Page 17 of Chasing a Kidnapper

“I need a list of all your gym members,” West said calmly, leaning toward believing the guy. Stewie’s shock in seeing the gun was too real to be faked. Yet he also highly doubted the gym owner checked for lockers that were taken for extended lengths of time.

Stewie just didn’t come across as highly organized. He was a lot of brawn and muscle, but shy on brains.

“I’ll get that list,” Stewie quickly agreed.

“Thanks. This room is off-limits until the crime scene techs have checked for prints.” He turned away and used his thumb to call Jack Donadio. “Jack? We found a Glock 19 in the Fitness Guru Gym. I need someone here to check for prints, ASAP.” He was hoping the lock had been on long enough that only the perp’s fingerprints would be on the outside of the locker and on the gun.

“Understood,” Jack agreed. “They should be there in less than ten minutes.”

“Great. I’ll be waiting.” He pocketed his phone, glancing at Trish, who was still trying to keep Gabriel calm. He wished now that he’d have dropped her and Gabriel at his place prior to coming here. It was never smart to take a baby to a potential crime scene.

“I’m going to need to feed and change him soon,” Trisha said almost apologetically. “I could head over to my sister’s place. Raina only lives two blocks from here.”

“Can you hang on for another ten minutes?” After the near miss outside her home, he wasn’t keen on leaving her alone. “As soon as the crime scene techs are here, I’ll drive you over.” He knelt to take Peanut’s ducky, tucking it back in his pocket and stroking the dog’s soft fur. “The twins will enjoy seeing Peanut again.”

“Okay.” She turned and bounced up and down with Gabriel, talking to the boy to keep him distracted. He almost offered to take the baby, but then caught himself.

His role here was to find gun traffickers while keeping Trisha and her son safe. Playing dad to the little boy was not part of the plan.

Thankfully, the techs arrived sooner than expected. He instructed them on what he wanted dusted for prints, and they quickly complied. It didn’t take long, as the lockers weren’t overly large. When they’d finished and had bagged the gun to take to the lab, he scooped Peanut into his arms and headed through the gym.

“Here’s the list,” Stewie said from behind the reception desk. He handed West two sheets of paper. “All my current gym memberships.”

“I’d like former gym memberships, too, going back at least six months. A year would be better.” He held Stewie’s gaze.

The guy looked like he wanted to argue but returned to the computer to print out more names. West knew Stewie’s cooperation was solely to get them all out of his gym as soon as possible.

“Anything else?” Stewie asked impatiently.

“That should do it.” He glanced over to where the techs had emerged from the locker room. “The place is yours.”

“It’s about time.” Stewie didn’t try to hide his snide tone. West didn’t care. He’d gotten what he’d wanted.

He escorted Trisha and Gabriel out to the SUV. He stayed close as she placed her son in the car seat. After giving Peanut some water, he set her in the crated area and shut the hatch.

Gabriel began to cry in earnest. Trisha looked a bit harried as she tucked her red hair behind her ear. “You know where Raina lives, right? In Kenyon’s house.”

“Yes, I know.” He eyed the car seat in his rearview mirror. He couldn’t see the baby’s face but smiled at how Gabriel’s tiny fists waved around.

“I’ll call to let her know we’re on the way.” Trisha spoke to her sister as he drove the two blocks to Raina’s. When he pulled into the driveway, two small boys with dark hair came out of the house with the beagle puppy, Chewy, on their heels.

“Unca West! Unca West!” Austin hopped from one foot to the other as West slid out from behind the wheel. Austin was the more outgoing of the two boys, while Beacon hung back in his usual quiet and shy way. Seeing the twins smiling faces was bittersweet. He was glad they were adjusting to their new life with Raina, but watching them only reminded him of the loss of their dad. “Where’s Peanut?”

“Right here.” He opened the hatch with a click of his key fob. Peanut nimbly jumped down and hurried over to greet the boys.

Watching the twins play with Peanut made his chest tighten with grief over Kenyon’s passing. The boys seemed to be adjusting well from what he could see. Raina was doing a great job of caring for them. He had to give Kenyon credit in naming Raina, his childhood best friend, as the boys’ guardian after losing his wife and knowing his job as a cop was dangerous. It still burned to know the gun traffickers had set that explosion, killing Kenyon and their female informant, Erica Rodgers.

“Let’s all go inside,” Raina said.

Feeling a bit like an outsider, West followed them in the house. Trisha took Gabriel into the kids’ room to change the baby. He noticed Raina looked tired as he made sure Peanut and Chewy had water.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

“Yes, of course.” Raina shrugged and looked toward the boys. “I love them both as if they’re my own flesh and blood. But it’s hard knowing Kenyon is gone.”

“Yeah. That’s been difficult for all of us.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets, grateful when Trisha returned with Gabriel. She set the boy on the floor by the other kids, then quickly fixed him a bottle.

“Sorry to drop in at the last minute,” Trisha said, when she was able to feed Gabriel. “Gabriel was getting antsy.”

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