Forbidden (Southern Comfort) by Lisa Clark O'Neill Page B

awfully nice of you to want to help out.”
    Clay smiled, dropping a kiss on her brow before bending down to consult with Max.  “I’m going to help Amber look for her sister, and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind taking care of your mama while I’m gone?”
    Max’s small chest deflated with disappointment.  “Why can’t I go with you? I could be your deputy agent.”
    Clay’s heart swelled yet again, just like the damn Grinch on Christmas morning.  But he didn’t want Max tagging along, because he was afraid of what they might find.  “You are my deputy agent, Max.  And the assignment I’m giving you is to stay here and look after your mama.  It’s a really important assignment, because your mother is very special.”  And because he knew a little bit about child psychology, he pulled out the standard reverse.  “But if you don’t think you can handle it, I can give the job to someone else.”
    Max straightened his shoulders.  “Nobody can take care of Mommy better than me.”
    “I’m counting on it,” Clay said solemnly.  And then he gave Tate’s hand a final squeeze before heading off with the distraught mother.
     
    CHAPTER EIGHT
    TWENTY minutes later, Clay returned with a tearful Lola – that was the mother’s name – after they’d dropped Amber off with some friends.  Tate waited on the picnic table near the funnel cake trailer, Deputy Max asleep on her lap. 
    “No luck?” she asked as they approached.
    Lola moved blindly toward the trailer, and Clay shook his head as he sat.  “No one that we talked to had seen her.  Normally, I wouldn’t be all that worried because teenagers pull this kind of thing all the time, but I get the impression that this Casey is a pretty responsible kid.  Responsible kids do stupid things, too, but factor in the vibes I got from that man earlier today and I don’t like how it adds up.  I convinced the mother to call in the local police, because I didn’t want to waste any more time canvassing the area when there’s a chance he took her out of here.”
    Tate drew in a shaky breath.  “You think he abducted her.”
    It was a statement, not a question. Clay glanced toward the trailer to make sure Lola couldn’t overhear.   She was walking a fine line between holding it together and losing it, and he didn’t want to push her over the edge.  “I don’t have enough information to make that call.” He started to leave it at that. No need to upset Tate any more than he had to, either. But recalling the story she’d told him that morning, he realized that platitudes weren’t enough. So he put aside professional circumspection, and said what he thought.  “It’s certainly plausible.  There was something entirely wrong with the guy’s behavior.  I noticed him when we were in the picnic area earlier.  I think he was selecting his quarry.”
    Tate flinched at the harsh analogy.  But it was, he knew, how this type of perpetrator thought.  “What happens next?” she asked carefully.
    “We wait for the cops. You’ll have to give them a statement.  Luckily, the mother and I both got a good look at him earlier, so they won’t have to rely totally on your description.  But just to warn you, if she doesn’t turn up in the next twenty-four hours, you may have to look through some mug-shots.”
    “Do you think she’s going to turn up?”
    Clay sighed and rubbed the tension from the back of his neck.  “Unless she’s simply off somewhere in a teenage pout, or went with that guy of her own free will, I’d say that possibility’s unlikely.  He allowed several people, including the girl, to get a good look at him. That means he’s not concerned about being caught.  If he’s not concerned about being caught, he either wasn’t contemplating committing any crime, or he feels sure he can’t be tied to one.”  He reflected on the man’s demeanor and suspected he’d been planning the abduction all day.  “If he took that girl,