Refusing to let go of Kendall, he pulled her to his side as he met the gaze of the man in a police officer’s uniform. “I’m Olivia’s father.”
The officer’s eyes narrowed as he called someone on his phone. “The father’s here. What do you want me to do with him?”
Do with him?Still keeping Kendall by his side, he walked them past the officer and down a hallway. “Where can we talk?”
Chapter 3
He was here! Kendall took his hand and pulled him to the closest room and closed the door. “You came.”
“Of course I did.” His gaze roamed around the room. “This is Olivia’s room?”
“Yes.” She’d never expected to see him again, much less have him in her home, in Livie’s room. It was surreal to have him standing in front of her, but if he could find Livie, she’d owe this man, a stranger to her now, more than she could ever repay.
He smiled as he took in Livie’s room. “She likes pink.”
“It’s her favorite color, but we don’t have time to talk about that. We have to find her.”
“We will.” He took her hand, clasping it between both of his. “I promise. What do you know? How did she disappear?”
His touch calmed her, and the why of that was something she’d think about later. When she had her little girl back. There was something she had to say before she answered his questions. “I need you to know that you are Livie’s father. I would have told you I was pregnant if I knew how to find you. I swear on that.”
“I believe you, but how did you find me?”
“The article about The Phoenix Three. I recognized you in the photo. After I saw it, I was going to call you and tell you about Livie. Then this happened before I could. Thank you for believing me.”
“We’ll do DNA testing later so it’s official, but for now that doesn’t matter. What does matter is finding our daughter.”
“Thank you.” He’d saidour daughter, and he had no idea how much that meant to her. She’d been afraid that he wouldn’t believe her, and the relief that he was here and trusting her was so great that the tears she’d been holding back since he’d arrived streamed down her face. “I’m sorry.” She swiped at her cheeks.
“Hey, hey.” He pulled her in for another hug. “You don’t need to be sorry. I feel like crying, too.”
She could feel his strength as he held her, and that gave her hope that this man could find her daughter. That and his expertise at finding lost children. For the first time since Livie went missing, she had hope that she’d have her little girl home soon.
“Tell me what you know.”
“Not much, and that scares me. I had an early evening adult reading class to teach, which I do every Tuesday night. Amanda, Livie’s babysitter, picks her up from preschool on Tuesdays and stays with her here until I get home.” She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to imagine a stranger taking her baby.
“Where was Livie taken? From here?”
“No, at the grocery store. This has always been my greatest fear, that someone would kidnap her, and now it’s happened.”
“Why would that be your greatest fear? Has someone been bothering you? Stalking you? Paying too much attention to Olivia and it made you suspicious?”
“No, nothing like that. I was kidnapped when I was seven, so it’s always been a fear of mine.” She saw the shock on his face at hearing that, but she couldn’t talk about that time in her life right now. “That’s a conversation for another day. Amanda doesn’t know what happened. She was putting Livie in her car seat when someone hit her from behind. When she woke up, she was on the floor of her car and Livie was… She was gone.” She swiped at her eyes. “I thought I was done crying. I keep thinkingof her out there somewhere with a stranger. Scared and begging for me.”
“Where is Amanda now?”
“Home. She has a mild concussion, but she doesn’t know anything.”
“She might not think she does, but I still want to talk to her. Does the grocery store have video of the parking lot?”
“Yes, the police have it.”
“I want to see it.”
The door opened, and a frowning Detective Rossi strode in. Kendall frowned right back at him. This was her home. Did he think he had the right to just walk in without knocking? She was already growing unhappy with him for shutting her out of his investigation.
He’d stopped to see her earlier after she’d called him to ask if he had any leads. He’d patted her hand and told her that he couldn’t share any details with her. When she’d protested, telling him she was Livie’s mother and had a right to know, he’d had the gall to say, “You just need to stop questioning me and let me do my job, Ms. Hart.”