Her Mistletoe Protector

“Pull over up ahead,” Nick instructed.

She knew he wanted to drive and couldn’t blame him. She did as he requested, trying to hold herself together. She dragged herself out of the driver’s seat as Nick came around to meet her. He lightly clasped her shoulders, peering down at her. From the streetlight behind her, she could see the concern etched on his handsome face.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

She tried to speak, but her throat felt frozen. It abruptly hit her how much she was depending on Nick to help find her son. If anything had happened to him, she’d be lost.

As much as she longed to lean against his strength, she forced herself to step back, putting distance between them. “I’m fine, but I was afraid they were going to hurt you,” she confessed softly.

“Me, too, and I didn’t really want to shoot any of them. Thanks to your quick thinking, I didn’t have to. Now let’s get going, okay?”

She nodded and went around to the passenger side of his car. “Did you find anything?” she asked, hoping the stop at the apartment building hadn’t been in vain.

“Yeah. Morales still has a place there, apartment number 210 according to the mailbox. I spoke to the manager, but he claims he hasn’t seen Ricky in weeks.”

She tried not to be too discouraged by the lack of information. Truthfully, he’d found out more than she’d hoped. “I guess that means he’s not likely keeping Joey there.”

“I doubt it. There are too many nosey people around, like those thugs back there.”

“I hardly think they’d be the types to turn Ricky in to the police,” she said with a sigh.

Nick didn’t say anything to the contrary, which only made her more depressed. “Are you still up for heading over to the ex-wife’s place?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Yes.” Granted she’d been terrified back there at the apartment building, but nothing was going to stop her from searching for Joey.

* * *

Nick glanced over at Rachel, marveling at the depth of her strength. Granted, she’d been scared to death back there at the apartment building, but that hadn’t stopped her from doing what needed to be done.

He used his radio to request a search on the Morales apartment related to the hit-and-run case. The dispatcher agreed to send a couple of uniforms over. He didn’t really think they’d find anything useful, especially since the manager had been all too willing to talk once he’d seen Nick’s badge.

If Morales had been around, the manager would have told him so.

The trip to Margie Caruso’s house took about twenty minutes. Her neighborhood was several steps up from where Morales lived. At least the houses were neat and clean for the most part, several decorated with Christmas lights.

The address indicated the house they were looking for was the third one on the right. Nick slowed down as he drove past the modest red brick home with the tan trim and black shutters. The entire place was dark, not a single light on inside the place that he could see.

“What do you think? Is anyone home?” Rachel asked.

“I don’t know. It’s about nine-fifteen, so I suppose Margie could already be asleep....” But it wasn’t likely.

Maybe they were on the wrong track? Could be that Margie Caruso was living a normal peaceful life that had nothing to do with the Mafia or kidnapping Rachel’s son.

“What’s the plan?” she asked, keeping the house in sight as he drove by.

“Don’t have one yet. It’s not as if we can simply walk up and demand to search the place, even if someone answers the door.”

“Why not? I could try talking to her,” Rachel said impulsively. “We’re both ex-Carusos and I can use that connection to feel her out.”

He wasn’t sure he liked the idea, but couldn’t come up with anything better so he reluctantly nodded. “All right. I’ll park on the street, in front of the neighbor’s house. If anything seems off, you need to get out of there right away.”

“I will.” She hesitated for a moment before reaching for the door handle. Extremely bright lights bloomed in his rearview mirror as a car headed straight for them.

“Wait!” Nick shouted, reaching out to grab her arm. She paused, half in and half out of the car, so he yanked her back inside at the same time gunfire echoed through the night.

FOUR