“So, how do you do that? Change…what did you call it, a gasket?” she asked.

  He lifted his head and looked at her, a gleam in his eyes. “You want me to teach you?”

  She shrugged again. “Sure. Why not? Beats doing homework.”

  “All right,” he said. “Lie down next to me here on the floor, and I’ll show you. You might get your clothes wet or dirty. Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

  “Of course.”

  Chapter 4

  “We’re going to need a baby monitor, right?” Matt asked and held one up that looked like it could communicate with our baby on the moon. I stared at the monster in Matt’s hands, then smiled.

  “Sure. But a simpler one would do. Our kid isn’t going out in space anytime soon.”

  He put it down, then looked at another one. I sensed he was a little angry with me, and I placed my hand on his shoulder.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just…”

  “What? Matt, look at me. What is it?”

  He turned around to face me. “It’s gonna sound silly, but it sort of feels like you’re not really into this. Not really.”

  “What do you mean I’m not into it? Have you seen my fat stomach? I’m in so deep that I can’t see my feet anymore.”

  “There you go again, making fun of me,” Matt said. “I could barely get you to do this with me today. You kept postponing this shopping trip. I’ve been looking forward to this for so long, and you don’t want to buy anything. It’s like you don’t even want this child. This is our first child together. It’s my first baby.”

  I looked at Matt, then felt ashamed. He was right. I wasn’t into this as much as he was. I sighed and rubbed my face, feeling how swollen my fingers were. I was only five months pregnant and already feeling the toll on my body. It was going to be a long pregnancy.

  “Matt, I am into it. It’s just…well, it’s my fourth child. And I wasn’t exactly planning on having another one, so, yes, it has taken me a while to get used to the thought. And maybe I didn’t really want another baby at first. You’re so right about that, but…”

  I was mid-sentence when Matt’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket. “It’s Chief Annie. I need to take this.”

  “Of course.”

  Matt put the phone to his ear, and I heard him talk in a low voice for a few seconds while I looked at a mobile. I still had some of Alex’s old baby stuff in a box somewhere and felt pretty sure I had a mobile that looked a lot like this one in it. The truth was, I wanted to buy new stuff, but I also wanted to save money. Having a new baby in the house was going to be expensive. I didn’t feel that Matt was being realistic about it and wanted to spend too much money upfront on things we probably wouldn’t need.

  Matt came back and handed me the phone. “It’s for you.”

  “For me?”

  “Chief Annie wants to talk to you,” Matt said.

  “Really?”

  He gave me a look, and I grabbed the phone. “Hi, Chief, what’s up?”

  “We need you, Eva Rae. I just got off the phone with the sheriff’s office, and they wanted me to get in contact with you.”

  “So, you called Matt?”

  “Well, I needed to get ahold of both of you. Because of your condition, I’m sending Matt with you. He can assist you, so you don’t overexert yourself. I want you both on this case.”

  “Case, but…hey, wait a minute. I don’t work anymore, remember? I quit.”

  Annie sighed. “You’re the only one around here with enough experience. The sheriff’s office is in over their head. We need your expertise on this. Please, Eva Rae?”

  Chapter 5

  “I think you should say no.”

  Matt stared at me. His eyes were determined. “You’re in no condition to take a case right now. You need rest.”

  “It’s not like I’m sick, Matt. I’m pregnant. You act like I am dying. With Alex, I worked until the day I gave birth. My water literally broke while at the office. He turned out fine. I don’t need you acting like I’m sick, okay?”

  “You’re older now,” Matt said.

  My eyes grew wide. “Excuse me? What did you just say?”

  He threw out his arms. “It’s the truth, isn’t it? You’re forty-two. There are a lot of risks involved with having a child this late in life.”

  “Matt, look at me,” I said and grabbed his collar, then pulled him close so he could look into my eyes. “I am not too old to have a child or to work, do you hear me? No matter what the Internet says. Our child is not at risk.”

  I was so angry I was almost spitting. The day before, Sydney and I had been to a trailer park and liberated two young girls who were being held there by traffickers. I had beat one of them up pretty badly. I couldn’t help myself. He had been bent over one of the girls when we got there, kicking her in the face while laughing. I had knocked him down with the grip of my gun, then punched him a few times. He was passed out when we left, and I called the cops on them on account of the drugs we had seen lying around the place.

  All this I had done while pregnant, but, of course, Matt didn’t know anything about it. All he knew was that my sister Sydney and I ran a rescue place, a shelter for trafficked girls, where they could be nurtured back to life. What he didn’t know was that sometimes we took it upon ourselves to liberate them when things needed to move quickly. It was dangerous and maybe even stupid in my condition, but it had to be done.

  I wanted to tell Matt about it, to let him know I was every bit as strong as I was before I had this baby planted in me. But I didn’t. I knew he’d worry and get angry. I didn’t need that right now.

  “Well, that’s just too bad,” I said. “I already said we’d do it.”

  “You did what? Eva Rae, how can you be so…”

  “Yes, Matt? Please, finish that sentence.”

