The Baby's Guardian (9 page)

“I’m still running the background check on Newell,”
O’Malley continued. “Nothing immediately sticks out, but I’m getting his financials.”

Another good start. “Any idea why he was at the hotel this morning?”

“None. He was off duty, but he does seem obsessed with this investigation. About a year ago, he had a case with a hostage, and it didn’t end well. The hostage was killed. Maybe that’s all there is to it—he’s trying to right an old wrong.”

After what he’d been through with Fay, Shaw understood that, but he wasn’t about to trust Newell just yet.

“Keep digging,” Shaw insisted.

“I will, and I might soon have an update on the evidence we’re processing both from the hospital and the hotel room where Burney Monroe was shot and killed. CSI and Trace are working nonstop, and the reports are coming in.”

Maybe there’d be something in all that evidence that would break this case wide open.

“I had a conversation with Wilson Rouse and Gavin Cunningham in interview room 2B,” Shaw told the lieutenant. “Could you have someone look at the disk? It was recorded. What I need is for someone to review it and get me a court order for Rouse’s DNA.”

O’Malley hesitated. “That won’t be easy.”

“No,” Shaw agreed. “But it might provide us with a motive. I also want a tail put on Gavin Cunningham. He’s probably still in the building giving us some of his own DNA. After you see the interview, you’ll know why all of this might turn out to be critical.”

“It sounds it. Anything else?”

Shaw went through his long, mental to-do list. “Any word on the second gunman?”

“Not yet. He’s still at large.”

Yeah. And as long as he was, then Sabrina wouldn’t be safe. “Any leads?”

“Maybe. Burney Monroe was a low level computer tech for a supply company. That might have been why he was hired to do this particular job. He definitely had the computer hacking skills. He also has a younger brother, Danny. He has no phone and no listed place of residence, but he works as a data entry clerk, also low level, and his boss said he’s due on shift at midnight.”

Shaw jumped right on that. “Did this brother miss work during the time of the hostage incident?”

“He wasn’t on the schedule so the boss doesn’t know where he was. Still, he said Danny’s a good worker, and he never had any problems with him.”

“But Burney could have talked him into this.” Or someone else.

“True,” the lieutenant agreed. “If the two learned about Sabrina and you, maybe they thought they could use it somehow. Maybe to gain money, maybe to gain some kind of legal favors?”

Yes. Because the bottom line was that Rouse and Gavin might simply be distractions. This whole mess could have been orchestrated by the two gunmen, Burney Monroe and his partner. And if they found the partner, they might learn there was no need for Rouse, Gavin and their collective DNA.

Still, he couldn’t discount that it was Gavin’s DNA file that had been deleted and the sample stolen.

“One more thing,” Shaw continued. He checked first
to make sure Sabrina was still in the shower. She was, and with the water running she wouldn’t be able to hear this. “Have someone run a check on Dr. Claire Nicholson, Sabrina’s OB.”

O’Malley made a sound of surprise. “You think she might be involved in this?”

“Probably not. But I keep going back to the fact that the gunmen stole Sabrina’s DNA. I want to know who told them to do that, and why.”

“You think it’s connected to you, because you’re her baby’s father?”

“Could be. When the gunmen took her from the hospital, Sabrina overhead them say they were going to use her to get me to cooperate.”

“Well, that could be motive. But a lot of people already knew the child was yours. Newell certainly knew because I heard him talking about whether or not to collect money to buy a baby gift.”

Hell. So, they were back to square one—still suspecting Newell but knowing that this could all be circumstantial.

“I’ll put together a team I trust to start handling this,” O’Malley let him know. “And, Captain, hang in there. We’ll get this SOB even if he’s one of our own.”

Shaw hoped that was true. A dirty cop wasn’t always easy to catch. But neither was a dirty community leader or a lawyer.

And speaking of cops… “How’s Bo Duggan?” Shaw asked.

O’Malley wasn’t quick to answer. Shaw understood. O’Malley was married, the father of three, and he was no doubt thinking of his own wife and family. “Bo’s
trying to deal with it. It’s not easy. Plus, he’s got newborn twins to take care of.”

That would have been more than enough on one man’s plate, but now Bo had to bury his wife. “Make sure Bo gets as much time off as he needs.”

