Read Online Born To Be Wild by Patricia Rosemoor - Free Book Online Page A

man to pursue, and that the guy hadn’t done anything horrific to their little girl.
    …
    Tim Whitley lived in a housing development of small adobes with little to no landscaping. Micah and Isabel sat in the truck, parked a short distance back from Ochoa. The squad car was on the other side of the street. The detective had already tried the front door with no response. He came over to their vehicle.
    “I should have known you’d follow me, Mr. Wild.” He checked his watch. “You ought to go home. It might be a while. No doubt Whitley is still at work.”
    “We’ll wait,” Micah said, unwilling to leave now.
    “When he comes home, you two stay back. That’s an order.”
    “What if Lucy’s inside now?” Isabel asked. “Can’t you go in and find out?”
    “Not unless we hear her screaming for help. Need a warrant otherwise. No judge is going to give us one on what we have. We need something more substantial. I’m going to have my men talk to the neighbors, see if they can get someone who’s seen or heard something that will help us.”
    Ochoa crossed over to the squad car and signaled for the uniformed officers to get out. “Canvass the block, both sides of the street,” he ordered. “Ask neighbors if they saw the girl, any suspicious characters, or anyone else around Mr. Whitley’s house or car.”
    The officers did as he commanded.
    Though he didn’t say so, Micah felt in his gut that questioning any locals who happened to be home would be futile. He knew people saw things happening every day that didn’t register. Sam Donovan had been the exception.
    Micah gripped the steering wheel with both hands. He wanted to punch something, to expend some of the anxiety building in him. He looked over at Isabel. Her stricken expression twisted his heart.
    “Hey, Isabel, this is just a delay, that’s all. You can’t give up hope.”
    “I’m not.” She swallowed hard. “I’m just so worried.”
    He sat back, reached over, and took her hand in his. They might not be together in their everyday lives, but they were together in this. He could only hope that they would be together in things more often when this crisis was over.
    More than that… Well, he knew he would be dreaming.
    The minutes ticked by slowly. He kept himself occupied watching the uniformed officers canvass the neighborhood. Only a few times did they find anyone home.
    When Micah thought he couldn’t stand the waiting any more, a car finally pulled into the side drive of Whitley’s house. A black compact. It registered on Micah that while this car was the right color, it was nothing like the sleek vehicle that Sam Donovan had described. No cross on the fender, either. He must have another car, then. Where was it?
    Whitley, a thin man whose balding head was peeling from too much sun, got out of his car.
    Micah said, “Let’s go.”
    He and Isabel left the truck.
    After signaling one of the uniformed men to keep Micah and Isabel back, Ochoa stopped Whitley and started questioning him.
    The man’s expression was outraged. “A stolen kid? I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!”
    Micah wanted to shake the whereabouts of his daughter out of the man. Not that he dared, with the uniformed officer now standing between them and the man in question.
    “We have a witness, Mr. Whitley,” the detective said. “The witness claims he saw Lucy Falcon yesterday afternoon in a car with plates registered to you.”
    “Then he’s lying!”
    “Please let us have our daughter back!” Isabel pleaded from where they’d been forced to wait.
    Micah put an arm around her. She leaned into him and clung to him for support.
    “I was at work yesterday afternoon,” Whitley said. “If you don’t believe me, call my supervisor.”
    “Your supervisor was with you every moment?” Ochoa asked.
    “Well, no, but—”
    “Where’s the other car?” Micah demanded. He let go of Isabel and tried to step closer to Whitley, but the uniformed officer