Page 51 of The Paternity Puzzle
Sawyer nodded. “I have reservations too. I trust Mendoza and Rigby to have all our best interests at heart, and I won’t hesitate to step away if necessary.” He propped his elbows on the desk and rested his chin on an upturned palm. “Tell me about your day. Did you make a big arrest?”
“Three of them?”
Sawyer pretended to swoon. “Check you out. What happened?”
“Julia clammed up, but Alyssa and Richard Todd sang like canaries.”
“So what happened?” Sawyer asked.
“According to them, Julia had overheard enough of the conversation between Jean Claude and Richard to know her father was accused of fathering hundreds of kids through his fertility clinic. She didn’t say anything to him about it but quietly seethed with rage. I think she snapped when her father went off on a rampage Saturday morning. She claimed she only wanted to calm him down. She’d seen her mother’s benzodiazepine prescription while snooping in her medicinecabinet and decided they’d do the trick. But he kept bitching, so she kept adding pills, losing track of how many she ground up. The smoothie didn’t help and, in fact, made him more irritable. She gave up and just left the house while her mother was getting ready for the mayor’s party. When Alyssa finished, she suggested Jean Claude drink some scotch and take a swim. She poured him the first drink and left the house without him. Roughly five hours go by, and Jean Claude doesn’t join them, so Julia went home to check on him.
“She freaked out when she found her father in the pool and saw the empty liquor decanter. She called Richard before dialing 911. He left the gathering he’d attended, drove to the mayor’s house, and discreetly pulled Alyssa aside without anyone seeing him. Together, they called Julia back, and they quickly realized what had happened. Richard then instructed her to retrieve the prescription bottle from her mother’s medicine cabinet to make it look like Jean Claude had intentionally overdosed. It would be an easy leap for law enforcement to make, considering the situation. That’s when Richard told us about the conversation he’d had with Jean Claude on Friday afternoon. The doctor denied the allegations, but it was going to be damning to his reputation. A prideful man like him would’ve hated the scrutiny and negative press, making the overdose more believable.” Royce cocked his head to the side. “Richard admitted that he thought their close relationship with the mayor would come in handy, but Barclay supported Rigby’s decision to investigate further. If she’d backed down and taken the evidence at face value, we would’ve probably classified the death as an overdose.”
“Do you believe him?” Sawyer asked.
“I believe he’s telling the truth as far as he knows it. Did Julia intentionally try to kill her father? I can’t say. That will be for DA Babineaux to determine, but I suspect she’ll go withthe involuntary manslaughter because that’s the charge she can prove.”
“You did a good job,” Sawyer said.
“Sloppy criminals help.”
Sawyer shook his head. “So humble.”
Royce snorted. “Hardly. I’ll swagger around when the situation merits it.” He helped himself to another handful of popcorn. “Anything exciting happen around here?”
Sawyer’s brown eyes softened, and a serene expression came over his face. Royce only encountered that look when Sawyer slept peacefully or was blissed-out from sex.
“What did you do?”
Sawyer fidgeted with his tie as his lips curved into a sheepish grin. “I called the clinic and talked to Dr. Flores. I just needed…assurances.”
Royce arched a brow. “And did you get them?”
“I did. I haven’t stopped thinking about what our future is going to look like with our daughter.”
“You’re so sure we’re having a girl.”
The smile that lit up Sawyer’s face was like nothing Royce had ever seen before. “I am.”
“I want to hear all the things you imagined.”
Sawyer lowered his hand and waggled his brows. “Let’s try to sneak out of here early so I can show you.”
Every muscle in Sawyer’s body ached, and sweat ran down him in rivulets. There were workouts, and then there was Pilates. Christ, how had he ever let Kelsey talk him into taking the class with her? He pulled his foot free from the rope handle and curled up into a fetal ball on the padded board they called a carriage. Sawyer was no stranger to working out. He ran, lifted, and stretched his body at least six days a week and had considered himself to be in excellent shape until Kelsey introduced him to the Pilates Reformer. It was a piece of equipment that looked incredibly basic. He’d scoffed at the simple boxed frame, the padded board on sliders, and the attached pulleys or ropes. Kels had shown him how adjusting the tension springs changed the resistance and intensity of the workout. He cranked the tension up because a fit guy like him could handle it easy peasy, right? Wrong! Sawyer lasted five minutes before he curled into a ball and playfully sucked on his thumb.
“The freaking CIA could add this machine to their interrogation tactics. America’s enemies would spill their secrets so fast the agents wouldn’t be able to keep up with the information flow.”
Kelsey giggled on the machine beside him. “Big baby.”
He scowled at his best friend, who looked like a gliding goddess on her carriage. “When you invited me to join you at Pilates, I figured you were trying to get me out of the house so Royce could set up a birthday surprise.”
Kelsey glanced his way long enough to roll her eyes. “Your birthday is tomorrow.”
“I know, but Sundays are sacred in our house. Royce wouldn’t throw a bash and kill our vibe. You must want me dead. It’s the only explanation for this abuse.”
Kelsey lowered her leg and waited until the carriage stopped before removing her foot from the handle. She bent her elbow and propped her head against her fist. “I brought you here to start your conditioning for fatherhood.” They still had seven days before they took their first pregnancy blood test at the clinic, but Kelsey refused to believe the results would be anything but positive.
“Maybe the slight cramping you felt means the IUI wasn’t successful and you’re going to get your period,” Sawyer said.