“What do you have for me?”Hudson asked after perfunctory greetings.
“My guy was able to breach the adoption agency’s files.”Nothing was sacred anymore.Privacy was a myth.In this case, it benefited Hudson, but in the larger sense, he didn’t like it.This was one of many reasons he preferred working on a ranch and having a piece of shit for a phone.Being connected all the time sounded like punishment.He’d rather be outside where he could breathe fresh air and move around without being tracked by some app.
“And?”Hudson asked.
“I have an address for the adoptive family,” Eduardo said.
“Is it in Texas?”
“Oklahoma.”
“How reliable is the information?”Hudson asked.
“It’s still a work in progress, but you asked for an update when I found anything out.”
“I appreciate the speed, Eduardo.Now, I just need to know the accuracy.”
“According to the file, the adoptive parents wanted a blind adoption.However, when the boy turned fifteen this year, his parents gave him a choice.Said they would help him track down his mother if that’s what he wanted.”
“It says all this in the file?”Hudson asked.
“The kid put it all in an e-mail to his birth mother.”Eduardo paused.“Apparently, if she doesn’t reach out to the agency, she’ll never know that he wants to know who she is.He said that if she wanted to know him, it’s what he wants her to do.”
“She does.”The kid was taking a risk, but also giving her a test.He wanted to know that she wanted to meet him as much as he wanted to meet her.His guard was up, which made sense under the circumstances.Hudson had spent too many years being angry with his own mother for ditching the family and not looking back.A move like that left scars.In his case, she’d left him with an abusive father.At least Cassie had done what she’d believed was the right thing by her child.She’d been looking out for him by trying to give him a better life.One, she feared she couldn’t provide for him.At fifteen, the kid might not be able to understand the sacrifice she’d made, but it was evident to Hudson that Cassie loved her child and regretted the circumstances that had forced her to give him up.“What are the next steps?”
“To go through proper channels, she would need to contact the adoption agency directly.I’ll summarize everything we’ve found once it’s verified as one hundred percent accurate and send it to you in my final report.”
“How long will that take?”
“A couple of days max,” Eduardo said.
“Thank you.This will be good news for the kid’s mother.”Hudson wanted to be the one to deliver it to her after it was verified.The worst thing he could do would be to provide her with bad information.This all hinged on him finding her again.And that depended on whether he’d made the right call in coming here.
After ending the call, he calculated what time she would arrive if he was on the right track.He didn’t know when she’d left the ranch, but would bet money she’d taken off shortly after everyone had gone to bed.He decided somewhere around four a.m.was a decent bet.That would put her arriving here anywhere between three and four o’clock in the afternoon.
Hudson glanced at the clock.It was barely eight in the morning.He had seven to eight hours to kill at this rate.
Now, the question was whether or not he should stick around or come back.Folks would become suspicious if he sat here all day.Plus, he hadn’t brought any food.He’d been too busy running off half-cocked to think about anything but finding her.Could he make the drive back, eat, and then make the drive back and forth a couple more times?Seven or eight hours was a lot of time to kill.
He could park his truck here, guestimate the direction Cassie would be coming from, and try to intercept her.
Again, his instincts told him she would stay somewhat close to the road.
His cell buzzed in his hand, causing him to jump.Shit.
He answered.“Hey, Chloe.”
“I heard about Cassie taking off in the middle of the night.”Chloe was one of the more direct members of the family.She didn’t mince words, and he appreciated her for it.She might be the youngest of the family, but she was more mature than most.
“That’s right,” he said.
“Do you have any idea where she’s headed?”
“I believe so,” he said.
“Okay, then.This is what we’re going to do.”Chloe detailed plans for the whole family to work in pairs to find Cassie.Two would drive to meet him.Two would split the middle.And two would start from the house on foot, just as Cassie must have.“Beau wants to help, too.”
“He needs to stay put and heal.”