“Money laundering.”
Sheriff Halloway’s eyebrows rose. “Do you know the agent’s name?”
“No. Sorry. If it’s only been fifteen minutes, maybe we can still find her,” Nick said, grasping for anything that could give him something he could do.
The sheriff looked between both of them. “Do you have any idea what vehicle she’s in?”
They both shook their heads.
“She was staying in the den since she’s still in a wheelchair. It’s a mess,” Nick added.
The sheriff walked down the hall. They heard him on the phone. “Twenty minutes. She’d be on the highway by now, and on her way to anywhere.”
Nick grabbed the tote bag from under the desk and walked toward him. “If her husband was here, it was because he was looking for this.” He handed the sheriff the bag. “There are thousands of dollars inside. I’m worried what he’ll do to her if he doesn’t get his money back.”
The sheriff took the bag and looked inside one of the envelopes. “We’ll do everything we can to find her.”
“He might not know we have the money yet. He might be heading toward the bank in Atlanta to the safety deposit box where we found it. Their information is inside the bag.”
“I’ll look into that. Thanks.” The sheriff walked out of the den but stopped in the hall and stared at the wall.
“You don’t think he’ll hurt her, do you?” Mary asked as she came out of the kitchen.
“She’s strong. She knows how to deal with Paul.” Nick said and noticed the scuff marks and blood on the hallway wall.
Mary let out a cry. Nick took Bailey from her and held her tight, rocking her slightly, trying not to think about the blood and what it meant.
“I’ll be in touch,” the sheriff said. “If you could leave the house, I’d like to have my crime scene tech come by.”
“We’ll be next door,” Nick told him and gestured for Mary to follow him.
“I should have known Gillian hadn’t left,” she said as they walked. “Especially without saying goodbye. Just this morning, she told me how much she cared for you. How she wanted to stay in Granite Falls and give the two of you a chance. I was so hard on her. Why do I do that?”
He put his arm around her as they walked. “You didn’t do anything wrong, and you didn’t send her away. Marrying Paul was her choice; it didn’t have anything to do with you or me. He made his world look so enticing, filled with excitement and adventure. She wanted to be a part of it. She didn’t realize everything about him was a lie. It wasn’t her fault, and it wasn’t ours.”
Fresh tears ran down her cheeks. “Thank you for saying that.”
“She’ll come back to us. We have to believe that. Have faith they’ll find her. There are going to be a lot of people looking for them.”
“I hope you’re right. I really do.”
A couple of hours later, a young FBI agent named Agent Morris arrived and asked Nick to explain everything all over again. “I told the sheriff her husband might not know we had his money, even though Gillian thought she was being watched.”
“She did?”
Nick told him about the man in the dark overcoat. “I never saw him.”
“Do you think he’ll hurt Gillian?” Mary asked. She and Roger were a wreck. He couldn’t blame them; he was having a hard time keeping the fears at bay himself. Nick was glad when his father came home to help comfort them.
“I’m going to leave an agent outside your house for a day or two,” Agent Morris said. “If you see anyone unusual lurking around, be sure to tell him. Mr. Barnes might not need the money in this bag, but he’ll definitely be back for the keys to the other safety deposit boxes and the storage unit. I have agents from our Atlanta office keeping a lookout for them, but so far they haven’t approached the bank.”
“Should we call the news?” Roger asked.
Agent Morris shook his head. “Other than the 9-1-1 call that only said she thought someone was in the house, we only have a few smears of blood to indicate anything happened. So far, there is no evidence that a crime has been committed.”
Nick couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “He took her against her will.”
“I believe you, but I also know how he operates and how his lawyer will spin it. All he has to say is that he picked up his wife from her parents’ house and took her home. There is nothing we can do until we find her.”
“Please find her,” Mary pleaded, voicing what was in Nick’s heart.
“Ma’am, trust me, we’re doing everything we can.”
Nick believed him but feared it wouldn’t be enough. “We have to find her. We can’t leave her with him.” Panic filled him at the thought.
Agent Morris looked at Bailey lying in her playpen. “We won’t give up looking for her. All you can do now is focus on that baby of yours.”
Nick looked at Bailey and his heart broke. He still had to fight for her, to prove to the courts he was worthy of raising her. Now he’d have to do it alone.