Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
“She was arrested.” Kala knew this part of the story.
Joyce nodded. “The cartel they worked for decided Ray was cheating them, and he went on the run. Shannon was left holding the bag. I came and got Zach, and that was when I found out she was pregnant again. And she was facing seven to fifteen years in prison.”
“Zach told me he wasn’t sure why you didn’t give him up for adoption. He knew about his sibling,” Kala said.
“About his brother,” Joyce corrected. “Shannon had a boy. As for Zach, Ray knew about Zach. The cartel knew about Zach. We decided it was better that I watch over him, but we had a shot at hiding him.”
And that was the moment she looked at Cooper and Kala’s world shifted.
Or if it’s… Well, the fact that he’s here tells me a lot.
Joyce hadn’t been talking about Zach. She’d been talking about Cooper. She’d been staring at Cooper like she knew him.
Which she did.
“Joyce, I’m going to need you to tell me where your sister stashed her second son.”
Chapter Thirteen
Cooper wasn’t sure what was going on, but it was clear Kala had picked up on something important. It was there in the way she’d sat up, in the gleam in her eyes. Sometimes he simply liked to watch her work. But there was a weird feeling in his gut, some instinct that put him on edge.
“Zach told me his brother was given up for adoption. His mom was in prison and wouldn’t be getting out for a long time, so she gave him up. I suspect the dad was completely out of the picture by then,” he said, trying to move the conversation along.
He thought about making some excuse to leave. He wanted to check around, to see if he could figure out if Zach was coming back or if Joyce was getting confused. She’d said Zach had shown up but that he came and went. This wasn’t the kind of place where one simply showed up out of nowhere and left just as quickly.
And it wasn’t like they didn’t know where he’d been last week.
The thought of arresting Zach made him kind of sick to his stomach, but he had to do it. He had to bring him in, and then they would figure everything out. Now that he knew more about Zach’s mom’s story, he understood how he could have had ties that dragged him down.
Could his father have resurfaced and brought him into something dangerous?
“Ray came in and out of Shannon’s life. I still don’t think he knows about…” Joyce nodded his way like she couldn’t stand to talk about the other boy. She probably felt guilty for not taking him in when she’d taken in Zach, but she’d had her reasons.
“But he knows Zach?” Cooper hadn’t thought a lot about Zach’s father. Zach didn’t say much about him. Were they in touch?
Joyce nodded. “He lived with them for about six months before things got real bad, and he left them hanging out to dry. The cartel got upset with him. He was skimming the profits.”
“Joyce, I need to know about the adoption,” Kala said, leaning in.
“I’m sure it was closed if she was in prison and worried about someone finding out.” Cooper knew a bit about adoption since both he and Hunter were adopted. Kala should know something, too, though he was pretty sure Tasha’s adoption hadn’t been entirely legal.
Kala’s eyes stayed on Joyce. “You helped her.”
“She’s my sister,” Joyce said. “Of course I helped her. I’ll always help her.”
“Do you know where she is?” Cooper asked. Maybe they were going about this the wrong way. Maybe bringing in Shannon Reed would tempt Zach to come in and explain what was happening. “The last time I talked to Zach he said she disappeared when he was fourteen. He said she’d fallen back in with a bad crowd. Was it with his dad?”
“She stopped cooking drugs, if that’s what you’re asking about,” Joyce replied with a frown. “No. While she was in prison she made other connections. I thought the cartel was bad.”
He was interested in those connections. They might tell him something about why Zach was doing what he was doing. “If she wasn’t cooking drugs, what was she into? Zach made it sound like she was still involved with something criminal.”
Kala frowned his way. “I’m fairly certain she started making bombs, Coop. I would bet anything she’s our bombmaker and Zach is trying to protect her. Now let me ask my questions.”
Damn, it stung when she talked like that.
She softened. “Babe, I’m sorry. I think…I think it’s important.”
He thought the fact that they might know the name of the bombmaker everyone was looking for was kind of important. But hell, he was just the dude who carried the backpacks. “Sure. Proceed.”