“Is this the reason you’ve been refusing to speak to me and the sheriff? Because they’ve been using something you care about against you?”

Alanna nodded, defeated. She had to get out of jail. She couldn’t take another day of Deputy Porter. She had never committed a crime in her life, but if she heard his irritating voice one more time, a capital murder charge was in her near future.

“You’re afraid they’ll hurt Elizabeth,” Mrs. Bates guessed. “She isn’t talking, either. Is that because it was her idea to hold up the patent or—”

“She was protecting me,” Alanna cut her off.

Her lawyer arched a brow at her. “She protected you by getting you arrested for her kidnapping?”

“I may be sitting in jail, but at least I’m still alive.”

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

“How long have you two been protecting each other?” Her lawyer asked without looking up from the pad she was writing on.

“I’ve been trying to protect Elizabeth since Kate showed up with her when I was a senior in high school. She was waiting beside my car, with Elizabeth, and told me she was her daughter. I knew she wasn’t Kate’s biological daughter because of her age.

“Kate asked me to watch her while she went to a doctor appointment. After that, Kate would randomly show up, expecting me to watch Elizabeth whenever she needed a sitter. I’d usually take her to a restaurant or a movie.”

“Why didn’t you just tell her no?”

“Because I couldn’t imagine Kate being a mother. I wanted to find out from Elizabeth how she was with Kate. I didn’t want to accuse Kate of being guilty of mistreating Elizabeth if she was innocent. It had been a few years since I had seen Kate. She could have changed. Being responsible for a child could have softened her. I watched for every sign.” Even now, she second-guessed the decision not to have just disappeared with Elizabeth.

“You wanted to intervene, to get her away from Ms. Easton.” Mrs. Bates sympathetic gaze wasn’t the judgmental one she had expected.

“Oh yes, but Elizabeth would never tell me anything I could use so I could go to the authorities. She would only say how happy she was, that she loved Kate.

“When I graduated from college and was able to find a job and move into an apartment, Kate would bring Elizabeth more often, and we grew even closer. She would spend two or three days at a time with me before Kate would come back. I would constantly ask Elizabeth if she had met Owen or if Kate would bring a man around her who looked like him, and she would tell me no. She was lying to me. I could see it in her eyes.