He shrugged and made his way back to the highway that would take them to their cabin rental. “Some people aren’t as observant as others, but I really don’t think he’s our guy.”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “I was hoping he was, though.”
He understood her concern. She wanted this kidnapper/shooter caught and thrown behind bars. He wanted that too. But he wasn’t going to let his guard down either. The black SUV with tinted windows was fresh in his mind. They’d escaped, but he still didn’t understand how the driver of the car found them in the first place.
He made a mental note to discuss options with FBI Special Agent Griffin Flannery. Griff was married to Alexis Sullivan and lived on the Sullivan K9 Search and Rescue Ranch with the other Sullivan siblings. The property was forty minutes southeast of Cody. Grady had met the guy a few times, mostly after Joel or Justin Sullivan caused damage to his house while they borrowed the place to escape from danger. He hadn’t really minded that they made themselves at home. They were good people who had followed through on paying for the repairs. He and the twins, Joel and Justin, had gone to school together. He’d enjoyed the times he’d stayed at the Sullivan ranch.
Grady knew he could trust Griff to be straight with him. The black SUV should not have been able to find them at the strip mall in Wisconsin. Unless he’d overreacted and the car showing up had been a coincidence? No, he didn’t think so. It was too similar to the one he’d seen the previous day. Deep down, he was beginning to suspect there might be a dirty cop involved in this scheme. And if that was the case, this was way more than a simple kidnapping for ransom.
Keeping a wary eye out for another cop, he left the city of Fullerton. He’d grabbed some black electrical tape from the grocery store so he could alter the license plate. The trick should buy them a little time, although in the daylight, it might be easy to spot the alteration.
The rest of the trip to the cabin was uneventful. He breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled up to cabin number 7. They were almost directly behind the main lodge, so the car and their cabin could not be seen from the main road.
“Let’s help with the groceries, Lucy.” Lauren pushed out of the car.
“I’ve got them.” He quickly grabbed the five bags in two hands. “Just hold the door for me, okay?”
Lucy did so, and he belatedly realized Lauren had wanted her daughter to assist in the minor chore.
“Lucy, will you help put the groceries away?” He set the bags on the sturdy oak kitchen table.
“Okay.” Lucy scrambled up on a chair so she could remove items from the bag. When Lauren sent him a grateful look, he nodded at her.
“I’m new to this,” he murmured in a low voice.
“I know.” She stored the frozen Captain Jack’s pizzas in the freezer. “But I want her to be self-sufficient someday.”
He understood but didn’t mention that having Clara running the household wasn’t likely to assist her in reaching that goal. It wasn’t any of his business how Lauren raised her daughter. He was only there to pretend to be her fiancé and to keep them both safe from harm.
When the groceries had been put away, Grady set up the new computer and connected to the cabin rental Wi-Fi network. First, he entered Joe O’Neil’s name into the search engine. There proved to be way too many possibilities, as Joe, Joseph, and Joey were all very common names. He considered calling Detective Kramer to get a date of birth for the guy but decided to wait until after he talked to Griff.
He did another search on Lauren’s ex-husband, Nelson Derringer. The newspaper article related to Nelson’s fatal car crash and his DUI arrest popped up on the screen. He scanned the information, a little disappointed there was nothing new to learn. The article did mention his friend Robert Morton who had been declared DOA at the hospital following the crash.
Nice to know that Nelson had been held responsible for his actions, he thought as he looked at the image of Robert Morton’s smiling face. Drinking while driving was never good, and it always seemed to him that innocent people were more likely to die than the intoxicated driver.
There was no mention of Robert’s blood alcohol level. He glanced at Lauren who was making sandwiches with Lucy for lunch. It was early, but their gas station breakfast had been hours ago.
“Do you know if Bobby was drinking at the time of the crash?”
Lauren nodded. “He and Nelson were both intoxicated. Nelson supposedly had less to drink than Bobby, but probably not by much. I feel bad that Bobby was killed, although they made the decision to go out drinking without a plan to get home safely.”
“Yeah, in this day and age of rideshares and taxis, there’s no excuse for that.”
“Don’t forget our subways,” Lauren added. “That’s why the judge threw the book at Nelson.”
He did tend to forget about their mass transit system. There were no subways in Wyoming. “That too. It makes no sense to me that they wouldn’t have used some other method to get home.”
Lauren glanced at Lucy, then shrugged. “Nelson was arrogant. He thought he was better than everyone else.”
He arched a brow. “I’m willing to bet that attitude hasn’t lasted for long during his stint in jail.”
Lauren smiled. “I think about that a lot. For his sake, I hope he comes out a better man.”
He wanted to ask why she married him in the first place but let the subject drop. For one thing, her decision to date and marry Nelson wasn’t relevant to the case. And for another, she clearly realized she’d made a mistake by ending it. For her sake and Lucy’s, he was glad about that.
There was no reason to dwell on Lauren’s personal life. It wasn’t as if he was interested in making their engagement real. Aside of the fact that he had no desire to live in Chicago, he couldn’t imagine Lauren putting up with his travel schedule. His previous girlfriend Becca hadn’t lasted six months before moving on with someone else.
Enough. He gave himself a mental shake and turned his attention back to the computer. He did a search on Robert Morton, hoping to find more information, but again, the first name of Robert was fairly common. The computer search pulled up Robert Mortons from all across the United States.
