Caridad Pineiro - The Coltons - Fisher, Ryder & Quinn - Soldier's Secret Child

“Do you know where she’s from?” After he asked the question, he took a bite of his sandwich.

Macy likewise took a bite, rolled her eyes upward as if trying to gather all that she knew about the girl before responding. “She’s sixteen and from Dallas, we believe. When she arrived at the ranch, she had some bruises on her arms and hands, but she seems to be from a family that’s fairly well-off judging from her clothes and behavior.”

“What about your boss? Does she know anything more?”

“Yesterday morning Jewel mentioned hiring a private investigator since Sara was missing. She was supposed to get a name from Joe Colton, but I haven’t talked to her since then.”

“Maybe after lunch—”

“I’ll call her,” she said and after that, the two of them quickly finished up the last of their soup and sandwiches.

While Fisher cleared off the table and tackled the dishes, she phoned Jewel to fill her in on all that had happened, beginning with the hit-and-run incident with T.J.

“Is he okay?” her friend asked, her concern evident in the tones of her voice.

“Bruised and banged up a little, but nothing serious luckily.”

A heavy sigh filled the line. “I’m not liking this, Macy. There’s just too much going on for it all not to be related.”

“I agree, but without any more info—”

“Actually, Joe Colton was able to provide me some information about the man he believes to be Sara’s dad—Howard Engeleit,” Jewel said and relief flooded through Macy that they might finally have something to go on.

“Mr. Colton knows him?”

“When I mentioned Sara’s last name, it rang a bell with Joe. Apparently Howard Engeleit had once worked with him. He says he didn’t care for the man and that they’d had a falling out. He left Joe’s company some time ago,” Jewel recounted.

“Does he know where Howard is now?” she asked as Fisher finished washing the dishes and stood there, drying his hands on a towel as he listened.

“Howard started his own company and made a good chunk of money. He and Joe see each other occasionally. The last that he had heard, Howard was in the middle of a nasty divorce battle, but Joe couldn’t recall whether or not Howard had any children.”

Although the information wasn’t yet complete, she was relieved that at least now they might have something more to go on in their search to discover what was going on with her son and Sara. “Thanks for all the info. Fisher and I—”

“Fisher and you? Are you a team now?” Jewel said teasingly, unaware of just how problematic being together with Fisher was for her.

“We’re going to check into some things and keep you posted. If you find out anything else, could you call me?” she responded, steering clear of any further discussion of her and Fisher.

“I understand, Macy. When you’re ready to discuss it…”

“I’ll let you know. Talk to you later,” she said and hung up.

Fisher had walked back to the table and now he stood there, hands braced along the top rung of one of the kitchen chairs.

“You’ve got something to go on,” he said.

“Something, but we need a little more. Seems like there’s one sure way of finding out more about Howard Engeleit,” she said, picked up her hands and mimicked that she was typing.

“The Net is bound to turn up something. Where’s your computer?”

Their Internet search on Howard Engeleit immediately revealed hundreds of hits on the man.

As Macy skimmed through the various Web search results, it became apparent that Joe Colton wasn’t kidding about Howard making himself money as a mover and shaker. There was account after account of Howard’s business dealings, including some questionable ones. Much as Joe had said, Howard was in the midst of a difficult divorce but as luck would have it, the news articles mentioned a young daughter. Sara.

On one Dallas gossip page, there was even a picture of Howard, his wife Amanda and their daughter Sara. Howard’s presence dominated the photo and Macy immediately got vibes from the submissive body posture of both his wife and daughter.

With Fisher sitting beside her and reading along, she gestured to the two women in the photo and pointed out how they seemed to be uneasy. “See their body posture and their eyes are downcast. Howard’s clearly the one in control here.”

Fisher nodded and agreed. “I’ve seen the same kind of body language on fresh recruits. He’s definitely the one calling the shots.”

“It may be more than that. Sara had bruises on her arms and hands when she first got to the ranch. If Howard was responsible, Sara might feel powerless to say anything about the abuse.”

Fisher leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hand across his lips, thoughtful for a moment. “He’s wealthy and connected, so who would believe her?”

She nodded emphatically. “Exactly. And if he’s suing for custody of her—”

“He would have free rein to keep on abusing her.” Fisher shook his head, sat up in the chair and clasped his hands together tightly. “It’s sad that a father would do that to his child. That she feels there’s no one there she can turn to.”

“It’s probably why she came to the ranch.”

Fisher glanced up the stairs toward T.J.’s room. “Do you think he knows about the abuse? Is that why he’s protecting her?”

She thought of T.J. and how much he was like the man who had raised him. Tim had been good-hearted and prone to helping others. But also, deep within her son were the genes from the man sitting beside her. A man of action. A hero. Combine the two and it was starting to make sense that T.J. was somehow involved with helping the young woman.

“I think that T.J. believes he’s doing what’s right for Sara, but the best thing would be to tell us what’s happening so the authorities can handle this,” she admitted.

He nodded, but then his gaze dropped down at his hands for a moment before he faced her. “There are times when a man has to make his own stand no matter what the rules say about what’s right.”

She heard him, but couldn’t agree. Laying her hand on his tightly clasped ones, she said, “But he’s not a man, Fisher. He’s a boy. A scared and confused young boy.”

Fisher eased his hands away from hers and pointed to the monitor. “You said that the deputy mentioned that Sara had been at a place up on the highway before she came to the ranch. We should print out that picture of her and check out that honky tonk. She might have run back there again.”

She felt dismissed much as she suspected his men might feel when he gave them an order. She tried not to take it personally, telling herself that he was a man used to being in charge and making decisions.

But she was also used to being in control of her own life. Some might say she hadn’t done a good job of it—heck, she even felt that way at times—but she had tried her best.

Her silence must have registered with him since he shifted his attention from the monitor and the prints he was making and back to her.

The strain on Macy’s face was evident and Fisher struggled for a moment with a reason for it until it finally came. “Do you want to go that place on the highway or is there something else you think we should do?”

“I know you’re used to taking control—”

“It’s a hard habit to break,” he freely admitted. In his life a delay in decision-making could cost someone their life, but he understood this wasn’t the military.

“I didn’t mean to order you around only…I feel like you and T.J. are my responsibility now.” He paused as the strain on her face increased and sadness crept into her eyes. He wondered at it once again, although she was quick to make the reasons clear.