Saving Madeline Read online

  “I’m telling you now. We talked after the arraignment this morning. He asked. I said yes.”

  “Good.” Sally oozed satisfaction. “Talk about opportunity! Call me Sunday and tell me everything. I’ll want to hear all the juicy details. And I mean juicy.”

  Caitlin groaned. “It’s only a first date.”

  “You never know.”

  “I’m not looking for a casual relationship. Not everyone hits it off like you and Tony.”

  “You’re right.” Sally’s voice had become serious. “Tony’s the only one for me.”

  Caitlin laughed. “At least that leaves a guy or two for me to choose from.”

  “And one of those choices works in construction. Believe me, they’re the best.”

  Another reminder about Parker that Caitlin decided to ignore. “Sally, I’m hanging up now. I’ve got to call Kenny.”

  “Yeah, and I’ve got to find this missing guy. Not a fun prospect. I’ve met his wife, and I suspect he wants to be wherever he is at the moment.”

  Caitlin clicked off the phone and dialed Kenny. He didn’t answer, but she left a message. He was good at calling back. Sure enough, her phone was ringing before she’d reached her upstairs office.

  “Hello?”

  “Caitlin, girl, what’s up?”

  “I have a new case, and I need information to help my client.”

  “Help him? Does this mean you actually have an innocent one?”

  “I think so. He was arrested for kidnapping his own child. Look, is there sometime we can meet to discuss the case? I know it’s lunchtime, and I’m booked solid for the next three hours or so, but I’ll have a little time, say, about three-thirty.”

  “Why don’t I stop by your office around then,” he said. “I’ll be in the area anyway, and that way I can save you time.”

  “Great.” Caitlin was relieved. After all the time she’d taken with Parker on Monday and this morning, she was running behind on her other cases. There was only so much she could delegate to the paralegals and secretaries.

  “Besides,” Kenny added, “there’s another matter we need to discuss. Remember that job you had me do a couple weeks ago? Well, there’s been someone from the DA’s office snooping around about that. I’d like to be let in on the loop.”

  Caitlin closed her eyes for a moment. She’d forgotten all about that. “Okay, Kenny. We’ll talk. See you at three-thirty.”

  • • •

  Caitlin had fifteen minutes to spare until her appointment with Kenny Pratt. She took the opportunity to file some of her completed cases. As she did, she looked over other cases she’d completed throughout the year, remembering the details and who had prosecuted her clients. Mace Keeley had been the prosecutor in only one of her recent cases—a drug-using, hit- and-run perp who had exacted sympathy from no one, least of all Caitlin.

  She had seen Mace in numerous cases in the courthouse, but in the past year, she had gone up against him personally three times. On the other hand, Wyman seemed to represent

  a good fourth of her cases, while the other DAs had prosecuted a fairly even number. It wasn’t unusual that Wyman should have so many. Because he was the newest of the district attorneys, he would likely have less choice in which cases he was assigned. Since she was considered tough, some of the attorneys might pass at going against her, especially if the case wasn’t promising. Could that be why she remembered beating Wyman so often? But what didn’t make sense was that Mace hadn’t taken his fair share against her, and the cases he had prosecuted had been absolutely irrefutable, leaving him no chance of losing.

  No, that had to be all in her mind.

  Still . . .

  She picked up the phone. “Jodi? Look, I know you’re swamped, but when you get a moment, do you think you could do a little checking in our company files and find out which cases Mace Keeley prosecuted against our LDA attorneys?”

  “Ah, so it’s serious.”

  “Jodi!”

  “I saw the way he was looking at you this morning in court, don’t think I didn’t. Lucky girl.”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “Sure, whatever you say.”

  “Thank you, Jodi.” Caitlin hung up, not liking what was happening. If Jodi had noticed her and Mace, it was only a matter of time until others did the same.

  And what of it? asked a voice inside her head. I deserve a chance at love as much as anyone else. She sat back in her chair, thinking of her upcoming date with Mace, but oddly enough it was Parker’s face she saw.

