For a moment he thought she’d argue. He could see it in the way her back straightened and her jaw set. After a tense couple of minutes, Ryder’s shoulder sagged. “Fine. Don’t forget to let me know what happens.” She turned and walked out, stopping at her desk to grab her keys and purse before heading out the back door.
* * *
“Why, Mummy? I hadn’t finished playing with April.” Ebony pouted and looked out the window as Ryder reversed out of the childcare centre. She’d used the headache excuse and had to stand her ground when Amy offered to drop Eb off after Ryder had a chance to have a nap.
“It’s just the way it is, kiddo. I have things to do at home and you can have some more play time with Milo and the kittens.” She seemed only slightly mollified at having more time with her new pets. “How about we give him a bath or even a good brush? I’m sure he’d like that.”
“Maybe.” She folded her arms, looked out the window, and refused to glance in her direction.
Ryder shook her head and drove out of town toward home. All she wanted to do was turn around and storm into Amy’s office and ask what the hell was going on. It may have been footage before she’d started sending her daughter there but it made no difference. Her child’s safe place had been violated and that cut her to the core. When she’d arrived, Ryder had tried to look at the security system without being too obvious, but Amy sitting at the front desk made that a bit harder than she would have liked. She’d made a note of the security firm’s name and phone number. When Ebony calmed down and found something to do other than complain about being pulled away from her friends, Ryder had every intention of going onto her own computer and trawling the internet for answers.
When they drove in and parked, Milo was at the gate, his feet on the top rail waiting for them. His tail wagged furiously and soft whines came from his throat. Ebony perked up when she saw him and hurried up the path when Ryder undid her seat belt.
Chapter 14
Jake pulled up beside Ryder’s truck and sat for a moment. He doubted she would be happy with what he’d found out, but if the evidence wasn’t there, it wasn’t there.
A squeal of laughter caught his attention and he looked up. Ebony ran around the corner, Milo on a lead beside her. His long legs kicked out in front of him like a horse and she had to run to keep up with him. Jake opened the door and Milo stopped, looked, and blinked, looked again before deciding he was familiar.
“Jake, Milo can prance like a horse. Watch.” Ebony clicked her tongue and shouted. “Giddy up, Milo.” Together they ran past Jake and around the back of the house. He watched them disappear around the corner before he noticed Ryder standing at the top of the steps, her gaze cool and wary.
“Mind if I come in?”
“Of course not. I’ll make coffee.” She turned away and he headed through the gate and up the back stairs. When he walked into the kitchen, she stood at the coffee machine watching the dark brew fill up the glass pot.
“I spoke to Amy.” He waited for her to speak.
“And?”
Jake took a seat at the table. “She cried her eyes out. Never seen her so upset before.”
Ryder turned around. Her pale eyes seemed colder than he’d ever seen them. “Was she acting out or telling the truth?”
Jake sucked in a breath and accepted a mug of steaming coffee knowing she would quiz him on the interview. “Far as I can tell she didn’t know a damned thing. Jim called in while we were talking to her. Apparently one of the girls in the office saw the police dragging her away and freaked out.”
“That kind of happens when you sell video of your centre to paedophiles.”
“I don’t think she knew anything about it.” Jake looked at the coffee, deciding it could wait until Ryder calmed down.
“On what basis did you make that decision, Jake? Do you have the skills to see past the kind local woman who grows perfect roses? Do you have any idea how to read body language, to tell when someone is lying through their teeth and giving you what you want to hear? I’m not being disrespectful but you’re a small town cop where nothing ever goes wrong apart from jay walkers and speeding tourists. Maybe the odd drunk for good measure.”
He kept his silence, waiting for her to run out of steam, understanding why she was so upset.
“I had the training to do this interview. I needed to be there, Jake, and you sent me home when I could’ve been of help to you. I don’t believe you really could have made such an informed decision just like that.”
“I know Amy, okay. I’ve known her since we were both kids. That woman doesn’t have a nasty bone in her body and I think you know that. Now sit down and let me talk since you’ve had your say.”
* * *
Heat raced up Ryder’s cheeks. How could I have been so impertinent to my boss? He didn’t deserve a strip torn off of him from her and he sat and took it while she ranted. “I’m sorry.” Fancy questioning his credentials like that. “That was incredibly rude of me.”
“Look, I understand where you’re coming from and what you must have thought. But I promise you, Amy would not be involved in anything so low. Poor woman can’t even bear the thought of squashing caterpillars in her rose garden let alone putting a child in that position.”
Ryder sat down and
