With a nod, Maren reached back into the Bronco, grabbing a backpack from the passenger’s floorboard.
Colt led the way back to his truck while he made the call to the local dispatch, promising them they’d give statements once they were safe.
Keeping an eye out for any more trouble, he opened the back hatch to comfort his K-9. “Do you think Haven would be okay in the back with Rusk?”
Maren seemed to contemplate the question. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to keep her up front with me. We need to let the dogs officially greet each other before we just throw them into an enclosed space. Haven can be an alpha when she needs to.”
That brought a smile to Colt. “Rusk is an alpha, too. We’ll see how they do when we get to where we’re going.”
“Which is?”
“Go ahead and get in and I’ll tell you.”
They climbed into his truck. Once they were both settled, with Haven folding herself onto the seat and putting her head into Maren’s lap, Colt said, “First stop the local PD, then Denver. We should go to your task force headquarters.”
“I’m good with that.”
“I’m sure your boss will want to know this latest development. We need to let him know that your investigation has heated up.”
With a gasp, she grasped his arm. “This isn’t about the adoption ring. The man with the gun said, ‘You should have stayed dead. No one crosses Shadow and lives.’”
Colt’s hands gripped and re-gripped the steering wheel as he drove them away. “The shooter believes you’re Opal. This has to do with the drug trafficker. But why shoot at you at the clinic?”
“The shooter must have mistaken me for Opal then, too.” Her voice took on a grim edge. “Could this Shadow person have tried to kill her and make it look like a suicide, but she survived and went into hiding?”
“Maybe Opal suspected she was pregnant and wanted out from under Shadow’s thumb, so she faked her death to protect her child.” Colt’s mind whirred with possibilities.
“That would make sense. Especially if she can identify Shadow. We have to find my sister before Shadow does,” Maren insisted.
Colt wouldn’t lose sight of his mission. “And take down Shadow.”
“The task force could help,” she said.
“What if Shadow has some connection to the illegal adoption ring the task force is hunting?” Colt turned the thought over in his head. “Your sister shows up at an OB clinic and you’re investigating dirty OB’s.”
“It’s something to consider,” Maren replied. “We could talk with my boss about it.” She went quiet for a moment. “I keep thinking about Opal and what she must be going through. How alone she must feel. I want a second chance with my sister and my baby niece or nephew. I need a second chance.”
At the mention of her meeting Opal’s baby, his mind went to his own twin nieces. He loved his siblings and their kids, and though he hadn’t seen much of them lately because he’d been so focused on taking down Shadow, he couldn’t imagine life without his family.
“We’ll get Shadow and bring your sister home to you,” he vowed.
“Thanks. As much as I want to believe we will succeed, I know better than to hope.”
“Sometimes all we have is hope and faith.” Colt’s hands flexed on the steering wheel. A truth he’d once rejected. But now, every day, he’d found his faith reawakening.
“I agree, in theory. It’s just hard sometimes to believe in faith and hope when there’s so much bad in the world.” Maren petted Haven, her hands working over the sleek Doberman’s coat. “For a long time, it was just Opal and me. And then she disappeared. But at least I knew she was alive, and I had hope we’d reconnect. Then trying to accept she was dead…it broke my heart.”
It didn’t sound like she had much family around. Who did she turn to for support? He couldn’t imagine being that alone, and found himself saying, “You must have people who care for you… You’re part of an elite federal task force. Surely, you’ve made friends among your colleagues.”
“I’m just starting to get to know the other task force members,” she said. “There is one member, Eli Blackwood. We have a bond of shared grief. But I’m not sure that’s enough to build a friendship on.”
He pulled into the local police department parking lot, thankful to have the distraction of giving their statements and arranging for a tow of Maren’s vehicle to the task force headquarters in Denver.
Once they were back on the road, and the miles stretched out, taking them farther away from Barren Valley toward Denver, Maren seemed to grow restless in the passenger seat.
Finally, she broke the silence. “I still have trouble reconciling the sister I knew with a woman who’d be involved with drug dealers. I hadn’t realized how far she’d become embroiled in the drug scene. And to date someone high up in the food chain—what was she thinking?”
“People can hide who they are until it’s too late and you’re in too deep,” he replied.
