LITMIR.BIZ

      TWO

      Morgan glanced over at the redheaded boy staring at the ground and then at his mother, a woman of about forty.

      “His name is Richie. This is his first time riding. I’m Adele.” The mom gave away her nervousness with the wringing of her hands.

      In the morning when she felt safe leaving the cottage to get a cell phone signal, Morgan had left a message with Brendan O’Toole, her contact at the marshals’ regional office in Des Moines. Even with all the doors and windows locked she’d had a restless night’s sleep. Though her nerves were on edge from the incident last night, she didn’t want to leave Alex high and dry. She’d swallowed her fear, gotten dressed and gone out to do her job. The marshals would get this cleared up soon enough and move her. She felt pretty sure nothing was going to happen to her in the daylight with all these people around.

      The other four children in the therapeutic riding class were already being led around the riding arena on their horses.

      Hoping to ease Adele’s fears, Morgan turned to face the boy. “Richie, you’re going to have a great time.”

      Richie angled his body away from her.

      “He has autism. He can’t talk, but he understands every word you say to him.” Adele patted the horse’s neck. “I used to ride all the time when I was a girl. I hope he loves it as much as I did.”

      “I’m glad to hear you have some experience.” Morgan studied Richie, who continued to look at the ground. “How about if we get used to the horse?”

      Adele took Richie’s hand and pulled him toward the horse that Morgan had already saddled. “Richie, this is Miss Smith, and she’s going to help you learn to ride.”

      Richie nodded but didn’t make eye contact. He tugged on his shirt collar.

      “Richie, meet George. He’s very gentle.” Using slow movements, Morgan took Richie’s hand and laid it flat on George’s neck. She moved his hand up and down. George angled his head toward Richie and sniggered. “He likes you.”

      Richie grinned. Adele stepped in closer and stroked George’s nose.

      In her peripheral vision, Morgan noticed a dark SUV pulling up in the lot. Two people, a man and woman, got out of the car. Morgan tensed. What were Serena Summers and Josh McCall from the St. Louis Marshal’s office doing here? They couldn’t have gotten the message from the Des Moines office and made the long drive that fast. But, now that they were here, she could talk to them about being moved.

      “Miss Smith, what’s the next step?” Adele’s voice pulled Morgan from her anxious thoughts.

      “I’m sorry. Do you feel comfortable leading Richie around? I’ll help get him into the saddle, and then I need to speak with these two people for a minute.”

      As Josh and Serena drew near, Morgan instructed Richie to place his foot in the stirrup. The two marshals stood off at a distance, waiting for her to finish.

      After Adele led Richie toward the group, Morgan crawled over the metal fence that surrounded the outdoor arena. Why hadn’t they told her they were coming? How could she ever expect to have anything that felt like a normal life if they could show up at any time? If Alex saw them, she’d have to make up a lie about who they were.

      Both Josh and Serena nodded as she approached them.

      The marshals were dressed more casually than the tailored suits and crisp white shirts they’d been wearing the first time she’d met them. Serena had pulled her dark hair up with a clip and she wore jeans and a button-down shirt. Josh dressed in a windbreaker, khakis and a polo shirt.

      Morgan had met them once before when she’d been told that they were the ones handling the illegal adoption ring case. Her initial impression of Josh and Serena was that they were both good at their jobs, but there was a tension between them that she didn’t understand.

      Morgan glanced around. It would be nice to hide in the barn while she talked to the marshals, but she couldn’t leave the class in case there was a crisis. Alex was in his office in the guesthouse. Hopefully, he’d stay inside so he wouldn’t wonder who Josh and Serena were. She didn’t like the idea of deceiving him.

      Josh spoke first. “The reason we’re here is we just wrapped up a case that had some similar elements to it as yours. I don’t know if you saw the news story about a woman named Emma Bullock. She was found beaten nearly to death in a Minneapolis park. She had no memory of the assault or of who she was. She went by the name of Julie Thomas for a long time.”

      So that’s why they’d come here. They probably hadn’t gotten her message yet. “I haven’t had time to watch the news.” She drew her attention to the students to make sure everything was running smoothly. “I don’t see how that relates to what happened to me in Mexico.”

      Serena rested an arm on the fence. “As it turns out, Emma was trying to protect a baby at the time of the assault. Unfortunately, the baby was taken from her.”

      Morgan’s chest tightened. More than anything, she hated that anyone would harm an innocent child. “Did they find the baby who was taken?”

      Serena shook her head. The forcefulness of her words gave away how upset she was about the crime. “The missing baby’s name is Kay. Does that ring any bells for you?”

      Morgan closed her eyes, trying to shut out the pain connected with knowing a child had been kidnapped. She shook her head. “Is this Emma woman Kay’s mother?”

      “No,” Serena said. “Kay’s mom is a young girl named Lonnie. We’ve been unable to track her down either, and we’re afraid she may have met with foul play.

      “For a while, we thought we might have found Kay. A blonde, blue-eyed baby was brought to the Denver airport by a man we know to be associated with this ring, and it was on the same day Emma was attacked.”

      Josh pulled a photograph out of his jacket pocket. “As it turns out, there are two different babies. We call the little girl we intercepted in Denver Baby C. She’s in foster care right now.”

      Morgan stared at the photo. A happy baby with a tuft of blond hair and bright eyes looked back at her.

      “Does she look familiar to you?” Josh stepped toward her.

      “Give her a moment to think, Josh.” Serena’s words were terse.

      The tension between the two marshals had bubbled over. She wondered what the history was between them. It seemed personal. Maybe they had been involved at some point and weren’t anymore.

      Josh shot Serena a look that had daggers in it and then turned to face Morgan. “A blonde, blue-eyed baby would be unusual in Mexico.”

      The trauma of what she had been through made her memory foggy. “I definitely never placed a child who looked like that. But sometimes we had moms who would visit once and then change their minds.”

      “It would have been shortly before you had to leave Mexico,” Josh said.

      Morgan strained to put together a cohesive memory from that time. A vague picture materialized in her mind. “There was a mom with a blonde baby. I think the mom’s first name was Vanessa.”

      Serena stepped closer to her, urgency filling her voice. “Do you remember her last name?”

      Morgan shook her head. “If I had the records, notes and photographs from my office, I might be able to help you more.” Frustration rose to the surface. “Were you able to get anything from the agency office?”

      “By the time we cleared the paperwork with the Mexican authorities, the place where you said

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