But she didn’t want to make Cal responsible for them. He needed to get married again, to a good woman, and have children while he was still relatively young. She wanted to tell him that. She didn’t dare.

She went back to work, forcing her fears to the back of her mind. One step at a time, one day at a time, she told herself. Worrying was a one-way street to despair. She had to keep moving and stop brooding. Everything would be all right, she told herself.

Except that, just before it was time to pick up Tad at school, she had an unexpected call.

“Where’s your little brother?” a familiar voice drawled.

Her heart skipped wildly. “He’s at school,” she said doggedly. “And they have standing orders not to let him leave with anyone except me!”

“Anyone except you and Hollister,” he chuckled. He sounded high as a kite. She wondered if he was. “I told them Hollister sent me to get the boy because he was at a crime scene. It must have been a new woman, because she just smiled and said okay.”

Her heart stopped beating. “I told Tad to scream if anyone tried to take him...!” she said frantically.

“I told him what I’d do to you if he did,” he said with an unsteady laugh. “He thought I had you locked in a bedroom at home. So, now what are you going to do, tattletale?” he asked in a cold, angry tone.

Her mind was racing. Her heart was racing. She gripped the phone. “I’ll come over there. You can trade Tad for me. I won’t even make a fuss,” she said, trying not to think about what Morris might do to her. “Please!”

“I’ll think about it and let you know,” he said.

“Don’t hurt him!” she burst out.

“Well, that depends on you, doesn’t it?” he asked, slurring his words, and hung up.

She was shivering with fear. It was quitting time. Morris had Tad. What should she do?

Her first instinct was to call Cal, and she did. But amazingly, what Morris had told her was the truth. Cal actually was at a crime scene and the switchboard said he wasn’t answering his phone.

Banks might have helped if he’d been in the office. But he was gone, too, and she didn’t know where to find him.

There was nobody else.

So she sat and sweated and felt sick all over as she contemplated what Morris might be doing to her little brother. She could call the police. But Morris could say the boy wasn’t there and refuse a search unless the police had a warrant. By the time they got one, he’d have Tad somewhere else.