TO DIE FOR (Eva Rae Thomas Mystery Book 8) - Willow Rose Page 0,52
she was sitting with him in her arms.
“What’s going on, Kim?” I asked.
She looked at the baby in her arms with tears in her eyes and didn’t give me the time of day.
“What do you mean?”
“A few weeks ago, you didn’t even want to know of him.”
She shrugged. “And?”
“And now, you suddenly changed your mind and want to see him?” I asked. “Has something happened?”
She shook her head. “No. Nothing. Can you maybe take a picture of me with him? Here, use my phone.”
She handed me her phone and opened it for me. I took a couple of snapshots, and she smiled, holding him up for the camera. I felt more confused than ever. What had suddenly changed?
I was about to shut off the phone when I accidentally saw another photo taken recently and paused. I looked up at her.
“This picture, taken in front of the church. It was you? You took Owen that day in the parking lot?” I showed her the picture of Owen in his car seat carrier on her phone.
Kim blushed, her cheeks turning completely red.
“I…I…no.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “Kim. I have the picture right here. Why would you do something like that? I thought he had been kidnapped.”
She looked at me, visibly embarrassed. “I…I’m sorry. I just wanted to see him for a second and hold him and take a picture of him for…and then I panicked. I didn’t want you to see me.”
I shook my head in disbelief. Was this woman for real? “So, you put him on the steps and ran? Who does that?”
She shook her head with a tsk. “You found him, didn’t you?”
“Why didn’t you just come and ask me if you could hold him?”
“Well, after the last time in Publix, I wasn’t sure you’d let me. Besides, I just wanted to take his picture, so…”
She paused, and I sent her a glare.
“So, what, Kim?”
She shook her head and handed me back the baby. “I should get going now. It was wrong of me to come.”
She started to walk toward the door. “She’s with you… Isn’t she? Amy? You know where she is, right? The picture was for her, so she could see how big he had gotten. And now, you wanted a new one today so she could keep track of him and know that he’s doing okay.”
Kim’s eyes hit the carpet. She shook her head, then opened the door. “I…I need to go. Thank you for letting me see him.”
And with that, she closed the door and left. I sat back, holding Owen, unable to figure out what the heck just happened and what to make of it. These people made no sense to me. None at all.
I didn’t get to finish the thought before my phone vibrated in my pocket.
Chapter 56
Bryan dropped the silverware onto the plate with a loud sound. Sarah jumped and looked at him, gun still in her hand, one eye remaining on the window.
“It’s driving me insane,” he said.
“What is?”
He threw his arms out. “This. You.”
She turned her head briefly and looked at him before her eyes returned to look out the window at the street outside.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t stand this. You, sitting there by the window, day and night, watching for whatever it is you fear might come. You still haven’t told me what happened to you.”
Sarah lowered her head and studied the gun in her hand. When she was a child, her dad had taught her to shoot. She had hated it back then, but today, she was glad she knew how to defend herself. No one was going to sneak up on her and live to tell about it. Never again.
“I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.”
“Why not? Don’t you think I deserve to know? You come here all bruised up, blood smeared on your skin, dirty like you’ve been living in a mudhole for months. You’re scared as heck and sit by the window constantly as if you’re expecting someone to come driving up to the house to attack you. Why won’t you tell me anything? Every time I ask even the simplest question, you simply ignore it or answer something that doesn’t tell me anything.”
She exhaled. He was right—she owed him an explanation. She couldn’t keep this up.
“What do you want to know?”
“Where were you? You were gone for weeks, and no one knew where to find you,” he said.
“I don’t know where I was,” she said. “That’s the problem.”