“I will.”

He thanked the lieutenant and hung up just as Sabrina turned off the shower. Shaw knew it wouldn’t be long before she came back into the room, so he quickly composed himself. There wasn’t anything he could do to help Nadine Duggan, but he sure as hell could find the people who’d contributed to her death and put them behind bars.

The shower curtain rattled back, and he got up in case she needed help. Just seeing her helped with the blue mood, and he wondered when the hell Sabrina had become his lifeline to getting through this.

Right.

It’d happened when he started lusting after her.

Yeah, he watched her and told himself it was because he wanted to make sure she didn’t fall. That was a huge part of it, but that didn’t justify the cheap thrill of seeing her naked. He didn’t see any stretch marks, probably because he was gawking at her breasts. They were full and looked ready for the taking.

His
taking.

He groaned, looked away and walked closer to the door. “You okay?”

“Yes, other than having no clean panties. There weren’t any in the stack of clothes. But I’m washing the ones I have and hanging them on the towel rack. As thin as they are, they’ll be dry in no time.”

There was the sound of more water running, some moving around sounds, and several minutes later, the door fully opened. Sabrina stood there in a loose blue dress the color of the Texas sky on a good day. Barefooted. Her wavy, long auburn hair was damp and clung to her neck and the shoulders of the dress.

She looked and smelled like Christmas and his birthday all rolled into one.

“Did you just admit you’re not wearing panties?” he asked. He meant it as a joke, but the joke didn’t quite come through in his voice.

The need did, though.

“It was meant as a warning, so you wouldn’t be shocked when you see them dangling from the towel rack.” Her expression was light, too, but he didn’t miss the long, lingering look she gave him.

“You need to eat,” he reminded her. And himself. He stepped to the side so she could get past him. “There are some sandwiches, apples, juice and milk.”

Sheez, he sounded like a waiter and decided to shut up.

He couldn’t turn off his eyes, though. Shaw watched her cross the room. She was light on her feet for being eight months pregnant.

“Join me,” she insisted. She took the bag from the table and took it to the sofa, probably because it was more comfortable than the metal chairs at the small table in the kitchen area.

He did join her, after taking a deep breath.

She opened the plastic bottle of milk, took a sip and stared at him from over the top of the bottle.

The air was suddenly scalding hot.

Still, Shaw took his partially eaten turkey sandwich from the table and sat next to her on the sofa. He was hungry. His stomach was growling, but food didn’t seem to be his body’s top priority.

Sabrina lowered the bottle and licked the milk from her lips. She probably hadn’t meant for it to be provocative, but it was.

Hell, at this point her breathing was provocative because it pushed her breasts against the front of her dress.

“What are you thinking?” she asked. She set the milk on the coffee table.

He started to lie, to tell her he was thinking about the investigation. But it would have been such a big lie that it probably would have gotten stuck in his throat.

So, no lie.

Just the truth. And he’d show her what he was thinking.

Shaw tossed his sandwich onto the table, reached out, clasped the back of her neck and hauled her to him. He caught her slight sound of surprise with a kiss.

Oh, he was going to regret this.

He knew it. Sabrina knew it.

But that didn’t stop him.

He kissed her, hard, and pulled her onto his lap.

Sabrina didn’t have time to think. Nor did she want to. The only thing she wanted was Shaw, and apparently she was going to get him.

Finally!

Judging from the heat of the kiss, he didn’t intend to stop.

She certainly didn’t intend to, either. Sabrina went willingly when Shaw moved her onto his lap. Her belly prevented them from having full body contact, but it didn’t stop the fiery kiss that Shaw was delivering.

The fire wasn’t just in his kiss. It slid right through her, from her mouth all the way to the part of her that wasn’t covered with panties. She got an interesting reminder of that when she felt Shaw’s thigh press against her there. Mercy. Here she was again. Barely a touch, and she was ready to have him inside her.

Shaw didn’t make a move to unzip his pants and give her what she wanted. Instead, his mouth left hers and went to her neck. He dropped a flurry of kisses around her jaw. On her throat. But when the kissing exploration made it to the base of her ear, Sabrina moaned. He took
the cue and gave her a French kiss there that had her moaning for more.

