Her Lost and Found Baby (The Daycare Chronicles 1)

Before Tabitha could say anything else, she was stopped by Braden’s words. “You know who it is, Mal? You seriously think you have an abducted child in your daycare?”

The moment had come. Mallory was either going to open the door or slam it in their faces. Johnny’s hand settled on Tabitha’s knee under the table.

“I seriously have no idea.” Mallory’s words caused a whoosh of...disappointment.

No! She couldn’t fail, Tabitha told herself. Wouldn’t fail. Jackson’s entire future rested on this.

“But you see the likeness, don’t you?” Tabitha asked, her heart crying out for her son.

Meeting her eyes, Mallory grimaced. “Maybe.” She tilted her head to the side. “But...I’m not sure.”

“You think there’s really a chance, Mal?” Braden asked, and the look he gave his ex-wife, the genuine respect and knowing that seemed to be there, made Tabitha envy them. Which was completely ridiculous, considering they were divorced.

“I think there’s a chance.”

Tabitha heard the words. She felt Johnny’s hand squeeze her knee. And she got teary all over again.

Chapter Seven

“You know which child she’s talking about.” Braden’s gaze was focused intently on his ex-wife.

She nodded.

“Because of the resemblance?” He nodded toward the age-progressed photo still on the table. Three glasses of tea and one soda, all on pub napkins, sat untouched.

Mallory took a moment to respond but eventually nodded again.

Johnny watched the interplay between them, forcing his mind to review the situation in spite of an odd desire to put an arm around Tabitha and take on her emotional burden. Mallory’s reaction came close to convincing him that Jason was Jackson. And yet... Braden and Mallory exchanged a long glance, and then Braden asked, “Do I know him?”

Clearly the man’s buy-in meant something to the daycare owner. Equally evident to Johnny was that the child’s identity had some connection to Braden.

Because Mark was a tenant in his building, Johnny surmised. He wished, for Tabitha’s sake, they could get on with formulating a plan that would end with her son back in her arms.

Or...Jason happy with his rightful father.

Pictures of white male two-year-olds with blond hair could resemble each other. Particularly when one was an age progression, not an actual photo. “It’s Jason, Bray.” Mallory’s words seemed to stick in her throat.

“What?” Braden’s strong blue gaze studied first Tabitha, then the photo in the page protector sitting next to the binder on the table, and then Johnny, before returning to Mallory. “Matt’s Jason? You think Matt Jamison kidnapped his own son? No.” He shook his head, then looked to Johnny, as though, man to man, he’d understand.

They had a last name now. Jamison.

“I know the guy,” Braden continued, fully focused on Johnny. “I train with him twice a week. I’m telling you that you’ve got the wrong man. There’s no way he’d kidnap a dog or cat, let alone a child. He’s as upright as they come.”

“That’s not atypical behavior for someone with something to hide. You work harder to convince the people around you, and sometimes yourself, that you’re a good guy.” As an attorney who oversaw a slew of other attorneys in the various companies his father bought and sold, Johnny had to be able to read and deal with all kinds of people. He’d studied human behavior. He’d also done a lot of profile reading in the months he’d been traveling with Tabitha. “In this case, in a lot of ways he is a good guy, and the truth is always more compelling than even the best-told lies.”

He’d done profiling in the unlikely event that they ever came face-to-face with the man, although he’d never actually expected to. On the outside chance Tabitha happened upon her son, the idea had been to call the police.

Johnny pulled out an enlarged version of the photo of Mark from the AMBER Alert the year before.

“Is this him?”

Braden studied the picture more closely. Longer than he should’ve needed to if he was certain the man in the photo wasn’t his friend.

“No,” he said eventually, but Johnny wasn’t convinced.

“You’re sure?” he asked. “If it’s Mark, he’s most likely changed his appearance, grown a beard or his hair, changed the color, could be wearing contacts or gotten a tattoo...”

“No,” Braden insisted again, just as Mallory said, “Bray?”