Free Wild Stallion by Delores Fossen Page B

have been faked.” Bailey slid her gaze to Shannon. “And someone who works in a hospital would have known how to fake them.”
    That brought Shannon to her feet for another round of denial. Ryan got in on it as well.
    “Quiet!” Jackson ordered. It wasn’t a shout. It didn’t have to be. Jackson had a way of commanding attention. “I want to talk to the birth mother.”
    Ryan was shaking his head before Jackson even finished. “Impossible. Evan has already tried and failed. She demanded a closed adoption, and you agreed. That was all part of the deal.”
    “Renegotiate the deal,” Jackson insisted. “Offer her more compensation. All I want is a simple conversation.”
    Ryan glared at Bailey as if she were the cause of this demand. And she was. But Jackson seemed to be on a quest for the truth as well. Was that because he believed Caden wasn’t her son and therefore she wasn’t a threat to the adoption?
    “I’ll make some calls,” Ryan finally conceded. “I’ll see what I can do.”
    Jackson didn’t thank the man, but instead looked at Shannon. “And as for you, I’d like you to take a lie-detector test.”
    Shannon looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “SAPD gave me one and I passed.”
    “Then you shouldn’t mind taking another. I have a friend who teaches at the FBI Academy in Quantico. He’s a truth analyst, and he uses some cutting-edge technology that’s several steps beyond the normal lie detector.”
    Bailey examined Shannon’s expression. The woman seemed even more uncomfortable than she had when she first arrived, but then maybe anyone would be in her position. Bailey so wanted it to be Shannon who had taken the child, because Shannon was here, right in front of them, and if she confessed, then it could all be over. She would know what had happened when the mystery woman walked out of the hospital with her newborn son.
    But Shannon didn’t appear to be on the verge of confessing anything.
    “All right,” Shannon told Jackson. “Schedule the lie-detector test and I’ll take it.”
    Bailey was both surprised and relieved, though agreeing to the test was one thing. Taking it was something else.
    “Will you help me clear my name?” Shannon said, and it took Bailey a moment to realize that the woman was talking to her and not Jackson.
    “I’m doing everything to find my son,” Bailey told her. “And if finding him helps clear your name, then of course I’ll help. But if you’re guilty, if you are the one who took him, I want you to tell me now.”
    “I didn’t take him.” Tears sprang to the woman’s eyes. “I swear I didn’t.”
    Ryan couldn’t have looked more disinterested about Shannon’s emotional response. He checked his watch and glanced impatiently at his car. “I need to get back to my office and contact the birth mother.”
    “Or you could give me her number and I’ll contact her myself,” Jackson offered.
    “I don’t have her number, only her attorney’s. Since it’s the holidays, it might take me a while to reach her. She’s likely on break from her college classes.”
    “You’ll find her,” Jackson said with complete certainty, and in such a way that it sounded like a threat.
    Ryan didn’t miss the undertone. The attorney’s jaw tightened again, and he motioned for Shannon to follow him.
    “I’m innocent,” Shannon insisted one more time before she left with Ryan.
    Jackson and Bailey stood there and watched them drive away. Steven followed behind them in his truck, probably to make sure they left the grounds.
    “Well?” Jackson asked. “Did you believe everything they said?”
    “I’m not sure. You?”
    “I never believe anyone until I have proof.”
    “You believed me,” she reminded him.
    That brought his gaze to hers. And he nodded. “I believe your son is missing. I believe someone wants to harm you. I believe you’re searching for the truth.”
    “And if I find the truth?” she asked cautiously.
    “The truth doesn’t