Delores Fossen - Landon

“No,” Landon snapped. “But I want you to guess why he attacked us. And the guessing should start with you telling me everything you know about Joel. The baby, too.”

His tone wasn’t as sharp as it’d been before, and his glare had softened some. Maybe he was starting to believe that this wasn’t her fault.

Well, not totally her fault, anyway.

Tessa tried to concentrate and latch on to whatever information she could remember. It was strange, but the memories from years ago were a lot clearer than the recent ones. In fact, some of the recent ones were just a tangle of images and sounds.

“Tell me about Joel,” Landon pressed, probably because she was still trying to figure out what to say.

“Joel,” she repeated. And Tessa went with what she did remember. “I started working for him two years ago as a bookkeeper. I didn’t know what he was,” she added. “I was an out-of-work accountant, and he offered me a job. Later, he wanted me to be a PI so I could run background checks for him.”

“But you soon found out what he was,” Landon finished for her.

Another nod. “But I didn’t know how deep his operation went, and he was hiding assets and activities under layers of corporate paperwork.” Tessa had to pause again, brush away the mental cobwebs. These next memories were spotty compared to the ones of her starting to work for Joel.

“Back at the hospital, you said you thought Joel had killed someone,” Landon reminded her. “Who? Emmett?”

Tessa closed her eyes a moment, trying to make the thoughts come. Finally, she remembered a piece of a memory. Or maybe it was just a dream. It was so hard to work all of this out.

“No. Not Emmett. I think the murder might have had something to do with the baby’s mother,” she said. “But...no, that’s not right.” She touched her fingers to her head. “It’s getting all mixed up again.”

“Her mother?” Landon questioned. “So you’re positive she’s not yours...ours?”

“Yes, I’m certain.”

She couldn’t tell if Landon was relieved about that or not. He didn’t seem relieved about anything. Neither was she. The child might not be theirs, but Tessa still needed to protect the newborn.

But who was after the baby? And why?

Her gaze dropped to the baby. “I think I know the reason I have her, though. Because a killer was after her mother, and she left the baby with me for safekeeping.”

“A killer,” Landon said. “You mean Joel?”

“I just don’t know.” Tessa groaned softly. “If I could just rest for a while, maybe that would help me remember?”

“You’ll get some rest later. For now, tell me what happened to the baby’s mother,” Landon demanded.

Tessa had no idea. But this wasn’t looking good. If all of this had happened four days ago, then the mother should have come back by now. If she was able to come back, that is.

Landon cursed. “Is the mother dead or hurt?”

But before she could even attempt an answer, Dade was on the phone, and she heard him ask if there was any information on the baby’s mother that would match the sketchy details she’d just given them.

“Is it possible the woman who had this baby didn’t have anything to do with Emmett?” Landon pressed.

“I just don’t know.” She paused. “But maybe Emmett was helping me find some evidence against Joel?”

As expected, that didn’t go over well with Landon. He didn’t come out and say that she should have contacted him instead of Emmett, but she knew that was what he was thinking.

“But why would Emmett have been helping me?” Tessa asked.

Neither of the men jumped to answer that, maybe because they didn’t have a clue, but it was Landon who finally responded. “Emmett was a DEA agent in Grand Valley, and Joel had a business there.”

The memories were coming but too darn slow. She huffed and rubbed the back of her neck. Or rather she tried to do that but yanked back her hand when her fingers brushed over the sensitive skin there.

“Does it hurt?” Landon asked. He leaned closer, lifted her hair and looked for himself.

“Some.” Not nearly as much as her head, though. “Why? How bad does it look?”

“It looks like a wasp sting or something. But the doctor took an X-ray. If it’s something serious, he’ll let us know.”

Now that the drugs were partially wearing off, she tried to remember what’d happened to cause this particular injury. But nothing came. Everything was still so jumbled in her head, and that couldn’t last.

There were secrets in her memories, secrets that had caused someone to try to kill her, and until she unlocked those secrets, she wouldn’t be able to figure out who had sent that gunman after the baby and her.

And figure out who’d killed Emmett and why.

“Good news, maybe,” Dade said when he finished his call. “There have been no reports of a seriously injured or dead woman who gave birth in the past week, but Josh will keep calling around and see if something turns up.”

“Josh?” she asked, hoping it was someone she could trust. Of course, at the moment Tessa wasn’t sure she could trust anyone.

“Our cousin,” Landon explained. “He’s a deputy in Silver Creek.”

Like Landon. Tessa prayed this Josh was being mindful of those calls and that he didn’t give away any information that could put the baby’s mother in further danger. Of course, it was possible the woman was dead. Just because the cops hadn’t found a body didn’t mean there wasn’t one.

Oh, God.

Another wave of dizziness hit her, and Tessa had to lean her head against the seat. She closed her eyes, hoping it would stop. Hoping, too, that the car would soon stop, as well.

“Where are we going?” she asked. And better yet—how soon would they be there? But the moment she asked the question, Tessa got yet another bad feeling. That feeling only increased when neither Landon nor Dade jumped to answer.

“Where?” she repeated.

“Someplace you’re not going to like,” Landon grumbled.

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