Gone (Deadly Secrets #2)(97)
“Just got a positive ID yesterday. It was a two-year-old boy named Kyle Jackson. He went missing in Seattle. Mother was a prostitute; father unknown. His disappearance didn’t garner a lot of press coverage. He was diabetic, though. According to Gilbert, he went into some kind of seizure, and his handlers—he claims he wasn’t one of them, by the way—didn’t know what to do. When the boy died, they disposed of the body in the Coast Range.”
Alec’s stomach churned. “And yet Gilbert knew exactly where to find the body. I don’t buy his I-wasn’t-involved story for a second.”
“Neither do we. We also found out why Emma was in Sherwood. None of the other kids were relocated that close to the city where they were taken. Kasdan didn’t arrange Emma’s relocation. Gilbert did. Taking her was revenge against you, as you know. As soon as he had her, though, he knew he had to get rid of her fast. He picked the Waldorfs from Kasdan’s files and dropped her off unbeknownst to Kasdan. Guess she was pretty ticked when she found out, but the Waldorfs were willing to pay three times what she charged other families, so she let the transaction stand.”
Bile churned in Alec’s stomach over the way Miriam Kasdan had sold children as if they were objects.
“Anyway,” Bickam said, “Gilbert will never see light outside a prison wall, and the Waldorfs will be spending a long time behind bars as well. You and Raegan don’t have to worry about any kind of retaliation from either of them. Mr. Waldorf still claims he knew nothing about the illegal adoption, but the wife already broke down and spilled everything. Guess guilt finally got to her. That or fear.”
Alec guessed fear. The Waldorfs had to know Emma had come from somewhere. Whether they’d turned a blind eye mattered little to him. They’d still broken the law, and they’d put another family through hell.
“You and Raegan did a good job bringing this all together,” Bickam went on. “It’ll take us some time to locate all the biological parents of the fifty-plus files we found in Kasdan’s office, but you’ve brought a lot of closure to a lot of people.”
Alec’s heart pinched as he moved to the window and gazed out at Raegan, who was smiling in the afternoon sunlight in an off-white sundress, her curly auburn hair hanging down her back while she pushed Emma, with matching hair and a miniature version of Raegan’s dress, on the swing Alec had built in their backyard. His sister, Kelsey, decked out in an off-the-shoulder jumpsuit, stood nearby with a glass of wine in her hand, along with his mother and Ethan’s fiancée, Sam, who were chatting away and waving at a giggling Emma on the swing. His gaze skipped over to Ethan and Rusty tossing a football nearby with the newest McClane, Thomas, then to his father, who was already starting up the grill on the patio while Hunt held a beer, feigning interest in Michael McClane’s inane chatter about the perfect way to sear a steak.
Yes, everything he and Raegan had uncovered would bring closure to a great many families, but not all of them would find the happily ever after he and Raegan had. Kyle Jackson’s mother wouldn’t. His gaze slid back to Raegan, and his heart filled with more love than he’d ever thought possible. It didn’t matter where a mother lived or what job she performed. She would always be a mother, and that bond between a mother and child could never be broken.
“Speaking of Raegan,” Bickam said in his ear. “I haven’t seen her on the news. Is she planning to go back to work anytime soon?”
“She is working.” Alec smiled because Raegan was smiling and because her infectious energy lit him up all over. “Just not at any news station. She’s staying home with Emma and writing.”
“A book?”
“Yeah.”
“Bet I can guess what it’s about.”
Alec’s heart turned over again when he thought of Raegan’s strength. She’d never let her doubts show. He knew now that she’d had them—way more than he’d thought she’d had—but she’d never let those doubts destroy her hope. “It’s therapeutic for her to get it all out. I’ve read some of it. It’s powerful.”
“I have no doubt it’ll be a bestseller. How’s Emma?”
His gaze drifted to his daughter in the swing, pumping her little legs, the buckles on her white sandals glinting in the sunshine. His heart filled even more. “She’s good. Really good. The child psychologist she’s been seeing has helped a lot. The first few months were rocky, but it’s better every day.”
“She see the nanny anymore?”
The Waldorfs’ nanny, Lisa Schneider, had agreed to stay on with Alec and Raegan after Emma had come back to live with them. Since she’d been more a caregiver to Emma than either of the Waldorfs, she was the one Emma had been the most attached to. The nanny had moved in with them, but because Raegan’s apartment was only a two bedroom and not big enough for all of them, he and Raegan had decided to relocate to his farmhouse outside the city. Alec’s father and brothers had chipped in and helped finish the renovations in record time, and after three months, when Emma had grown used to her surroundings, the nanny had slowly transitioned out of Emma’s life.
“Not since Memorial Day. She starts college in the fall and got a job with a new family for the summer in Portland. She’s good about checking in with Emma, but she doesn’t really need to anymore.” His smile widened as he watched his daughter lean her whole body back on the swing and laugh upside down at her mother. “I don’t think Emma can understand any of what happened at this point, but she will someday.”