In the meantime, I’ll buy Matilda a cup of coffee while she waits for Detective Lane.” And to make sure she didn’t cut and run.
“And I need to make a few phone calls,” Adam said.
“Not so fast, Adam Dalton,” Janice ordered. “I’d like to have a word alone with you.”
* * *
JANICE SENT THE NURSE out of the room before she started in on Adam.
“Do you have no decency?”
Her tone was sharp. She was gearing up to take all this out on him. He could take it, but getting riled up wasn’t what the doctor had ordered for her.
“I’m not a saint,” he said, striving to keep this low-key. “But, yeah, most folks think I’m an all-right kind of guy.”
“I disagree. You’re taking advantage of a horrifying situation to insinuate yourself back into Hadley’s life.”
“I offered my help. Hadley accepted it. That’s all that’s going on here.”
No way was he going into his and Hadley’s past relationship with her mother. He couldn’t have explained it if he wanted to.
“I knew when I met you that you were trouble.”
Maybe he was more like R.J. than he thought. Not that Janice was an authority on Adam. The only time they’d been together was the night of the traditional meet-the-parent dinner.
It had been a week into their whirlwind courtship, only two nights after he’d asked Hadley to marry him. Janice had made it plain then that she didn’t think a marine about to ship out to Afghanistan was any bargain as a son-in-law.
“I don’t want Hadley hurt by the likes of you again, Adam. You broke her heart. And now you just show up when she’s frantic and vulnerable and pretend to be some kind of hero.”
If that was true, it had been the fastest recovery of a broken heart on record.
“I’m not pretending anything, Janice. I only want to help if I can. You’re in the hospital. The girls’ father isn’t around. I’d think you’d be glad Hadley has someone to lean on.”
Janice’s eyes narrowed. “What did Hadley tell you about Lacy and Lila’s father?”
“Nothing. Is there something I should know about him, like why he’s not as desperate as Hadley is to find their daughters?”
Adam didn’t understand why the big secret. He was certain Detective Lane had asked about the girls’ father and he wouldn’t have settled for the brush-off Adam had gotten.
“The twins’ father is none of your business. When this is over and the girls are safely home again, walk away from Hadley, Adam. Do it even if she feels indebted and asks you to stay. She deserves better than you.”
He couldn’t argue that. But he deserved a straight answer about why Lacy and Lila’s father wasn’t even concerned enough to be here. He’d ask again before they met with Fred Casey.
This time he’d demand the truth.
* * *
SHELTON LANE FIGURED IT was his lucky day when he saw both Matilda Bastion and Hadley standing in the hall outside Mrs. O’Sullivan’s hospital room. This case seemed less like an abduction and more like a sick murder case with every new piece of information he uncovered.
Not that he was ready to make book on that fact yet, but Hadley O’Sullivan had definitely not leveled with him. He couldn’t think of one good reason why a mother who was desperate to find her daughters would lie to the police when asked what should have been a simple question.
If his theory was right, Hadley O’Sullivan might just be the coolest liar and the best actress on the planet. And Adam Dalton was either in it with her or he was as gullible where she was concerned as everyone else around her seemed to be.
He could see how Adam could be taken in by her. Hadley was a damn good-looking woman. She had all the tools for getting under any red-blooded man’s skin. A gorgeous mass of red hair that looked even more enticing when it was disheveled. Great legs. Bodacious breasts.
And she was smart enough that even if she was guilty, she might get off scot-free if he didn’t play his cards right and follow every police procedure in the manual.
He walked up and joined them. “Hello, ladies.”
“Any progress?” Hadley asked.
“None to speak of, but I’m hopeful that will change any minute now.”
He studied Hadley. Her eyes were shadowed with the same torment he heard in her voice. That and the edgy fear that defined her had been constant since he’d first met her.
It was also what kept him hoping his theory