The three of them left their coffee and breakfast and headed toward the foyer, where Judson immediately saw Bennie, Livvy and a beefy man in jeans, a white muscle tee and a brown leather jacket that was almost the same color as his hair. Judson knewfrom the bio he’d read on Trevor that he was forty-nine, but he looked at least a decade younger than that.
“No weapons,” Bennie announced.
Livvy added, “And I’ve given him the Miranda.” Livvy also made introductions.
Trevor didn’t acknowledge anything that Livvy or Bennie said. Nor did he look bothered about being frisked and treated like the suspect that he was. Instead, Trevor’s attention was on Addie.
“Addie,” the man finally said, aiming his weathered blue eyes on her. “I recognize you from the media reports,” he quickly added when he must have noted the alarm on Addie’s face. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe Yvette would have taken those babies from you.”
So, the man wasn’t going to defend his wife and proclaim her innocence. Interesting.
“Have you heard from Yvette?” Addie asked, not bothering to address the man’s comments.
Trevor sighed, shook his head. “No. And I can’t find her. None of her friends have heard from her, either.” He stopped. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
Addie pulled back her shoulders, practically coming to attention, and her gaze combed over his face. “I don’t,” she admitted after a long pause. “How do you know me?”
Trevor’s mouth turned into a slight smile. “You were just a kid, and it was a long time ago.”
“How do you know me?” she repeated, this time her voice a snap, when Trevor didn’t continue.
The man’s smile faded, but he kept his attention on Addie. “When you were four or five, I went out with your mother a couple of times. With Rowena.”
Because Addie’s arm was against his, Judson felt her muscles tense. “She’s not my mother.”
“Yes, of course,” Trevor was quick to say. “I wasn’t aware of that at the time. Rowena introduced you as her daughter, and I had no idea what she’d done.Murder,” he added under his breath. A look of disgust tightened his face. “Trust me, I wouldn’t have had anything to do with her if I had known the truth. I didn’t find out until a year or two later when I saw it on the news.”
Judson considered all of that, and he’d need to try to figure out if what happened back then had anything to do with what was going on now. It seemed a stretch since it would have been almost thirty years ago, but it was an eerie coincidence that Judson didn’t like.
“Mr. Cates, do you understand the Miranda rights that Deputy Walsh recited to you?” Grace asked, clearly shifting the subject. Maybe because she could see how uncomfortable Addie was.
That got Trevor’s attention, and he finally turned toward the sheriff. “You’re the one who arrested my stepdaughter.”
“I didn’t arrest her,” Grace was quick to point out. “However, she is being questioned. So is your stepson.”
Trevor nodded as if he’d fully expected that. “Jennifer doesn’t get along with her mother. And I’m certain she despises me.” He stopped. “Did Jennifer do something to Yvette? Is that why no one has heard from her?”
“We did hear from her,” Grace said.
The silence settled over the foyer, and Judson watched the alarm go through Trevor’s eyes. “When?” he snapped. “Where is she?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not at liberty to get into the details,” Grace said. “But we’ll talk about that during the interview. I’ve set that up in the formal dining room, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind,” he muttered, almost absently. His focus was clearly still on the contact they’d had with Yvette. “What did mywife say?” Trevor asked. “Did you tell her I was worried sick about her?”
Again, Grace dodged the question and motioned for them to follow her. She started walking at a very slow pace toward the dining room.
Trevor muttered some profanity. “Yvette has to be terrified. I really need to talk to her. If you’ll just tell me where she is—”
“So, is this your first visit to the Horseshoe Ranch?” Grace asked. Maybe it was more question dodging, or Grace could possibly want to learn if Trevor was familiar with the house and the grounds.
“My first,” Trevor grumbled. They stopped outside the dining room, but none of them went in. Instead, he shifted back to Addie. “My wife’s a very troubled woman. If you saw her or spoke to her, you’d know that.”
“Troubled? How?” Addie questioned, sounding a whole lot like a cop.
Trevor certainly didn’t jump to answer. He seemed to be calculating how to handle this. Maybe because he was worried that Yvette had said something incriminating about him.
“Losing her kids has stuck with her,” he finally said. “It’s an obsession for her.”