More
was difficult to get.

She tried to wiggle closer to him, so that his sex would touch hers, so she could finally have some relief from this burning ache that was too hot to control. But again, her belly got in the way.

Shaw stopped the neck kisses and pulled back so they were eye to eye. For one horrible moment, she thought he was going to say this had to stop. She thought he was going to move away from her.

That didn’t happen.

Sabrina sat there, waiting, with her breath gusting and her heart racing out of control.

“Shh,” he said. His voice was soothing and slow.

So was his hand. He slid it from her neck to her breasts. And he circled her right nipple with his fingertips while he watched her.

Sabrina had no choice but to watch him as well, even though that touch caused her to moan again, and her eyelids fluttered, threatening to close.

“Shh,” he repeated. His hand went lower, sliding against her, and creating little fires wherever his fingers touched.

He stopped for just a moment when his hand reached her thigh, and with the fire blazing in his blue eyes, he pushed up her dress.

His gaze never wavered. He remained focused on her face. And his fingers trailed up her thigh. Then, over.

To just the right place.

The pleasure speared through her. Instant. Hot. Intense. So intense she had to close her eyes, and she
angled her hips forward so that his clever fingers would go deeper inside her. They did, and with a few of those well-placed strokes, he had her right at the edge.

Sabrina forced her eyes open, and she shook her head, questioning him. They should do this together, with his sex inside her.

But Shaw shook his head as well, and he leaned forward to kiss her. It was French. And perfect. The kiss from a man who knew exactly what he was doing. And what he was doing was taking her to that edge. Alone.

Sabrina wanted to fight it. She wanted to pull back and coax him into joining her. But the kiss continued, hard and deep. So did those maddening strokes with his fingers. Each one, faster.

Harder.

Deeper.

Until she couldn’t fight the sensations. She couldn’t hang on. Her body betrayed her, and she felt the climax ripple through her.

She slumped forward, because she had no choice, but Shaw caught her and buried his face against her neck. They stayed there, pressed together, until Sabrina could gather enough breath and strength to pull back.

The corner of his mouth lifted. Then lowered just as quickly when he apparently saw her expression. “Oh, no. We’re not going to have that argument.”

Maybe it was the post-climactic fog in her head, but she wasn’t sure what he meant. “Argument?”

“The one where you try to convince me that we should have full-blown sex. Or some other form of pleasure that will end in me having what you just had.”

Sabrina blinked. Yes, that was the argument she had been about to launch. She decided instead to get her point across without words. He was hard and huge behind his zipper, so she pressed her hand against him.

A hoarse groan rumbled in his throat, and he moved her hand away. “Tempting, but it can’t happen. I need to think, and I can’t think if we’re having sex.”

“We could make it fast.” And she was only partly joking. She was still punchy from the climax. “I just want to make you feel the way I’m feeling.”

“I am,” he assured her. It didn’t seem like a lie, either. He leaned in and brushed a kiss on her mouth. Then, he eased her off his lap. “Watching you was incredible.”

It didn’t feel incredible. Sabrina suddenly felt a little awkward. She’d never had sex that particular way, and Sabrina didn’t like the idea of her getting something that Shaw was denying himself.

“Don’t overanalyze it,” he mumbled. “This wasn’t about pity. It wasn’t about all the old bad feelings between us. I just wanted to watch you.”

How could she argue with that?

Besides, she was too mellowed out with the aftershocks still humming through her. And she didn’t want to argue. There had already been too many disagreements between her and Shaw to add another one.

“Now eat,” he insisted. He got up and walked to the bathroom. “Then, rest.”

Sabrina fixed her dress, pulling it back down in place. She fixed her position, too, and moved so she was sitting rather than leaning into the space where Shaw would hopefully soon return. Then, maybe they could talk.

Or not.

Sabrina thought about that. They were light-years ahead of where they’d been just days earlier, and it was probably best if she didn’t push things.

He’s Fay’s husband.

That old label flashed through her head again, and she felt the guilt return. Oh, mercy. When was this going to stop?

“You okay?” Shaw asked.

She glanced up to find him staring at her. “I’m fine,” she insisted.

