Against the Edge (The Raines of Wind Can - By Kat Martin Page 0,3
case to me. Laura and I were friends.”
He thought of the woman he had loved. Blonde and beautiful. Sparkling. That was Laura. Everyone adored her. But she was never what she seemed.
“You think this guy Bridger took him. Why would he do that?”
“To get even with Laura. He knew how much Sam meant to her. He was furious when she kicked him out.”
There was something in her eyes, the way they couldn’t quite meet his. “Laura’s dead,” he said. “I don’t see how taking my kid is going to hurt her. What aren’t you telling me?”
She returned her eyes to his face. “There’s a good chance he’s also trying to punish me. I disapproved strongly of Laura’s relationship with Troy. I think he blames me for the breakup. And he knows how much I care about Sam.”
“What kind of a man is he?”
“Not the sort you would want Sam to have for a father. He’s an alcoholic. He gets mean when he drinks. I never knew what Laura saw in him. Maybe his tough-guy persona appealed to her.” She looked up at him. “She loved you, and you were a SEAL. Troy Bridger looked a little like you. Maybe he reminded her of you in some way.”
“She never loved me. I was just an amusement to her.”
He could tell she wanted to argue. Instead she took a sip of her coffee. “Laura was trying to get sober, but Bridger was a drunk and he pulled her back to the bottle. She ended the relationship when she started getting sick.”
“How long did she live with him?”
“Only a couple of months. I can’t imagine why she stayed even that long.”
“He isn’t some kind of pervert? Some guy on the sex offender’s list?”
“The police checked. They said he wasn’t on the list. At least not under that name. The few times I talked to him, he never seemed inclined in that direction.”
“But you don’t know for sure.”
He didn’t miss the guilt that moved across her features. “No, I don’t know for sure. But my guess is his motive was more about revenge against Laura.”
“And you.”
The guilty look returned. “That’s right.”
“Because she dumped him and he blames you.”
“Yes. And Troy has this men-are-superior thing. He doesn’t value women very highly, and Sam’s a boy. He would go on and on about boys becoming men...real men. As if he could make it happen for Sam.”
Ben’s insides were churning. How could Laura have brought this kind of loser into her house? But he hadn’t seen Laura in years, and if she had been drinking the way Claire said... “How long have you known I was Sam’s father?”
“Laura told me two years ago. She wasn’t drinking then. She begged me not to tell you unless there was no other choice. She said you lived a life of adventure, that it was the life you wanted. She said you wouldn’t want to be tied down with a kid.”
He felt like punching something. The woman across from him was his closest target. Too bad he had a rule against hitting women.
She was watching him, sizing him up. Did she really think he would shirk his duties as a father? Did Laura really think that? “Just proves how little she knew me.”
He took a drink of his coffee, but his adrenaline was pumping and he no longer needed the caffeine. “Los Angeles was the last place Sam was seen?”
“That’s right.”
“You headed back there?”
“So you’ve decided to help me?”
“I’m going to find my son. It doesn’t matter if he’s run away or if this guy Bridger took him. The minute I saw that picture, I had no other choice.”
Two
Claire felt those pale eyes boring into her like twin laser beams. When she had come to Houston, she hadn’t been sure Ben Slocum would help her. But then she saw his face as he looked at his son for the very first time, and she had believed nothing would stop him from finding the boy.
“What other information can you give me?” Ben asked, shifting restlessly in his chair.
“I left my briefcase in the car. I have copies of Laura’s file. She wouldn’t want me to show it to you, but—”
“I don’t give a fuck what Laura would want. She kept my son from me. She should have come to me years ago. Now her silence has put him in danger. I need to know every damn thing the woman did since the day Sam was born.”