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Incensed at his description of who and where he got the info from, Ruby cut into her chicken leg so hard it flew off her plate and landed on the floor. Ignoring his attempt to retrieve it, she crouched at the same time, her grouchy tone visible. “I’ve got it.”
Leaning in quickly, he kissed her nose and grinned. “Okay, prickles.” Then he sat up and resumed eating, saying no more.
Ruby watched his delight and knew he teased on purpose. No way, she’d bite. Glaring at her smiling mother, she nodded in Kurt’s direction, willing her parent to ask the question burning inside her.
Jill stopped eating. “My daughter wants me to ask what you found out.”
“Mom!” She saw the other two openly laughing. “Oh, you two are impossible.”
Kurt took pity on her and began to speak, mentioning everything he’d learned.
Jill broke into his comments. “So, you’re saying that you think they have a setup in the larger massage room where they’re doing this to other women?”
“Maybe. A few. If there were too many, there’d be an association they don’t want noticed.”
Ruby interrupted. “You told them I was pregnant?”
“I did. It came up, and I saw no reason to lie. You won’t be able to keep it hidden much longer. Besides, I needed to get the list of workers who were there at the time.”
“Do you think it’s why they broke into my house? To see if the procedure took?”
“I do, yes. You said they’d trashed the bathroom and bedroom. They were probably looking for some clue that you were positive.”
Ruby first looked at Kurt and then Jill. “Okay, smartass. Now tell me why they chose me, and what they hope to accomplish now that they know about the baby.”
“We can only surmise they have a list of requirements to select their surrogate mothers. One element might be that the person not be sexually active. When you were on the massage table, did the woman ask you questions about your love life… say a boyfriend for example?”
“Now that you mention it, she did. And in order to get the passes I won, I had to fill in a questionnaire requesting information about my occupation, address, and age. At the time, I never thought much about it.”
Kurt nodded. “Makes sense, most people wouldn’t hesitate. We’re looking into this happening to other women across the state and even the country. So far, we’ve come up with five cases over the last few years where women made claims to the authorities that they became impregnated without their knowledge, and their babies were taken within a few hours after birth.”
Ruby dropped her fork and the clatter spiked Kurt’s quick thinking. He sprang from his stool to grab her before she fell.
“Lord lifting Jesus. You’re telling me that some son of a bitch is going to steal my baby?”
He held her close to him, preventing her from falling. “Yeah. That’s what I think is going on. And let me assure you, there isn’t a hope in hell they’ll succeed. When your due date gets near, you’ll have a bodyguard day and night.”
“A bodyguard. Right. Who’s going to pay for that?”
“I come cheap.”