He looked as if he might challenge that, but he didn’t. He came back to the sofa and started in on the sandwich that he’d discarded prior to their make out session. He took exactly one bite before his phone buzzed.

Shaw pulled out his cell from his pocket, glanced at the screen and answered it. “Lieutenant O’Malley.”

The officer he trusted. Sabrina only hoped he was trustworthy and good at his job. They needed in formation.

She ate while Shaw listened. She couldn’t hear what the lieutenant was saying, but judging from Shaw’s suddenly intense expression, this was an important call.

“Where’s the baby now?” Shaw asked.

She remembered there was a missing newborn. Shaw had said an Amber Alert had been issued. Maybe this call was to tell him the child had been found. She prayed that was the case anyway. Even after all the hell she’d been through, having her baby disappear would be much, much worse.

“I want that umbilical cord tested ASAP,” Shaw continued before he started another long round of listening.

The minutes crawled by, punctuated only by Shaw’s occasional question.

“Repeat that,” he said. And his expression tightened even more. “No. You go ahead and question him. I think it’s safe to say that it’d be a conflict of interest for me to do it. Record the interview, of course. I want to hear every word.”

Shaw ended the call, slipped his phone back into his pocket and blew out a long breath.

Sabrina had so many questions, but she started with the obvious one. “You found the missing baby who was taken from the hospital?”

“No. This is a different baby, one not involved with the hostages.” He shrugged. “Well, maybe it is. We just don’t know at this point. The tech guys were able to retrieve the deleted file and were able to match it to a DNA request that was generated right here in SAPD four days ago.”

Just three days before they were all taken hostage. The timing was certainly suspicious. “Whose DNA?”

“The missing baby’s. His birth mother was missing as well, but then her body was found. She was murdered. And the baby wasn’t with her. None of her friends and relatives know where the child is, but a family member stated that the dead woman had had some problems with the baby’s birth father. He’d made threats about taking the child.”

“And the father’s name?” Sabrina asked.

Shaw shook his head. “We don’t know. Neither did the family member because the dead woman had kept the relationship a secret. That’s why the DNA test was ordered. The birth mother had had the baby’s cord blood
stored at the hospital, so we were able to get a good sample to try to identify the father. Because obviously the father is a murder suspect.”

Oh, mercy. Another murder. Another missing suspect. Except this might be the same person who’d created all this havoc. “Will the techs be able to recreate the missing file?”

“No. It had been corrupted, probably on purpose. And the baby’s cord blood was missing from the hospital storage room.” Shaw paused. “This might be the motive for why the hostage situation happened.”

Of course. A birth father who didn’t want his identity known because he’d murdered the mother of his child. Sabrina prayed he hadn’t done the same to the baby.

She eased her hand over her own child and gave him a reassuring rub. “How will you find this monster?”

“We have several ways. We’re trying to track down the dead gunman’s brother, Danny Monroe. It’s possible he was the second masked gunman who took the hostages. Or he at least might know if his brother was the baby’s father.”

“Or he could have just been the hired gun,” Sabrina pointed out.

Shaw nodded, looked at her. He smoothed his fingers over her bunched up forehead. “Don’t worry.”

“Right.” She nearly laughed. “I want this person identified and found so that our baby will be safe.”

“I want the same thing,” he assured her. He sat there with his own forehead bunched up.

“There’s more,” she said. “What?”

“Two things.” But then he paused again. “I’m having your OB, Dr. Nicholson, checked out. It’s just routine,”
he added quickly. “She had access to your medical records, and I want to make sure she didn’t leak that info to anyone.” His eyes came to hers. “Did you know that she’d once been romantically involved with Officer Keith Newell?”

“No.” Sabrina took a moment to let the surprise settle in. “But then she doesn’t talk about her personal life. How involved were they?”

“Involved. They’ve known each other since high school. Turns out he listed her as one of his references when he applied to the police academy.”

Sabrina gave that some thought, as well. She also thought of how supportive the doctor had been. “That doesn’t mean Dr. Nicholson has done anything wrong.”

“No. It doesn’t.” Shaw shook his head, cursed under his breath. “But the report I just got from O’Malley could point the guilty finger right at one of my own men.”