  “Caitlin?” Kenny Pratt came into the room, startling her from her reverie. “I knocked but no one answered. The door was ajar.”

  Caitlin came to her feet, feeling rattled. “I left it open for you. Come on in.” She indicated one of the chairs in front of the desk, taking the other for herself. She’d learned Kenny didn’t take well to formal discussions, so she tried to keep things as casual as possible, and eliminating the desk between them went a long way toward that goal.

  Kenny was small, dark-haired, and wiry, with an unassuming face that was easy to trust. His way with words caused most people to spill their darkest secrets or left them wishing they had secrets to spill. This latter group often found their neighbors’ secrets almost as satisfying to share, which was fine by Kenny. Even Caitlin, knowing his profession, had to be careful she didn’t get sucked in.

  Before sitting, he shrugged off the thick black coat that made even his thin frame appear almost stocky. “So what’s up?” His eyes, so dark they were almost black, glittered.

  She sighed. “First we’d better talk about the DA.”

  Kenny sat back in his seat. “Why are they asking questions about that last case I worked for you? What did you do to tick them off?”

  She was glad he didn’t have an idea as to what she’d done, but she had little hope of keeping it that way. Better for him to know what she was up against. Not that she would share the whole story. He didn’t have to know she’d hired him not to free her client but to convict him.

  “I had a client charged with rape and assault with a deadly weapon. He claimed he was innocent.”

  “And was he?”

  Caitlin smiled dryly. “Aren’t they all?”

  “So he was guilty as sin.”

  “He claimed he was elsewhere that night, and I sent you to see if there were any witnesses that could attest to his presence.”

  “And I found one.”

  “Yes. Only what he saw was detrimental to my client.”

  Kenny tented his hands in his lap. “You didn’t let it die.”

  “A citizen has the duty to report unusual activity to the police, so that’s what I told you to encourage the witness to do.”

  Kenny leaned forward quickly, the suddenness of his movement startling her once more. “I see now why the DA is snooping around. You were about to win the case, and they had an apple fall into their lap. Or a knife wrapped in a jacket, to be exact.”

  “You think they’d be grateful.”

  Kenny shook his head. “You’re not telling me everything. My guess is that you knew the knife was there. Your client must have told you at some point, and you made sure the beans were spilled.”

  So much for not telling him the whole story. “You’re wrong, Kenny,” she said lightly. “I was simply trying to defend my client.”

  “If that was really true, you wouldn’t have told me to tell the kid to call the police. If your participation in this comes to light, your client will claim a mistrial and the evidence might be thrown out.”

  “Without the evidence, he’d walk.” Caitlin met his gaze, and to her surprise, he was the one who dropped his eyes first.

  “I’ve done a lot of things in my life to get information,” Kenny said, “but I’ve never risked as much as you did by

  sending me to that street. I understand why you did it, but this is a serious breach of attorney-client confidentiality.”

  Caitlin shrugged. “Morality is an interesting su
bject. Would you want a man like him freed to stalk your daughter?”

  “If I had a daughter, no. Believe it or not, I admire you for what you’ve done. I just don’t think it was a good career move.”

  Caitlin didn’t know how much she valued Kenny’s opinion until she felt relief flood through her. He supported her decision, however reluctantly. He even admired her for it. “What I don’t get is why the DA is so interested,” she mused.

  He leaned back again and crossed his legs, the picture of relaxation. “They smell something wrong, and you know as well as I do that certain unscrupulous attorneys would enjoy the publicity they’d get from exposing this breach. Never underestimate the ambition of an attorney.” He chuckled wryly. “Present company included.”

  Caitlin never thought of herself as hard and ambitious, but it didn’t come as a surprise that others thought of her that way. Half of success was the front you showed to the world, and the other half was what you were willing to do to win.

