“I’m already tracing the number,” Cal assured him. “We’ll get her. As long as this woman thinks she’s getting money, she’s going to keep the baby safe.”
Austin swallowed hard, doing his best to believe the other man, but it wasn’t easy. “We’ll be there soon.”
As he drove, Quinn kept a calming hand on his leg, and he couldn’t remember ever needing the support more.
* * *
Uncle Cal greeted Quinn and Austin at the door. He wasn’t dressed for work, but he looked just as imposing as if he were in uniform.
Amy stood behind her dad, obviously afraid to face them, but she gathered her courage and peeked her head around her father’s large body. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Prescott. I thought it was my dad at the door. I should have looked out, but I was scared and so relieved Dad was here.” Her eyes were red from crying, her panic and fear obvious.
Quinn looked to Austin, afraid he’d turn his own panic and worry into anger at her niece, whose actions had been irresponsible but understandable.
He drew in a deep breath, obviously pulling himself together before he answered. “It’s okay, Amy. I understand why you opened the door. Let’s just focus on getting Jenny back. I don’t blame you for what happened.”
Relief washed over Amy’s face, and Quinn had never been so grateful to anyone as she was to Austin for how gently he’d handled her niece.
Austin glanced at Cal. “What now?”
Cal’s cell pinged and he glanced at the screen. “Now we go to the motel and get your baby back. The address is right here.” He flashed the screen to Austin.
“That’s the motel my PI checked out this morning. She wasn’t there.”
“I need proof the baby is yours before I can put this in motion,” Cal said. “Otherwise I can’t give the baby back to you. I’ll have to turn her over to social services. Because we’re definitely taking the mother in for extortion, kidnapping, child abandonment, and anything else we can nail her with.” He spoke with the determination of a man used to getting things done.
“The paternity test is on the kitchen counter,” Austin said.
“Grab it and I’ll call for backup.”
Quinn breathed yet another sigh of relief that the test had come back and Austin was Jenny’s dad. She couldn’t imagine him having to hand her over to the police or a civil servant. It would have broken him.
She grasped on to Austin’s hand. “I’m coming with you.”
“You’re damn right you are.” He pulled her along with him to get the paper and then to meet up with Cal in the front hall.
“Amy, you’re staying here. Call your mom to come get you or sit with you, but I don’t want you driving when you’re this upset,” Cal instructed his daughter.
“Okay, Dad. Good luck.” She closed the door and they heard the sound of the lock click.
“You two are staying in the car,” Cal said as they walked to his vehicle. “I’m meeting up with uniformed officers in the lot. We’ll go in and get the baby.” He pressed his key fob and unlocked the door.
Instead of getting into the front passenger side, Austin nudged Quinn into the back seat along with him, and Cal nodded, seeming to understand.
“I want to be there when you confront her, and I want to be the one she hands my daughter to,” Austin said, clenching his fists.
Cal started up the car. “And I can’t risk having a civilian get hurt. So you’re going to stay in the back or you’re not coming. I promise to bring your daughter back to you immediately, and you can talk to the mother back at the police station.”
Austin grumbled his agreement, and Quinn snuggled close to his side, wanting to give him comfort as much as she needed it herself.
Ten minutes later, they’d pulled up to the motel and parked in the far corner. Cal was in an unmarked car and he left them in the back while he headed inside to find out the woman’s room number. If she hadn’t checked in under her real name, he had Austin’s description and a photograph on file from the DMV that had been sent to him on his phone.
With Quinn’s heart pounding in her chest, she and Austin sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts and fear.
Backup arrived, sirens off, and they conferred with Cal, who’d returned with the room number, then Cal stomped over to the car and leaned inside. “I’m warning you two, stay put.” He shook his finger at them. “We’ve got this.”
“Fine.” Austin was pissed, his body vibrating in anger, but even he wasn’t going to argue with armed cops.
Quinn was petrified for Jenny but she believed in her uncle and she turned to Austin. “Hey.”
She waited until he looked at her and really focused. “If Cal says Jenny is safe as long as Jenny’s mother thinks you’re delivering money, I believe him. He’s been a cop since he was nineteen. You can trust him to bring her back to you,” she said softly.