Free Twin Threat Christmas by Rachelle McCalla

the words froze in her throat, her shoulders tensing instinctively to resist the blows.
    She couldn’t speak.
    Eric stomped on the rug behind her as he entered. He voiced her defense, relaying everything just as she’d told him. “Virgil Greenwood, the man in the news broadcast who claimed he discovered the body—he didn’t discover it. He murdered the man. Vanessa drove away to keep the kids safe. She was kidnapped eight years ago by this human-trafficking ring. She has evidence.”
    To Vanessa’s relief, Perez didn’t look overly skeptical at the news. Instead his eyebrows went up in a curious, open expression as he reached for the CPU.
    “We’d like to see the evidence.” He held out his hands, his expression guarded, cautious.
    Would he really believe them? Vanessa didn’t have time to worry about it. If Virgil and his men were on their way, she had to earn the trust of the police quickly.
    As Vanessa handed over the CPU, the officer told her, “I remember when you went missing. I always thought, with you working at a restaurant near the interstate, somebody probably took you and drove away. Debbi, the woman who was here with the girls, filled us in a little on your story.”
    “And my girls are—”
    “They’re with child protective services. They’re trained in helping kids in difficult times. They’re safe.”
    Vanessa tried to smile, to show her appreciation that he was willing to hear her side of the story and maybe even help, but at the same time, it was so hard hearing that her daughters were in protective custody. Would she get them back? Only if she could prove her innocence.
    But first, the deputy had another question. “According to the news report, you also have a son. Where is he?”
    “I left him with my twin sister, Alyssa.”
    The officer nodded, looking down at the CPU in his hands as though trying to decide what to do with it.
    Eric stepped past him. “We can hook that up to my laptop. Just let me grab it.” He bounded up the stairs two at a time.
    “We need to hurry,” Vanessa explained. “The men who killed Jeff are on their way here—that’s why I needed to get the girls to safety.”
    “How do you know they’re coming here?”
    While Eric connected the CPU to the laptop, Vanessa explained briefly about what she’d overheard, including her suspicions about the real head of the monster. “Virgil Greenwood may have pulled the trigger, but he’s not the head of the crime ring.”
    “Do you know who is?” The female deputy had been hovering, listening to Vanessa’s story.
    “It’s a man.” Vanessa explained what she knew. “I’ve heard his voice. I recognize it but can’t quite place it.”
    Eric finished connecting the computers and now held out his phone and the download cable. “I saw the man and took a couple of pictures, but it was dark out. I don’t know what we’ll get.”
    “Let’s see them.”
    Eric connected the phone to the laptop.
    Vanessa watched him work, her heart swelling with gratitude for all Eric had done to help her—especially his willingness to take her side and explain things when words failed her. After everything Jeff had put her through, her heart warred against the thought of trusting anyone, especially a man. But Eric was so completely different from Jeff.
    Years before, she’d wished Eric cared for her the way she cared for him. But maybe he had. Maybe he still did. At the thought, her heart yearned with a depth of longing that surprised her. Did she want Eric to care for her? On the one hand, all she’d been through with Jeff made her wary. But Eric was so very different from Jeff. Helpful instead of hurtful. Tender instead of terrifying. He was everything she’d longed for all these years, everything Jeff wasn’t.
    There wasn’t time to dwell on the difference. The pictures started uploading from the camera on Eric’s phone. One blurry image filled the screen, then another, the outlined figures of men smeared across the