Temptation - Brenda Jackson [53]
After a few moments, the pair remembered he was there. Brad cleared his throat. “I guess we better get going to make it to the shelter. Goodbye, Abby.”
“Bye, Brad, and I’ll see you around, Zeke.”
“Sure thing,” Zeke responded, not missing the fact this was the second occasion that he’d heard Brad refer to her as Abby. The first time occurred when he’d been holding her in his arms, comforting her. Um, interesting.
“So what do you think?” Brad asked moments later while snapping on their seat belts in Zeke’s car.
Zeke chuckled. “I think it’s a damn shame you couldn’t spell the word occupation and lost the spelling bee to a girl.”
Brad threw his head back and laughed. “Hey, you didn’t know Abigail back then. She was quite a pistol. She could do just about anything better than anyone.”
Zeke wondered if Brad realized he’d just given the woman a compliment. “Evidently. Now to answer your question about Miguel Rivera, I think I’m going to have to fly to Denver. If Diane Worth is Sunnie’s mother, I want to know what part Miguel Rivera is playing in her disappearance. I think all the answers lie in Denver.”
Brad nodded. “And you think there’s a possible connection to my brother, Michael?”
“I’m not sure. But I know that baby isn’t yours and she has to belong to someone. And you and I know Michael was heavy into alcohol and drugs.”
“Yes, but as a user, not a pusher,” Brad said.
“As far as we know,” Zeke countered. “When you went to collect his belongings, was there anything in them to suggest he might have been involved with a woman?”
“I wasn’t checking for that. Besides, there wasn’t much of anything in that rat hole he called an apartment. I boxed up what he had, if you want to go through it. I put it in storage on my parents’ property.”
“I do. We can check that out after we leave the shelter.” Zeke backed out of Abigail’s driveway.
“You’re leaving for Denver tomorrow?” Sheila asked hours later, glancing across the kitchen table at Zeke. He was holding Sunnie, making funny faces to get her to laugh. Sheila tried to downplay the feeling escalating inside her that he was leaving her.
This is work, you ninny, a voice inside her said. This is not personal. He is not Crawford. But then she couldn’t help remembering Crawford’s reason for leaving was all work-related, too.
“Yes, I need to check out this guy named Miguel Rivera. He might be the guy who picked Diane Worth up from the shelter that night. Thanks to security cameras inside the shelter, we were able to get such good shots of the woman that we’ve passed them on to law enforcement.”
The woman who might be Sunnie’s mother, she thought. “How long do you think you’ll be gone?” she asked.
“Not sure. I don’t intend to come back until I find out a few things. I have a lot of questions that need to be answered.”
Sheila nodded. She knew his purpose in going to Denver would help close the case on Sunnie and bring closure. It was time, she knew that. But still… “Well, I hope you find out something conclusive. For Sunnie’s sake,” she said.
And for yours, Zeke thought, studying her features. He knew that with each day that passed, she was getting attached to Sunnie even more. The first thing he’d noticed when he arrived at her place was Sunnie’s things were once again all over the place.
“So what are you going to be doing while I’m gone?” he asked her, standing to place the baby back in her seat.
“You can ask me that with Sunnie here? Trust me, there’s never a dull moment.” She paused and then asked quietly, “You won’t forget I’m here, will you?”
He glanced up after snapping Sunnie into the seat. Although Sheila had tried making light of the question, he could tell from the look on her face she was dead serious. Did she honestly think when he left for Denver that he wouldn’t think of her often, probably every single day? And although he would need to stay focused on solving the case, there was no doubt in his mind that she would still manage to creep into his thoughts. Mainly because she had his heart. Maybe it was