Chapter Twenty #2
Brenda exiled the thought. Even Scott wouldn’t do that to his own daughter.
On the other hand, he had pretended to be dead and allowed his child to grieve him. What kind of father did that? She had to stop giving him any sort of credit. The man had obviously put money above all else and now this was the result.
Even if she found Janey, the two of them might never be safe again.
Her cell vibrated against her thigh. If it was Detective Shelton…
Mallory.
The bottom dropped out of Brenda’s stomach. “It’s Mallory.” She accepted the call. “Mallory, where are you? Where is Janey? I need to speak to her!”
Ben leaned closer to hear the other side of the conversation. Brenda should have set the call to speaker, but she’d been too startled to think and now she was afraid to do anything that might cause the call to drop.
“You’ve made this far more complicated than it needed to be, Brenda, with all your running to the cops and prompting an Amber Alert.”
The anger in the other woman’s voice startled Brenda all over again.
Her first instinct was to demand how she thought she had the right to say such a thing.
But that would be a mistake. She had to be careful, keep her talking.
Stay on her good side—assuming she had one.
Brenda had once believed her to be a good person… a good friend.
“I’m sorry, Mallory,” she offered in hopes of assuaging her anger. “I didn’t know what else to do. Please,” she pleaded, “just tell me if my baby is okay.”
“Janey is fine.”
Brenda’s eyes closed in gratitude. Thank God. Thank God.
“But you have something I need. I know you have it because someone attempted to access the accounts.”
Brenda looked to Ben. It must have been his colleague Max. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”
“If you want to see your child again, you’d better not play that game with me. I want those account numbers and the names. I know you have them.”
The only way Mallory could know about what Brenda had found was if Cummings had told her.
Just because someone had attempted to access the accounts didn’t mean it was Brenda.
It could have been Scott or Lena. Did that mean Mallory had killed the fake special agent?
Brenda’s heart twisted with fear. She didn’t want to believe the woman she had trusted with the care of her child was a murderer.
But denying the possibility was growing harder and harder.
She looked to Ben in question. What should she do?
He nodded for her to go ahead.
“I found the list today,” she admitted. “Scott must have hidden it in my house. I had no idea, but all those messages telling me I’d better hurry up and find what they wanted had me tearing the house apart.”
“I sent you those messages,” she snarled. “Took you long enough to get the job done.”
“I’m sorry,” Brenda implored. “I did the best I could.”
“I searched your house a dozen times,” Mallory countered, her voice dripping with suspicion now, “and I never found it. You’d better not be lying to me.”
“The first name on the list is Albert Winthrop,” Brenda told her. “Does that sound familiar?”
The silence that followed had new fear trickling through her.
“Oh yeah.” Mallory laughed. “That’s the one Scott screwed up—the stupid mistake that got him caught. Winthrop is the reason we’re in this mess. It’s him you have to thank for all this.”
Brenda wondered if she meant Mr. Winthrop or Scott. Maybe both. “He’s dead.”
More silence.
Then, “Who’s dead?”
“Mr. Winthrop. He was in a car accident.”
“This is what we’re going to do,” Mallory went on without acknowledging the statement. “I will call you with a location. You will bring the list to me. I don’t want anything sent via email or text. I don’t even want you to say anything else over the phone. I need you to hand deliver it.”
“Wait,” Brenda argued, her bravado finding its legs once more. “I’m not giving you anything until you give me Janey.”
“You are in no position to make demands,” Mallory fired back. “Now pay attention or you’ll never see her again.”
“You better not hurt my child,” Brenda warned, a fresh burst of outrage getting the better of her.
“Why would I hurt a cute kid like Janey? She’s far too valuable on the black market to damage in any way.”
A new kind of horror poured like ice-cold acid through Brenda, freezing and scalding at the same time. “Just tell me what to do.”
“That’s more like it,” Mallory said smugly. “I’ll call with a location, and you’ll come. Alone. You give me the list and I’ll give you the kid. We go our separate ways. End of story.”
“Okay,” Brenda agreed without hesitation. “How long before you’ll call?” Her pulse was pounding like a drum in her ears. Her heart thumped wildly.
“A couple of hours maybe. I have some details to work out. Meanwhile, you stay cool and do not talk to anyone. Do you understand me? No one!”
“Yes,” Brenda urged. “Please, just let me hear her voice. I only want to tell her I love her. Please.”
A big, exasperated exhale. “Don’t say or ask anything your child will regret,” Mallory warned.
Brenda held her breath, her gaze locked on Ben’s. He squeezed her hand. She hadn’t even realized he’d been holding her hand. She was so grateful he was here.
“Hello.”
The sound of Janey’s sweet voice had tears of joy spilling from Brenda’s eyes. “Hey, sweetie. How are you? Mommy misses you so much.”
“Me and Mall’y are having an adventure,” she announced.
“Wow, I hope you’re having fun.”
“We’re having lots of fun.” She made a soft sound like a sleepy sigh. “I miss you too, Mommy. When are you coming to pick me up?”
“Very soon,” Brenda promised. The struggle to keep her voice steady was an immense one. “I love you, baby girl.”
“Wuv you too.”
“Satisfied?” Mallory had reclaimed the phone.
“Yes.” Brenda swiped at her eyes. “Thank you for taking good care of her.” Janey sounded contented…and safe. Unaware of any danger.
“You’ll hear from me when I’m ready to meet.”
The call ended.
Brenda dropped her phone into her lap and sobbed into her hands. Her child was alive… She was okay…
For now.