Chapter Five
Judson watched as Addie gave each of the babies a kiss on the cheek, and while he figured she was trying to keep her nerves in check, he could tell she was worried about leaving them.
So was he.
With Yvette at large, Trevor missing and a possible unidentified dead body, there were a lot of moving parts in this investigation. But Judson was hoping that Jennifer and Shane would be able to fill in enough blanks for Renegade Canyon PD to figure out what the hell was going on.
“The twins will be safe,” Judson heard Addie mutter, trying to reassure herself.
Judson couldn’t promise Addie that nothing bad would happen—even if they stayed by the babies’ sides.
But he could promise that his fellow deputies Rory McClennan and Bennie Whitt would protect the girls with their lives.
Added to that, Rory’s brother, a wealthy rancher, had sent over two of his ranch hands, who would patrol the grounds.
Again, it wasn’t foolproof, but everything was in place to make the situation as safe as possible.
“I won’t leave this room even for a second while you’re gone,” Etta Jean promised Addie. She was standing by the bassinets, and she had a fierce, determined look on her face. “Go,” the woman added. “Help them find Yvette so we can put all this behind us.”
Judson hoped both things were possible. Finding Yvette was key, and then the healing could start. Still, it was going to be a long, long time before Addie would be able to stop looking over her shoulder for a possible threat.
He hated that. Hated that someone had shattered the peace and calm that Addie had worked so hard to find after Mellie’s murder. She’d get that peace and calm back. And she’d find her new routine. But at the moment, it probably didn’t feel like that.
Addie gave the girls yet another kiss, and she finally stepped away from the bassinets, turning toward him.
Their gazes locked for a couple of moments.
He didn’t voice any reassurances or make any promises about the babies’ safety.
No need. Addie knew him through and through, and she was already aware that he had every possible precaution in place.
Including the cruiser parked out front.
Rory and Bennie had arrived in it just minutes earlier, and Addie and he would be using it to drive the short distance to the police station.
The cruiser was bullet resistant, and even though Yvette hadn’t fired any shots during the abduction, Judson had wanted the extra protection in place for Addie in case the woman came back for round two.
Judson’s phone sounded with a text from Livvy, and he relayed the message to Addie. “Jennifer has just arrived at the station, and Shane is on his way.”
Addie nodded, giving the babies one last look before she went to Judson. She added a thanks to both Rory and Bennie, who were already standing by to take up protection duty. Since both deputies had kids of their own and were experienced lawmen, Judson was hoping there wouldn’t be any problems.
He didn’t give Addie or Etta Jean an estimated time for their return. Too many unknowns there. It would depend on what Jennifer and Shane had to say in their respective interviews.
Or didn’t say.
But if either of them were trying to hold on to their secrets, then maybe Grace and Livvy would get them to confess.
When they reached the front door, Judson used the keypad to unlock the cruiser, and moving fast, he got Addie outside and into the front seat. Best not to be in the open or on the roads any longer than necessary, so he pushed past the speed limit when they reached the highway.
Addie’s phone rang, and he heard her sharp intake of breath. Probably because she thought it might be Rowena, but her shoulders relaxed when she saw the caller’s ID. What she didn’t do was take the call. She let it go to voicemail.
“It’s my attorney who’s handling the adoption,” she let him know. “I’ll need to talk to her, but not now. I’ll call her back once the interviews are over and I’m home.”
That made sense to him. Hard to focus on a phone conversation when watching to make sure someone wasn’t about to shoot you.
“I didn’t realize you’d already gotten a lawyer,” Judson commented.
She made a sound of agreement and looked at him. “Does that bother you, that I want to do this?”
“No,” he couldn’t say fast enough. “Like I told you earlier, you’ll make a great mom.”
“Do I hear a but in there?” she came out and asked.
“No.” Again, he said it fast. “You’ve got a lot on your plate right now, and I’m guessing the twins are like the bright lights waiting for you at the end of this ordeal.”
She smiled, and it was good to see. Too bad it didn’t last, because as Judson pulled in front of the police station, the smile went south.
“Move fast,” Judson reminded her.
As he’d done back at the ranch, he hurried her inside to the chaos that went along with such a high-profile case.
