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Her phone sounded with another message, and she glanced at it and inhaled sharply before she turned it around for him to see.
It was from Dr.Ben.I called on the DNA to get the early result. Positive. Jon is Kylie’s father. Probability 99.99999999%. Congratulations!
Jon’s mouth went dry. Kylie was his own flesh and blood. He’d known the truth in his heart, but now no one could ever challenge it. “I never doubted your word, love.”
“But your dad did.”
“Not really. He was thinking like a lawyer and wanted tocover all the bases. No one can ever deny the proof of what we’ve known all along.”
Her blue eyes softened. “I know I shouldn’t have let it hurt me.”
“But it did, and I’m sorry.” He took her hand. “But it’s behind us now.”
Her gaze searched his. “You’re happy?”
“Do you doubt it?” He squeezed her fingers. “Finding you again and having my own daughter is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
She leaned over to kiss him. “I love you.”
“I love you more.”
She gave his fingers a final squeeze and rose. “I’ve got to get to town to talk to Mason. Could you have Kylie lay out what she wants to take?”
But her tone warned him she wasn’t fully on board and that he’d overstepped his bounds. They would have to feel their way through this kind of thing when it came to Kylie.
***
The coffee in Mason’s messy office smelled as strong as espresso, but Annie took a sip anyway to try to wake up after a long night of tossing and turning. “I didn’t get another call from Glenn last night. Do we know anything so far?”
As far as she knew, Mason hadn’t been able to get a straight answer out of the man before he was taken out of the hospital.
Mason leaned forward and studied the screen on his desk. “You know all of it—he milked the women’s shelter of close to a million dollars and funneled it into his political campaign. Hetried to kill you and Jon, he kidnapped Michelle Fraser, who could have brought everything down around his head, and he would have killed Sarah if you hadn’t gotten to her first. Michelle gave us the evidence of his fraud, and she and Sarah can identify him as their abductor so we can charge him with fraud, kidnapping, and attempted murder. He’ll be going away for a long, long time.”
“Any identity on the people who took him out of the hospital?”
“We’ve sent the pictures off for enhancement to see if we can identify them, but it will take a while to get them back. The lab is backed up. Interesting that he called you. He must have had you in his phone.”
“He sounded disoriented and confused, too, but that’s to be expected with coming out of a coma.” She took another sip of the horrendous coffee and grimaced. “What about the BOLO you have out on Idoya Jones?”
The manager of the women’s shelter had helped Hussert funnel all that money. Annie suspected Idoya might know more about Michelle’s kidnapping and Glenn’s other crimes, but she’d vanished.
“We checked with border patrol and there’s a picture of her entering Canada. There’s been no trace of her yet.” Mason leaned back and studied her face. “The one case you haven’t asked about is Sarah’s.”
“How’s she doing?” And did Annie even want to know? Sympathy for Sarah after what she’d done was hard to muster.
Mason took a sip of coffee. “She didn’t like jail, but no one does. She cried a lot, but she brought this on herself. No one forced her to abduct Kylie—it was her own rage and poor judgment. There are consequences.”
Annie had made plenty of the same kind of statements, but it felt harsher coming from Mason. It wasn’t like Sarah was a child, though, or even young enough to have acted in the rashness of youth. She was a grown woman and hadn’t cared about the havoc and pain she’d left in her wake.
But she was still Annie’s baby sister. The one she’d searched for long and hard. The one she’d thought lay in a long-abandoned grave somewhere. Yet she’d shown up here in Rock Harbor, alive and well. At least physically. How much did the horrific details of Sarah’s abduction and subsequent life play a part in those poor decisions Mason mentioned?
Probably a lot.
“Have you seen her today? I know Jon dropped her off at his cottage late yesterday afternoon.”
“I haven’t seen her. I’ll admit I’m concerned about her being there alone now that Hussert is out. Whoever helped him get away must be involved. They won’t want Sarah testifying against Hussert when we catch him. She’s a sitting duck out there by herself. I think you should revoke bail. She’d be safer sitting in jail. And my case would be more secure as well.”
Annie gave a slight shake of her head. “I should hate her, Mason, but I find myself pitying her instead. And I shouldn’t. She chose to take Kylie of her own free will. But now that the fake contacts are gone and her hair is going blonde again, I see that little girl inside—who she used to be. The baby sister who used to beg me to read to her. I see her watching me all those years ago when I’d sing silly songs. Her childhood was stolen from her.”
