When the Bough Breaks (Rose Gardner Investigations #6) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,27

for them, it was Joe. “Yeah.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “Really?”

I wound my arms around his neck and his arms wrapped around my back, holding me as close as my stomach would allow.

“I’ll find ’em, Rose,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “I swear it.”

“I know,” I said, clinging to him. “If anyone can, it’s you.” I pulled back and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m gonna head to the office.”

He kept an arm around me and placed a hand on my belly. “How are you doin’ with all of this? How’s the baby?”

“We’re both fine. Now go look for our niece and nephew,” I said, my voice breaking. “And be careful, Joe.” Because something big was going on in this town, and I had a feeling Joe was about to walk into the middle of it.

Chapter 7

“We’re not really headin’ back to the office now, are we?” Neely Kate asked, incredulous. She stood next to the truck, still in front of Mike’s house.

Officer Ernie had eaten her grapes, the turkey sandwich, a tin of breath mints, and a can of kidney beans she’d had in her purse for some ungodly reason. He’d convinced the firefighter to open it for him. Then, after all of his bluster about going in the house, he’d gotten into Officer Sprout’s patrol car, saying he needed a rest after his near-death experience, and the two of them had driven away.

I’d told Neely Kate that Joe had asked us to leave so he could investigate without worrying about us, and while she had agreed to leave, we still hadn’t reached an agreement on where to go next.

“Okay, if not the office,” I said, “then the nursery.”

“Rose!”

I put my hand on my stomach. “Come on, Neely Kate. I can’t be chasin’ bad guys right now.” When she didn’t look appeased, I leaned closer and lowered my voice. “You know we can’t go in there, and Joe’s not allowed to tell us anything.”

That and I had a couple of other sources I planned to contact, but the first person had asked me not to tell anyone that he’d contacted me months ago, and the second…

I still wasn’t convinced I should contact him. If Neely Kate knew that I was considering it, she’d lock me up in the landscaping office.

No, it would be better not to tell her just yet. I’d rather ask for forgiveness after the fact.

“You can’t be serious,” she protested.

“Come on,” I said, opening the passenger door to the truck. “Let’s go.”

Grumbling, she walked around the truck and got inside. “I can’t believe you’re letting this go,” she said once she was settled behind the wheel.

“I’m not lettin’ it go,” I said. “I’m lettin’ Joe take care of it.”

“Since when did we walk away from a mystery? And why would we walk away from one involving Ashley and Mikey?”

“Because I have to think about my baby, Neely Kate,” I said, feeling the press of guilt. Was I making a mistake by keeping this from her?

Maybe so, but I’d do anything to help my niece and nephew.

“Yeah,” she said with a groan. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I guess I miss investigatin’ cases.”

“I do too,” I admitted. “Maybe when our babies are older.” I needed to think about something other than Ashley and Mikey and where they might be now. I sure couldn’t think about them being dead. “I know you found a wedding dress on the internet, but you should try some on in person. We could go shopping.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You want to go shoppin’ for weddin’ dresses now?”

Tears flooded my eyes, and the dam broke loose on my tears. “No.”

“Oh, honey.”

I tried to stifle my sobs. “Where are they, Neely Kate? Who could have taken them?”

“I don’t know, but instead of going back to town, how about we go see Jed?”

That was a good idea. Jed used to be James’s righthand man, which meant he had a lot of contacts in the criminal world, and most of the people he knew actually respected him. Besides, he was good in a crisis. Lord only knew he’d gotten me out of plenty of scrapes. I had trusted the man with my life more times than I could count. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. “Okay.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

I started talking about nonsense, anything to keep my mind from wandering to all the worst-case scenarios running through my head.

When Neely Kate pulled into the parking lot of Jed’s garage, all three bay doors