“A half brother in addition to a first cousin,” Lauren echoed in a low voice. “Why didn’t any of the cops or the FBI mention Curtis? Did they even bother to dig into Bobby’s family to look for suspects?”
“I don’t know.” He shared her concern. “Hopefully, we’ll know more when either Griff or David Braun calls me back.”
She reached over to grasp his hand. “Do you think we’re getting close to uncovering the truth?”
He smiled reassuringly to show his faith in the system, despite how it was his digging that had unearthed another possible suspect. “Yeah, I’m sure this nightmare will be over very soon.”
She nodded, but her troubled gaze remained on the image of Curtis and Bobby hugging their respective mothers.
A non-traditional family that had been torn apart by her ex-husband’s carless decision to drive while under the influence.
* * *
There wasno reason to feel guilty over Bobby’s tragic death, but logic didn’t seem to matter. Lauren wasn’t responsible for the way Nelson had crashed while driving drunk. And her daughter certainly didn’t deserve to pay the price, if this was about revenge.
She rose and paced the length of the cabin, feeling restless. The police should have known about Bobby’s half brother as well as his cousin. They should have already interviewed them and either cleared them or kept them as a suspect.
And the gunmen should not be here in Wisconsin, finding them despite their attempts to stay off-grid.
She stared blindly through the narrow opening between the trees at the large farm located west of the cabin. They’d been running from danger for what seemed like forever, with no end in sight. She wanted to scream in frustration but did her best to tamp down her anger.
When Grady’s phone rang, she spun from the window like it was a gunshot. Then she crossed over to be included in the conversation.
“Hi, Griff, I’m putting you on speaker,” Grady said. “Lauren is here. You need to know what’s been going on since we last spoke.”
“I’m getting the impression you don’t like the Chicago FBI,” Griff drawled. “Do I need to fly across the country to help you?”
“No, but you’re right about the Chicago FBI,” Grady agreed. “I feel like they’re two steps behind us when it should be the other way around.”
“Okay, what happened?” Griff asked.
She listened as Grady filled him in. At some level, she found it difficult to believe this was really happening to her and Lucy. That someone had kidnapped Ariel by mistake and was determined to get it right the second time around.
Even if that meant killing anyone who got in the way.
“How do you keep getting found?” Griff asked, clearly perplexed.
“Maybe the Chicago FBI?” Grady drawled. When she frowned, he shrugged, and added, “It could be that the gunmen have a police scanner and figured out we stole the car. But how they found us on our way to picking up the rental car is a mystery.”
There was a muffled voice in the background, then Griff asked, “Dom wants to know if you’ve been on the internet?”
“Yes, we have been using the internet, but why does that matter?” Grady asked. “I don’t see how using the free cabin rental internet or the breakfast restaurant internet or any others would lead these guys to us.”
“You’d be surprised by what a computer geek can do as far as tracking internet usage,” Griff said. “Dom thinks you should stay off the internet from here on out.”
Lauren reached over to disconnect the laptop from the internet, then powered it down. While she didn’t understand how using the access drew the bad guys to their location, she wasn’t willing to take the chance.
“Do you think we need to move to a new place?” Grady’s brow was furrowed with concern. “Because we can.”
“How long have you been there?” Griff asked.
“About an hour,” Grady admitted. “And we’ve been online the entire time.”
“Yes, Dom says you need to get out of there. I don’t understand all the geek speak, but he’s worried that’s how you’re being tracked.”
“Okay, we’ll head out right away.” Grady’s expression was grim. “But I need you to investigate a guy by the name of Curtis Handover; he’s Bobby Morton’s half brother. We think he could be working with Bobby’s first cousin, Randy Morton.”
“You think they’re seeking revenge?” Griff sounded skeptical.
