It was a cheap shot at the way she’d gotten so emotional around him. But he’d had his share of letting his emotions get away with him, too. And they’d taken care of both of their shortcomings by divorcing.

  “It would be on anyone’s mind, Haley,” he said, his tone as soft as his gaze had been. “I didn’t want you distracted, thinking about, looking for reasons for, or thinking we’re wasting our time on last year’s stuff, when it’s a big deal that there’s nothing more recent.”

  She’d hired him because he was an expert at what he did. And what he said made sense. She still didn’t like that he’d withheld information, but her feelings were irrelevant at the moment.

  “You’re telling me that there was nothing on her credit report to show any credit card history for the past year?”

  “That’s what I’m telling you.”

  “What about bank account withdrawals?” Haley had money she’d amassed through her father and various partners and a couple of ex-husbands over the years. Pay off money. Alimony in one case. It wasn’t enough to support her life, and she only used it when absolutely necessary.

  “There were none.”

  “That indicates that she was with someone who was taking care of her, financially at least.”

  “Or that she was unable to access any of her own funds.”

  Heart pounding, she stared at him. “As in, she was being held captive?”

  He just looked at her.

  “For months?”

  The compassion that flowed from his gaze might have been the same for any client he had sitting in front of him getting hard news. It didn’t feel like that to her. It felt personal.

  “That’s why I needed you to have a clear mind to look at the records we do have.” She let his warmth pass over her. Let it touch her. She couldn’t let it in, though.

  “I’m hoping that these inconsistencies might help us find who was holding her. If, indeed anyone was.”

  “She didn’t just wreck a car. She was killed. Because whoever was holding her wanted the baby she was carrying...it has to be Thomas Gladstone, doesn’t it? He somehow got to Kelsey, raped her again, she got pregnant, and he’s been holding her captive until she had the baby and then he killed her...”

  It made horrifying sense as it all came crashing through her.

  “If that was the case, why wouldn’t Thomas have just killed her as soon as he knew she was pregnant, to get rid of the evidence?”

  “Because he couldn’t bring himself to destroy his own flesh and blood,” she said. Then added, “I don’t know, but the rest of it makes sense.”

  He nodded. “He’s at the top of my list at the moment,” Paul conceded.

  “Which means that, if we go looking, for Kelsey, for Thomas, and most importantly for the baby, we might be walking into danger, too.”

  Sitting forward, Paul shook his head. Then stood. “Wait a minute. We?”

  Haley rose, too. All of the fight she’d had in her in the past coming right back to the fore. She could hold her own with most people by just walking away, but not Paul. If she didn’t stand up to him, he’d crush the heart out of her. “I’m coming with you, Paul. Think about it. I’m probably already on this guy’s radar. Either Thomas or whoever is behind this. I’m certainly not safe just staying home.”

  “No, but you could take a vacation. Go visit your mother.”

  He grimaced as he said the words, obviously knowing they were a mistake. So she let him stew in his own juice rather than adding more of her own to complicate the issue. Or to further raise his defenses.

  It occurred to her, in the back of her mind, that maybe she really had grown up some where he was concerned. That would be nice.

  “I can’t be distracted by watching out for you, Haley. Surely you can understand that.”

  “No, but you could be helped by my input and insights,” she said. “While I take care of myself as I’d do if you went without me. As I’ve done for most of my life.”

  She didn’t refute the possibility that she could very well be in danger, if her intruder was correct in what he’d said.

  It all could also be a hoax, but that didn’t explain a year’s worth of no credit card or banking activity on Kelsey’s account.

  “Kelsey’s body was too burned in the crash to be identified, but I was told that they matched her DNA from tissue samples,” she offered aloud. “People with money are able to get a lot of things done that shouldn’t be done,” she continued. “Do you think the coroner’s office could have been bought off and Kelsey is really still alive?”

  “Nothing points to that theory,” he told her. “Why would anyone be alerting you if that was the case? For that matter, why fake her death at all if she was already quietly off the radar?”

  Right. And then she really started to think. To be of use. “Something else doesn’t make sense.”

  “What’s that?”

  “She called me, several times, over the past year.”

  “But you didn’t see her.”

  “No.”

  “What about Gloria?” She gave him credit for naming her mother without any indication of the disregard he felt for her.

  “They actually hadn’t seen each other in a while, and hadn’t spoken for the last few months, at least. Kelsey said that she’d finally met ‘the one.’ She didn’t want to jinx things by introducing him to Mom and didn’t want to muddy waters by bringing me into it yet, either. She said she was waiting until he put a wedding ring on her finger along with the two-carat diamond he’d already given her.”

  “She told you that.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Didn’t you find it odd that she didn’t want to see either of you? You and Gloria were Kelsey’s rocks. She couldn’t change eye shadow color without an okay from both of you.”

