When the Bough Breaks (Rose Gardner Investigations #6) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,109

a misogynist who’d always hated the Lady in Black.

I headed through the woods, moving upstream and hoping Dermot had gone the same way. I didn’t make it far before the next contraction kicked in, and the urge to push was even stronger this time. I stopped and squatted next to a tree. I couldn’t he-he-ho, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get through this contraction without making any noise.

“Ashley,” Carey sing-songed. “Come on out.”

My stomach cramped up and everything in me wanted to push. I released a small moan.

“I hear you, Rose,” he called out. “You can’t hide from me.”

The pressure increased and my uterus clamped down. I released an involuntary cry, unable to fight the urge.

Carey laughed, sounding closer. “I hear you, Rose.”

Not yet, baby. Not yet.

I still held the gun, hoping I could keep my wits about me enough to shoot him, but I wasn’t sure I’d manage. If he found me right now, my baby and I would probably both be dead.

Joe, I’m so sorry. I screwed up everything.

Impossibly, the contraction grew stronger, and I couldn’t stop myself from pushing, or from crying out again, long and loud this time.

Carey appeared between two trees, grinning from ear to ear, his shotgun slung over his shoulder.

“Well, if that isn’t a picture.”

I kept my hand with the gun tucked behind the tree, still riding out the contraction, trying not to push and failing.

“Cat got your tongue?”

“Why did you take my niece and nephew?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Where are they?” he asked, glancing around. “You might as well tell me. We’re gonna find them.”

Only Carey didn’t have anyone with him, and I hadn’t heard any other voices besides his.

“You don’t have anyone with you,” I guessed. “You’re the only one lookin’ because I bet you were supposed to be watchin’ the kids, and you can’t go back without them or your daddy’s gonna whip your butt.”

His eyes bulged as his hands fisted. “My daddy doesn’t run my life.” He looked close to hitting me.

“If you say so,” I said as the contraction eased. “I bet you don’t even know why you were holdin’ those kids in that icehouse.”

“I know why they were there,” he said.

“Do you know that Skeeter Malcolm knows you had them?” I prodded.

His eyes widened slightly, and he started to say something but stopped. “Malcolm?”

“He’s the reason I knew they were on your property.”

“Is Malcolm with you?”

There was no way I was going to answer that. “Worried that he knows your daddy’s business?”

“You’re lyin’.”

“Then how did I know where to find my niece and nephew? If you tell me why you had them, I’ll tell Skeeter to let you get away.”

“Your former brother-in-law’s the crooked one. We took them to coerce Beauregard to tell us what he knows about Hardshaw.”

But Carey was a bad liar. His shifty eyes gave him away.

“Where’s Malcolm?” he asked. “You claim he’s here, but there’s no sign of him.”

I hadn’t claimed anything of the sort, just insinuated, but I wasn’t about to point that out. “And where do you think the kids are?” I asked. “Someone had to get them to safety.”

“Malcolm would never leave you to save some kids. But then again, last I heard, he wants nothing to do with you.”

“Well, if you want to see him so badly, you can just stick around and find out for yourself. Or you can run on home.”

“I ain’t goin’ back without those kids,” Carey said.

“You should reconsider,” Dermot said to my left.

I shifted my focus to see him standing at the edge of the trees, his gun trained on Carey.

“Just toss the gun down and we’ll let you go,” Dermot said.

Carey snorted. “You think I’m gonna believe that?”

“I’ll hold back for Lady,” Dermot said. “If it were up to me, I’d just shoot you and be done with it.”

“I need those kids,” Carey said, sounding more desperate. “When they show up and those kids are gone, they’re not gonna be happy.”

“So you took them for Hardshaw?” Dermot asked. “Have you Collards joined forces with them?”

“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” Carey said. “We got a nice arms deal with ’em. You might consider reaching out to them yourself, Dermot.”

Which explained why James knew where they were—and also why he wasn’t willing to openly interfere, not that I was excusing him for any of it.

“So they had you take the kids to pressure Mike into doin’ something he didn’t want to do,” I said. “But what?”

“This isn’t for the