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Hanna repeated her noncommittal sound. “Would it be possible for me to get a copy of my mother’s visitors’ log? She did give permission for you to discuss her medical records with me.” At the time, Hanna hadn’t wanted such access. It might come in handy now though. “I think my mother might have gotten a visitor who upset her. I’d like to know who.”
She hoped lightning didn’t strike her for that lie. Well, maybe it wasn’t a lie. Such a visitor might exist, but Hanna wanted to look at the list to see if it was possible that Marlene had indeed paid a visit to Isabel and that she’d used an alias when she’d done that. Of course, Hanna might not recognize an alias. Might not recognize the names of any of her mother’s visitors, but this was a start, and if she saw something suspicious, Jesse could no doubt run background checks to figure out if there was any connection to everything else that was going on.
“I’ll email the visitors’ list to you,” the doctor confirmed. “And please let me know the moment you hear from your mother.”
Hanna assured him that she would do just that, and then she tried to call Isabel. It didn’t surprise her when it went straight to voice mail, but it added another layer of worry. Worry that Isabel wasn’t just dodging everyone but had maybe been in an accident. Hanna left a message for Isabel to call her back right away.
She waited for Jesse to finish his conversation with Theo, and he looked as frustrated with this turn of events as she was. “This could be my fault,” Hanna blurted out.
Jesse’s forehead bunched up, but he looked skeptical about that. “How?” That sounded skeptical, too.
“I explained to you that I lied to my mother and told her that my memory was coming back. A couple of days later, Bull escaped from prison and someone kidnapped Marlene.”
“Or Marlene faked her kidnapping,” Jesse reminded her after he took a moment to process what she was trying to tell him. He huffed and put his hands on his hips while he stared at her. “You can’t believe that, when Isabel told Marlene you might be getting your memory back, it prompted Marlene to convince her brother to escape so he could eliminate you before you remembered anything about your attack.”
She shook her head. Hanna wasn’t so sure she could believe that at all. “But maybe what happened was my mother was worried about Bull coming after me again if he got out of jail. Isabel maybe said or did something that led Bull to believe someone had ordered a hit on him. That could have been the reason he escaped.”
After she heard her own words, she realized that sounded just as far-fetched as what Jesse had just tossed out there. The bottom line was she simply couldn’t see her mother doing any of that.
But maybe that was because she didn’twantto see it.
It could be she had on blinders when it came to Isabel. Her mother and she didn’t have a stellar relationship and Hanna didn’t have memories of Isabel raising her, but the woman was still her mother. It was hard to believe the worst about her, and this could most definitely fall into the worst category if it turned out Isabel was behind everything that had happened.
“Theo’s going to get a warrant to take a look at Isabel’s financials,” Jesse told her. “It’s routine for something like this since we’ll have to investigate Marlene’s accusation. Of course, after Grayson talks to Marlene, he’ll also want to interview Isabel right away to get her side of the story.”
Yes, interview her to either rule her out as a suspect. Or arrest her. But for that to happen, they had to find her first.
“It’s time for me to go,” Jesse said on a huff, and he went ahead into the nursery to see Evan.
As usual, the baby gave Jesse a big gummy grin and went right to him for a cuddle and kiss. But then Evan reached back for his grandmother who had now pulled out a stash of toys to go along with the books.
“I can watch him as long as you like,” Melissa offered, obviously noting their troubled expressions.
“Thanks,” Hanna told her. She just might need a little time to herself to tamp down the worry enough so that Evan didn’t pick up on it. If the tamping down was even possible, that is. “Jesse’s about to leave, and I’ll be in the kitchen fixing Evan some lunch.”
Hanna followed Jesse out of the nursery and, after she closed the door, he turned to her, their gazes locking. “I’ll be okay,” he said.
For a moment, she thought he was about to kiss her. For a moment, she thought she mightwanthim to kiss her, too. But then his phone rang.
He muttered some profanity when Unknown Caller was on the screen. “Bull,” he grumbled, and he put the call on speaker.
“You found my sister,” Bull snarled like an accusation. “Where has she been? Who took her? Is she all right?”
“How’d you know Marlene had been found?” Jesse countered.
Bull wasn’t so quick to jump with a response this time. “Police scanner,” he finally said. “Is she all right?” he repeated, and this time his voice was much lower. Not calmer though. Either Bull was genuinely concerned about his sister or he was putting on a good act.
“She was conscious when she arrived here, but she does have a head injury,” Jesse told him. “I’ll give you more details about her at the meeting when you turn yourself in.”
Bull stayed quiet for a moment. “Have you arrested my sister?”
Jesse paused, too. “Why would you ask that? Has Marlene done something to warrant an arrest?”
Bull cursed a spate of raw profanity. “Don’t play games with me. Tell me if she has been or will be arrested.”
“We can talk about that after you surrender,” Jesse countered.
“No,” Bull snapped after another long pause. “I’m not turning myself in. The meeting is off.”
