Daddy Devastating by Delores Fossen

listen.”
    “Because you didn’t listen to me,” Tracy fired back. “I can’t sit around like a block of ice, waiting.” She looked at Julia. “I just can’t.”
    Julia could relate, unfortunately. If Emily had been taken, she would have done worse than shown up in the San Saba. She would have P.I.s out searching for the baby, and no one—not even the FBI—could have stopped her.
    Tracy took a sip of coffee and seemed to calm down a bit. “I’m sorry. I haven’t been myself since Matthew was taken. I shouldn’t have had the nanny take him to his pediatric checkup. If I’d been with him, I would have fought to the death to stop them from taking him.” Her pale green eyes landed on Russ, then Silas. “You’re doing your best. I know that. But please check on the nanny. Make sure she wasn’t calling the person who stole Matthew.”
    “Let’s go,” Aaron insisted, getting to his feet.
    Tracy stood, too, and as Russ had instructed, she gave Julia a hug. “Please,” she whispered to Julia. “Bring my baby back to me.”
    “I’ll try,” Julia promised. She watched them walk out of the café, and then sank back in her chair next to Russ. “What now?”
    But Russ didn’t answer. His attention was on Silas. “We’ll talk later,” Russ said. And it sounded like a warning.
    “You have a right to be upset—” Silas started.
    “I said we’ll talk later,” Russ interrupted.
    Silas looked ready to argue, but his phone rang. He glanced down at the screen and then excused himself so he could walk to the other side of the room and take the call.
    “You don’t trust him?” Julia asked, following Russ’s suddenly stony gaze that was aimed at his partner.
    “I’m not sure.” He blew out a weary breath and scrubbed his hand over his face. “But then, I’m not sure I trust the Richardsons. Meeting them was a real eye-opener.”
    “What do you mean?” she asked.
    “I mean they put their son in more danger by coming here. They’re not stupid, and they should have known that.”
    “True, but I think they’re working from a purely emotional level. Well, Tracy is anyway. I’m not so sure about Aaron. He seems immune to her tears.”
    “Yeah. Their marriage doesn’t seem to be on solid ground, does it?”
    Julia agreed. “This might seem like a callous question, but why are you, as the intended buyer, offering so much money for the child? I mean, won’t the large amount make Milo suspicious? Because I suspect someone greedy and resourceful, like your theoretical buyer, could go into a poor neighborhood and buy a child for far less than a million.”
    Russ nodded. “That happens. But Milo’s selling the Richardsons’ baby as a blue blood. Solid genes. Good potential. And the other thing Milo’s got going for him is that, initially, he had more than one buyer. Or so he said. We think it was a ploy to pump up the price, but he turned down our initial bid. When we upped the price, it was accepted.”
    “Accepted,” Julia mumbled, in disgust. And if Russ had been a real baby broker, then the money would have been exchanged, and the child would be forever lost to his parents.
    Julia wasn’t in the mood for coffee, but she drank some, and hoped the caffeine would ease the headache she had from lack of sleep. “Will you do more checking on the nanny?”
    “I will. And I’ll check more on the Richardsons, too….” The last part of that trailed off, because Silas returned to the table.
    The man didn’t sit, and there were beads of sweat on his upper lip. “We have a problem.”
    Russ groaned. “Not with Milo.”
    “Yes, Milo,” Silas confirmed. “That was one of his henchmen on the phone. Milo wants to change the time of the meeting.”
    Julia’s stomach clenched. “Not another delay?”
    Silas shook his head. “Just the opposite. Milo says the meeting happens now, or it doesn’t happen at all. He’s giving you fifteen minutes to get to the state park. If you’re not there, then the