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“Yes.” Her voice was a whisper. She closed her eyes for a moment, then lifted her gaze to his. She was stunning with her long blond hair and bright-green eyes. And for a moment, he had to wonder if the abduction was for another, more sinister reason. Sex traffickers didn’t normally target pregnant women, but it was possible they hadn’t known about her condition. If he hadn’t been watching her move around inside her apartment, he might not have noticed either. Her winter coat was big enough to cover her rounded belly.
“I neglected to thank you and Officer Greer for saving me,” she said, as if having come to the realization that arguing with them wasn’t going to work in her favor. She frowned. “Although I have to admit it’s more than a little disconcerting to realize you’ve been watching me, following my movements.”
He wasn’t going to apologize for keeping an eye on her. They’d run out of leads and had decided to keep tabs on Feldman’s ex-wife. He was secretly glad they had. “You know this attempt to grab you must be related to your ex-husband. We need you to tell us everything you know to find the men responsible.” He paused, then added, “Before they try again.”
“Again?” She paled. “You think they will?”
“Ma’am, you need to come clean right now,” Brock said, betraying his impatience. “Tell us who grabbed you and why.”
“I don’t know!” Harper’s voice held anguish as she slapped her hands on the metal table. “If I did, I’d tell you! Don’t you think I’d do whatever necessary to protect my baby?”
Steele frowned at Brock, silently warning him to back off.
“Yes, I know you would protect your baby in any way possible,” he hastened to reassure her. “But, Ms. Crane, we need you to think back. There may be something your husband said that may help us now.”
“Ex-husband!” she shouted. Then her face crumpled. “This isn’t my fault. I didn’t do anything illegal.”
“No, you didn’t.” He reached across the table to take her hand. “I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this, but it’s going to be difficult to protect you if we don’t know who is behind this attempted kidnapping.”
She pulled away, swiped at her face, then met his gaze. “I gave the names of my ex-husband’s friends to the police when he was arrested. I barely saw Jake for those two weeks before I moved out. I—he caught me leaving with the last box and forced me to sleep with him.” Her voice hiccupped, and his heart squeezed at hearing what she’d suffered. “Then he got a call and left the house saying something about how he’d be there right away. I took it as a sign from God and got out of there as quickly as possible.”
“And you don’t know who called him? Or what the call was about?” he gently pressed.
“No. I was pretty upset, as you can imagine.” She blinked tears from her eyes and swiped at her face again. “I thought the call might be from Starkey. Ellis Starkey is one of his closest friends. But I can’t say for sure.”
They knew about Ellis Starkey who had seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth, either hiding or dead, and had been hoping for more. “You didn’t know about the guns he was buying and selling?”
“No.” She held his gaze. “I hate guns, and Jake knew that. He would never have told me he was buying and selling them.” She put a hand on her abdomen again. “If I had known, I would have left him much earlier.”
She was probably thinking that if she had done that, she wouldn’t be pregnant now. He wondered how she felt about that, then decided it was none of his business.
Brock rose to his feet and headed for the door. “I need air,” he muttered.
Steele understood his buddy’s anger and frustration. They were all running low on sleep since the most recent raid on a warehouse in Ravenswood that had been coordinated by the ATF with backup from their tactical team had ended in a major gunfight where too many of the bad guys had managed to escape. Their teammate Flynn had been nicked by a bullet, but thankfully, they had killed three bad guys. Getting one or two alive would have been better, but that hadn’t happened.
The bad news was that Ellis Starkey and Tommy Grotto, along with a third guy by the name of Waylon Brooks, were still in the wind.
And those were only the guys they knew about. He and the rest of the tactical team suspected there were others too.
Having illegal guns flooding the streets had led to dozens of shooting incidents, with more on the horizon. As if being a member of the tactical team wasn’t dangerous enough. They were being called to participate in more takedowns and tactical situations than ever before.
“Ms. Crane,” he began.
“Please call me Harper,” she interrupted. “Ma’am makes me feel old. And I’m not accustomed to people calling me by my maiden name.” She shook her head. “I was such a fool. I thought Jake was perfect for me, that we’d be married for decades the way my parents were. But I couldn’t have been more wrong.”
“I’m sorry, Harper.” Using her given name made it difficult to remain professional. “But keep in mind, Jake created an illusion. You couldn’t have known the truth he kept hidden for so long.”
“I won’t make that mistake again,” she murmured. Then she sighed. “I wish there was more I could tell you. Truly. But I swear I don’t know anything.”
He believed her, yet that meant there was likely only one reason they’d attempted to kidnap her. And that was to force Jake into not testifying. Someone within the gun-running organization must have realized he wasn’t dead.
He had to keep that thought to himself, though, as he wasn’t cleared to share any details of their investigation with her.
“Okay, there’s one last thing we need from you.” He rose to his feet. “I’m going gather several mug shots for you to look at. I need you to tell me if any of the men look familiar.”
“I can do that.” She hesitated, then said, “Thank you, Officer Delany. I appreciate your kindness.”
“You may as well call me Steele,” he said, turning toward the door. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