  The eye shadow thing. Kelsey had interrupted a romantic moment with a call and three texts and Paul had grown impatient, getting out of bed and putting on his pants, because Haley had answered them. They’d already made love. Had just been lying there listening to music. And what she’d known was that if she hadn’t answered the texts, her sister would have just kept calling.

  Besides, the texts had been quick and...

  She should have ignored them. And the initial phone call, too. Chances that it had been an emergency had been slim. And if it had been, Kelsey would likely have left her a 911 voice mail.

  Which might or might not have turned out to be an emergency...

  Not a big deal when you lived alone. But when someone else had to put up with your needy mother and sister who didn’t respect your boundaries—or even get that you should have some...

  “How’d she sound when you talked to her?”

  Paul was still on the case at hand. As she should have been. “Great!” She shook her head. Looked up at him, leaving the past in the ashes it had become. “That’s just it, Paul, she sounded happier than I’d ever heard her. More, I don’t know, peaceful somehow. Like she really was in love.”

  “So maybe he was keeping her so well she didn’t need to use her own cards or accounts.”

  That didn’t ring true. “No matter what, Kelsey always used her cards enough to keep her credit current,” she said. It was one of the few things that Paul had admired about Haley’s little sister. Commended her for, even. The one good thing she’d learned from mandatory visits at her father’s place. The woman who watched over her most often had taught her about the value of credit. About how even poor people could get more out of life if they had good credit.

  From the very first long-term relationship Kelsey had engaged in, she’d insisted, before she’d moved in, not that she have a ring, but that the man take out a credit card for her in her name, using her social security number so that all of his money that she spent would reflect on her credit.

  “If she was as in love as you say, maybe she didn’t need him to take out a credit card,” Paul offered, but he didn’t sound like he was really buying the idea. And Haley didn’t, either.

  “Didn’t matter if he was the richest guy in the world and married her, she’d still want her credit. The guy could die. His family could sue for the money. They could win. No, Kelsey would never willingly let her credit go. That girl truly took her own self-worth from her credit report.”

  “Yet her last known address is over a year old.” He named a high-rise luxury apartment complex not far from the Las Vegas Strip.

  “Did she give up the place?”

  “I don’t have confirmation of that one way or another. Only that rent payments stopped a year ago.”

  “Someone else could have taken over the rent. But that doesn’t make sense in terms of Kelsey’s regular method of operation. She’d have let him pay, but the money would still have run through her bank account.”

  “So we’re back to her being held captive. Needing to look first at Thomas Gladstone.”

  He’d said we’re. Haley wasn’t sure if Paul had heard the concession or not. But went with it. “Should we call the police?”

  He shook his head. “Not yet. All we have so far is theory and questions. There’s no crime to report.”

  Just as Morrow had said.

  “And no record of a baby being born to Kelsey, either. Not in Nevada or California at any rate,” she repeated what the detective had told her that afternoon.

  “I don’t have time to wait for you to pack a bag.”

  “I brought one with me.”

  “Of course, you did.” That glint in his eye...did it hold just a tad bit of admiration?

  She used to fly high with the strength of his regard beneath her wings.

  But, of course, when you flew with someone else’s strength, the crash to the ground when they took it away broke you. After her divorce, after she’d put back together her shattered pieces, she’d made certain that she only ever flew under own power.

  Paul went to his desk, stacking things and shoving them into a big leather satchel, adding a laptop last. “We’ll take my SUV,” he said, heading toward the door. Not waiting for her.

  Not inviting her to leave with him.

  Leaving it up to her whether she kept up with him or not.

  She’d keep up. With him, she’d always keep up.

  * * *

  He’d asked for her input.

  He was the one who’d called her. Telling her to come as soon as possible.

  He was the one who’d introduced the drama element, rather than taking things methodically.

  Because there could be an innocent baby’s life at stake.

  Just as Kelsey or Gloria could have had real emergencies every time they’d called during his marriage to Haley, telling her there was an emergency and they needed her help.

  Just as his own father could have truly loved Gloria as he’d first said he did. Paul had known better. Edward Wright didn’t love anyone but himself. Not really.

  Sure, he was good to people. Generally kind. But he was also one of the most narcissistic people Paul had ever met. Ed was good to people because it suited his self-image to be so. Because having people need him, fawn all over him, shower him with thanks, aggrandized him. Not out of the dictates of his heart.

  Once Paul had learned that lesson, understood the difference, accepted Ed for who he was, he’d had a much better, happier relationship with his only living parent.

  No way was he letting Ed know that he was working for Haley. He did wonder, though, if his father knew that his one-time stepdaughter had died.

  And if so, why Ed hadn’t told Paul about Kelsey’s death.

  “I will... I promise... I’ll let you know as soon as we get there...”

  He’d been trying not to eavesdrop on Haley’s phone conversation—a feat that was a little rough with her sitting in the passenger seat next to him. Yeah, the large SUV was luxurious, but highway lanes were only so wide, which limited how much space a manufacturer could leave between two bucket seats—no matter how much money one was willing to spend.

