That gave him forty-five minutes to get over there. “Thank you. I appreciate your time and the tea.”
“I wish I could say it was a pleasure.”
“I understand.” Most people weren’t glad to see him by the time he left.
She stopped his rise with a hand on his arm. “Take care of our girl. And if she needs a place to be safe, we’ll take care of her.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She sank back, and he stood, leaving the glass of tea behind.
CHAPTER 15
As his phone connected to the car’s Bluetooth, it buzzed.
Caleb didn’t give him a chance to say anything before his partner launched a verbal barrage. “The man was back.”
“What? Do I need to return now?”
“I don’t know. He did something to Eliza and Bridget, but the medical staff think they’ll be okay.” His partner sounded agitated. “He hasn’t been very good at harming them.”
“Am I supposed to say that’s good?” Todd wanted to hit something, as fear and anger rose inside him, and he had nowhere to direct them. “I’ll turn around now.”
“No, stay there and finish talking to whoever you need to. Then we’ll meet at Rosie’s and talk to the busboy.” A moment passed as Caleb mumbled something. “I’ve got an off-duty officer stationed at Eliza’s door. She won’t be left alone anymore.”
“That’s good.” He should have thought of that.
“None of us thought she was still in danger.”
“We should have. If her brother and parents were killed, then she’s in danger too.”
“Until we can prove that we were doing the best we could with the information we had.”
Todd knew Caleb was right, but it didn’t mean he liked it. “Is Bridget okay?”
“She will be. The best they can guess is that she and Eliza were injected with insulin. The test results aren’t back yet, but they treated them with glucose. Bridget isn’t acting drunk anymore.”
“What?”
“Yeah, that’s what hypoglycemia looks like in many people. Fortunately, neither of them is diabetic, so it didn’t send them into crisis immediately.”
“I have one family to talk to here, then I’m coming back.”
“You can’t do anything here to help them.”
Todd pinched the bridge of his nose and forced himself to calm down. He knew Caleb was right. He couldn’t get there for two hours even if he left that moment. “Principal Hayes gave me the name of one of Eliza’s classmates to talk to. She and her mom are at home until five.”
“Then you’d better get over there. Maybe when you’re done there, we’ll know if Sydney and Dani were successful at getting a judge to open the adoption records.”
“I’m not holding my breath.” Nothing had gone the way they’d hoped.
“Maybe not but have a little hope. We’re doing the right things. At some point things will start breaking our way.”
Todd didn’t bother to remind Caleb of all the times it didn’t work that way. It was enough to keep moving forward right now. He put his car in drive and followed the GPS instructions to the house. “Call if you need me to leave earlier.”
“I’ll meet you at Rosie’s around seven.”
Eliza’s classmate lived around the corner from the school, close enough to walk most days. When Todd knocked on thedoor, a thirty-something woman opened it. “You must be Officer Westmont.”
