“Jesus, shit!” I yelled, raking my hand through my hair. “What the hell am I supposed to do here?” I snatched a picture of the bruised woman off the desk and lifted it his way. “He doing that to the kid?”
He cut his eyes away. “Tessa. Her name’s Tessa, and I don’t know.”
“Bullshit! You know.”
“No. I really don’t fucking know. But even if he isn’t. He will. Eventually.”
“Goddamn it!” I slammed my fist down.
“You cannot go to the authorities with this.”
“Then what the fuck do you expect me to do!” I yelled so loud the windows rattled.
His eyes hollowed into dark, treacherous pits. “I expect you to get her out.”
“Kidnapping?” I laughed humorlessly. “Fan-fucking-tastic idea.”
“Not the kid.” He once again stabbed his finger down on my desk. Only, this time, it landed on the woman. “Her.”
“What?” I asked in disbelief.
“She’s the key to this entire investigation.”
“Fuck your investigation,” I shot back.
“That woman holds all the answers. Legally, she’s the mother of that child. She can submit to DNA testing on herself and the girl. We find out the kid’s not hers, we have ourselves a case no judge could ignore. Court order on Walter Noir plus her testimony on all the bullshit she’s seen over the years. That man’s done.”
He made it sound so easy. But just the fact that he was standing in my office told me it was the impossible. I had a sneaking suspicion that I was about to become the DEA’s sacrificial lamb.
“And what if she doesn’t submit to DNA? She might be on a tight leash, but what if she doesn’t want to get away? You’d be throwing me into the line of fire, keeping your hands clean, and getting your case. No fucking thanks.”
His jaw turned to granite, and his hands flexed at his sides. “You get her away from that man, I have not one single doubt that she will sing like a fucking bird. She’s scared, Leblanc. But, from what we can tell, she is not involved in his shit. She’s just a victim. Best thing that ever happened to her is that lab tech spilling it on the doctor and Noir. She needs an out, and I need you to get off your ass, get creative, and give that to her.”
“And how exactly do you expect me to do this?” I asked, my voice thick with sarcasm as I walked around the desk and settled on the corner. “Just walk into the lion’s den and take his woman and his child?”
He crossed his arms over his chest and ignored my question. “The second best thing that happened to her was her embryo being switched with yours.”
I scoffed and blankly gazed out the window. “Right.”
“Leblanc, I’ve done my research on you. Prior military. Infantry. Two purple hearts and a boatload of men who respect the fuck out of you. You’re smart. Fucking loaded, yet you live in a shithole apartment in the garage of an even bigger shithole house. You’re charitable but run your business with a heavy hand. You wanted to be a family man, but that wasn’t in the cards. Now, your ex-wife hates you, but you’ve been making some headway there in the last twenty-four hours, yeah?”
I pushed to my feet and took a step toward him. “You been watching me?”
He didn’t hesitate to grin as he said, “Since the moment that snitch said your name.”
“Right.”
“Right,” he replied, moving back to his chair, grabbing his envelope before riffling through it. “If there was ever a man who could handle this, it’s you. You have the resources. So fucking use them. Get eyes on Clare, find a good time, and then make your approach. Be gentle. She spooks easy. She needs help, Roman. Make her understand that you can give her that.” He pulled one last picture out and set it facedown on my desk. Then he passed the envelope my way. “That’s as much information as I could get on her. Her address. Schedule. Gym location. All of her background. It should be a good start for whoever you hire. And should you need someone you can trust, there’s the name of a protection agency in there as well. It’s run by a man named Leo James. He used to be DEA. He mainly does personal security now, but you give him a call, drop my name, and he’ll take care of you.”
I nodded though I had no idea what I was agreeing to, but I took the envelope from his hands, knowing I had to do something.
Heath walked to the door. Then he stopped and looked back at me. “I don’t think I need to remind you about the urgency of this situation, but I’m gonna do it anyway. Do not sit on this, Leblanc. Get on the phone, throw some money at people, and get that woman and your daughter out of there.”
My body jerked at his definitive use of the term your daughter.
“Saw pictures of Elisabeth at the police station,” he added, lifting his chin to the photo he’d left facedown on my desk. “It’s obvious.”
I immediately snatched it up and…
“Holy shit,” I gasped.
But there was no way to deny it.
The oxygen drained from the room and the only thing left was a photo of a child with blond ringlets and a face I’d recognize anywhere. I’d seen it in my dreams nearly every night as we’d struggled through infertility.