There were three different phone conversations going on from deputies in the bullpen.
Another was going on in the sheriff’s office.
And another still at the receptionist’s desk.
A printer was chugging out something and making plenty of noise while doing it.
Despite all the noise and activity, Judson had no problem tuning it out and tuning in to the conversation taking place between Livvy and Shane.
“I didn’t go to that damn ranch,” Shane spat out, and he must have been alerted to Judson and Addie’s arrival, because he shifted in their direction and repeated what he’d just said. This time, though, he added some more profanity.
“Deputy Walsh here is accusing me of lying and God knows what else,” Shane went on, clearly in rant mode. “She thinks I kidnapped those kids. Well, I didn’t.”
Livvy looked as if ready to roll her eyes, but instead she motioned for Shane to follow her toward the interview rooms. She added a nod for Judson and Addie to come as well.
The change of location didn’t cause Shane to hush. He just continued with his anger-filled tirade. “I was looking for my mother. That’s why I was near that place. I turned in to the road, and when I didn’t see her car, I made a U-turn and went looking for her elsewhere.”
“I’ve already Mirandized him,” Livvy said over her shoulder to Addie and Judson. “So he knows he has a right to have a lawyer and the right to stay silent. He’s definitely not staying silent and has said he’ll call in an attorney if and when he damn well pleases.”
Livvy sounded more than a little satisfied about that not staying silent part despite the tongue-lashing Shane was giving her. And Judson understood why: Chatty suspects often spilled a lot more than they planned.
But the question was—did Shane have something illegal to spill?
Earlier at the ranch, Shane had admitted he’d been out looking for his mother, so that could explain why he was in or near Renegade Canyon.
Another explanation, though, could be that he’d been there to assist his mother in committing a felony.
Or to try to clean up after the one she’d already committed.
With Judson and Addie right behind them, Livvy led Shane to the second interview room. The door to the first one was closed, and Judson was betting that’s where they had Jennifer waiting. Shane didn’t go into the room, though. He whirled around to face the three of them.
“Look, all this is nonsense and a complete waste of your time and mine,” Shane went on.
Neither Judson nor Livvy asked any questions, since any answers the man might give right now could perhaps be challenged later by his lawyer. But if it was info that Shane volunteered, even after being Mirandized, then it could turn out to be something the cops could use to prosecute him.
Shane huffed and folded his arms over his chest. “I was in that area because Mom talks about it a lot. She went through hell when CPS took Jennifer and me away from her. She was always going on about the Horseshoe Ranch and how the woman there, the manager, wouldn’t let her see us kids.”
The manager, Mellie, would have needed permission from the courts for a visit like that to happen, so Mellie had just been following the law. Along with protecting the children.
“Mom’s been talking even more about that ranch lately,” Shane continued.
“I’m not sure why.” He stopped, and some of the anger seemed to fade from his face.
Either that or he was putting on an act.
“Mom hasn’t been herself since she hooked up with Trevor,” he said in a barely audible mumble.
“And I just didn’t want her to do anything stupid, something she’d regret. ”
Judson didn’t spell out that the evidence did point to Yvette kidnapping the twins. That wasn’t in question since the farmer Nan Fredrick had seen Yvette with Lily and Rose. The big question now was had Yvette had an accomplice, and was that accomplice the man standing in front of them right now?
Shane seemed to stay in deep thought for several moments, and then he huffed as if frustrated that they weren’t responding. “I’ll call my lawyer after all,” he snapped, going into the room and shutting the door behind him.
“You believe what he just said?” Addie asked, volleying glances at both Livvy and him.
Judson had to shrug. “It’s possible that Yvette did talk about the Horseshoe, but why would Shane search that area? Why not go to his adoptive parents’ house? Or his sister’s? I’m sure Yvette talked about them, too.”
“I’m hoping I’ll find that out once his attorney shows,” Livvy said, and then she motioned toward interview room one. “Jennifer hasn’t lawyered up, so we’ll be able to start with her…now,” she amended when they heard the sound of footsteps and saw Grace making her way to them.
One look at his boss’s face, though, and Judson knew she wasn’t solely here for the interviews, that she had some news for them. And that the news wasn’t good.