Ryder looked up at the camera over the front door.
“Grandad disabled it totally. Made me sick to the stomach. If I had my way, I’d tear it off the wall and never put it back, but we do have to be a bit serious about security with the children.”
“Yes, you do. Please don’t be offended if you see me in and out today, Amy. For my own peace of mind, I have to make sure Ebony’s safe. I won’t get in the way, I promise. A peek in the door will satisfy me.”
Amy looked at her, a sad smile on her face. “I understand, Ryder, really I do.” She shredded the tissue in her hand before speaking again. “Paris came to us you know, little Paris Bonneville. Such a pretty little baby she was too. It makes me sick to think they found her by stalking through our tapes.” She gave a shudder and a sob rose in her throat. “What must people think of me?”
Ryder couldn’t help it, she moved over and wrapped her arms around her cousin’s shoulders. Amy broke down and sobbed as they stood there. “Its not your fault, Amy. People get hacked all time, most of them just never find out.”
A door behind the front counter opened and Jim poked his head in the room. When he saw the way his wife was behaving her shook his head and came in, holding his arms out to her. “Baby, come here.” For a moment they stood together and Ryder watched them. This wasn’t put on. Her cousin was genuinely devastated as was her husband. Guilt rode up her back but she pushed it down. There was no room for personal feelings in a case like this.
“Why don’t you come out back and have a cup of tea with me? The girls have everything under control.”
“I’d better get to work. I’ll catch up with you later in the day, Amy, and if there’s anything you need or can think of, either one of you give me a call, okay?”
“Thanks, Ryder. We appreciate it. This is going to be hard dealing with the backlash but we have nothing to be ashamed of. We didn’t know what was going on.”
“I know, Jim.” She glanced through the door to her daughter’s room again and then turned and left.
When she got to the station, she walked inside and threw her purse in the top drawer with her truck keys. She glanced up and turned her head to look at Jake, paused a moment, then walked into his office.
“I felt like crap seeing Amy this morning, just so you know. And I agree, she had nothing to do with it.” A wave of heat raced up her cheeks and Jake waited. “And yeah, you were right to keep me out of it. Sorry I acted like an ass. Guess it was my protective mum genes kicking in.”
“I understand, totally. Now what are we going to do to find these guys? I have one of the boys picking up the order to seize all computers and tapes from the security firm. That won’t go down well but we have to do it.”
“We need to find the money trail. Always the best way to find someone. Who around town has more money than they should?” Ryder watched him turning that over in his head.
“Nobody here that I can think of straight away. I mean there are a couple of businesses that do well but not over the top better than I would expect. Your grandfather does well for what he does but then again, so does Eric. Kind of what you’d expect from a lawyer.”
Chapter 16
Ryder pulled up at the childcare centre and chastised herself. It seemed ridiculous considering she didn’t believe Amy was involved. They’d sent the computers down to Sydney to be looked at by their tech guys and she and Jake had spent the morning watching tape after tape of the centre. Nothing had shown up but then again, the tapes had been reused as Ryder had suspected they would be.
A quick peek in the window and she would have some lunch and then get on the chat room again and see if anyone had come back to her regarding her carefully worded inquiries. This time instead of pretending she wanted a quick thrill, in her disguise as Marvin, she’d gone searching for a lawyer who could for a substantial fee, procure a child for a friend of his to adopt.
It was a long shot and everything had a risk in this game but Ryder was willing to take it. She slid out of the truck and rolled her shoulders as she walked into the centre. Amy sat behind the counter looking slightly calmer than she had early that morning.
“Ryder. What are you doing back here?” A puzzled frown settled on her forehead.
“Told you I’d check in.”
“Yes, but…” She spun the sign out book around and checked it, running her finger down the page before glancing back at Ryder. “You came and collected her already. Look, you signed Ebony out just after morning tea.”
Ice ran through her heart and the panic rose faster than she could breath. Ryder grabbed the book and looked. Ebony had been signed out forty-five minutes earlier. “No. No!” Even she could see the signature wasn’t hers.
“Ryder?” Amy came around the desk, eyes wary as she waited for something.
“It wasn’t me. I’m telling you I never came here and got her.” She stormed into Ebony’s room and ran outside where the children were playing. She asked every carer she could find for her daughter. She sagged against a tree and pulled out her phone, her gaze still scanning the yard, hoping
