Chapter Four #2
She didn’t have to ask why. She already knew. His father had walked out on him and Sandra when Brody had been just a toddler. Remi had always thought that was part of why Brody wanted to be a dad. To build something better. To give his own kids the kind of life he never had after his father left.
Her chest tightened.
They’d all grown up here, the three of them—Brody, Miranda and her. Thick as thieves back then, running wild across these fields, daring each other to jump fences, climb trees, chase sunsets.
And Remi had loved Brody for as long as she could remember.
But she’d stepped back the moment Miranda and Brody became a thing. Because Miranda had been her best friend. And because Brody had never looked at her the way he looked at Miranda.
Not that it mattered.
Brody was no longer the boy she’d fallen for. And she wasn’t the girl who’d been too afraid to tell him how she felt. They were here for one reason, and it wasn’t to rehash the past. They had to find his other son and keep that baby in the nursery safe.
Brody moved to the desk, dropping down into the chair and booting up his laptop. He’d barely gotten started when his phone rang.
“Harlan,” he announced, and he took the call. “You’re on speaker,” he added to the deputy, “and Remi is with me.”
The deputy hesitated but didn’t question why she was there.
He just launched right into the reason for the call.
“The clinic isn’t manned 24/7, but there’s a security service that monitors it remotely.
That’s how I found out the embryos were missing.
The tech was able to do a visual scan of the storage unit, and he saw it was empty. ”
“Isn’t there any security on the storage unit?” Brody asked. “Something to stop them from being stolen?”
“Not actual security like there would be in, say, a bank or store. The doors are locked, and there’s a system set to go off if anyone tries to break in.
The embryos are frozen in liquid nitrogen tanks, and they require a specific thawing-out process once they’re removed.
Not just anybody can walk in off the street and do that,” he emphasized.
“So this was an inside job,” Brody was quick to say. “I need the names of everyone who had access to those embryos in the past year.”
“On it. I’ve got a call into the clinic director, and I’ll see what she has to say. Want me to go ahead and get a forensic team over there?” Harlan asked.
“I most certainly do. And talk to the remote security company again and find out if they had any breaches in security or equipment outages that could explain how those embryos went missing.”
“Will do. I’ll let you know when I have an update,” the deputy assured him.
Brody ended the call and looked at her. “We need to figure out where to start looking for Tarrant Eddington,” he said, all business. His voice was clipped. Like he needed the task to keep himself from unraveling.
Remi nodded, stepping closer. “Then, let’s get to work.”
Because there was no room for old feelings and memories when a child’s life was on the line.
Brody logged into the police database and entered Tarrant’s name. Info and photos began to load on the screen. Nothing that she didn’t already know, but Remi studied the background data anyway.
Tarrant Eddington, forty-one, from San Antonio.
Stinking rich, thanks to generations of inheritances.
He had several charges against him for assault, but nothing had ever stuck.
Well, not until the manslaughter charge nearly two years ago.
The bar fight that had resulted in a death when Tarrant had jabbed the stem of a broken wineglass in a man’s neck.
“No wonder he wanted his wife to destroy evidence against him,” Brody muttered as he read the file. “He would have been convicted. I’m surprised he wasn’t charged with murder for this bar fight.”
Remi made a sound of agreement. “That was probably thanks to his expensive team of lawyers. But even those high-priced lawyers wouldn’t have been able to keep him out of jail.”
Especially now. Along with the manslaughter, Tarrant was facing additional charges for murdering his wife, attempted obstruction of justice and a whole litany of crimes dealing with stealing the embryos and using the baby to blackmail his wife.
“Who would know where Tarrant might be?” Brody asked, his voice tight with frustration. “Or who’d want to set up something like this?”
Remi didn’t answer right away. She leaned against the edge of the desk, arms crossed, staring at the laptop screen. Tarrant Eddington’s face stared back at her from one of the photos. He sported a smirk coupled with those rock-star looks, even in a mug shot. Arrogant jerk.
“Tarrant’s an SOB,” she finally said. “He’s made plenty of enemies.”
Brody grunted, like that wasn’t the answer he wanted. But it was the truth.
Still, one name stuck out. A woman who’d never stopped hunting him. “Christina Turner,” Remi said, shifting her gaze to Brody.
His brow furrowed. “Who is she?”
“Tarrant’s former sister-in-law,” she replied. “Tarrant murdered Christina’s sister, Grace, and Christina is now raising Grace and Tarrant’s baby, the one who was used to coerce her into destroying evidence against him.”
Brody’s jaw tightened, and he grabbed a marker, jotting her name on a sticky note before slapping it onto the corkboard. He also used his laptop to pull up her DMV photo. “You think she could have orchestrated this?” he asked, turning back to her.