Her Lost and Found Baby (The Daycare Chronicles 1)

He nodded, agreeing that the chances of that were good, wanting the police to believe, as well. Mark might have handed them the opportunity they needed to catch him. Johnny knew he’d rest easier once Montgomery’s people had an eye on Mark/Matt again. Which they should soon. If he went to the cemetery, as predicted.

And as Tabitha expected. She’d insisted from the very beginning that Mark wouldn’t go far to start his new life. That he’d need to stay close enough to visit his mother.

“The only thing is...” Tabitha’s voice trailed off and she frowned.

“What?”

“Why take the bus?” she asked, a look of fear returning to her eyes. “Why not just drive his son in the family van?”

“Because he doesn’t want any part of his current identity tied to his previous one,” he said. “I’m guessing he’ll keep a low profile, probably wear a hat, baggy clothes, maybe a hoodie.”

Which was also why he probably wouldn’t go to his mother’s grave that day. Matt might visit his wife’s grave, if there was one. But Mark...

Johnny’s mental gears were in full motion. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. Braden had said that Matt was planning to take his son to places his wife would have loved, not to the cemetery.

“Where would Mark’s mother love to be?” he asked Tabitha, picking up his tablet to make a list. She’d mentioned that his mother liked ice cream. And flowers. But very little else.

“Mark never talked about his mom. Like I said, I didn’t even know he lived with her until after I’d stopped hanging out with him. After that, he mentioned the ice cream thing once, because he let Jackson try some. And the flowers...he’d taken Jackson to a flower shop to pick up some lilies for his mother at Easter. That’s how I knew they were her favorite flower. He said so that day.”

If they could figure out where Mark might spend the day, if Montgomery could check out flower shops and ice cream parlors in the area where Mark used to live, or even in San Diego. If they could narrow it down...

If they were right, Tabitha really could have her son in her arms before the sun set on that day.

Another surge of emotion hit Johnny at the thought. Stronger this time. Overwhelming for the few seconds it took him to get himself in check.

There were no guarantees here.

Chapter Sixteen

“Detective Bentley said that if Mark took Jackson out for the day, to places his mother had loved, then Jackson will at least be safe. That there’s no immediate reason to worry...”

Standing beside Johnny in the Angel’s Food Bowls truck, Tabitha repeated that for at least the fifth time. She couldn’t help it.

And Johnny, bless him, didn’t seem to mind.

“I agree with him,” he said, also for the fourth or fifth time. And then, as she stepp

ed aside to give him room to pass, he walked right up to her and put his gloved hands on her arms. It was the first time he’d touched her since the night they’d kissed. “I’m serious, Tabitha. If I thought there was something we could be doing, anything, we’d be out there doing it.”

“I know.” It had been her idea to open the truck. She’d been told by Detective Bentley to go about her day. To keep her phone on her person at all times, just in case, but to...go about her day. He’d also told her, multiple times, that Matt and Jason might really be Matt and Jason. He’d warned her not to do anything foolish.

Johnny had offered to drive her around to every flower shop, every ice cream store, between San Diego and Mission Viejo. A sweet gesture, but not a practical one. If Mark saw her and ran... She couldn’t risk it. Not when they were this close.

“At least Detective Bentley agreed to put in a call to the San Diego police to see about a request for a DNA warrant on Jason.”

When she’d asked, based on the slowly building circumstantial evidence with the new revelation of Mark’s mother and Matt’s wife dying of the same disease on the same day, he’d said he’d try. She couldn’t tell if he’d sounded hopeful or was only humoring her. And she didn’t really care as long a judge got a look at the request.

Johnny had written the affidavit; he’d said all the areas of probable cause were mentioned.

He’d emailed the completed document to Detective Bentley before they’d left the hotel room.

After nine months of nothing, things were happening. Shaking with the wonder of it all, and with fear that any one of a million things could go wrong, she raised her hands to Johnny’s shoulders. Held on. “Mark might figure out that he’s being followed. He might run if the police approach him. Jackson could get hurt.”

“Positive thoughts, Tabitha,” he reminded her. Then bent his head to kiss her.

Tabitha didn’t even think about resisting. She wasn’t thinking about sex, either. She just knew that Johnny made her feel better than she’d felt in a very, very long time. So she clung to him.

* * *