  His nostrils were flaring as he was composing himself, calming himself. “Sometimes, you really annoy me, Eva Rae.”

  I smiled gently. “Come on, Matt. It might be fun working together again.”

  He stared down at me like he wanted to strangle me, then eased up as our eyes locked. He never could say no to me.

  “Pretty please?” I said.

  “The physical appearance of the please makes no difference,” he said with a sigh, quoting from the movie Despicable Me, which I always referred to when my kids said that.

  It made me laugh. I started to walk toward the exit of the store.

  “Let’s get going then. They’re waiting for us at the hospital.”

  He growled behind me but caught up quickly.

  “I have a feeling I’m going to regret this.”

  Chapter 6

  Cape Canaveral Hospital was no more than ten minutes from the Target we were in. I drove up and parked in front of the tall building that was set on a peninsula, surrounded by water. I had always believed it was a very exclusive location for a hospital, and the views from the top floors were gorgeous. You could see the cruise ships docked at the port on one side, sunsets over the mainland on another, and the ocean on a third. You were completely surrounded by water no matter where you turned to look.

  We were directed to a room where Detective Roberts from the sheriff’s office greeted us. He was in his mid-fifties. He was a slightly built man but sturdily attractive with winter gray hair and bushy eyebrows over keen, penetrating eyes. I knew him a little from another case we worked on many years ago. He smiled widely.

  “Eva Rae Thomas. You are a sight for sore eyes. I knew you’d say yes,” he said, shaking my hand excitedly.

  “So, you’re the reason I was called?” I asked. “I was wondering about that.”

  He shrugged with a smug smile. “I knew you were around after that thing in Orlando. I thought, who better to help us out?”

  Roberts’ glance landed on my stomach. He squinted his eyes. “This is one of those times when you have to be careful about saying anything. I’ve gotten myself in trouble before, but…”

  I exhaled deeply. “Yes, I’m pregnant. It’s Matt’s.”

  “So, you’re the lucky guy,” Roberts said with a wink at me. He shook Matt’s hand. “Good luck keeping track of this one, ha-ha.”

  “So, what have we got?” I asked to change the subject before it got too uncomfortable for both Matt and me. Roberts didn’t know just how much he had stepped in it. “The chief said you pulled a woman out of Sykes Creek?”

  Roberts nodded. “A dad and his son, who had gone fishing for the day, spotted the body in the water. The dad jumped in and pulled her out. He thought she was dead, but as he got her on board the boat, he realized she was alive.”

  I nodded. “And when did this take place?”

  “Yesterday morning. She was brought to the hospital and has been in the care of the doctors since.”

  Matt cleared his throat. “So, what do you need our help with?”

  Roberts looked down briefly, then back up at me, seriousness in his eyes. “The woman’s name is Nancy Henry.”

  Matt’s eyes grew wide. “As in the Nancy Henry? Charles Henry’s wife?”

  Roberts nodded. “That one, yes.”

  “Let’s back up for a second here. What am I missing? Who is Nancy Henry, and why should I know her?”

  Matt looked at me. “Nancy Henry disappeared five years ago after a home intrusion. It’s been a mystery what happened to her.”

  “I see. So this woman has been gone for five years, and no one knows where she has been? What is she saying?”

  Roberts shook his head. “She doesn’t remember a thing.”

  I lifted both eyebrows. “She doesn’t remember where she has been for the past five years?”

  He nodded. “She has suffered a blow to the back of her head that fractured her skull before she fell in the water or maybe right when she fell in, and the doctor says it’s possible she suffered memory loss due to that.”

  “Really?” I asked. “And what about her husband? Does she remember him?”

  Roberts nodded. “Her husband arrived last night, and apparently she remembers both him and the children, yes.”

  “What a strange story,” I said. “And where do I come in?”

  “Well, she was found with a lot of morphine in her blood. Enough to kill her, but miraculously, it didn’t. She has bruises on her wrists like she was tied up. And then there is the fractured skull. We believe someone tried to kill her but didn’t succeed. Whoever it was must have thought she was dead, then thrown her off the bridge. The fisherman saved her life. Had she been in the water for much longer, she would have drowned. I need you and Matt here to help me investigate what really happened to her. Who took her and later tried to kill her?”

  Chapter 7

  So, we’re basically chasing a potential murderer and kidnapper of a victim who doesn’t even know it happened?

  The thought lingered deep in my mind as Matt and I followed Roberts into the hospital room, where Nancy Henry was sitting up in her bed, leaning her bandaged head on the pillow behind her. Even in the state she was in, she was gorgeous. It didn’t look like she had lacked having any needs met over the past five years. But looks could be tricky; I knew that much. Pretty girls often had more trouble convincing the doctors they were sick because they didn’t look it. Nancy Henry didn’t look much like a victim to me as she lifted her head to look at us when we entered. In the corner of the room sat a man in a chair, and I guessed he was Charles Henry. He was darkly handsome with high cheekbones, charcoal brown eyes, and thick black eyebrows. His dark brown hair had touches of gray, but only at the sides. His eyes were red-rimmed from crying, and he seemed agitated and out of sorts. He kept sniffling and wiping his eyes with his hands, then shaking his head.

