LITMIR.BIZ

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there was a niggling doubt in the back of his mind. Jack had discovered that looking at Joey had dimmed those doubts.

      “You did the right thing, taking that baby the way you did,” Sara insisted.

      Did I? Jack asked himself.

      Thankfully, he didn’t pose that question to Sara. He spotted Deputy Reyes Medina making his way down the hall toward him. At six-three and well over two hundred pounds, Reyes was impossible to miss. He had the face and the coloring of his Comanche ancestors, but his expression was all cop. He walked, looked and talked as if he were ready to kick someone’s butt into the next county.

      It took Jack a moment to realize Reyes wasn’t alone. He saw something behind the deputy, and after Reyes moved a little to the side, Jack got another surprise he didn’t want.

      His aunt Tessie was there, and she was holding Joey.

      Jack groaned some ripe profanity. This was not the place he wanted his son.

      “I’ll get those clothes for Ms. Davis,” Sara mumbled, excusing herself.

      Jack heard her, but he didn’t respond, instead making a beeline for his aunt.

      “Is it true?” Tessie asked. She’d obviously dressed in a hurry. No makeup, not that she wore much anyway. Her salt-white hair was in disarray, and her Coke-bottle-green eyes were wide with concern. “Is that woman really here in the hospital?”

      Jack caught her arm to stop her from moving any closer to Alana’s room. “She’s here. I was going to tell you, but I haven’t had a chance.”

      Unlike Reyes and Tessie, Joey wasn’t showing much concern. He grinned from ear to ear and reached for Jack. Jack pulled his son into his arms and gave himself a moment to be a father. He could have sworn his blood pressure dropped to normal. The knot in his stomach eased up. And for a few precious seconds, all was right with the world.

      “I told Tessie she shouldn’t be here,” Reyes grumbled.

      Tessie started her defense before Reyes finished the last word of his sentence. “I wanted to see her. I want to make her understand that she can’t come back after all these months and take Joey.”

      “It’s not a good time to do that,” Jack countered. He couldn’t tell Tessie that Alana would try to take Joey. Jack didn’t even want to say the words aloud.

      There was a sound behind him, and judging from Tessie’s and Reyes’s reactions, Jack knew what it was. He quickly handed Joey to Tessie. “Take him home please.”

      She nodded but kept her attention fastened to the other end of the hall. One glance over his shoulder confirmed that Alana was there, standing in the doorway of her room. She had the blanket draped around her like a robe and was looking at Joey. She started toward him.

      “The virus,” Jack reminded her. “You’ll make him sick.”

      Alana froze. Thank God. If it hadn’t been for her illness, Alana would have tried to wrench Joey from Tessie’s arms. Joey would have been confused. Frightened. And the contact would no doubt have given Alana even more determination to take the child she’d given birth to.

      Tessie turned and hurried back toward the exit. Jack went to Alana, to make sure she stayed put. When he reached her, he saw her tears, even though she was doing her level best to blink them away.

      “He’s so beautiful,” she whispered, her attention still focused over his shoulder where Tessie had been standing just seconds earlier. “Yes, he is.”

      “Joey has my hair color.” She touched her fingers to her own saddle-brown locks. “What about his eyes? What color are they?”

      “Blue.” Like Alana’s. Jack didn’t volunteer that, though. His heart already felt as if it were being crushed.

      “Blue,” she repeated with a determined nod. “I’m seeing him tomorrow.” It wasn’t a request. “The medicine will have kicked in. I won’t be contagious. I’ll see my baby.”

      Jack was already trying to figure out a way to stop that. Or a way for him to deal with what might be inevitable. Because even if Alana was sent back to that institution, it didn’t mean she was out of the picture when it came to Joey. She’d hire a lawyer. She’d fight. And now that she knew she had a son, she wouldn’t back down. But as the only father Joey had ever known, he wouldn’t back down, either.

      Reyes handed Jack some papers. The first was a fax with the photo of a woman. The FBI had already sent him her picture, and it was on his desk. “Kinley Ford?” Jack read aloud.

      “She’s the missing woman the Rangers and FBI are looking for. It’s possible she’s in the area.”

      Well, it wouldn’t be the first time. Nine months ago Kinley Ford had been in town, and even though she hadn’t been responsible, three people had been killed. It’d been one of the few murder cases Jack had ever had to handle, and he didn’t want to have to deal with her now. “Does she have anything to do with Alana?”

      “Not that I can tell, but a lot of people are anxious to find her. The FBI wants us to put flyers with her picture around town.”

      Jack intended to do that, but it would have to wait. He looked at the other papers Reyes had given him. Alana’s commitment papers. With them were two black-and-white pictures. When Jack glanced at them, he remembered that Joey wasn’t the only issue here.

      “I got her commitment papers a little over an hour ago and made some calls,” Reyes explained. “I’m trying to track down the judge who signed them.”

      Good. That was a start.

      “I also showed those around.” Reyes pointed to the photos of Ted Moore and Margaret Vargas. The deputy glanced at Alana.

      “And?” Jack prompted, giving Reyes permission to go on.

      “They just arrived in town. So did her brother, Sean. All three are in the hospital lobby.”

      “Here?” Jack and Alana said in unison. Apparently Margaret had decided to come to town after all.

      Alana’s tone was laced with anger. She seemed to welcome this unexpected visit. Jack did, too, in a way. But he wanted this meeting to happen at the sheriff’s office since it would likely turn into an interrogation. Maybe even an arrest.

      Reyes nodded. “Margaret said she left the institution as soon as she faxed the commitment papers to us. Said she figured it was best that she speak to Alana and you in person.”

      Jack wasn’t so sure of that.

      “I told them to wait in the lobby until I cleared everything with you,” Reyes explained. “According to the pair, they didn’t arrive with the brother. It’s a coincidence that they’re all here together at exactly the same time.”

      Jack wasn’t a strong believer in coincidences. It could be that Sean had a reason to want to dissociate himself from the pair. Especially from Ted—the man might have crossed a legal line or two if he truly had gone after Alana the way she said he had.

      “Before you see to them, I think you should know what I learned,” the deputy went on. “When I showed those pictures around town this morning, the new waitress that Bella hired over at the diner said she saw that man, Ted, late last night.”

      “Where?” Jack asked, though he already suspected the answer.

      “In front of your office. She said the guy came running out of the alley, jumped in his car and drove away. She said he looked like he was up to no good.”

      “He was,” Alana assured them. She turned to him. “I told you.”

      So she had. Jack would have liked to explain the man’s behavior. But he couldn’t. Unless Ted was trying to cover up the fact that a patient had escaped and he didn’t want to get in trouble for a security infraction. But that didn’t make sense. Once the man realized

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