authorities. Of course, Yancy would have still gotten the fifty grand. He was a rich man, but he probably wouldn’t have turned down the cash, and besides he could have had plans just to kidnap the baby boy again. Or scam another set of prospective parents into paying for a baby they’d never get.
“Roy and I didn’t tell anyone what we’d done,” Jewell went on, “because we thought someone might be monitoring our phone calls. Or at least keeping an eye on us. They likely wanted to make sure what we were doing wasn’t some kind of a setup. If we’d told you or Seth, we were afraid it would have blown the deal.”
Instead, her mother’s arrest had blown it.
The door opened, and Seth walked back in. With one sweeping glance, he took in the whole room, no doubt noticing Jewell’s troubled expression.
And the way Austin was holding Rosalie’s hand.
“Bad news?” Austin asked, getting to his feet so he could face Seth.
Seth shook his head. “We found something. We might finally have some proof of the person who set up the baby farm.”
Chapter Ten
Sonny.
Austin hated that the man’s name kept popping up in all the wrong places. Here Sonny had been out of jail only a few hours on the gun charges, but this was a new reason to bring him right back in. Austin had read through the financial report and saw the same red flags that Seth had.
Something wasn’t right on several levels.
For one thing Sonny had two offshore accounts—not exactly standard practice for a run-of-the-mill P.I. Then, there were the cash transfers and withdrawals from his Texas bank. Not enough to trigger an investigation. Just enough to keep him under the radar of the authorities.
Or at least it would have been enough if he hadn’t become a person of interest in the baby farms investigation.
“It all seems, well, almost too obvious,” Rosalie said, studying the financial report from over Austin’s shoulder. “I mean, if Sonny’s behind the baby farms, why would he leave this kind of evidence out there for someone to find?”
Austin made a sound of agreement. “But then, Sonny’s done plenty of
too obvious.
Like being at the second site of the baby farm and pulling a gun on Yancy at the hospital. All of that makes him look guilty.”
And in doing so, it also made him look innocent and as if he’d been set up. Either by Yancy or someone else.
Rosalie must have come to the same conclusion because she huffed and sank back in the chair next to him. Her brother Cooper, the sheriff of Sweetwater Springs, had been generous enough to let them use his private office to go through the financials while they waited for Sonny to arrive for questioning.
Yet something else that was generous.
If Cooper hadn’t allowed Austin and Seth to question Sonny at the sheriff’s office, then it would have had to be moved to the FBI building in San Antonio. Where Austin wouldn’t have been allowed even to witness the interview much less take part in it.
“I owe your brother Cooper,” Austin mumbled.
Rosalie made another sound, not one of agreement this time. “I was surprised that he allowed it. Cooper isn’t exactly on good terms with Seth, my sister and me.”
Austin didn’t have to ask why. They’d been raised by their mother. Cooper and his brothers, by their father. After twenty-something years of estrangement, that was a huge rift to mend.
“So, why then did Cooper let us come here?” Austin asked.
She shrugged, glanced away when Austin tried to make eye contact with her. “I think he feels sorry for me. Like you do,” she added.
Austin did feel sorry for her, but sadly, it wasn’t the only thing he was feeling for her. Ditto for the guilt. Every time he looked at her—like now—he got that jolt of a reminder that Rosalie was a darn attractive woman.
The jolt was put on hold fast when the door flew open and Seth poked in his head. “Sonny’s on his way. Should be here in the next ten minutes or so, and he’s
“Roy and I didn’t tell anyone what we’d done,” Jewell went on, “because we thought someone might be monitoring our phone calls. Or at least keeping an eye on us. They likely wanted to make sure what we were doing wasn’t some kind of a setup. If we’d told you or Seth, we were afraid it would have blown the deal.”
Instead, her mother’s arrest had blown it.
The door opened, and Seth walked back in. With one sweeping glance, he took in the whole room, no doubt noticing Jewell’s troubled expression.
And the way Austin was holding Rosalie’s hand.
“Bad news?” Austin asked, getting to his feet so he could face Seth.
Seth shook his head. “We found something. We might finally have some proof of the person who set up the baby farm.”
Chapter Ten
Sonny.
Austin hated that the man’s name kept popping up in all the wrong places. Here Sonny had been out of jail only a few hours on the gun charges, but this was a new reason to bring him right back in. Austin had read through the financial report and saw the same red flags that Seth had.
Something wasn’t right on several levels.
For one thing Sonny had two offshore accounts—not exactly standard practice for a run-of-the-mill P.I. Then, there were the cash transfers and withdrawals from his Texas bank. Not enough to trigger an investigation. Just enough to keep him under the radar of the authorities.
Or at least it would have been enough if he hadn’t become a person of interest in the baby farms investigation.
“It all seems, well, almost too obvious,” Rosalie said, studying the financial report from over Austin’s shoulder. “I mean, if Sonny’s behind the baby farms, why would he leave this kind of evidence out there for someone to find?”
Austin made a sound of agreement. “But then, Sonny’s done plenty of
too obvious.
Like being at the second site of the baby farm and pulling a gun on Yancy at the hospital. All of that makes him look guilty.”
And in doing so, it also made him look innocent and as if he’d been set up. Either by Yancy or someone else.
Rosalie must have come to the same conclusion because she huffed and sank back in the chair next to him. Her brother Cooper, the sheriff of Sweetwater Springs, had been generous enough to let them use his private office to go through the financials while they waited for Sonny to arrive for questioning.
Yet something else that was generous.
If Cooper hadn’t allowed Austin and Seth to question Sonny at the sheriff’s office, then it would have had to be moved to the FBI building in San Antonio. Where Austin wouldn’t have been allowed even to witness the interview much less take part in it.
“I owe your brother Cooper,” Austin mumbled.
Rosalie made another sound, not one of agreement this time. “I was surprised that he allowed it. Cooper isn’t exactly on good terms with Seth, my sister and me.”
Austin didn’t have to ask why. They’d been raised by their mother. Cooper and his brothers, by their father. After twenty-something years of estrangement, that was a huge rift to mend.
“So, why then did Cooper let us come here?” Austin asked.
She shrugged, glanced away when Austin tried to make eye contact with her. “I think he feels sorry for me. Like you do,” she added.
Austin did feel sorry for her, but sadly, it wasn’t the only thing he was feeling for her. Ditto for the guilt. Every time he looked at her—like now—he got that jolt of a reminder that Rosalie was a darn attractive woman.
The jolt was put on hold fast when the door flew open and Seth poked in his head. “Sonny’s on his way. Should be here in the next ten minutes or so, and he’s
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