Texas Baby Pursuit

“I will.”

She looked long and hard at him, as though measuring the truth behind his words. “I know you will.” Then she laid her head against his chest.

How could he ever face his daughter if he couldn’t find Brady?

* * *

Rachel carried little Katie toward the kitchen, her parents’ voices drawing her to the warm, large room. Her daughter played with Rachel’s hair. She laughed. “When I show up for the press conference, the reporters are going to think I didn’t brush my hair, sweetie.”

Katie babbled as though she were telling Rachel something important. Mama and Nana were the only words she could understand.

“I’m running late. Nana will feed you this morning, sweet pea. You be good for her and Papa.” Rachel entered the kitchen with Katie continuing to chatter nonsense.

“Do you have time to sit and have breakfast?” Rachel’s mother asked as she took Katie and put her in the high chair.

“No, not with the press conference in half an hour. Coffee is all I want now. I’ll eat later, I promise.” Rachel kissed the top of Katie’s head. “Love you. I’ll see you later.”

“Make sure you do eat. You have to take care of yourself or you’ll be no help in finding Brady.”

“I know, Mom.” Rachel poured coffee into a travel mug.

“You do? You were up half the night.”

“How do you know?”

“I heard you pacing.”

“Going over what we have right now. Like Dad knows, I’m the one in charge of this investigation.” Rachel peered at her father who rose from sitting at the table.

“I’ll walk out with you,” her dad said and strolled toward the back door, opening it and waiting for her to go out first.

Outside, she whirled around and faced him. “I’ve been in charge of cases before, but this one has implications of a baby snatching ring working in Texas and maybe even other states.”

“Are you contacting the FBI?”

“Not yet. I’m working with Texas Ranger Sanders. His office has discovered other places in the state where something like this has happened in the past year. He’s talking to another Texas Ranger who worked a couple of similar kidnappings in the El Paso area.” Dallas had texted her this morning that Abbey Rockford would be sending him information about what they’d found in El Paso. “I also discovered that the boot prints where the escape car was parked were the same as the man who attacked me at the side of the Howards’ house.”

“That might help when you find the man. It’s good to have a piece of evidence to place him at the scene of the crime.”

“And it confirms the importance of the bracelet I found in the dining room, since the man risked coming back for it. The bracelet is the best clue we have right now.”

“Good.” Her dad opened the door of her vehicle. “If you need any help, let me know, but Dallas is a top-notch Texas Ranger. Listen to his instincts and advice.” He hugged her. “Katie will be fine.”

She gave him a smile, then slipped behind the steering wheel and left the small ranch in the foothills north of San Antonio. As she drove toward Cimarron Trail, she went over in her head what she needed to do after the press conference. A trip to Chesterfield Shopping Center. She needed a clue that led her to the couple, and if it wasn’t Lenora’s trip last Friday, then maybe the prints taken from the bracelet would match someone in the database.

As she reached the winding part of the two-lane highway to town, she wondered how Michelle and Dallas did last night. She doubted he got much sleep in his daughter’s hospital room. She realized that she would need to talk to Michelle today, too.

She took a sharp turn, spied a spiked chain across the road and slammed on the brakes—too late. Her car rolled over the spikes and headed toward the drop off.

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