Executive Protection(55)

Jaden faced him but didn’t move farther into the room. “Digging into my personal life?”

“Did you do it for money?” Thad asked.

Jaden had no reply for that.

“How much did Cam pay you to kidnap Lucy?” Thad dropped the magical question. He watched Jaden process how Thad might have come to learn of this.

“I saw you at Cam’s house, remember?” Thad helped him.

Jaden started to back toward the door.

“I wouldn’t go out there if I were you.”

Pausing, he looked toward the window, and then went there. When he saw nothing outside, he looked back at Thad.

“Mike Harris saw you leaving the estate with Lucy tonight.”

Jaden turned from the window, his skin pale. After a long, desperate moment, he said, “I’ll tell you where she is.” He realized the trouble he was in and thought he could bargain his way out of it. Or attempt to.

Thad wasn’t ready to reveal that Lucy was safe. “Why did you leave the side door unlocked?”

“I told you, I didn’t mean to do that.”

“Was leaving the window unlocked an accident, too? And what about the security system? Did you accidentally shut that off?” The man had to know he’d get nowhere denying his guilt.

Jaden’s jaw clenched and released in his tension. “I’ll tell you where Lucy is. Just let me go.”

So he could run from the law? Thad wasn’t that kind of cop. And this was too personal to be lenient. “I need a few more questions answered.”

“Okay.” Jaden looked hopeful that if he answered his questions Thad might let him go.

“Cam paid you to bring him Lucy,” Thad said. “Did he also pay you to kidnap Sophie?”

“No. Cam approached me after Lucy moved in at the estate. I didn’t know about Sophie’s kidnapping.”

Thad could see and hear the truth in that reply. Jaden hadn’t been involved in Sophie’s kidnapping, only Lucy’s. That meant someone other than Jaden was behind this. Jaden was another dead end. Cam must have discovered Jaden’s situation—that he needed money—and made him a proposition. Could Cam be the shooter? Thad didn’t see how. He’d been busy holding Lucy prisoner. He hadn’t gone to break in to the estate.

“Who did you leave the door open for?” Thad asked.

“I keep telling you—”

“You keep telling me a lie!” Thad roared.

Jaden met Thad’s eyes and didn’t budge.

“Who else is paying you?” Thad asked in a calmer tone.

“No one. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know who kidnapped the little girl and I didn’t leave any door unlocked.”

The first might be true but Jaden did leave the door unlocked. Thad realized he could ask a hundred times and Jaden wouldn’t give in. He seemed too afraid to. He wasn’t afraid to talk about Lucy, but the door was another matter.

Maybe the police would have better luck. Thad headed for the door.

“Don’t you want to know where Lucy is?” Jaden asked.

With a glance behind him, Thad opened the door and held up his hand to signal the agents.

“What are you doing?” Jaden asked.

Thad moved out of the way as agents burst into the house. Jaden tried to escape out the back, but there were agents there waiting. Now he’d understand that Thad had already known where Lucy was and Cam hadn’t gotten away with what he’d planned.

* * *

That Friday, Lucy yawned as they neared Carova. They’d gotten a late start. It was dinnertime and she was starving. Thad must have read her mind...or gotten tired of Sophie repeatedly asking if they were there yet from the backseat of the car. He turned into the parking lot of an Irish pub. It was on the way and a convenient stop.

Beneath soft lighting, the hostess led them over rugged wood floors and through a maze of heavy wood tables. The wood chairs had green cushions on them. Clovers decorated the walls between historical pictures of the town.


Sophie took hold of Lucy’s hand as they walked to their table. A young couple saw them, the woman smiling fondly as she took in the trio. They looked like a real family. With her light brown hair and golden-brown eyes, Sophie could pass as Thad’s daughter. Lucy’s hair was darker and she had green eyes, but people would think she’d taken after her daddy.

Thad put his hand on Lucy’s lower back to guide her ahead of him, the gesture intimate. Daddy loved Sophie’s mommy.

If only it were true...

They sat at a booth with Lucy and Sophie on one side and Thad on the other. An elderly woman sitting with her husband smiled over at them, adoring them as the other woman had.

“We must look like we’re a family,” she couldn’t resist saying, knowing Thad would struggle with it.

He glanced around and saw the elderly woman give him a nod of greeting. He awkwardly nodded back, then sent Lucy an unappreciative frown.

She laughed a little.

“What’s funny?” Sophie asked, pausing in her drawing. The pub had a kids coloring page.

“Nothing.” She lifted the menu and began to read. “What do you like to eat, Sophie?”

“Um...” Her young eyes lifted as she thought. “I want...mac ’n’ cheese with French fries.”