Robin Perini - Finding Her Son

“She noticed my leg. She offered to help me with rehab, and I’ve got another angle I can work to stay near her.”

Mitch ran down the Kayla Foster situation, and Tanner smiled. “It sounds like you’re in. We might make a detective of you after all.”

“Over my dead body,” Mitch growled.

“I hope not. Your dad would kill me.” Tanner bent closer, his expression deadly serious. “I want this collar. Someone orchestrated Eric Wentworth’s death. His murder case was stone-cold until his mother discovered that bank account in Emily’s name. It’s a lot of money and puts a whole new spin on the investigation. I want to know how the wife’s involved, and I’m not backing down this time.”

“If Emily’s guilty, why would she offer to help me?”

“To gain an ally in the office. To get intel on what’s happening in the investigation. If she arranged the hit-and-run to take out her husband, then she’s willing to do anything— including slitting her own throat—to make herself look like a victim. You and I both know that’s not as uncommon as it should be.”

“You’re reaching. Emily almost died. Her voice will never be the same. And my neighborhood contacts don’t know squat about her being involved in anything , except she’s a do-gooder.” Mitch knew he’d been mistaken in the past, but he couldn’t get past his feelings about Emily. If he could trust them. “What if we’re wrong? What if she’s just trying to find her son?”

“Could be.” His boss’s jaw tightened. “But she knows something . And someone tried to kill her tonight. And that someone wasn’t Ghost. I want an explanation.” His eyes were cold. “There’s dirt there. I can smell it. Find the proof. Whatever it takes.”

NO MORNING SUN PEEKED through the winter clouds closing in on the cemetery. The day should be dreary. Nothing good should happen on December fifth. Ever again. Emily ran her fingertips over the engraved inscription on the wall of stone. Eric Wentworth. Beloved son and father .

“Beloved husband,” she whispered the words his family had denied her and wiped away a single tear.

She stood alone just inside the open archway of the Went-worth Family Mausoleum, the large marble temple as cold and unforgiving as Eric’s family. They’d made their feelings perfectly clear with his marker. They had never accepted her. They blamed her for Eric’s death and Joshua’s kidnapping. If only she could remember that night. Something more than headlights, screams and a hooded man.

A gust of icy winter wind buffeted against her, and she stuffed her hands in her pockets. She should know what happened to her child. The diaper bag had been left in the car, but Joshua and his car seat were gone. “I still haven’t found our baby, Eric,” she said in the husky voice her husband wouldn’t have recognized. “I’m sorry.”

A lonely bell tolled from afar, and just as the tones died, a rustle of grass fluttered. She tensed. She’d had a sense all morning someone was watching her—again. For weeks she’d fought her instincts, but after last night’s attack, she didn’t doubt the feelings.

A looming shadow crossed the side of Emily’s face. “You don’t belong here.”

Emily shivered at her mother-in-law’s sharp words and turned slightly. Victoria Wentworth looked the perfect, elegant role of grieving mother, her black veil hiding her expression and eyes Emily knew were accusatory.

“You’re not family.”

“He’s my husband,” Emily countered softly.

“You killed him.”

“Mother, you know that’s not true.” Victoria’s son, William, stepped forward to pull her back. He shot Emily an apologetic look. “It was a tragic accident.”

Victoria slapped William’s hand away and faced Emily. “You set up the murder of my son and grandson. And someday I’ll prove it.”

Emily winced. She’d been eager to get along with Eric’s family, but from the beginning the Wentworths had pushed her away until finally Eric had made a choice. He’d turned his back on them, their money and their corporation until Joshua was born and Emily had persuaded him to reconcile. Their baby deserved a family. The snowy drive to Cherry Hills Village last December had been her idea. In so many ways, his death in the hit-and-run truly was on her shoulders. “I loved Eric.”

“You wanted a way at the Wentworth money,” Victoria said as her husband, Thomas, entered the tomb and stood by her side. She reached out and clasped his hand. “Well, we won’t allow it. Eric disinherited himself, and we told the insurance company his death was your fault. We even found your secret account. You’ll get nothing. Nothing.”

Account? “What are you talking about?”

“As if you didn’t know.” Victoria turned to her son. “William, get her out of here.”

Victoria tilted her head into Thomas’s shoulder and broke down in sobs. William whispered something to his mother and hurried to Emily.

“I think you’d better go now,” he said. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

“I didn’t do anything. You know that. He was my husband. I loved him.” With one last look at Victoria and what might have been, Emily slid on her gloves, fighting tears of confusion, anger and hurt. William escorted her out of the cold building. Their footsteps crunched over frozen grass as they crossed toward the parking lot.

“I know you loved him,” William said. “Mother can be a real witch when she wants to be. She can’t let go of Eric. None of us really can.”

“You think I’ve let go? I fight to find our son every day.”

“And that’s something else we have to talk about.”

William’s tentative voice, so similar to Eric’s, sent a chill of foreboding through Emily.

“I don’t quite know how to say this, so I’ll just tell you. Mother and Father found my receipts for your private investigator and some of the airline tickets I bought. They came unglued when they learned I’d been helping you financially. I had to promise I’d quit.”

Emily halted and faced William. “You can’t stop now. I’m counting on your help.” She clutched at his arm. “I’m so close.”

“You’ve found Joshua?”

William gripped her arm, the eagerness in his voice gratifying, but she couldn’t mislead him. “Not exactly. I’m collecting information on adoptions from last year because I discovered these missing babies downtown. Well, at least there are missing pregnant girls, and—”

“Oh, Emily. How many times have we traveled down this path?” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, but they’re my family. In some ways they’re right. It’s been a year. We have to accept reality. We’ve tried to find him. Even my parents tried. But Joshua’s gone.”

“I’m not giving up. Not ever, but I need more time. With your parents painting me as a Black Widow in the gossip rags, my clinic is barely making it.”

“I can’t help anymore. I’m sorry.” William opened the door of the decade-old compact Eric had complained about so often. When she slid onto the cracked vinyl seat, William knelt beside the car. “Take my advice. Move on with your life. Close this chapter.”

“How can I do that when my son is out there somewhere? You may not believe I’ll find him, but I refuse to accept that I won’t.”

William gripped her hands, his gaze regretful. “Then I’m sorry for you. Goodbye, Emily.” He shut the door and, after a pitying look, walked back to the family crypt.

She shuddered and let out a slow breath, the cold filtering into her bones. This couldn’t be happening. She started her car and cranked up the heater as high as it would go to ease her shivering, though that had little to do with the weather. She’d wondered why the life-insurance company kept stalling on the check. She had her answer. And what was that about the so-called secret account? She’d have to call the bank, but she’d never get at the money. The Wentworths would see to that.