Assumed Identity(66)

She glanced up at Jake for answers, but he was searching the crowd, too.

“Ms. Carter?” Chloe Vanderham was pushing her way through the crowd.

When Robin saw the venom in her expression, she turned away from the impending confrontation. Her hand bumped against the carrier and the doll fell onto the table. The calico pinafore flipped up and Robin saw the name embroidered across the doll’s chest.

Hailey.

“Robin?” Jake caught her when her knees buckled and wound his arm around her waist to keep her upright. “Stay with me. We’ll figure this out.”

“That’s her birth name. Hailey is Emma’s birth name. Bill Houseman—he said it was a matter of life or death that I talk to him.” Robin’s vision clouded over. She had to put her hands on Emma to make sure she was safe. “I never did.”

Chloe Vanderham was upon them now. She drummed her ruby-red nails on the white tablecloth beside the baby carrier.

Robin didn’t care that her client was unhappy. “Did you see who was with my daughter?”

“Are your people done?” Chloe wore a dressing gown over her long slip and petticoats. “The rain is already ruining my day, and all your drama is turning it into a disaster.”

“I’m sorry, but this isn’t her doll. There have been threats.... Did anyone see who gave it to her?” Robin looked all around, but now people seemed less interested in broken doors and spotting folk heroes from the newspaper, and more interested in getting away from the temperamental bride-to-be. Thunder rumbled overhead, punctuating Robin’s disappointment. She splayed one hand over Emma’s tummy and held on to Jake with the other. She wasn’t going to find any more answers here today. She wasn’t going to feel safe, either. “We’re finished.”

“Good. Now, please, both of you—” Chloe glanced down at Emma. “All of you—leave.” She snapped her fingers and nodded to ushers in their black tuxedoes. “Get everyone seated. More guests are coming in. And tell Paul I’ll be late coming down the aisle.”

“I’m sorry. I...” But Chloe was already sweeping back into her dressing room with a huff. “Take me home, Jake.” Robin reached for the vile doll. “I need to get Emma out of here.”

“Wait. Don’t touch it again.”

“I’m throwing it away.”

“Don’t.” He wrapped the doll up in the discarded blanket and closed his fist around it. He picked up the diaper bag that had fallen to the floor. “Do you have a plastic bag in here? The police may be able to get some kind of DNA off it.”

Robin nodded. “Do we need to call KCPD? Or is it time I used Bill Houseman’s card and ask him what he knows about this?”

“We’ll send the cops after Houseman. Right now, I think we need to get out of here and find someplace friendlier and quieter where we can—”

“Talk things out?”

That firm mouth almost twisted with a grin. “Something like that. Let’s go.”

After bagging up the doll and blanket, Jake hiked the diaper bag onto his shoulder and cupped his hand beneath Robin’s elbow while she covered Emma with a clean blanket and picked up the carrier. Robin was thanking a gentleman for holding the side door open for them when Jake pulled her back inside.

“What are you doing?”

“This way.” He lengthened his stride, pushing a broad path through the guests in the lobby.

“But the SUV we rented is parked out back.” Robin had to quicken her pace to keep up with him. “I don’t mind a little rain.”

“We’re taking the scenic route.”

“No, we’re not.” Robin tried to slow down, but he simply pulled her against his hip and cinched his arm around her to keep her moving at his speed. She was starting to learn how to read these sudden defensive maneuvers of his. “What did you see? What’s happening?”

The rain hit her face and soaked through her hair to her scalp. Jake barely gave her time to pull the blanket over Emma’s head before pulling the carrier from her grasp and hurrying them into a jog around the corner away from any main entrances.

“Jake,” she protested as they crossed a gravel alleyway and entered the rear parking lot. “You’re scaring me. I thought we agreed that you’d let me in on whatever’s going on in that mind of yours.”

“The empty place that can’t remember anything? Or the scary part that thinks we’re being followed.”