going to threaten to go to his wife.”
“Wait a minute.” Emily paced around the room again. “If you believe the two cartel guys who paid a visit to Jaycee before she fled Phoenix were working for Lanier, why didn’t they just kill Jaycee then and snatch Wyatt?”
“Are you a cop, too?”
A blush washed across Emily’s face, and she put a hand to her throat. “It doesn’t matter what I am. You said two thugs went to Jaycee’s apartment, and you implied that these guys worked for Lanier. If that’s the case, they already believed Wyatt was their boss’s baby. They would’ve had orders then, but didn’t do anything. Instead, they left her and the baby alone and put a tracker on her car, just like Jaycee tracked Wyatt and his car seat.”
“I’m supposed to understand the mind of a criminal?” Brett jabbed a thumb at his scrawny chest, which had junkie written all over it.
“In fact—” Emily grabbed a handful of Brett’s dirty T-shirt and yanked him to his feet “—those criminals seemed a lot more interested in you than Wyatt. Why is that, Brett?”
Brett’s eyes widened to the point that his whites surrounded his dark irises. “How do you know that?”
“I was bugging that apartment. I saw all kinds of things.” She drilled her finger into his chest. “Those two guys wanted you.”
“I don’t know why they’d want me instead of Jaycee.” He brushed at his shirt where she’d poked him. “But thanks for the tip. Maybe they figured a mother wouldn’t use her kid like that, so they thought I was the mastermind.”
“Mastermind.” Nash rolled his eyes. “We can go around and around all night with this. We’ll let the police do their investigation into Jaycee’s murder, and we’ll let the Department of Child Safety and the family court decide who is Wyatt’s father and where he belongs.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Brett shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “You’re turning my kid over to the system?”
“I sure as hell am not turning him over to you.” Nash cuddled Wyatt closer against his chest.
“It’s late and Wyatt needs to get back to sleep.” Emily flicked her fingers at Brett. “Get out. If you are Wyatt’s father and you want to raise him as your own, you can go through the proper channels.”
Brett shoved out his hand. “My knife.”
Nash snorted. “Now you’re the one who’s kidding. Leave, and if you make any more attempts to take Wyatt, I’ll kill you.”
Brett swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his skinny neck. “You’ll see. I’m that baby’s father and he’ll wind up with me—where he belongs.”
Emily strode to the front door and flung it open.
Brett backed up through the door, as if he didn’t trust them not to jump him. Nash grimaced. The guy wasn’t as dumb as he looked.
Emily clicked the door shut after him and locked the dead bolt. “Cora needs a chain on this door. He broke in too easily.”
She tiptoed to the bed. “How’s our boy?”
“He’s almost out. After the commotion, he sensed the tension. It drained him.”
“But
