Prison officials sometimes did that, arranged an early release for an inmate with a terminal condition. But Judson would be looking deeper into Rowena’s specific case. Rowena had been in jail for murdering Addie’s mother, and even though that had been over three decades ago, it wasn’t nearly enough time to serve for taking a life.
And putting Addie through hell and back.
As far as Judson was concerned, Rowena should have lived out her last days in prison. But the parole board obviously didn’t agree. Judson knew that because he’d made some calls shortly after they’d gotten the babies back to the ranch, and he had been able to confirm that Rowena did indeed have pancreatic cancer, and her prognosis wasn’t good. Supposedly, she had less than six months to live.
Judson had also been able to confirm something else: Rowena hadn’t been anywhere near the ranch at the time the twins had been taken. She had been at a clinic in San Antonio, nearly an hour’s drive away.
The sound of a car engine caused Judson’s attention to shift to the windows, and he saw Livvy pull the cruiser to a stop in front of the house. He immediately got to his feet, hopingthis was good news. Hoping that they’d found Yvette and had arrested the woman.
But then Judson saw that Livvy wasn’t alone.
There was a tall, lanky, dark-haired man with her, and Judson recognized him from the photo that he’d pulled up when they’d been searching for the babies.
This was Shane, Yvette’s son.
Good. Despite his sister’s concern, Shane seemed unharmed, and he might be able to give them answers as to the whereabouts of his mother.
Judson went to the door to let them in, and he immediately looked at Livvy for an explanation for the visit.
“Shane, this is Deputy Judson Docherty,” Livvy said. “And Addie Jansen,” she added when Addie stepped up behind Judson. “After Shane heard about the APB on his mother, he came into the station.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Shane said, not actually looking at Addie and him but at the house. His gaze was sweeping over it, taking it all in. “Wish it were under different circumstances.”
“Where’s your mother?” Judson asked, well aware that he sounded abrupt. But the sooner they caught Yvette, the better, and he didn’t want to waste time on small talk.
Shane sighed, shook his head and finally turned his gaze toward Addie and him. “I don’t know where my mom is, but we need to find her.” He opened his mouth, closed it and seemed to rethink what he’d been about to say. “We should probably sit down and talk.”
Judson agreed, and he stepped back for him to enter, but Shane paused in the doorway, glancing around the foyer. “So, this is where CPS brought Jennifer and me when we were babies?”
“Yes,” Addie murmured.
“I thought I might feel something. Some sense of recognition. But I don’t.” Shane shrugged. “I was just a baby, and I guess we didn’t stay long. Just a couple of months before we were adopted.”
That meshed with what Judson had read in the files that he’d managed to access while Lily and Rose were being examined at the hospital.
“You never came back here, just to have a look around?” Judson asked, and then he went with the question he actually wanted answered. “Maybe you came with Yvette?”
Something flashed through Shane’s cool blue eyes. “No,” he said. He didn’t add anything else until they were in the living room, and then he turned to face them. “And I’m not sure my mother has been here recently, either.”
Livvy didn’t seem surprised by the comment, which meant Shane had likely already discussed this with her.
“I have a photograph of your mother’s car fleeing the scene,” Judson was quick to point out. “And the woman she left the babies with ID’d Yvette from a photo the cops showed her.”
Shane nodded, slipped his hands into the pockets of his khakis. “My mother is a wonderful, loving, trusting woman,” he said.
That didn’t mesh with the info in the files. “She had a record, and she lost custody of you and your sister as kids,” Judson argued.
“She did, but all her problems were caused by alcohol and drug abuse. Once she got sober, we reconnected, and I forgave her for what happened. And I love her,” he tacked on to that.
That confession made Judson wonder if Shane was looking at this through rose-colored glasses. Maybe he wasn’t able to see his mother’s faults. Judson had gotten a totally different vibe about Yvette from Jennifer.
“You love her,” Judson repeated. “Yet your sister was worried that Yvette had done something to you.”
Shane rolled his eyes. “Jennifer always thinks the worst of our mother. Apparently, so do you, if you believe she stole those babies.”
“If she didn’t take them, then who did?” Judson demanded, wanting to hear this theory.
“Her husband, Trevor Cates,” Shane supplied. He said both the title and the name as if they were the deadliest kind of venom.
