“He told me I was pretty like my mama. He said we would all be a family one day. What did he mean?”
Like hell. His jaw ticked in anger, and it took every ounce of his control to swallow the growl that threatened to escape. Anger was in Kendall’s eyes, too.
“I don’t know, sweetie. Did he say anything else?”
“He yelled at me when I cried and told him I wanted my mommy.”
Kendall cleared her throat. “Did he hurt you at all?”
“He said he would spank me if I didn’t stop crying. I tried to stop, Mommy, but I didn’t. He got mad and put me in a room. I was glad when he closed the door. I got on the bed and got under the covers where he couldn’t see me.”
Cooper shared a glance with Kendall, and he knew they both were raging inside.
She eyed the phone again. “Is there anything else you can remember that you want to tell me about the man?”
“No. I don’t want to talk about the bad man anymore.”
“That’s enough,” Cooper said.
Kendall blew out a breath. “Thank you. I don’t think I could keep going without breaking something.”
“You did really good, Livie,” he said. “You really are a brave princess.”
Livie grinned. “I really was.” She patted his arm. “Cooper, can we play baseball now?”
“Yes, we can. Your mommy told me you have a glove.”
“I do. You wanna see it?”
“Yes. Get it and your ball, okay?”
She clapped her hands. “Yay!” She ran to her room.
“Detective Rossi should be here any minute,” Kendall said. “What should I tell him?”
“That Livie won’t talk to him, but that you have a recording he can listen to.”
“What if he insists on talking to her?”
“Bring him outside if he won’t take no for an answer. I need to speak with him anyway.” He glanced down the hallway to make sure Livie wasn’t on her way back. She wasn’t, and he traced her bottom lip with his thumb. “I fell asleep last night thinking about how much I wanted to kiss you.”
“Funny, I fell asleep thinking the same thing.”
He’d thought she might still be attracted to him. “Maybe instead of just thinking about it, we should—”
“I’m ready, Cooper,” Livie yelled as she ran down the hallway.
“We’ll finish this conversation later,” he said.
She smiled. “I’d like that.”
“Hoped you would.” He turned to Livie. “All right, Princess, let’s see what kind of ballplayer you are.”
“I’m the best!” She had a glove on her hand, a softball in the other and a pint-sized bat.
“Let me carry your bat for you.” At Livie’s age, Emmie had been all about dolls. He thought it was crazy cool that his daughter was all about baseball. After handing him the bat, she skipped to the back door, and he followed.
Outside, he grinned when he saw the miniature baseball field. There was a home plate and three bases in the far corner of the yard. Where in a normal baseball field there were ninety feet between bases, he estimated that there were only fifteen feet between bases.