“We need to talk to the bio-mom, Leah,” Isla said quietly. “But we can’t go around Sheriff Raines. We can’t step on his toes.”
Garrett gave a short nod. “We’ll tell him we want in. Active. Trudy’s family, that’s what we are. He’ll understand.”
The words steadied her, but only for a moment. Then the weight of the night pressed in, crushing. Trudy’s blood on her hands. The terror of finding her pale and broken. Isla tried to fight it back, but the emotions surged too high, and a groan slipped out of her chest.
Garrett shifted, his hand lifting as if he meant to pull her against him. For one breath, Isla thought he would.
He stopped. Their gazes caught instead, heat sparking between them, raw and undeniable.
Isla dragged in a shaky breath, desperate to push it aside before the ground opened under her feet. “Fa la la la la, la la la longhorn,” she muttered, her voice low.
Garrett blinked, and for the first time all night, his mouth curved the barest fraction upward.
When they stepped back into the waiting room, Sheriff Raines was still there. But he wasn’t alone.
A woman rose from one of the chairs, her coat draped over her arm. Late forties, dark brown hair, a few lines etching her face. Isla knew her instantly. Paula Benton. She had kept quiet tabs on the woman for years, unwilling to ever let her out of sight completely.
“I saw the news about Trudy’s attack and came as fast as I could,” Paula said, her voice steady though her fingers toyed with the strap of her purse.
Isla’s brows drew together. “So you stayed close to her? All this time?”
Paula nodded, her mouth tightening. “Yes. Trudy and I never lost touch.”
Isla studied Paula with suspicion, and she saw Garrett doing the same. For good reason. Paula had been one of the three persons of interest, and that had never changed.
Paula could have been the one to take Harris. If she had, she had managed to keep him hidden for more than twodecades. The same went for his biological parents. Isla had kept tabs, had dug through every digital corner she could reach, and never uncovered anything that pointed to them stashing Harris away.
And yet, the possibility still hovered in the room, unspoken but heavy.
Paula seemed to catch the distrust rolling off both Isla and Garrett. She huffed, her chin lifting. “Trudy didn’t think I was guilty of taking Harris.”
Isla’s stomach twisted. That wasn’t entirely true. Trudy had never come out and named Paula, but she had never ruled her out either.
“I’ve been helping her,” Paula went on quickly. “Trying to get to the truth about what happened to Harris. That’s all.”
Isla’s fingers curled around her phone. Helping? Or covering her tracks? She couldn’t stop the thought. She couldn’t stop wondering if she was staring straight at the person who had put Trudy in that hospital bed tonight.
She glanced at Sheriff Raines, who cleared his throat. “I already asked Paula where she was tonight.”
Paula huffed again, sharper this time. “And I told him that I was home. Alone. But I have no reason to want to hurt Trudy.”
Raines nodded once. “She’s also agreed to come in for a formal interview tomorrow morning.”
“Not because I’m guilty,” Paula rushed to add, her voice quick, almost defensive. “But because I might have something useful. Something that could help you find the person who really attacked Trudy.”
Isla held her gaze, searching for cracks, but Paula looked back without flinching.
Paula crossed her arms, her expression set. “I believe Leah is the one who took Harris.”
Isla’s pulse jumped, but Paula pressed on before she could respond. “A friend of mine worked at the bank back then. She told me not long ago that Leah withdrew a large amount of cash around the time Harris disappeared.”
“That never came up during the investigation,” Isla said sharply. “Her financials were checked. Nothing unusual was found.”
Paula shook her head. “Because it wasn’t a regular withdrawal. My friend said Leah took it out of a safe deposit box. There wouldn’t have been a record the police could trace.”
Garrett’s eyes narrowed, his voice edged with steel. “Why didn’t you take this to the cops back then?”
“Because I didn’t know back then.” Paula’s tone turned defensive. “My friend only remembered about a month ago. We were having lunch, and when I brought up Harris’s abduction, she suddenly recalled. She’d been in a car accident not long after Leah’s visit to the bank, hit her head. She told me some of those memories didn’t come back until years later. And she wouldn’t have remembered at all if I hadn’t pressed her.”
