Jasper’s cheeks flushed. “Are you saying…? You think this is aboutbusiness?” He spat the word like one mighthuman traffickingorfentanyl smuggling.
“Yeah, you know,business. Dad’s business. The thing that funds your life.”
“You have no idea what?—”
“Stop it.” Delaney marched around the sofa and stood between them, glaring at each of them in turn. “There’s no time for your bickering. Charlotte’s missing. Nothing else matters.”
Jasper’s gaze flicked from her to Noah, and then his shoulders dropped. “You’re right.”
“Tell me about Frederick Hayes.” Detective Norton held his notebook and pen at the ready. “He’s a…business rival?”
“Yeah.” Noah focused on the detective. “My company was in merger talks with Tidewater Logistics out of Norfolk when Hayes got wind of it.”
Via Lowell Jeffries, he would swear.
“Big deal?” Norton asked.
Noah nodded. “Millions.” Not that he cared about that. Without Charlotte, none of it mattered.
If this was about that—if his choices were the deal or Charlotte, he’d pick Charlotte every day.
“Talk to Richard Whitestone,” Noah said. “He’s had dealings with Hayes in the past.”
“Do you have an address for Hayes?”
“I think he lives in Virginia City.”
“Heather mentioned Norfolk.” Delaney stepped toward the detective, a hint of hope in her tone. “She told me her new boyfriend rented her an apartment.”
Norton glanced up from his notebook. “Tell me about that.”
“She said the boyfriend was older, married. She said she could walk to the beach, and maybe a golf course? And…I think she said it was on an upper floor. Something about a view?”
“Okay, we’ll look into it.” He made a final note. “Mr. Aylett.” He looked at Jasper. “Your brother mentioned you’ve been out of town for several months. Where exactly?”
“What difference does that make?” Noah snapped. “Jasper’s Charlotte’s father. If he wanted her, he could’ve just come and taken her.”
Norton’s smile was tight. “I thought you had custody.”
“I do, but it’s not like I’d fight my brother. She’s his daughter.”
That remark had the detective shifting toward him. “Do you resent taking care of her?”
“What? Are you out of your…?”
Delaney rested her hand on his forearm, her warm touch surprising him. He took a breath. “I love Charlotte, and I love Jasper. I would never do anything to hurt either of them.”
The detective’s eyes narrowed, and he swiveled back to Jasper. He seemed intent on finding one of them guilty, which would sure make his job easier. But nobody in this room had taken Charlotte. Noah knew that, at least.
“I was in the Caribbean.” Jasper’s voice was strained. “I have receipts, customs documentation, whatever you need. Have you put out an Amber Alert?”
“Yes.” Norton made another note. “And the last time Charlotte was seen?”
They’d gone over all of this already. Every second they wasted here was another second she was missing. Noah forced himself to think back. “I checked on her around midnight. She was sound asleep.”
Jasper wandered down the hall toward the front door.
“You’re sure she was there?” Norton asked. “You didn’t just see a lump under the pillows.”
