Chapter Three
Judson watched from the doorway of the den as Addie and Etta Jean each eased a sleeping baby into the pair of bassinets that had been set up in the room.
The change of location had been a necessity since the nursery itself was still being processed by the CSIs. Every inch of it would have to be checked for fibers or trace evidence to confirm that Yvette had indeed been in that room and had been the one who’d taken the babies.
Even after Addie and Etta Jean had the babies settled in, neither woman was eager to move away from the twins, and he figured it’d be a long time before Addie would want to let them out of her sight.
Especially since Yvette was still at large.
That’s why some serious precautions had been taken, including posting a deputy with Nan Fredrick in case Yvette returned to try to get the twins from her.
That probably wouldn’t happen, since Yvette would likely assume that Nan had called the cops.
Still, Yvette might be desperate enough to take the risk and return to the spot where she’d handed off Lily and Rose to the woman.
Another precaution was Judson had already decided that he’d be spending the rest of the day and the night at the Horseshoe Ranch.
Because he, too, intended to keep an eye on Lily and Rose.
Also on Addie and Etta Jean. It was just too risky to leave them alone, and despite Addie’s now fairly calm demeanor, she was no doubt still going through an emotional upheaval.
Still, they’d gotten damn lucky. The twins had not only been found, but they’d also both gotten two thumbs-up from the pediatrician who’d examined them and said there wasn’t a scratch or a mark on them.
Getting that exam, and the clean bills of health, had required a trip to the hospital before Addie and he had finally been able to bring the girls back to the foster home shortly after noon.
As Judson had expected, Addie and Etta Jean continued to stay by the bassinets even though the babies were now sleeping after being fed, changed, burped and rocked to sleep.
The last part of that hadn’t taken long, since the girls had drifted right off despite having their routines, and their safety, shot to hell and back.
Judson had to tamp down his fury over what Yvette had done to them. Yes, the babies were safe and they hadn’t been harmed, but any number of bad things could have happened, and Judson intended to make Yvette pay for what she had put them all through.
After several more minutes, Addie finally turned away from the bassinet, automatically reaching for the baby monitor that had been moved into the den along with other baby supplies. Then she shifted to look at Judson, their gazes connecting and holding.
Normally, when Addie and he had that kind of eye contact, he could see the heat there. The old chemistry between them. It’d been around for a long time, since they were teenagers, and more than once they’d given in to that lust and had kissed.
Later on, those kisses had escalated, and they’d landed in bed a couple of times, but afterward, something had always pulled them apart.
First, it’d been his stint in the military, and when he’d come home to sign on as a Renegade Canyon deputy, it’d been her brief engagement to another guy.
After that particular relationship ended, the pulling apart had been instigated by them having to deal with Mellie’s murder.
With Addie and him, it had always felt as if they were star-crossed, always something preventing them from even attempting something more than the occasional sex.
That didn’t stop the heat from coming, though.
It was there, right now, but there was also something else.
Judson could see the exhaustion and the worry etched all over Addie’s face.
She went to him and walked straight into his arms. Definitely not something she usually did because of that attraction. But there was nothing normal about this day, about this moment.
Judson pulled her to him and hoped it helped. He hated seeing Addie eaten up like this.
“I know I need to give a statement to one of the deputies,” she muttered. “But I don’t want to go into the police station. I don’t think Etta Jean does, either.”
Both Etta Jean and Judson made a sound of agreement. “Grace said you could tell me the broad strokes of what happened,” he let them both know, “but the official statement can wait until tomorrow now that the babies have been found.”
Addie relaxed a little, but he still felt a lot of tension in her body.
“I’ll stay in here with the babies if you two need to talk,” Etta Jean offered. She seemed to relax some as well. “Then I can give you my statement. You can watch the twins on the monitor,” she added to Addie.
Until Etta Jean said that last part, Addie seemed to be digging in her heels, ready to insist that she was staying put.
But the conversation Judson and she needed to have would be emotional.
Addie would likely cry, and he would almost certainly continue to get calls and texts about updates on the search for Yvette.
All that chatter and noise could end up waking the babies before their naps were done.
“All right,” Addie finally agreed.
Judson muttered a thanks to Etta Jean and eased back from Addie so he could take hold of her arm and lead her out of the den. Addie kept a firm grip on the monitor and pinned her attention to the screen as he took her up across the hall and into the living room.
“We don’t have to talk in there,” Addie said when she realized what direction they were going. “It’s not a good place for you.”
It wasn’t. In fact, it held some hellish memories of where his unstable druggie mother had dumped him when he’d been just seven years old.
Plenty old enough to catalog memories that no seven-year-old should have.
Of the ugly names she’d called him. Of the rage that had twisted her face.
That and the drugs had made her look like some kind of monster straight out of the fairy tales.
And she had indeed been a monster.
That’d been the reason Judson was removed from her custody, and her rage hadn’t been because he was being placed in care but because she would no longer get the monthly payments from his late father’s Social Security. Without the kid, she didn’t have the money to feed her drug habit.
Thankfully, though, Frank and Mellie had quickly gotten the monster out of the house, so that had minimized the memories. Still, they were there, lurking around like ghosts, and it was the reason he usually avoided this room. Not today, though.
“The living room’s close to the twins,” he reminded her. And he would endure lots of ghosts, monsters and memories to give Addie the peace that’d come from only being steps away from the babies.
He had her sit on the sofa so he could take the spot right next to her. Judson also didn’t want to be too far away from her when the tears started again.
And he didn’t have to wait long for that.
They came right away, accompanied by a sob that tore from Addie’s throat. He pulled her into his arms again and just let her cry it out.
“This is all my fault,” she said in between the sobs. “I didn’t lock the door, and I was distracted.”
“Not your fault,” he insisted right back. “An unlocked door isn’t an invitation for Yvette to come in and take the twins.”
It was true, but he doubted Addie would believe it. No. She would continue to blame herself when the blame sat solely with the woman who’d abducted Lily and Rose.
“When you can, tell me what was happening right before you realized the twins were missing,” Judson said, keeping his voice calm despite the tornado of emotions whirling inside him. It was hell watching Addie go through this.
“I had just fed and put them down for a nap,” she started after wiping away some of the tears.
“It was my first time doing it solo. Usually, Etta Jean and I each take one. But I wanted to do it by myself just to make sure I could. That way, it’ll free Etta Jean up to do other things, and with twins, there’s a lot that needs to be done. Laundry, sterilizing bottles and such.”
“And afterward?” he prompted when her voice cracked. “What happened after you put the twins down for their nap?”
“Uh, after I made sure Lily and Rose were asleep, I took the monitor and stepped outside to get the mail. As I was coming back into the house, I got that text from the parole board to let me know Rowena was out of jail. I was upset,” she added to that, and he knew that was a huge understatement.
It had likely shaken her to the core. “I wanted to call the parole board, so I gave the monitor to Etta Jean to watch.”
“And she was in the laundry room,” Judson said.
Addie nodded. “I should have remembered to lock the front door, and I should have carried the monitor with me,” she muttered on a groan.
“But you couldn’t have watched the monitor and concentrated on the call you needed to make,” Judson reminded her.
Again, Addie didn’t seem to buy that, but she continued. “It took me a while to get through to someone, and I finally spoke to the head of the parole board, who told me that Rowena had been released for medical reasons. She apparently has cancer.”
Prison officials sometimes did that, arranged an early release for an inmate with a terminal condition.
But Judson would be looking deeper into Rowena’s specific case.
Rowena had been in jail for murdering Addie’s mother, and even though that had been over three decades ago, it wasn’t nearly enough time to serve for taking a life.
And putting Addie through hell and back.