Terri Reed - Undercover Marriage

Serena frowned. “What about me?”

“You’ll be the devoted stay-at-home wife waiting to adopt a child,” Harrison explained. “You will definitely need to change your appearance. Work with Linda on that.”

Serena’s mouth pressed tight. She didn’t like the idea, which didn’t surprise Josh. She wasn’t the stay-at-home type. She was one of the most ambitious women he knew. A trait that would take her far. Her work ethic was one of the qualities that he admired about her.

Bishop clicked off his call and rejoined them. “Actually, Marshal Summers, there is a family in the neighborhood with several adopted children. We don’t know if they’ve dealt with Perfect Family or not. We’d like you to establish a connection.”

“Okay, I can do that,” Serena said with certainty ringing in her tone.

This Josh had to see. Serena’s no-nonsense, practical and professional demeanor worked in the field, but would it work in an affluent suburban neighborhood?

“Good. That call was from my agent in the field. The house is ready.” Bishop wrote an address on a sheet of paper and handed it to Josh. “Ms. Maitland will meet you there.” He handed them each a business card. “If you need anything, my numbers are on here.” He shook hands with the chief before exiting out the door.

“Okay,” the chief said. “You have your marching orders. Do us proud and get the goods on Munders.”

“We will, sir,” Josh assured him and filed out of the chief’s office behind Serena.

Burke Trier was the first to pounce with curiosity. “So what was that about?”

“Are you two really being pulled off the Munders case?” Bud Hollingsworth asked. “That doesn’t make sense. You two have been the one constant.”

“Yep, we’re pulled,” Serena stated with an exaggerated sigh. “It’s not fair. We’ve worked so hard to be taken out now.”

Burke gave her a funny look.

Josh stifled a groan. If this overdone display was any indication of Serena’s acting abilities, they were in trouble.

“We’re being reassigned to a FBI task force here in town,” Josh said, offering the cover story.

“For what?” Bud asked.

Josh shrugged. “Don’t know yet. We’re leaving now.”

Bud clapped him on the back. “Tough break. That must be why Harrison called me in.”

“Must be.” Josh gathered his things. “You ready, partner?”

Serena met his gaze. “Yes, partner.”

They left the building. In the parking garage, they decided to take Josh’s sedan and leave Serena’s compact. Driving through downtown St. Louis traffic, Josh said, “We should discuss the Andrewses’ backstory. Where we met. Why we can’t have children. What lengths we’d go to for a child.”

Serena slanted him a glance. “According to this, we met in college.”

“Okay. Where?”

She opened the file folder. “This says you’re transferring to St. Louis from Alaska.” She wrinkled her nose. “I can’t imagine living in Alaska. But first we met in Seattle at the University of Washington. You went to work for the bank right out of college and then we were moved to Alaska and now St. Louis.”

“Okay. Once we get settled in the house, we contact the adoption agency and tell them we want a child right away.” Josh drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “What kind of person adopts a baby who seemingly appears overnight?”

“Desperate ones,” Serena said.

“If people want to adopt, they should use a reputable and legal agency that is regulated by the state they live in.”

“I would imagine the families that have adopted through Perfect Family Adoption Agency thought it was a legitimate agency. If the Munderses weren’t so good at hiding the illegal aspects of their agency, we’d have shut them down long before now,” she reminded him.

“True. But I still don’t get why anyone would not be suspicious if a baby was produced quickly without meeting the birth mother. Someone can’t just show up to an adoption agency and expect to have an infant in their arms within a short amount of time. We already know that Munders’s organization, working in Mexico, coerced Vanessa Martinez into giving up her baby, Isabella.”

Four months ago U.S. marshal Colton Phillips had been assigned to protect the thug who’d promised information on the illegal baby-buying scheme. In the process, Colton and FBI agent Lisette Sutton had stopped the illegal transfer of a baby they dubbed Baby C. The infant was eventually reunited with her mother. A win for the marshals.

“It’s not our place to judge what others do. People have to walk their own paths.”

“That’s very magnanimous of you,” he stated, a bit surprised by her soft attitude. It made him wonder what lay beneath the tough exterior she so valiantly exuded.

She shrugged. “If a couple had tried everything to have their own child and then were forced to wait months and months or even years to adopt through the state-run agencies, I could see how they’d turn to agencies that might be a bit questionable.”

“It sounds like you’ve given the subject some thought.” Did she long for a child of her own? Her unrelenting professionalism made him wonder what type of mother she’d be.

What type of wife?

The fact that he wanted to find out made him shift uncomfortably in his seat. He had no business letting his mind wander down such a dangerous path.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped. “I’m just hypothesizing.”

“No maternal pangs?”

From the corner of his eye he saw her jaw clench.

There was a moment of hesitation before she said, “No. But I do know what it’s like to desperately wish for something that you can’t have.”

She wasn’t referring to children or the case but rather to her wish that Daniel were still alive. He had the same desperate, useless desire. But Daniel was gone. His absence left a gaping hole in Josh’s life. The hole was even bigger in Serena’s life.

“Daniel would like this undercover idea,” Josh stated softly.

“Yes, he’d have relished playing the role of wealthy Jack Andrews,” Serena replied and turned to look out the passenger window.

Josh gave a quiet laugh. “Yeah, but I’d never be able to pull off the doting wife bit. My ankles give me away every time.”

She shook her head, but he saw the slight smile. A part of her clearly appreciated his attempt at levity, but she was obviously still too raw, still hurting from the loss of her brother, to laugh too much.

His chest caved in on itself under the heavy weight of guilt.

He pulled up outside his apartment building. “I know this charade of pretending to be my wife is going to be hard for you, Serena.”

She jerked her gaze to him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“As professionals we need to put our personal feelings aside. Daniel wouldn’t want to be the reason we didn’t crack this case.”

Her brown eyes hardened. “I’ll do my job, Josh.”

The tone of her voice suggested that he wouldn’t do his. He bristled with offense. Old fears that he’d be like his father rose to taunt him. “Are you questioning my work ethic?”

“You weren’t there for Daniel when he needed you.”

Josh flinched; her words were a blow to the gut. He knew she blamed him for Daniel’s death. Having that bit of gut-clenching knowledge confirmed tore a jagged hole through him. “I had taken a personal day. Daniel understood.”

“But he called you right before he—” Her voice caught. “And yet you weren’t there for him.”

Josh’s heart contracted painfully in his chest. “Yes, he called me. I didn’t pick up.”

Daniel’s cell phone had been in his pocket when the police found his body. The last call had been to Josh. Josh still had the saved message on his voice mail. He didn’t have the heart to erase the message, but he also couldn’t listen to the sound of Daniel’s voice again.