  “We need to talk to Nancy alone now, Charles,” Roberts said to him.

  He nodded. He was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, yet somehow you could just tell he was wealthier than most and had been for his entire life. It was something in the way he carried himself. It was with a certain dignity that most people didn’t have.

  “We’ll probably need to have a chat with you as well, later on,” I said as he passed me. He nodded and tried to smile.

  “Naturally. I’ll be at your disposal anytime.”

  “Good to hear.”

  He left, and I approached Nancy in the bed. She gave me a confused and melancholy look.

  “This is Eva Rae Thomas,” Roberts said, addressed to Nancy. “The former FBI agent that I told you about. She’ll be helping us out. We are doing everything we can to find out what happened to you, okay?”

  Nancy cleared her throat, then nodded. “Okay. But I really don’t have much to add. And I am so tired. Maybe we should wait?”

  I glanced at the dark purple bruises on her wrists. “How did you get those? Do you remember?”

  She looked at them, then shook her head. “No. As I said, I don’t remember anything. It’s all just a big darkness, and I can’t just switch the light on and suddenly remember it.”

  “We’re here to help you,” I said. “There’s no need to get defensive.”

  Nancy scoffed, then placed a hand on her forehead. A tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek. “I’m sorry. It’s just…a lot right now. I have no idea where I have been or what…and now I wake up here…and then I learn that…I don’t even have a husband anymore. I think you’d get defensive too.”

  I nodded. “Probably. So you’re telling me your husband remarried?”

  Her hand came down from her forehead and landed on the bedside. More tears rolled down her cheeks. “He thought I was dead.”

  I grimaced.

  “It’s like I’ve been asleep for a really long time and just woke up to a nightmare of a lifetime. Suddenly, I have no husband, and my kids are almost grownups. Five years have passed. Five years? And I don’t remember anything.”

  I grabbed a chair and sat down, beginning to stir up a little sympathy for the woman. It had to be quite the situation to find yourself in.

  “Let’s start with this then,” I said. “Tell me, what is the last thing you remember?”

  She gave me a look, then sighed. “The last thing I remember? Well…let’s see. I think it is standing in my kitchen. I had made veal for dinner and was expecting Charles home. I don’t really remember more than that.”

  Nancy leaned her head back and made a face that looked like she was in pain. She closed her eyes.

  “Listen, I am really tired. Could we do this later? I can barely think straight, let alone remember a lot of stuff.”

  “And where were the kids?” I asked. “While you were preparing the veal?”

  She exhaled, sounding almost annoyed. “Please. I’m just…I don’t…”

  “Do you recall if they were at home or not?” I asked.

  She shook her head, still keeping her eyes closed. “I don’t.”

  “But you remember making veal?”

  “Yes. But I don’t even know if that was on the day I was kidnapped. It could be a memory from some other day.”

  “But you know you were kidnapped? How do you know this?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” she sighed. “I guess I just assumed since the police told me so. They said they believed I was taken from my home by some intruder and kidnapped.”

  “Do you think you were kidnapped?” I asked.

  She snorted. “How am I supposed to know? I guess so. I just know what they told me.”

  “And why do you think they assume you were kidnapped?”

  “Because of the bruises on my wrists that look like I’ve been tied up, or maybe because I was found in the water with a lethal dose of morphine in my blood and a severe blow to the back of my head. Maybe because I was supposed to be dead by now, but somehow like with some stroke of a miracle, I am not,” she almost spat and looked at me like I was a complete idiot.

  I tried to smile. It came off as annoyed. “Again, I am here to help you—to find out what happened to you.”

  “It sure doesn’t feel like it,” she argued. “It feels, frankly, like I am on trial here. I don’t know, okay? I don’t know anything. How do you think that makes me feel? I’ve lost five years of my life, five years of my children’s lives. I’ve lost my husband to another woman. Meanwhile, I don’t even feel like five years have passed. I feel like it was just yesterday I was living with my babies and was married to a wonderful man. I had everything. In the blink of an eye, I have lost it all. So, I’m sorry if I’m not feeling cheerful and perky right now. My life is in ruins. I don’t want to talk to any of you. I don’t care if you find those who did this to me or not. I just want my life back, and you can’t give me that no matter how many stupid questions you ask me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to rest.”

  With that, Nancy Henry turned around on her side and closed her eyes. Matt and I exchanged a glance, and I signaled for us to leave. Talking to Nancy wasn’t getting us anywhere.

  At least not for now.

  Chapter 8

  THEN:

  She heard her crying as she walked past her bedroom. The door was left slightly ajar, and Jade couldn’t avoid hearing the strong sobs from the other side of it.

  “Mom?”

  She pressed it gently, and the door slid open. Her mother was lying on the bed, and the sobs stopped when Jade entered.

  “Mom? Are you okay?”

  Her mother cleared her throat and sat up, turning her face away from her daughter. “I’m fine. It’s okay, sweetie. Don’t worry.”

  “But…you’re crying, Mom?”