“Tell me,” Eden said, tears in her eyes.
“At three-thirty this morning, when it was raining hard, and while you and I…” He looked away, a muscle in his jaw working. “I didn’t hear her. I should have, but I didn’t.” He turned away for a moment and she knew he was thinking that he had been lax in his duty, because if he hadn’t been making love with Eden, he would have heard the car. “Your daughter got into your car and drove to the airport in Greenville.”
“That’s a long way.” Eden was trying to keep her heart still as she listened.
“Yes, it is. One of our men was right behind her the entire way, but it was hard to see in the rain. She went to the airport where she met a man—”
“Stuart,” Eden said, feeling some relief.
“No. We have photos of the man she met, and he wasn’t your son-in-law. Besides, we know where Stuart is at every minute. He’s under surveillance.”
“Surveillance,” she whispered. “You mean that he’s being spied on. He’s imprisoned. Like me.”
Jared stroked her hair. “Yes, like you, he’s being watched over. Taken care of. Anyway, your daughter met an older man. He’s tall and thin. We’re still trying to find out who he is and if he’s the instigator of all this.” Jared’s calmness left him. “What the hell was your daughter doing out alone at that time of the night?” he snapped.
“She was never told anything about the danger surrounding her mother,” Eden said. Her heart was beginning to race as she thought of the possible consequences of her daughter being kidnapped. Where was her baby right now? Was she safe? Warm and dry? Was she—?
“A man from the agency was right behind them every moment, but someone reported our man as having a gun, and you know what airports are like now. Before he knew what was happening, he was knocked to the floor and handcuffed. He looked up to see Melissa and the man hurrying away. That was the last our people saw of them.”
Eden tried to sit up but managed only to get to her elbows. “Maybe the man she met is someone she knows. Stuart’s father, maybe. I’ve never met him, so I don’t know what he looks like. Maybe he—”
“A note was put on the seat of our agent’s vehicle. It said that we would be contacted.”
>
“Contacted? When? For what? By whom?”
Jared got up and went to the window. “We still don’t have any answers.” He looked back at her. “I’m sorry. This is the most baffling case I’ve ever been on.”
Eden collapsed against the pillows. “Why did you drug me? I can’t think clearly. I can’t—”
“I did it to calm you down and so you can’t get into trouble. I’m going to send you somewhere safe.”
“No!” she tried to shout, but it came out as a raspy whisper. “I want to be here. I want to be near my daughter.”
“Your daughter—” Jared began, but stopped at a knock on the door. He stepped outside the room for a moment, and Eden could hear low voices. When Jared returned, he wouldn’t meet her eyes, but before she could ask any questions, her cell phone rang and Jared picked it up. Answering it, he listened for a moment. “It’s for you,” he said. “It’s Granville, and he wants to talk to you. He says he knows something.”
Weakly, Eden took the phone. Jared plumped the pillows behind her head so she could sit up. “Brad?” she asked. When there were tears of relief in her eyes, Jared turned away for a moment, then he sat down beside her and motioned for her to let him listen. He put his face close to hers, the telephone between them.
“Eden, are you all right?” Brad asked. “You sound awful.”
“I’ve been drugged,” she said, her voice full of tears. “Did you hear? Melissa…” She couldn’t go on as sobs overtook her.
Jared took the phone from her. “Granville? McBride here. What do you know?”
“What’s wrong with Eden’s daughter? Did she go into labor?”
“We can’t tie up this line. If what you have to say isn’t of vital importance—”
“I think it might be. Did you know that Eden wrote a book about the history of the Farrington family?”
Jared looked at her in astonishment. “Did you write a book about the Farringtons?”
“Yes. No. I mean it’s a fictionalized version of their lives, but, yes, it’s about them.”
“You wrote a book but you didn’t tell me?” he asked, staring at her in astonishment. “What else haven’t you told me?”
“It’s never been a secret. I hope that by now the sales department has made every bookseller in America know I’ve written a book. Why didn’t your file tell you about my book?”