Page 25 of Kid
No one else mattered.
I focused on the footprints in the flowerbed to the right. They were about the size for a teenager, maybe a size eight-ish.
Jeremy had stepped backward into the flower bed, crushing the blossoms under his feet. Someone only did that if they were trying to avoid something or someone in front of them.
Staying low, I moved across the asphalt of the driveway then slipped to my knees to look underneath the car. A baseball cap sat close to the front right wheel. I shifted around the vehicle and reached for the cap. It was blue with the Toronto Blue Jay logo on the front.
When I finally entered the house, Jade was still trying to figure out why I was there, and Nella was beginning to lose her patience.
I stood outside the door, listening and I was beginning to get to the point Nella was.
“Estás durmiendo con él??” Jade asked.
“Seriously?” Nella asked. “First of all, who I sleep with is none of your business. Secondly, this is about finding my nephew. You can either help or get out of the way.”
“You know he’s no good enough for you!”
“Educated, kind, loving, loyal, loves his family, sexy and super wealthy—not good enough?” Nella snapped. “Then who would be? You know what? Never mind. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. This isn’t about me—it’s about Jeremy.”
“Nella!”
“Bastante!!” Nella’s rage ebbed from her voice. “I mean it! Kid has been good to me. He’s been the perfect gentleman and I’m not going to let you ruin this good thing for me.”
I stepped up to the door and cleared my throat.
“Jeremy came home.” I told Nella, ignoring her mother.
“I would have known!” Jade barked.
Ignoring her, I shifted so I was facing Nella. “Aside from the fact I found his baseball cap under your mother’s car, they’re footprints in the flowerbed as if he was trying to avoid someone. Whoever took him, got him from here.”
Jade started speaking to Nella in Spanish and the rudeness of it merely made me angrier.
“Sabes que te entiendo, verdad?”
The shock that I spoke Spanish was written all over her face but not for long.
Jade folded her arms and switched back to English. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I tilted the hat so she could see it carefully. “This baseball cap has the signature of his favorite player. How many places does he go without this?”
Jade said nothing.
I grunted but returned my attention to Nella.
“We should call the cops, shouldn’t we?” Nella asked. “I mean, they would have experience dealing with things like this.”
“You know my thoughts about that.” I told her. “Chelsea has a friend who’s a cop. We can give him a call and see if he will handle things. We trust him.”
Nella nodded. “Maverick, yeah. I remember him.”
“But usually with kidnappings there’s a call within a few hours.” I continued. “So, they need time between grabbing the victim and getting said person to a secure location they preplanned.”
“Which means, they’ve had enough time to do that.” Nella spoke, her voice thoughtfully.
I turned to look at Jade. “Did you get any phone calls?”
She refused to speak.
