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He nodded. “Who do you think entered the premises today?”
“Cody Winslow. My ex-boyfriend. He has a drug problem and a gambling problem. He broke into my last apartment while I was at work and cleaned the place out.”
Stern scribbled notes, which gave her hope. “The police took a report—”
Hunter slid his hand under her knee and squeezed her leg. “Baby, he doesn’t know where you are.”
She shook her head, bit her lip, and prepared for strong, solid, calm Hunter Knox to go ballistic. “Remember how I told you Rachel and I went to Old Navy to buy work shirts after we filled out our paperwork?”
“Yes.” An ominous look came into his eyes.
“I ran into Cody on the way out of the store.”
He shot to his feet. “For the love of God, Madison, why didn’t you mention this before now?”
She winced. “What was there to tell? Dumb luck put us in the same store at the same time. I told him to go to hell, and I left him standing in a parking lot. I have no clue where to find him. As far as I knew, he had no clue where to find me. I hoped I’d seen the last of him.”
“What did he want?”
“The same thing he always wants. Money. Except…” Hunter wasn’t going to like this.
His blue eyes narrowed. Slowly, he lowered himself to the coffee table again. “Except what?”
She avoided Hunter’s gaze. “He had a new plan about how to get it. He acted all interested in Joy. Was she healthy? Could he see a picture? I figured I could give him that much, so I told him she’s perfect, and I showed him a picture from the photo roll on my phone.” Snuggling Joy a little closer, she went on. “I immediately regretted my generosity, because, typical Cody, you give him an inch and he takes everything. He texted the picture to his number. I didn’t know why, but it made me nervous. Then he said he wanted to help me do what was best for her.”
Hunter ran his big, protective hand over Joy’s back. “You don’t need his help.”
Her laugh sounded harsh to her own ears. “Absolutely not. He told me he had a friend who could put Joy in the arms of a loving, financially secure couple who would give her the best of everything and put ten thousand dollars in each of our pockets as an expression of their gratitude.”
“Fucking dirt bag,” Hunter said under his breath.
She closed her eyes and nodded. “I told him I’d never agree, and when he insisted I owed him ten grand if I chose to keep his baby, I informed him if he ever showed his face again, I’d sue him for child support and garnish every dime he earned for the next eighteen years.” The response sounded ridiculous, now, and forced a humorless laugh out of her. “As if he’d ever actually hold down a job. It was the only threat I could come up with at the time.”
She opened her eyes and glanced at Hunter. He looked ready to commit murder. A muscle in his jaw flexed. He gripped the edge of the coffee table so hard his knuckles turned white. “I wish you’d told me.”
“I raced back here Monday afternoon, planning to, but by the time I turned onto this street, I’d convinced myself I was being paranoid. This neighborhood might be within the same greater Atlanta area, but it is light years away from the places Cody hangs out and nowhere he’d dream of looking for me. I mean, come on.” She gestured at their surroundings. “Things here are normal and stable. I felt safe.”
He shoved a hand through his hair. “You’re lying to yourself, or me, or both of us. Some part of you still worried he could cause trouble. I know this because you’ve been wound tight for days. I put it down to separation anxiety, but you haven’t been nervous or anxious, you’ve been scared.”
“Cautious,” she corrected, because she could see she’d hurt him by not coming to him with her concerns. She’d have to try and explain the other things that had held her back later, when they were alone. Not now, in front of the officers.
“Bullshit, Madison.” He got up and prowled the room. “I know scared. I deal with lots of scared people in my line of work, and I hope I never see the kind of terror I saw on your face when you ran up to the house a few minutes ago.”
Officer Langley cleared his throat. “Miss Foley, did Mr.”—he broke off and consulted his notes—“Winslow threaten you, or make any threat to take the baby?”
The whole encounter had left her feeling very threatened, and angry, but the truth was… “No. He wanted me to willingly participate in the sale of my baby, or he wanted me to give him ten thousand dollars.”
“And the last time you saw or had any contact with him was Monday afternoon in a store parking lot?”
“Yes.” Joy fidgeted in her arms. She leaned over, put the baby in the swing, and turned it on low, but kept hold of Joy’s hand. The ghost of the panicked mother who’d pulled up to the house ten minutes ago still lived inside her, and she refused to let go of her daughter. Not yet. Silence stretched and she glanced at Hunter, who’d moved to stand beside the swing. Like a sentinel. “That’s another reason I didn’t say anything. He didn’t follow me when I left the store.”
“How do you know?” Langley posed the question.
She shifted her attention to the officers. “He drives a black F-150. I used to look for it all the time, when I first had Joy, but after I moved here I broke the habit. Let my guard down.” Let your daughter down. “Still, I would have spotted his truck from a mile away.”
Hunter rested his big hand over her knees. “What if he traded the black F-150 for a blue Chevy? Or if his friend with the rich couple connections was driving?”
“I didn’t think about those possibilities then,” she admitted, “but I’m thinking about them now.”
