Chapter 5

Chapter Five

J T sat in the driveway in front of Lee’s house and took several deep breaths. Lee was out of his mind for having suggested this. JT was the last person who should be responsible for anyone under the age of sixteen.

But the situation for Alexandra was dire, and Gemma could be used by the cops for leverage.

JT didn’t really have a choice. He said yes before he could think it through.

Next thing he knew, Erica was on the phone, giving him a lengthy list of things he’d need. He’d then gone to a twenty-four-hour mega store and practically cleaned out the baby section.

There could be no waiting for morning. He had to get Alexandra’s daughter out of town before CPS showed up. That could take days or even weeks, but no one wanted to take the chance it would be later rather than sooner.

Not when Gemma could be moved like a pawn. A gambit to draw out her mother.

Right now, the police might not even know Erica had picked up the girl from daycare, and they weren’t breaking any laws in passing the child off to JT, except that Alexandra would probably question Erica’s judgment in choosing him, of all people.

Still, he was the only logical choice. His and Lex’s breakup was well known to anyone familiar with him or T that will get you started. Keep it in the front seat. If she wakes and is fussy, you can give it to her. It’s mostly water with a small amount of apple juice.”

The idea of Gemma waking while he drove was nothing short of terrifying. Still, he nodded and said, “Got it.”

She gave him a look that said she knew he got nothing.

“Have you ever changed a diaper before?”

“The only baby I’ve ever been near is Gracie. Have you seen me change her?”

Lee chuckled. “Bet you’re wishing you’d done it when you had the chance.”

“Not really.” He loved Grace, but he was waiting for her to be old enough to go fishing or play baseball. Once she was a real person.

He figured the fact that he didn’t see a baby as a real person had a lot to do with his lack of desire to be a father.

But how interesting could babies be?

“Okay, one thing you need to know with girls,” Erica said, “is wipe from front to back. That way you decrease the chance of an infection caused by getting fecal matter in the urinary tract or vagina.”

He knew this was necessary advice, but damn, it was a wakeup call for what he was in for.

He was so screwed.

A lexandra took inventory of the pantry, glad to find a large bag of rice, another large bag of dried beans, along with a decent amount of canned goods. The freezer held bricks of cheese, several pounds of butter, and frozen meats and vegetables.

She pulled out a two-pack of pork tenderloins and placed it in the refrigerator so it would start to thaw, then set a pound of beans to soak in a pan. Tomorrow, she’d make enough beans and rice with shredded pork to last a few days.

Right now, she was probably hungry, but she was too tired and anxious to eat anything. Her brain buzzed with what she’d seen on the news. They had her name and address. Her driver’s license photo had been on the local and national news.

She was at large and presumed dangerous.

No one bothered to ask why a college professor would kill a cop at a traffic stop.

With each news segment came the plea for anyone who knew Alexandra to call the network. It was implied that they just wanted to help her.

Bullshit. They wanted a scoop. A frenemy to inform on her.

She figured now would be the time to find out if she had any enemies. A fellow professor who harbored resentment over her tenure-track position. An ex-lover she did wrong.

Their best shot there was JT. But even if he still hated her, calling a reporter wasn’t his style. He knew all about scandal, and there remained a chance that he would follow in his father’s political footsteps now that Joseph Talon’s crimes were history.

She left the kitchen, turned off all the downstairs lights, and checked all the doors and windows, making sure they were locked tight.

By the time she ascended the stairs, it was after three a.m. She was wound tight, scared, and she missed her baby.

She settled into the guest bed wearing a T-shirt she’d found in one of JT’s closet drawers. She shivered as she wrapped the cool sheets around her and waited for the bedding to warm against her skin.

She closed her eyes and saw the blue lights flashing in her rearview. The cop’s arm as he reached through the window and broke her car key.

She’d been so busy running and trying to figure out what to do, she hadn’t had a chance to ask why. Why pull her over? Was it a random stop? Was he a predator on the hunt and any woman would do?

Or had she been targeted specifically?

Why her?

She’d had to finance her own maternity leave after returning from CERN because the year she took off fell between her fellowship ending and starting her new job at the University of Maryland. Thanks to JT, she’d had the money to get by until she returned to teaching at the start of the fall term, which had ended last week. She had a handful of eager graduate students, and the undergrads had been typical—testing the waters of an extremely difficult subject.

No one accidentally took theoretical physics, nor did they take it for an easy A. She generally had a good rapport with students and faculty.

Sure, there was misogyny and academic rivalries, but she’d been checked out of that during her maternity leave.

She’d weaned Gemma before the start of the fall semester and, for the last two months, had slowly ceased milk production, but now her breasts ached with letdown. A physical pain to have her baby with her. Her body was ready to provide nourishment.

Gemma’s safe. She’s with Erica.

She lay in the pitch-dark room of the quiet house, breasts aching, nipples anticipating a latch that wouldn’t come. Wind rattled the windows softly, but it was an otherwise calm night. She shivered as she saw in her mind the cop lying on the pavement with a gunshot to his face and a pool of blood beneath his head.

He’d already been lying on the ground when he’d been shot.

Straight-up cold-blooded murder.

But who had done it? And why?