  “They traced the boy to me, but that’s as far as it went,” Kenny said. “And that’s as far as it will go—unless I’m called to testify. I won’t lie in court.”

  “It won’t come to that. You’re the only connection.”

  “I don’t like being in that position.”

  She sighed. “I know, Kenny, and I’m sorry. Short of making an anonymous call myself, I didn’t know what to do. I could have planted a story, but there wasn’t enough time. As it was, he nearly walked.”

  Kenny ran his short, strong fingers through his thinning hair. “Just be careful for the next few months.”

  “I will.” She hesitated a few seconds before asking. “The DA—was it Wyman Russell?”

  “No. Actually, it was an aide from the DA’s office. Didn’t tell me who he was working for, so it could have been any of them.” He grinned suddenly. “Sorry, I can’t tell you who you’re going to have to bribe to make this go away.”

  “Very funny.” She made a face as she remembered her dinner with Wyman. To think she’d actually enjoyed her dinner with him! He was playing her, that much was apparent now.

  “Well,” she said, dismissing Wyman from her thoughts, “all unpleasantness aside, let’s get down to new business.” She picked up a manila folder from her desk where she had placed copies of all the information she’d gathered so far—much of it from Sally. She quickly outlined the case. “It’s all here.” She tapped the folder. “But in a nutshell, I need evidence against the ex-wife. Proof, if possible, that she’s doing drugs and the child’s in danger. Anything that reflects poorly upon her.”

  Kenny thumbed through the documents. “Is she really that bad?” There was disapproval in his voice, and Caitlin knew he didn’t like the idea of getting between a mother and her child.

  “After meeting the woman, I agree with my client. He may not have gone about it the right way, but something is wrong. If I were to go by the child’s reaction alone, I’d have her removed from the home. But Family Services says they can’t do anything if we don’t have some kind of proof. Particularly, we want to find the man the woman used to live with. We believe he may be the link we need, but we aren’t sure we have his correct name.”

  “Not going to be easy without a name.” He came to his feet slowly.

  “If it was going to be easy, I wouldn’t need you.”

  He laughed. “Touché. I’ll call you as soon as I have something.”

  “No need to tell you we’re working on a deadline here.” She walked with him to the door.

  “You won’t go to trial for a month at least.”

  “Well, there’ll be a pretrial first, but the real issue is that little girl. I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to her.”

  Chapter 11

  When the guys started heading home from the site, Parker borrowed Rosen’s cell phone. He called Caitlin, but she didn’t pick up, and then he placed a call to Dakota. There was a pit of helplessness in his stomach, an ache that no one but Madeline could fill. How could he be a responsible father if he wasn’t allowed to see his girl?

  “Hello?” Dakota’s voice was bright and not upset, so she obviously wasn’t expecting him.

  “Hi, Dakota. It’s me, Parker.”

  “You! How dare you call after what you did?” A string of shrill swear words followed her pronouncement, and he winced as he held the phone away from his ear. Apparently, he was more evil and vile than just about anything in the world. Great. Not a hopeful start. At least he’d had the presence of mind to go outside and away from everyone as he made this call.

  “Look, Dakota, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it.” He grimaced because what he really meant was that he shouldn’t have done it the way he had. He should have taken Madeline far, far from Dakota’s clutches. “Look, I’m calling to make sure Madeline is safe.”

  “Of course she’s safe!” Dakota screamed. “You stupid man!”

  “I know you’re doing drugs again,” he said over another tumult of words. “You promised me that once I got you the house, you’d stop. You said you’d keep it away from Madeline. For crying out loud, Dakota, I saw the bag of whatever it was on the TV the last time I picked her up.” Why he hadn’t called the police that day was something he’d have to live with for the rest of his life.

  The jumble of words ceased for a moment. “Is this what you’re telling the police? You realize it’s your word against mine. The word of a kidnapper. How far’s that going to go? Besides, if there were any drugs, and I’m not saying there were, they could have been yours. You could have planted them.”

