Chapter 12
Elijah
Joan was asking toomany questions for my liking. She had stopped at the FBI office more times than I could count, asking anyone and everyone where to get an address or phone number for her daughter. She had tried to corner me a time or two, but I didn’t budge. She even went as low as to flirt with me to getinformation.
All it did was make meshudder.
Joan knew that I had assumptions that she was behind Dawn’s disappearance. Of course, she didn’t seem too concerned that I knew. Guess all the years of drug use was starting to show by her confused way ofthinking.
I had this gut feeling she was up to something that would cause us alltrouble.
At least half the time when she showed up, I could tell she was high on something. It seemed to make her more adamant about finding Dawn. Mike was getting sloppy and panicky every time he’d see me, so I knew he was up to something. It was only a matter of time before he’dslip.
I was tired.Beyondtired. I felt bad that I hadn’t really spent much time with Dawn, but I also did tell her when I brought her to my house that I worked a lot of hours. I had to keep looking over the evidence that had beengathered.
Because of Mike and Joan, Kaleb was making me take paid time off, saying I was removed from the case until it was closed. I was still on the case under the table. I was in too deep with my undercover rule to just step out. I couldn’t pull out of the mafia without paying with mylife.
I wasn’t pleased with Morgan when he showed up late last night. He was lucky I was still up, finishing rewriting a report for an interview on another case. I was tired and wanted to lie next to her, wrapping her safely in myarms.
Morgan looked tired and desperate. Joan was hounding him about wanting him to do something about her daughter. There wasn’t much I could do, but I told him I would see if I could at least a get a picture. There was something he wasn’t telling me. He seemed too interested in wanting to see Dawn, even offering to pay for her. I wasn’t going to let him anywhere near her if I could helpit.
Kaleb had come up with the idea of a picture of the girl to send to her mother, to hopefully give her some sort of relief. I was worried about letting Dawn call her mother, as I wasn’t sure how she felt about Joan. I also didn’t want to risk Joan tracing the phone back to me, or upsetting Dawn. I knew when Dawn had come down the stairs. I could feel her there in the shadows. I didn’t think she’d heard too much, and wanted to keep the truth of her mother from her. Joan was nothing like I remembered, but that could easily be explained by the disappearance of her daughter—and the drugs that she was addictedto.
The next morning, I woke up with her leg thrown over my own, and I had to wield my erection away. With a deep breath, I slowly made my way out from under her and left her tosleep.
I was more than okay with Kaleb and his wife coming over when he’d called earlier that morning, figuring it should have been sooner than now, but today workedperfectly.
When I came down from getting dressed, I saw her sitting on the couch with her head down.Was this what she did every day?The house was all cleaned, so I knew she’d done everything and more than I’d lined out for her todo.
“So, what do you do all day while I’m gone?” I asked as I took a seat next to her on theloveseat.
“Clean, mostly,” shereplied.
“You must do more than that?” I asked, looking her up and down. Her shoulders were hunchedin.
“Puzzles. Read a little. I don’t really care for the books Joslyn brought over,” she answered, wrinkling her nose. I thought it was adorable, and couldn’t help butsmile.
“Well, what kind of books do you like?” I asked, taking a seat next toher.
“Nothing that’s here,” she pouted, but kept her eyesdown.
I gave out a laugh, making her quickly look at me in shock. “Sorry, but that’s the most emotion I’ve gotten from you all week. I ordered you some books you may like better. They should be here in a fewdays.”
She just glared at me, but soon returned her gaze back to her lap. I had ordered some of the top sellers in a few differentsections.
“Joslyn did say you were good at puzzles,” I said, trying to get more out of her. “Why aren’t you doing onenow?
“You have company coming over,” she replied. “You said you wanted the living room clean when you went over therules.”
“A puzzle or a few books out would be okay,” I sighed. “What did you do when you were alone before you camehere?”
“Nothing. Maybe sleep if I could. Sometimes dream about what would happen if I wasn’t there,” she answered. “I even made up stories in my head to pass thetime.”
“I’m sorry for what you’ve been through,” I said, kissing the side of her head. “If you want to write anything that you came up with, I will be more than happy to get you some paper and apen.”
The doorbell rang through the house, and I went to answer it with Dawn quietly following me. Opening the door, there stood Kaleb and Kelly. Kelly had her shoulder length blond hair pulled pack in a half ponytail. They were both dressed in comfortable clothes. He held a diaper bag and a car seat that was covered with a soft greenblanket.
I welcomed them in, hearing Dawn scamper towards the kitchen and out of sight. After giving Kelly a quick hug, I pointed them to the living room, before finding out where Dawn washiding.
