Nash scratched the scruff on his chin and opened his mouth.
Emily butted her way between the two of them and clung to Nash’s arm. “When are they going to be done here, Nash? I’m still a nervous wreck. I just want to get back to Phoenix and forget this whole thing.”
Nash snapped his mouth shut and studied Emily’s face. She winked at him.
Was he supposed to know what that meant? If she thought he was about to tell Espinoza about the GPS tracker on Wyatt’s car seat, she’d interrupted that moment for a reason. One thing he knew for sure was that Emily Lang was no nervous wreck after cracking Danny in the skull with his own gun.
“I think they’re ready to wrap it up, right, Detective?”
“We are. Ms. Lang, do you have any idea why these two men thought you and Nash knew who took the baby?”
She turned toward him, her hand at her throat. “I have no idea. If we knew where Wyatt was, we’d tell you right away. Maybe they thought it was some other drug dealer who Nash had in his sights.”
“They’d be wrong.” Nash folded his arms with Emily’s fingers still digging into his bicep and covered her hand with his.
Espinoza clapped his hat onto his head. “We’re almost done. We’ll question Danny Trujillo, for all the good it’ll do. We’ll see if it was his gun that shot Fillmore, so that’ll be a start. He does have a silencer on it. Damn shame about that baby. Don’t get why the lowlife who killed Fillmore didn’t just leave the baby there, but thank God we didn’t find the baby dead.”
Emily closed her eyes and swooned against Nash’s shoulder, but Nash didn’t think she was faking it this time.
He shook his head at Espinoza, and the detective grimaced and said, “We’ll be out of your way.”
“I’ll be off duty for a few days and maybe out of town, but not far. Call me if you need anything else.” Nash held out his hand to Espinoza to hurry him along.
Ten minutes later, only the crime scene tape hanging limply outside and the bloodstained floorboards inside gave any indication that a man had died here and another had been hauled away.
When Nash finally closed the door, Emily pounced on him.
“Oh, my God. I’m so glad you didn’t spill the beans about the GPS on Wyatt.” She pulled his arm and dragged him to the couch.
“I gathered that. You stopped me just in time. I was about to reveal all. Now tell me why we didn’t.”
When they sat down, Emily tapped furiously on her phone and crooked her finger at him to have a look at her display.
“Read this. It’s from Marcus Lanier.”
Nash took the phone from her and read the text message out loud. “‘I have the baby safe and sound. All you need to do to get him back is tell that Border Patrol agent to delete the file Webb sent him and forget about its existence. If you involve the police, the baby will disappear. Let me know when this is done and I’ll let you know where to pick up the baby.’”
Nash dropped the phone, his blood thumping hot through his veins. “What the hell is this about?”
“D-do you know what file he’s referring to? Who’s Webb?”
“I know what file he means and Special Agent Bruce Webb is the guy in finance who sent it to me, but how does he know about Webb and that file?” Nash dug a hand through his hair. “The information in that file has the potential to show his connection to Las Moscas and his money-laundering efforts on their behalf.”
“You have to do it, Nash. You have to get rid of it so we can get Wyatt back.”
He whipped his head around. “Do you trust Lanier? He lied to you from the beginning. Do you really think he’d release Wyatt unharmed if I destroy evidence of his criminal activity?”
Her green eyes widened, and the freckles stood out on her pale cheeks. “What’s the alternative? Refuse and send Wyatt to his death?”
“Was that what this was about all along?” Nash clasped his hands behind his neck. “It couldn’t be. Lanier had no idea Jaycee would leave the baby with me. I doubt he even knew of my existence before this.”
Emily held up her hands. “I didn’t tell him about you. When I informed him that Jaycee had dropped off the baby with an old friend, I didn’t tell him your name or your occupation.”
“Why not?”
She lifted and dropped her shoulders quickly. “Just a feeling—a feeling that you were the good guy and Lanier has a lot of money to throw around if he doesn’t get his way.”
“Well, you got that right.” He picked up the phone again and reread the message. “If this opportunity just fell into his lap by coincidence, why was he after Wyatt in the first place?”
“You never did follow through with getting that Rapid DNA test done.”
“Like I had time?”
“I’m not criticizing, but what if the story Brett concocted was the actual truth all along? Wyatt is Lanier’s baby, but Lanier didn’t want that getting out. He didn’t want his wife to find out. Or Jaycee was going to blackmail him, so he wanted to...destroy the evidence.”
“That could all be true. When Jaycee died, one threat had been eliminated, but Brett knew. He had the baby and he was ready to follow through with Jaycee’s plan.”
Emily wedged her bare feet on the coffee table and wiggled her toes. “Lanier had Brett killed but, by this time, had figured out who you were and what you could do to him. So when he ordered Brett killed, he also ordered his henchman to take Wyatt as insurance.”
“Poor kid.” Nash ran a hand beneath his nose. “His whole life he’s been nothing more than a bargaining chip.”
Emily turned toward him and, taking