  “What if Madeline had gotten hold of it? Did you think of that? You know nothing’s out of her reach. She climbs like a little monkey.”

  “It was a bag of sugar, that’s all. We were coloring it for cookies.”

  “Dakota, this is our daughter we’re talking about!”

  “My daughter, and you need to back off! I’d never let anything happen to her. I love her.”

  “I know you wouldn’t hurt her purposefully, but accidents happen. Look, all I’m asking is to let her stay with my mom until you get on your feet.”

  “You just want custody. Well, I can tell you that’s not going to happen. I don’t need you, and I don’t need your money. I have someone else to help me now. I’m on my feet, and for once you don’t have control over me because of the money. I’m so sick of you calling the shots. For all I care you can rot in prison!”

  Gritting his teeth in frustration, he walked around the huge shell that would someday be a large building. It was good workmanship, he could see, and he was glad he worked for a man who didn’t cut corners to gain additional profit. Cheated customers didn’t come back for more.

  “Dakota,” he said, trying to remain calm. He’d learned the hard way that it never paid to meet her viciousness with anger—not when Madeline was in the middle. “Please. I’ve forgiven you a lot over the years, haven’t I? Please forgive me for this. All I want is for Madeline to be happy. Please.”

  “We don’t need you,” Dakota repeated. Her voice was still hard but less vicious now.

  “Can I at least talk to her? I don’t want her to worry. She was stressed when I left her.”

  “And whose fault is that? No, you can’t talk to her. You’ve had her all weekend. On my weekend, I might add. Look, I’ve got to go. Don’t call me again. I’ll contact you through the authorities—if you’re going to be around to contact. Or should I call that cute little lawyer of yours? The way she was all over Madeline, you’re probably sleeping with her.”

  “What are you talking about? I didn’t even know her before yesterday!” How could Dakota possibly be jealous of Caitlin? Dakota was the one who’d slept around while they were married, not him. Even if he’d been so inclined, he’d been too busy working and watching Madeline. “Besides, what would you care if—”

  She had already hung up. Parker sighed heavily. He’d only wanted to talk to his little girl, to make sure she was all right, but ap
parently Dakota was out to make his life as difficult as possible.

  Slowly, he began walking back to the heated trailer where Rosen would be waiting for his phone. I should have run, he thought. If he had, Madeline would be safe right now. That was the second mistake he’d made.

  It’s not too late.

  He contemplated this new thought. There was a court order preventing him from going near Dakota and Madeline, but that didn’t have to stop him, not if it might mean saving Madeline’s life. It would take planning and preparation if he was to pull it off, but he was good at that. He would have to be. There would be no third chance.

  A car honked, and he looked to see Caitlin driving into the construction site. He pointed at the phone in his cold hand and made a motion toward the trailer. She nodded, her face smiling openly, less businesslike than that morning, making her seem relaxed and warm, and also somehow reminding him of what Dakota had said about Caitlin and Madeline. Maybe she really did care about Madeline’s welfare to the extent that she’d do everything in her power to discover the proof he needed. Maybe giving her a few days wouldn’t be a bad idea—provided he could get them to check regularly on Madeline. Dakota was likely to be on her best behavior right now.

  After returning the phone to Rosen and collecting his suitcase, he jogged to the car and climbed into the front seat next to Caitlin. Her face was no longer smiling. A tiny crease had formed between her eyebrows.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  She shook her head and then nodded. “My sister, Amy. Just had a call from her sitter. She’s missing.”

  “What?” He tried to remember what she’d told Madeline about her sister, but nothing stood out in his mind. Just that she was young enough to want to play with Madeline.

  “I called Sally—Detective Crumb. She says she’ll send someone if I want, but I think I should check the neighborhood first. The sitter is an older lady, and she hasn’t searched yet.”

  “Better hurry. It’ll be dark soon, and colder. Where was she?”

  “Here in West Valley. About ten minutes away. She wanders off sometimes, but usually only when it’s warm.”