“Listen to yourself.” He lightly clinched her wrists. “We’re not letting a guy like Lanier get away with his crimes and continue to make money from people’s suffering. We’re not going to hope that a known liar, thief and killer is going to follow through on his promises.”
“I get all of that, but we can’t abandon Wyatt.” A sob caught in Emily’s throat, and tears splashed down her cheeks.
He caught one of her tears with his thumb and sucked it into his mouth. “We’re not going to abandon Wyatt. We’re going to rescue him without giving Lanier a damned thing except a jail cell in federal prison.”
“How are we going to do that?” She swiped a hand across her wet face.
“First of all, I need to find out what Webb knows about all this. How is it Lanier knows the name of the guy responsible for his forensic accounting? Why does Lanier believe he’s in the clear once I delete my file?”
“That is weird.” Emily scooped up her phone and checked the location of the car seat. “Still there, but with all this work you have to do, we can’t get him.”
“I want to know what we’re walking into.” He tapped the phone in her hand. “Lanier didn’t mention how we’re supposed to know Wyatt is okay. Maybe that’s the first thing you text him. Ask for proof that Wyatt is alive and healthy. Tell him I need some time.”
“Now?”
“What time did he send that message?”
“Around six this morning—after we took care of Gustavo and Danny.” She held her fist out for a bump. “We do make a good team, don’t we?”
“I told you. You have the instincts of a cop. Get out of this PI business. You never know what kind of clients you’re going to get.” He leaned over and kissed the side of her head. “Send that text. I’m going to feed Denali. He deserves a steak.”
“Should we take him to the vet today?”
“Does he look like he’s suffering any ill effects to you?” He tipped his head toward Denali in the corner, gnawing on a bone.
Emily cupped the phone in her hand, her thumb hovering over the keyboard display. “What should I write?”
“‘We’re working on it. Send proof that Wyatt is okay.’”
Her thumb darted over the display, and then she held the phone out to him. “How’s this?”
“Hit Send.”
Emily sent the text, and Nash went into the kitchen to get Denali’s food ready. When he opened the fridge, his gaze tripped across one of Wyatt’s bottles, filled with formula. He’d talked a bold game with Emily, but fear clawed at his gut when he thought about Lanier with Wyatt. That man had no regard for the child—whether Wyatt was his or not.
And how was Webb involved in all of this? If Lanier knew Webb’s name and title, he must know he had the data, too. He wouldn’t put it past Lanier to put a hit on Webb, but the file implicating him would still be on Webb’s computer.
Emily called from the great room, “He responded.”
“Read it to me.” Nash grabbed Denali’s dish.
“He said he’d have the woman watching Wyatt live chat with me.”
“That’s good. Do it now. We have to have proof of life right now.”
“I just texted him that.”
Denali abandoned his bone when Nash carried his dish out to the dining area. “Here you go. Steak later.”
Emily waved her phone at him. “I’m waiting for this person to call me.”
Two minutes later, Emily’s cell rang and she answered with the phone display toward her.
Nash didn’t want to have his mug on this call, so he stood just out of view behind Emily on the couch.
Wyatt’s face filled the screen, and Nash swallowed the lump in his throat. The woman didn’t allow her own face on the display, but she held Wyatt in her lap and said, “You can see. The baby is fine. He’s healthy and well cared for, and Mr. Marcus told me to tell you he’ll stay that way until Mr. Marcus gets what he wants.”
With a catch in her voice, Emily said, “Hello, Wyatt. I miss you, baby boy.”
Wyatt gurgled and smiled when he heard Emily’s voice.
Emily blew him a few kisses but then addressed the woman. “What’s he paying you? Why would you do this to an innocent baby? Bring him to us, and we’ll make sure you walk away from this.”
The display swung away from Wyatt and captured a room. A gruff voice came over the phone. “Shut up. The kid’s fine. That’s what you wanted. Just do what you’re supposed to do, and we won’t harm him.”
Emily shouted, “Let me see him again.”
Wyatt appeared on the display again and Emily cooed. “It’s okay, Wyatt. We’ll see you soon. I love you, baby boy.”
They ended the call on the other end, and Emily slumped against the couch cushions.
Nash squeezed her shoulders. “You shouldn’t have done that. It didn’t help.”
“Sure it did.” She swung around to face him. “We know he’s not just with some woman. There’s a man there for security, and we got to see some of the room where he’s being held. There was a window in that room and a view of the outside. I’m going to go frame by frame and enlarge those images to get a better look at everything.”
He bent over and kissed her sassy mouth. “You’re a badass, Officer Lang.”
“I’m terrified that Lanier has Wyatt, but in a way I almost feel better. He won’t do anything to Wyatt until he has proof that you deleted his file.” She pressed the phone against her heart as if it had captured Wyatt from that chat. “How are you going to contact Webb if you’re off duty?”
“Our sector is low-key. Even though I’m on leave, nobody at the station is going to stop me if I want to
