on her cheek flared red against her white skin. Her lower lip trembled slightly. “I never said I’d been contacted.”
“Sure you did. With that broken cup and spilled coffee. Do they want money? Did they threaten your daughter’s life? That’s usual in these cases. I can’t help you if you won’t talk to me.”
She rubbed her palms together, then glanced at her watch. “I don’t have time for this. I have to get home. My next-door neighbor Lillian is there alone, trying to piece our case files back together while she waits at a tapped phone in case the kidnapper calls. She’s seventy-six, and shouldn’t have to shoulder that kind of responsibility by herself.”
Despite her effort to be tough, Griff knew she was about to break. “Neither should you. Every moment you delay is a moment off your daughter’s life.”
He averted his gaze from her shocked, hurt face. Striding over to the window, he thrust his hands into his pockets to hide his clenched fists.
“You think you can deal with these people on your own?” he asked over his shoulder.
Dread certainty filled him. “You’re wrong. I’ve worked with too many distraught parents who thought the same thing. If you don’t tell me the truth, your daughter will die.” His harsh voice echoed through the room.
She made a small, pained sound. “That was cruel, and unnecessary.”
“No, it wasn’t unnecessary. What’s unnecessary is the time you’re wasting in this misguided effort to hide the facts from me.” He faced her again. “I will not abandon your daughter, Ms. Loveless. I’m going to do my best to find her, with or without your help. I just hope it’s not too late.”
She raised her head and the fear that racked her shone on her face. “You have to believe me,” she said in a choked voice. “If there was anything I could tell you, I would.”
In spite of his irritation, Griff almost smiled at her clever wording. “You’re smart, Ms. Loveless. But I’m smart, too. We need to be working together. All kidnappers threaten dire consequences if the family contacts the authorities. The truth is, hearing from the kidnappers is a good sign.”
Her brows drew down.
“Once we have contact, we have evidence. It’s the ones who grab the baby to keep or sell, the ones who never make contact, that give us nightmares.” His gut clenched as his words hung there in the silence.
Nightmares. He knew plenty about nightmares, too. He lived with them on a daily basis. He intended to ensure that this lovely, brave woman wouldn’t have to. With or without her help.
Sunny opened her mouth.
He held up his hand. “Spare me another clever turn of phrase that makes you feel better about lying, Ms. Loveless.” He flexed his fingers. “I’m going to wash the coffee off my hands. I’ll bring you a towel. While I’m gone, you think about this. Right now you are the biggest obstacle to finding your daughter. If you received a note, you may be destroying DNA evidence. So far, the odds are pretty good that your daughter is safe, because without her, the kidnappers have nothing to bargain with. But no one can guarantee that. The longer Emily is missing, the lower our chances of finding her.”
As he stepped past her, her fresh scent teased his nostrils again. She was like a breath of spring to his winter-coated heart.
He was going to have to watch himself around her.
As soon as Agent Stone closed the door, Sunny released the breath she was holding and grabbed her purse. She had to get out of here before he talked her into telling him everything.
She’d been afraid of this when Lieutenant Carver had told her an FBI special agent from Washington, D.C., was being called in.
Griffin Stone knew far too much. His instincts were too good.
It hadn’t taken him two minutes to deduce that she was lying. She’d felt his suspicion like a wave of heat.
Worse, his confidence combined with his intimidating presence made her doubt her ability to deal with the kidnapper on her own. She had to get away from him so she could think.
As soon as his footsteps faded, she slipped out of the room and down the fire stairs.
Rubbing her temple where a headache slowly bloomed, she stepped out of the building into the hot summer sun. For an instant, she tilted her head up, inviting the sun’s bright heat to penetrate down to her bones.
Not even the sun could thaw her icy heart, though. The