She shook her head.
“What about your husband?”
“We’re divorced.” She met his gaze. “I contacted him. He was tested, but he wasn’t a match, either. Nor were any of his relatives who agreed to be tested. So, of course, I looked for potential donors in my family. That’s when I learned they aren’t my blood relatives. To cut to the chase, since my parents are both dead, I confronted my aunt Rhoda, and she admitted I had been adopted.”
“Any reason your adopted parents didn’t tell you the truth?”
“Such as?”
“Perhaps they knew the birth mother, had promised to keep the adoption secret.”
But Laura was shaking her head. “No. My aunt Rhoda contends that at first they didn’t know how to approach telling me, then they decided there was no point in risking my happiness. And, she said, deep down they were afraid of losing me. They were older when they got me and I guess they weren’t completely comfortable with the entire parenthood thing.”
She stood suddenly, crossing to the window, presenting her back. Waves of long, dark hair cascaded over her shoulders, glinting in the few rays of sunshine that struggled through the murky panes. She crossed her arms and rubbed at her elbows as though chilled. Yet if anything, the office was too warm.
“Have you tried looking yourself?” he asked, ignoring the appealing picture she made.
She turned to face him, visibly arming herself with determination. He guessed he must have imagined that glimpse of vulnerability.
“Of course. But I’ve come up empty. I’m told the records are sealed. End of story.” An even fiercer determination seemed to possess her. “But I refuse to accept that answer. I’m assuming your familiarity and methods can open doors closed to me.”
“It usually works that way,” he acknowledged.
She pulled out a check. “I’m prepared to pay you a sizable retainer so you can devote your time solely to this case.”
Considering he had been back to work for only a week, exclusivity wouldn’t be much of a problem. Clients palming ready cash weren’t exactly lined up at the door. “With expenses, my rate isn’t cheap,” he warned. “In fact, the bill can escalate—” he snapped his fingers “—like that. And I don’t want to be burned. Can you afford an all-out investigation?”
Her face registered mere annoyance. It mingled with the distaste that had never completely disappeared from her expression.
“My parents left a comfortable inheritance. Your bill won’t be a problem.”
He should leap at the offer, but despite not knowing where his next client was coming from, he still didn’t like the disdain in her expression. “People think they want to find out all about the past when they start looking. But the truth can be pretty ugly.”
She raised those deeply blue expressive eyes. “Nothing’s uglier or less acceptable than the alternative. I don’t care what you learn about me—as long as it saves my baby’s life.” For a moment he saw a flash of something else in her face, something she used the disdain to camouflage. It was desperation coupled with a healthy dose of fear. And, he guessed, like a protective mother bear, she would claw and scratch to safeguard her young. Grudgingly, he respected the quality—even more than the impressive check she had allowed to drift onto the desk in front of him.
She held out one neatly manicured hand. “Do we have a deal?”
He accepted the handshake, refusing to acknowledge the softness of her skin, the betraying tremble. And especially the pull of her beckoning eyes.
CHAPTER TWO
HOW ODD, Laura decided, as she sat across the living room from her aunt Rhoda. With Mitch Tucker seated in the wing chair between them, it seemed strangely like the days when she had been a teenager and she had brought a boy home to meet her parents. There was the same sense of inspection, skepticism and uncertain approval. But her mind raced past the comparison. Could her aunt Rhoda give Mitch any information that would help?
They had been talking for hours and Mitch had diligently taken notes the entire time. In many ways, though, his questions were similar to the ones Laura had asked herself. True, he inquired about many things she hadn’t thought of, but she wondered if that would be enough. Wouldn’t he find some of those same avenues of pursuit relentlessly closing up? Frustrated, she wanted to jump in and help—to rush the process.
However, her aunt Rhoda was echoing some of her very concerns. “I’ve already told most of this to my niece. What makes you think you can learn any more than she has?”
“Because I’m a professional investigator, Ms. Johnson. No disrespect intended, but I know the ins and outs of the system, where to probe and poke.”
Rhoda sighed. “Of course. I wasn’t discounting your ability.” Her shrewd gaze swept over him. “It’s just that I don’t want Laura’s hopes raised on a wild-goose chase.”
But he didn’t back down. “Isn’t that Ms. Kelly’s choice to make?”
A grudging look of approval crossed Rhoda’s face. “I suppose it is, young man.”
Although Laura didn’t comment, silently she acknowledged that he had just raised his esteem in her own book sizably.
Yet there was a more nagging question, one she hadn’t been able to put to rest since Mitch had posed it. “Aunt Rhoda, can you think of any other reason Mom and Dad didn’t tell me about the adoption?”
A shadow flickered over Rhoda’s face and she answered slowly, her voice strained. “I’ve already told you. They thought you were happy. Why rock the boat?”
Laura glanced over at Mitch and saw the skepticism on his face. She wasn’t sure why, but she sensed that Rhoda was concealing something. Still, her aunt had insisted she would do anything she could do to help in the search. “And there’s nothing else?”
A dart of something resembling fear surfaced in Rhoda’s eyes, but she shook her head. “No.” Then she looked at Mitch. “But you’re supposed to discover things mere mortals can’t, aren’t you?”
Mitch lifted one side of his mouth in a wry grin. “I haven’t heard it put that way, but yes, I suppose so.” With the words he rose.
Automatically, Laura did so as well, but she reached out to snag his arm, not ready to stop her questions. As she started to speak, his gaze cautioned her to drop the inquiry. Startled by the insistence in his eyes, she followed him, absently bidding her aunt goodbye as they left.
Once outside, though, she wasn’t as acquiescent. “Why did you stop me? We need to find out everything we can about—”
“Pushing people isn’t the way to do it. We got enough for today.”
Frustration borne of worry seized her. “You don’t seem to understand. We don’t have time to waste. My son’s life is at stake!”
He met her gaze, his deceptively easygoing manner not concealing the intelligence in his tigerlike eyes. “I understand perfectly. Which is why we don’t want to alienate your relatives. Right now they’re our strongest source.”
Sobered, Laura had to agree. And that frightened her even more.
OBLIVIOUS TO THE alteration of cells that threatened his life, Alex was an extraordinarily happy baby, whose world was decorated with smiles and chortles of joy. Laura hadn’t realized such pure love and utter happiness could be found on this earth. She had made her share of mistakes and bad choices, but everything about Alex was both good and right.
Seeing her approaching the nursery, he stood in his crib, stretching out his arms, and shrieking for her. “Mama! Mama!”
Laura’s