Page 4 of Lone Star Country Protector
“Blakely,” she said, standing her ground. “But you already knew that, Dalton.”
After a brief rundown of the situation, Blakely moved to the driver’s side of her vehicle and retrieved her cell. She held it up toward Dalton and the officer who identified himself as Roger Nordegren. Normally, Dalton might ask if the man was related to Tiger Woods’s ex-wife, but there was a time and place for a sense of humor. This was neither the time nor place.
“There’s been a situation, Bethany,” Blakely started. He remembered mention of a twin, but something about not identical. “When you get this message, come to my home, okay? Just come here, and I’ll explain everything.”
She ended the call and turned toward Dalton. “Voice mail,” she said as though that explained everything.
He wasn’t a parent, but a missing child was unimaginable. His heart went out to the parents and to Blakely, who looked so tense her muscles might snap. Understandable, under the circumstances. He thought about what he’d asked her to do a couple of minutes ago. Bad move. All he had to do was put himself in her situation to realize he’d wasted his breath. He wouldn’t go inside either if he had a missing nephew out there, not to mention if that child had been in his care.
“What’s your nephew’s name?” he asked.
“Chase,” she supplied and then gave a quick description as she pulled up a recent photo on her phone. The look of horror on her face along with the pleading in those honey-brown eyes of hers made it impossible to stay frustrated with her for the disappearing act in Galveston a month and a half ago. If he’d known she was a judge back then, he would have taken a hard pass on the fling. First of all, she looked way too young and hot to be a judge in the first place. Since they hadn’t exchanged personal information other than their realnames, he had no idea how old she was or where she lived. Wasn’t that the point of a weekend fling?
But Dalton didn’t typically engage in sex-for-sex’s-sake encounters. Meeting Blakely had made him believe in twin flames.
Dalton cleared his throat before he tripped down Sentimental Lane. He needed to get over himself and the sting that had come with her rejection to find the missing boy.
“You go east, and I’ll take west,” Blakely said, pointing in opposite directions.
“No, ma’am,” Dalton disagreed. “Until the perp is caught, I’m your shadow.”
“I’ve wasted enough time standing here,” she said, grabbing her handbag out of her vehicle.
“Wallet still intact?” he asked, motioning toward the bag.
On a frustrated sigh, she opened it and checked credit cards, ID and cash. “All here.”
He had to rule out attempted robbery so they could move on. He glanced over at the beat cop. “You got that, right?”
“Yes, sir,” the cop immediately responded before calling in the search for the missing kid and alerting his supervising officer of a perp on the loose.
With not much of a description to go on, locating the perp, let alone identifying him, would be the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack.
“Your nephew might not be far,” he said to Blakely. “He might be too scared to come out of a hiding place.”
She nodded as her pulse pounded at the base of her neck. Her dilated pupils and quick, uneven breathing told him an adrenaline rush thumped through her.
“Start looking in the shrubs, okay?” he said to her.
“Got it,” she confirmed, immediately moving to the nearest greenery.
“Okay if I stay out here and search?” the older gentleman who’d introduced himself as John Bowman asked.
“We can use all the help we can get,” Dalton confirmed. “Why don’t you start across the street?”
“Yes, sir,” Mr. Bowman said with a salute. Other neighbors came out to see what the commotion was all about. Dalton enlisted them to check their shrubs first, then any other possible hiding place a seven-year-old could squeeze into, including unlocked vehicles or boat tarps.
All told, there were a dozen folks out searching for Chase, who was likely to be scared out of his young mind at this point. He might only respond to his aunt’s voice, or not even hers depending on how traumatized he was from witnessing the attack.
Taking a moment to examine the scene while it was fresh, he noted the hole in the lawn-and-leaf bag where a knife had been drilled in. Much of the contents were now strewn all over the driveway. He searched for the knife, but the perp must have been clear-minded enough to pick it up before he disappeared.
The scene itself fit the description of what went down according to Blakely. Setting aside his personal feelings about the judge was something Dalton was good at doing. He shoved them down deep, then locked them there. No need to let those rise to the surface again.
Dalton would handle the protection detail and then move on, no matter how much he wanted to ask what he’d done so wrong that Blakely couldn’t get out of his Galveston rental fast enough.
* * *
Blakely tried tosteady her voice as she called out for Chase. Maybe he would feel safe enough to come out if she could manage a calm, soothing tone. The thought oftelling Bethany that her son was missing knocked the wind out of Blakely. It was horrific enough that he’d had to witness the attack.
