“I’ll need more than that. I want histories, too. I’m especially interested in the past few months. Anyone you think might have a vendetta against you or Ms. Gable,” he said. “There’s a possibility someone targeted your child in order to show you what it would feel like to have your baby ripped from your arms.”
More icy fingers gripped her spine at the suggestion somehow her work was putting her daughter in danger. A scary thought struck. Could Wyatt use that in court to take Aubrey away from her?
Would he?
“I’ll email the list with as much detail as I can provide as soon as I get home. I don’t have to remind you everything I share is confidential.” This was over. Aside from the fact that she had nothing else to contribute, he had already given up on her ability to help. Besides, what happened earlier most likely didn’t have anything to do with her current caseload. She’d barely been back to work since having the baby.
There’d been threats before and they were idle. She was always quick to point out to the abusers that if anything happened to her they would be the first stop for the sheriff.
A little voice in the back of her head said that this time no one was threatening. Someone had taken action and they’d done it while the baby was with Stephanie, which would make it harder to tie the crime back to revenge against Meg.
If Meg didn’t know any better, she’d get excited about the possibility of forensic evidence nailing the kidnapper. She knew enough to realize that, unlike crime shows on TV, forensics wasn’t the be-all and end-all answer for most crimes. Furthermore, it took time to process a crime scene. She could only pray that this whole episode was random and that the attacker would be caught before he could make an attempt on another innocent child.
Meg wanted, no, needed to take her baby home. She stood. She knew the drill, so she preempted the sheriff. “If I can think of anything else, I’ll call.”
Wyatt caught her arm as she walked toward the door. “Where are you going?”
“Home. Let’s go,” she said with a finality that he should know better than to argue against.
One glance at him said he fully understood. He released his grip, and she didn’t stop walking until they made it into the lobby. Facing the sea of journalists out there looking for a story wasn’t exactly her idea of reducing stress.
“Maybe we could huddle together and shield the baby,” she said to Stephanie.
“Hold on a minute,” Wyatt argued. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Walking out the front door,” she said slowly, like she was talking to a two-year-old.
“I can see that. The question is why?” Something about Wyatt made her want to stick around and tell him what was going on. Was it a look? His body language? The sympathy she believed she saw in his eyes?
“Because I can tell when I’ve lost a battle,” she said with a little more heat than she’d intended. “There’s nothing else we can do or say in there.”
He stood for a long moment in what seemed like a dare. The first one to move lost.
Wyatt took in a sharp breath, a concession breath. “Fine. Let me take you and the baby out the back way to avoid media attention.”
Meg held her ground. Her heart thundered against her rib cage as Wyatt disappeared into the sheriff’s office. He returned a few seconds later as a deputy motioned for her to follow him toward the opposite hall.
“I’ll grab the truck, circle the block and pick you up.” Wyatt was a study in determination. His outer appearance was calm, too calm. There was a raging storm swirling beneath the surface and Meg didn’t have the energy to withstand the gale-force winds. Not tonight.
Emotions torpedoed through her so fast that she didn’t have time to process them. Aubrey was stirring and she didn’t want her little girl to pick up the tension in her mother when Wyatt spoke.
Before she could agree or argue, he disappeared. He was probably trying to help, but she didn’t need someone walking into her life and taking over. She could think for herself and he needed to see that she’d been fine on her own and especially if the two of them could end up in a courtroom someday.
They could talk in the morning when she had a better perspective and time to gather her thoughts. Meg never fared well when she was caught off guard. She needed to mull things over because all her best decisions came out of respecting her need for time to process information.
As Wyatt walked away she turned to the deputy. “Can you take us home?”
He hesitated and then nodded before leading them out the back and to his SUV. Meg buckled up and held on to Aubrey.
Stephanie flashed eyes at Meg and asked under her breath, “What are you doing?”
“Taking my daughter home,” she said plainly.
“What about him?” Stephanie motioned toward the truck that was now behind them.
“Aubrey comes first. She needs to eat, and both he and I need a minute to cool down. There’s been a lot thrown at both of us today and we need time to process everything before we make an attempt to figure this out,” she said.
“Does that mean he’s planning to stick around?” Stephanie’s brow went up.
“I have no idea what his plans are. He accused me of trying to use Aubrey to get at the Butler fortune.” The accusation still stung and she hadn’t had time to process the fact that he was a Butler.
“What does he have to do with the Butlers?” Stephanie didn’t hesitate.
“Turns out he’s one of them but he didn’t seem happy about it,” Meg said. A self-made man like Wyatt wouldn’t care about the money. The family had been through a lot of trauma since Mr. Butler’s murder. The eldest Butler, a female, had been attacked. Another person, Madelyn Kensington, had been summoned to town by the family lawyer in order to be told Mike Butler was her father. A jealous ex had followed Madelyn and nearly killed her. And one of the Butler twins, Dade, had gotten involved with a local woman who barely survived a stalker.
“That family has certainly had their troubles. But he couldn’t have meant what he said to you,” Stephanie said.
“What makes you so sure?”
“Did you see the way he looks at you?”
Her friend was hallucinating if she thought Wyatt had any feelings left for Meg. He’d been clear about enjoying his single life before. Heck, the times she’d slept over at his place she realized he didn’t even have two coffee mugs. What person didn’t have two coffee mugs? One could be dirty. Meg didn’t have the energy to analyze it again. The message had been clear. Wyatt preferred the number one.
The realization had been a good wake-up call for Meg because she’d been starting down a slippery slope of developing actual feelings for the cowboy-turned-restaurant-mogul. What a disaster that would’ve been.
“I wish someone looked at me like that,” Stephanie said under her breath.
Yeah? Wyatt’s steel eyes had been serious, intense. Stephanie was probably misreading the situation.
Aubrey yawned before starting to fuss. Meg repositioned her daughter and spoke in a soothing tone.
The deputy pulled onto the parking pad and Meg thanked him for the ride.
Aubrey fussed and fidgeted as Meg climbed out of the back seat. “Will you deal with him? I need to take care of her. She’s hungry and I’m exhausted.”
“I’ll take care of the cowboy,” Stephanie said, and Meg’s heart squeezed. Would