He assured her that he would, and Judson got Addie moving out of the bedroom and toward the kitchen. Apparently, others had had the same notion of fueling up and grabbing coffee, because they stepped in to find Grace and one of the ranch hands, Ty Matheson.
“Morning,” Grace greeted, stepping to the side to make room for them at the stove. “How are you holding up?” she asked Addie.
Addie made a so-so motion with her hand. “The twins slept well enough.”
“But not you.” Grace sighed. “Eat up, because you’re going to need it. We have a long day ahead of us.” She was chowing downon a biscuit that she’d stuffed with bacon and scrambled eggs. “Trevor’s ETA is fifteen minutes,” she tacked on to that.
Not much time, so Judson made two of the breakfast sandwiches and handed one to Addie. Grace motioned for them to sit at the massive kitchen table.
“I didn’t put it in the text, but the background report came through on Elijah,” Grace started. “This will probably come as a surprise, but the man has no criminal record.”
It was indeed a surprise. “His hot temper hasn’t gotten him into legal trouble,” Judson commented.
“Oh, it has,” Grace corrected while Judson and Addie both took a bite of their sandwiches. “He was detained after a bar fight a year ago, but no one pressed charges after he agreed to pay for the damages. Elijah doesn’t come from money or have a huge settlement like Yvette,” she added. “Nor does he have a high-paying job. Still, he somehow managed to come up with the cash.”
“Maybe he got it from Jennifer?” Judson suggested, washing down his sandwich with more coffee.
Grace lifted her shoulder. “Possibly, but she’s not exactly rolling in dough, either. In fact, both Elijah and she are pretty much broke.”
“Which could be motive for kidnapping babies,” Addie piped in. “Yvette said she took the twins to protect them.” She stopped, shuddered. “Maybe she was protecting them from Elijah.”
“It’s possible,” Grace admitted. “Elijah doesn’t have an alibi for, well…anything related to the investigation. Not for the kidnapping or for the attack. So, he could have planned to take the twins for ransom, thinking either you or Yvette would pay it.”
During those sleepless hours of the night, Judson had considered that. And more. “If Elijah planned to abduct Lily and Rose for a payout, there would have likely been easier targets. Targets closer to his home, anyway. So, maybe this wasn’t aboutgetting a ransom. Maybe it was about getting his hands on Yvette’s settlement money.”
Addie was quick to mutter an agreement. Obviously, she’d done some nighttime thinking about this as well.
“If Elijah made Yvette believe he was going to take the twins,” Addie spelled out, “then he could have been hoping that Yvette would steal them herself and that she would perhaps be killed or at least incarcerated in the aftermath. Then, he’d be a big step closer to getting his hands on Yvette’s money either through receiving a ransom demand or convincing Jennifer to hand it over to him.”
She stopped, sighed. And Judson knew why.
“Elijah would have had an obstacle or two, or three, to flat-out inheriting the money,” Judson spelled out. “Trevor, for sure. Also, Jennifer and Shane. I can’t imagine Trevor or Shane just giving him Yvette’s money the way that Jennifer might.”
“Same,” Grace said. “And it’s why I’m trying to get a copy of any will that Yvette might have. That might give us some answers.”
Yes, it could, but it was a shame they couldn’t question the woman herself.
“Are we certain there’s actually money?” Addie asked. “I mean, we know Yvette received a settlement, but could she have already spent it?”
Grace shook her head. “There’s money. I got her financials, and Yvette has every penny of it stashed in CDs. She hasn’t tapped into any of it, and it’s accumulating a nice chunk of interest each month.”
That was indeed motive, then, for Elijah, Jennifer, Shane or Trevor. But motive didn’t mean any of them had actually done anything wrong. In fact, the only guilty person was Yvette. An eyewitness had put her with the babies, and the woman had confessed to taking them.
And that brought Judson to more of his late-night thoughts.
“Yvette could have orchestrated it all,” he said. “The anniversary of losing her kids is coming up. Along with it being their birthday, that could have triggered something in her. Or if she’s using drugs, she might have become delusional, thinking that the twins were actually hers. She could have taken them and then gotten cold feet about what she’d done.”
“Yes,” Addie said, taking up the explanation. “After she left the babies with the farmer, she possibly could have rushed home to get things to make an escape and then run into Courtney.”
Grace nodded. “If Yvette killed her, then the attack and that phone call could be about covering her tracks. If she could pin all of this on someone else, like Elijah, for instance, then she could walk away a free woman.”
That would wrap everything up in a neat little package. Or rather, it would have been neat if they actually had Yvette.
Judson heard some voices at the front of the house, and at the same time, Grace got a text. “Trevor’s here, and he’s being frisked,” Grace relayed to them, already getting to her feet.
She stopped and seemed to be considering how to handle this. “Why don’t the two of you come with me togreetTrevor? If Yvette didn’t stage that attack on you, then maybe Trevor did. I’d like to see how he reacts to seeing you.”
Judson wanted to see that as well. Too bad he couldn’t hook Trevor up to a lie detector or dose him with truth serum, but he was at least hoping he’d get some kind of vibe from the man. Because if Yvette had enlisted anyone for help, it would likely be the man she’d married.
