“What do you mean?” Judson pressed. “She lost the kids years ago.”
“And she’s never gotten over it,” Trevor insisted. He stopped, groaned and scrubbed his hand over his face. “Look, I love my wife, but I can’t always understand why she does the things she does.”
“Like kidnapping two babies?” Grace supplied.
After several more of those long moments, Trevor nodded. “It’s as if she can’t get past what happened. As if she needs to relive it, with the illogical hope that she can somehow change things.”
Addie and Judson exchanged a glance, and he could see she was just as confused as he was. Judging from Grace’s next question, she clearly was, too.
“Explain that,” Grace demanded. “And then we can begin the interview and get all this and more on the record.”
For a moment, Judson thought that would get Trevor to back down, to try to wave it all off. But he didn’t. “Yvette is obsessed with reading everything she can about the Horseshoe Ranch,” he said. “Random mentions in the press, for instance. She’ll print out and save those articles.”
That did seem obsessive, considering that Jennifer and Shane hadn’t spent much time here before being adopted.
“Over the years, Yvette’s contacted any and all parents who had kids who ended up here,” Trevor continued. “She tries to talk to them about their experiences. A sort of therapy, I guess you could say. But most don’t want her pushing them about stuff like that. They’ve moved on. Yvette hasn’t.”
“Did you ever try to get your wife help for this?” Grace asked. “Maybe have her see a counselor?”
“Yes,” he said on a heavy sigh. “I’ve tried many times, but she always refuses to go.”
“Yet you married her,” Judson pointed out in case Trevor was exaggerating Yvette’s mindset.
“I did because I loved her. Still love her,” he amended. “But love doesn’t blind me to her faults. To this obsession she has with the Horseshoe Ranch and her kids. And I’m worried all this now caused her to go over the edge. When I’m done here, I need to make a few more calls so I can try to find out where she is,” Trevor added a heartbeat later.
“Who else could you contact that you haven’t already?” Grace pressed.
Trevor lifted his shoulder. “Yvette has a file with the names and phone numbers of those people I told you about, and she’sin touch with a lot of them. Parents who lost custody of their children. Especially mothers,” he said, turning back to Addie again. “Like yours.”
Everything went tight inside Judson, and he saw some of the color drain from Addie’s face.
“What do you mean by that?” Addie asked. “Are you saying Yvette has been in touch with Rowena?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Trevor confirmed.
Addie made a soft sound, part gasp, part moan, but Judson figured there was nothing soft about what she was feeling right now. Just the mention of Rowena was enough to trigger some god-awful memories for her.
“Yvette visited Rowena in prison many times,” Trevor went on. “In fact, that’s how I met Yvette. Apparently, Rowena mentioned me during one of those visits, and Yvette looked me up.”
Judson was going to have to check into Trevor’s relationship with Rowena, but that tidbit didn’t mesh with anything Jennifer, Shane or Elijah had said about Trevor. Then again, the three of them might not know that Rowena and Trevor had once dated.
“Rowena,” Trevor repeated, and he snapped his fingers as if recalling something. “I was leaving for my camping trip, and the last thing Yvette said to me was that she was on her way to visit her. It’s possible that’s where Yvette is now.”
CHAPTER TEN
Addie felt as if someone had punched her. When this hellish ordeal with Yvette had started, she certainly hadn’t expected Rowena to be added to mix.
“Come on,” Grace told Trevor, leading him into the dining room. “Let’s get all this on the record.” She had him sit at the table and then went back to join Addie and Judson in the hall.
“This might not be true,” Grace said, obviously noticing that Addie had gotten that gut punch. “Yvette could have made it all up. Or Trevor could be the liar. Just don’t jump to any conclusions yet.”
Too late. Addie had already made that jump, and she was coming up with a very disturbing possibility. Had Rowena been the one to spur Yvette into kidnapping Lily and Rose?
“First things first,” Grace went on, shifting to Judson. “Call and find out where this Rowena is and if Yvette is with her.”
Judson nodded and stepped to the side to make the call. Grace stayed with Addie and took hold of her shoulders, forcing her to make eye contact. “Tell me about Rowena. When’s the last time you saw her?”
It took Addie a couple of seconds to drag in enough breath to speak. “I haven’t seen her since I was six. But yesterday, she called to tell me she was dying and that she wanted to see me.” She stopped, had to, because she got another of those punches. “Rowena could have set up the kidnapping as a way to force meto see her. She could have arranged for Yvette to bring the babies to her.”
