“You look wistful.” Kane glanced at her as they headed forthe office. “I know it’s difficult to leave the kids, but we knew this going into having them, didn’t we?” He squeezed her hand. “I turned out okay, well I believe I did, and I rarely saw my father. Although, I did have my mom and my sister.”
Dragging her gaze away from the snow-covered lowlands, flat and brilliant white stretching out for miles, Jenna smiled at him. “It’s not leaving them I was thinking about. I was just wishing that we could have had more. Adopting Tauri was a big step and he’s added so much joy to our lives. Having Jackson was so special. For me having him, it was like giving you back everything you’d given up for me. I know you wanted a ton of kids, I?—”
“Whoa! Hold up.” Kane pulled the Beast to the side of the road and turned in his seat and stared at her. “I figure you have our relationship a little skewed. You took me, a broken damaged man, and made me whole again. I gave up nothing to be with you, but you took on a whole lot of trouble when you married me. I figure I’m the luckiest man in the world. Our boys make life perfect—don’t they? Two or ten kids makes no difference to me. I’m content.” He bent and kissed her. “Now about Ellie McBride. We’re going to speak to her now, right?” He pulled back onto the highway.
Noting how Kane skillfully changed the subject, Jenna nodded. “Yeah, there’s something about her that just doesn’t sit right with me. I’ve interviewed many people in the same situation and they all seem a little confused, and yet her story was so slick. If she had been knocked unconscious as she claims, I would imagine she’d be a little disoriented, but she didn’t come across like that to me.” She pulled her black cap down over her ears, tucking in her hair. “Maybe she didn’t have a purse with her, and leaving the keys under the back of the SUV would make it appear as if she’d been attacked and dropped them.”
“I have a few questions on the logic of this idea.” Kaneflicked her a glance. “Why would she do that? Why would anyone hit themselves in the head, and how did she get to the Triple Z Roadhouse afterward? The SUV parked at the pumps in the CCTV footage wasn’t there when we arrived, so if she is trying some type of scam on us, for whatever reason, there has to be more than one person involved. The other driver who pumped the gas and stopped for a meal”—he sighed—“it couldn’t have been her, because at the time, she was hammering on the back door of the roadhouse to get help.”
Jenna shook her head. “There’s no footage of the person going into the roadhouse, is there?”
“No, but she did have a nasty cut on her head.” He glanced at her. “Sure, she could have run around the back from there, but if she did, who drove her SUV back to the convenience store?”
What Kane was saying made sense, but Jenna still had a niggling feeling that something was not right. She’d witnessed so many strange behaviors in her lifetime that anything was possible. “What if she’s setting up some type of alibi? I mean, what if she and her boyfriend are planning on kidnapping women and maybe murdering them—or have already? If she pretended she’d been kidnapped, and women start showing up dead, we wouldn’t consider her as a suspect.”
“I figure that’s a little farfetched but nothing people do surprises me these days.” Kane blew out a long sigh. “I just can’t imagine how anyone would consider that a grade-school teacher would be considered a suspect in a kidnapping murder. For me, it doesn’t make sense. I guess we talk to her again this morning and see if we can work out what’s going on.” He glanced at her as they took the turn toward the hospital. “I’ve always told you to trust your gut instinct, and if you figure there’s something wrong with this woman’s story, we’ll make sure we put her on the suspects list if anything else happens. In the meantime, ifshe is telling the truth, she might be in danger of being kidnapped again. We don’t know why she was abducted in the first place and why the perp has her purse, her credit cards, and her phone.”
FIVE
Jenna climbed out of the Beast and stared at Raven’s sheriff’s department vehicle, parked in their allocated area out front of the hospital. She turned to Kane. “I hope he hasn’t been here all night.”
“I don’t think so. There isn’t that much snow on his vehicle.” Kane followed her up the steps to the entrance. “She is his patient, so he’s probably following up on the scans they did last night. He is a really good doctor.”
The smell of antiseptic surrounded Jenna as she smiled at him. “Maybe so, but I’m sticking with Shane, even though people have questioned me about having the medical examiner delivering our baby. I had quite a discussion with Wendy at Aunt Betty’s the other day. She had discovered that Rowley’s wife, Sandy, had delivered her twins in the morgue and Shane had delivered their little girl as well.”
“What did you tell her?” Kane pushed the buttons on the elevator and they walked inside.
Shrugging, she met his gaze. “A little white lie. I told her he’d been my doctor when I lived in Texas and I’d recommended him to Sandy.”
“Good enough.” Kane led the way to the secure ward and flashed his card on the entrance scanner.
The doors opened and they walked inside. The hum of machines greeted them and nurses moved around, their rubber-soled shoes squeaking on the tile, along with people pushing carts laden with dirty dishes. At the nurses station they asked for Ellie’s room and then made their way along the hallway and scanned their way through another locked door into the secure area. They found Raven chatting to another doctor outside her room and waited for him to finish. Jenna raised her eyebrows expectantly. “How is Ellie?”
“All her scans came back fine.” Raven frowned. “She does have a slight concussion. Wolfe came by last night and checked her over as well. He took swabs and collected her clothes to scan them for evidence. She looks a little worse for wear this morning, two black eyes and bruising.”
“She seemed to be lucid last night when we interviewed her.” Kane’s brow creased. “She didn’t appear to be that badly damaged.”
“I’ve seen guys injured in the field with half their brain missing and still talking as if nothing had happened.” Raven rubbed his chin. “She was running for her life and pumped full of adrenaline. Sometimes it gives incredible clarity of mind.” He narrowed his gaze at them. “Do you have concerns about her story?”
The suspicion would not go away and Jenna nodded. “Something about it doesn’t sit right with me and I can’t put my finger on it. I’ll do everything I can to assist her. The abductor has her purse and phone, and that might cause a problem. We already know they used her credit card for gas and a meal at the roadhouse last night. They could try to take her again.”
“We’ll speak to her and when she’s ready to leave the hospital maybe move her to the Her Broken Wings Foundation apartments, where she’ll be secure until we apprehend thisperson.” Kane glanced at Jenna. “We can arrange for someone to drive her to work and collect her. She’ll be safe at the school during the day.”
“If she gives her permission, you will be able to trace her credit card.” Raven leaned casually against the wall. “Whoever abducted her might not know that we’re onto them and use the credit card.”
Glad Raven was on the same wavelength as them, Jenna nodded. “You must have read my mind. I guess we’d better go in and speak to her now.” She walked along the hallway glancing at the room numbers.
“Do you know if she’s had any visitors?” Kane glanced at Raven. “I don’t recall asking if she had any relatives in town.”
“No, no visitors, and I asked her if there was anyone I could call for her last evening and she said she was all alone in the world.” Raven sighed. “She has friends from work, but that’s about it, and she didn’t want to bother them at midnight. She’s anxious to get back to work.”
Jenna nodded. “She did mention something about going home to feed her cat. We have her house keys, and her vehicle is still at the convenience store on the corner of Stanton and Pine. Do you consider that she’s fit to leave the hospital?”
“I’d release her on Sunday afternoon.” Raven rubbed the back of his neck. “Although her injury required stitches, it was a glancing blow, because apart from the two black eyes, there doesn’t appear to be any other damage. She had Tylenol for the headache and seems to be functioning just fine. If she feels okay, she can go back to work on Monday.”
“What about her cat?” Kane frowned. “She can’t leave it at home until we catch this person.”
Jenna looked at him. “She can keep it in her room at the foundation. People have had pets there before and they don’t seem to cause a problem.”