  Clearly someone cared about Haley, where she was, her safety.

  Someone who was not him.

  And it was none of his business.

  His jaw clenched anyway. As did his gut. He might not want to be married to Haley, or have her in his life, but she used to be his wife. He didn’t like hearing her converse with whoever had taken his place.

  It was more proof of how right their choice to split had been. The woman had a way of getting to him and stabbing him, like no other. During their two years together in college, he’d been in heaven. Maybe even for the first month of their marriage, too.

  But then Ed and Gloria had shown up to tell them they’d gone to Vegas and married and there’d been no more joy, once his dad and her mom had married.

  Not that Paul could remember. He’d seen the writing on the wall. His father didn’t love Gloria. He’d move on. The divorce would be messy. He and Haley would be caught in the middle...

  But Haley had already been pulling away from him by the time their parents had shown up. As though she didn’t expect the marriage to last.

  Or he’d imagined she had.

  She’d received a signing bonus from the hospital and had opened a bank account in only her name to deposit it.

  After he’d just added her to all of his personal accounts.

  She’d said it was so that she could buy him things without him knowing. Maybe if he hadn’t remembered Kelsey talking one time about always having an escape plan in any relationship, he’d have believed his wife.

  Not likely, though. He’d been with Haley for a couple of years by that escape plan conversation. He knew Gloria and Kelsey. Was privy to their gold-digging tendencies. And knew how close Haley was to them.

  Maybe he’d always had doubts about why she’d married him, or rather, about whether or not his money had also played into her love for him—maybe he’d asked her to marry him in spite of them.

  Hard to tell when one was too busy enjoying life and avoiding difficult topics to be honest with oneself.

  If he had to ask himself if Haley was with him, at least in part, for his money, he’d have to look at everyone else he enjoyed hanging out with, too.

  Friends from high school.

  The tennis coach who’d kept after him until he won his state championship and still drove down to Mission Viejo to play golf with him a few times a year.

  The scores of women he’d dated.

  Hudson and the rest of the people at Sierra’s Web whom he respected so much.

  Haley was off the phone, finally. And there they were...trapped in the relatively small interior of a vehicle, speeding down a highway, in the dark of the night. Alone. For hours.

  “That was Jeanine.”

  Oh. Oh! Oh.

  At one time in his life Jeanine Harbor had been like family to him. The time that he’d been with Haley. The two women had been together at an outdoor concert on the beach the night that Paul had met Haley.

  He’d been with a guy he’d encountered on the tennis court...they’d played in a couple of doubles tournaments...and Jeanine had fallen as hard for Todd as Paul had for Haley.

  They’d been like a television sitcom, the four of them.

  For a while at least.

  Haley had been on the phone with her best friend. Haley and Jeanine were still best friends. And Jeanine was the one worried about Haley to the point of her promising to stay in touch.

  Jeanine. Who’d once been like the sister he’d never had.

  His heart grew lighter as he pushed a little harder on the gas, and then, noticing his speedometer climbing, let it back off again, and set cruise control.

  “How’s she doing?” he asked, his first easy question since Haley had stormed his fortress earlier that day.

  “Good. She’s working at the hospital now, too. In the cardiac department. We’re on opposite shifts.”

  “You’re still in ED?”

  “Yeah.”

  Emergency medicine suited her. After a lifetime living with Kelsey and Gloria, she was an expert at bringing calm into stressful situations. Handling the details. Getting things done that needed doing in the midst of emotional turmoil.

  Until it came to Paul and the turmoil was inside their home.

  Still, he’d always been proud of her medical vocation. It took a special person to work with sick people day in and day out.

  And there they were, ten minutes into a four-and-a-half-hour drive and they’d exhausted the non-landmine topics between them.

  He was in for a long night.

  Chapter 4

  Haley was ready to jog to Las Vegas if it meant she didn’t have to sit silently with nothing to see but miles of unending darkness covering the desert through which they were driving. As soon as she realized that Paul’s vehicle was equipped with its own Wi-Fi, she suggested that she drive while he work.

  The trip wasn’t bad after he agreed to switch seats with her. It was actually kind of peaceful, driving out in the middle of nowhere with very little traffic, and Paul by her side, his features highlighted by the screen he was perusing. His fingers, swift and sure on the keyboard, gave her some moments, as they reminded her of things that took her back too far—to the lovely beach cottage Ed had bought them for their wedding present, and those fingers playing exquisite melodies up and down her body.

  Paul had definitely been the best sex she’d ever had.

  By far.

  “What?” His question broke into her reverie, seeming to take away the protection of darkness.

  “What, what?” She sort of glanced his way, but mostly kept her gaze on the road ahead.

  “You moaned. Are you in pain?”

  “No. Just...hungry,” she blurted. She was, kind of. She’d been in such a hurry to get to him she hadn’t stopped for dinner.