When the Bough Breaks (Rose Gardner Investigations #6) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,22

look like you’re ready to deliver any day.”

“So they tell me,” I said with a sigh, “but I’m not convinced.”

“She’s got two more weeks until her due date,” Neely Kate said, “but she’s over it.”

He gave me a sympathetic look. “My cousin went through the same thing. She was three weeks late, and then she was in labor for three days. They finally had to cut the kid out. But don’t you worry. You’ll be holding that baby soon enough.”

I gaped at him in horror. Three weeks late and three days of labor? Three weeks late would mean I had five more weeks to go. Over a month.

Oblivious to my internal crisis, he turned his attention toward the house. “I hear something fishy’s goin’ on with your niece and nephew.”

I shook myself out of my self-pity. There were more important things to deal with. “They haven’t been to school or daycare in days, and Mike hasn’t called in to tell either place what’s wrong. He told Joe and me that they’re sick with the flu, but his parents didn’t know anything about them bein’ ill, and now Mike and the kids aren’t even home.”

“Maybe they’re at the doctor.”

“Maybe,” I conceded. “I can probably find out if they are.”

He narrowed his eyes. “The doctor’s office isn’t supposed to release any information to me without a warrant…so how about I walk up to the front door and around the house, and you call whoever your source is and find out without my involvement.”

I pulled my phone out of my purse. As he headed to the front door, I called my doctor’s office. The receptionist answered, and I said, “Hey, Loretta, this is Rose Gardner.”

“Is everything okay? We heard about your false labor yesterday.”

I suppressed a groan. “I swear I’m not goin’ to the hospital again until I feel the baby fallin’ out.” I paused and softened my tone. “But that’s not why I’m callin’. I’m worried about my niece and nephew—Ashley and Mikey Beauregard. They’ve been out of school with the flu, and I’m checkin’ to see if I can swing by and pick up their prescription for Tamiflu.”

Neely Kate shot me a surprised look, which quickly morphed into a grin. She liked it when I did things on the sly.

“I don’t see a prescription up front for them, although that’s something we can call into the pharmacy. Did you check there?”

“I did, but they don’t have it,” I said, resisting the sudden urge to feel my nose to see if it was growing.

“Let me place you on hold and check.”

“Thanks, Loretta.”

I put the phone on mute in case Loretta picked up, and said to Neely Kate, “It’s workin’ so far. She’s checkin’ for a prescription, which means she’s lookin’ to see if he brought them in.”

Randy stood waiting on the front porch after knocking several times. He walked down the steps and started around the corner of the house toward the back.

“Rose?” Loretta said.

I turned the mute button off. “Yeah?”

“Do you know where their daddy took them? I’m not seein’ any record of them bein’ here.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, my stomach twisting with worry.

“Yep. I triple-checked.”

“Okay. Thanks, Loretta. Maybe he took them to the urgent care.” I hung up and held the phone to my chest. “Neely Kate, Mike never took them to the doctor.”

“Well, you already suspected they weren’t sick, so why are you so freaked out?”

“Because if they aren’t sick, then where are they?”

Neely Kate’s gaze drifted past me, and I turned to see Joe getting out of his car and walking toward me.

He took one look at my face and closed the distance between us, pulling me into his arms.

I buried my face into his chest. “They never went to the doctor, Joe. I just checked.”

He held me close. “We’ll find them.” Dropping his hold on me, he pulled out his phone and placed a call. “Mrs. Beauregard? This is Chief Deputy Joe Simmons.”

Mike’s mother knew Joe, which meant he’d included his title to make sure she understood the authority behind the call.

“I need to ask you about the whereabouts of Ashley and Mikey.” He was silent for a long pause. “I need to know the last time you saw them, not when Mike said he had them, when you saw them with your own eyes.” His brow lifted. “Five days ago. And when did you last talk to Mike?” A pause. “Yesterday after I spoke with you…and did he give you any indication of what might