Her Mistletoe Protector

Nothing, as in he didn’t get to search very much? Or nothing, as in he truly hadn’t found anything?

Before she could ask anything more, Margie returned. Rachel hastily scribbled her number on the slip of paper the older woman handed her. “Thanks so much, Margie. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.”

“No problem.” Margie walked them to the front door. “Take care.”

“You, too,” Rachel said, before slipping outside. Nick followed her, grabbing her hand as they strolled down the sidewalk to the street. “We probably shouldn’t have parked far away,” she murmured under her breath. “Margie will think it’s odd that we didn’t pull up right in front of her house.”

“You might be right,” Nick said. “But you did a good job of convincing her that your reason for being there was related to Frankie. Maybe she’ll think we’re just paranoid.”

Once they turned the corner, Rachel relaxed. “I was there because of Frankie. He’s been here in Chicago, Nick. I think he must be involved in Joey’s kidnapping.”

Nick didn’t say anything more until they were in the car. “Frankie might be involved, but as far as I could tell, Margie isn’t. I looked around and didn’t find anything. I even managed to sneak down the basement stairs. There weren’t any hiding places down there that I could see, so I didn’t spend a lot of time searching. I was afraid she’d hear me.”

Rachel couldn’t believe he’d managed to get all the way into the basement. “What would you have done if she had heard you?” she demanded.

He shrugged. “I would have claimed that I took a wrong turn.”

She put a hand over her knotted stomach, glad she hadn’t known what Nick was doing while she chatted with Margie. Her nerves were already at the breaking point. Time was running out; they were due to be at the bank in the next twenty minutes.

Soon, they’d be one step closer to getting Joey back, safe and sound.

* * *

Nick glanced at Rachel as he navigated the traffic, taking the fastest route to the bank. He couldn’t say he was surprised that they hadn’t found anything at Margie Caruso’s house. He still believed that Dr. Karl Errol might be the missing link. But no matter what he thought, there wasn’t enough time to keep searching for Joey. He knew that once they’d finished their transaction at the bank, Rachel would contact the kidnapper.

There was no way she’d risk anything happening to her son. Not that he could blame her. Easy for him to say the kidnapper was bluffing. If Rachel found a single mark on Joey, she’d never forgive him.

His phone rang and he picked it up, recognizing Jonah Stewart’s number. “Hey, are you in town?”

“Yep, sitting in the parking lot of the hotel down the road from the bank.”

Nick could feel Rachel’s curious gaze on him. “Good. We’ll be at the bank within the next ten minutes or so. I’ll be in touch as soon as we’re finished.”

“Sounds good. I’ll be waiting.”

“Thanks, buddy.” He disconnected from the call.

“Was that the cop buddy you told me about?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah, Jonah Stewart is a Milwaukee detective who helped build a case against your ex-husband. Anthony tried to kill him. Thankfully, Jonah and Mallory escaped, and Anthony was the one who’d died that night.”

“So he was the one responsible for bringing down Anthony,” Rachel mused. “I always wondered exactly what happened.”

The last thing he wanted was for Rachel to hear the gory details. “None of that matters now. Just know that we really can trust Jonah.”

Rachel nodded and looked away, staring out the window as if lost in thought.

He mentally kicked himself for reminding her of Anthony Caruso, especially at a time like this, when her son was still missing. Didn’t she already have enough to worry about? Right now, she needed to stay focused on the task of getting the money together. That was the first step. The second was to exchange the money for her son.

With the kidnapper calling the shots, they’d be lucky to get Joey back without incident, even with Jonah’s help. “Nick?”

He dragged his gaze to meet Rachel’s. “Yes?”

“I want you to promise me something.”

Uh-oh. He braced himself, certain he wasn’t going to like this. “Promise you what?”

She locked eyes with him. “Promise me that you’ll get Joey out of there safely. I don’t want you to worry about me—I want you to focus on keeping my son safe.”