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Joe closed his eyes a moment and muttered some profanity.
“You know Ari?” Presley added.
“I know of him. Just because Victoria and I haven’t stayed in touch, it doesn’t mean I haven’t…checked on her. Never in person,” he insisted. “But through social media and gossip. Ari’s ruthless. A lot like his father.”
Billie couldn’t argue with that, and she nearly came out and asked if Joe believed Ari could have teamed up with his stepsons, but Presley spoke first.
“Victoria said when she gave birth that Jesep came and took Olivia. Who came and got me?”
“Jesep,” he said without hesitation. “He took both of you.” His face tightened, and she saw the anger flash through his eyes. “You were both so little that you fit into one baby carrier, and he left the hospital with you. Without the doctor’s permission,” he added. “I mean, Olivia and you were preemies. Four and a half pounds each. You should have stayed in the hospital at least a couple more days.”
“You didn’t try to stop him?” Presley asked.
Now, the shame came, overshadowing the anger. “I couldn’t,” Joe muttered. “I was a kid. Sixteen. And Jesep was friends with Victoria’s father, who’d already threatened to kill me. I didn’t stop Jesep because Markham said if I tried, he’d kill Victoria.”
“Shit,” Presley snapped, and he followed with a loud groan.
“Yes, I said that and worse many times that night. I stood there and watched that sonofabitch walk out with Victoria and my children, and there was nothing I could do about it.” Joe paused and seemed to be fighting for his composure.
“Jesep didn’t take me to a friend to be adopted,” Presley stated. He was no doubt fighting for composure, too. “Someone ended up leaving me at a fire station.”
The shock, followed by the outrage, flared over Joe’s entire face. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He shoved away from the table, and, pressing both of his hands to the sides of his head, he let out a string of vicious profanity.
“I didn’t know,” he muttered. “I didn’t know.” He turned away from them, and it was well over a minute before he looked at them again. “A fire station?” Joe questioned. “Which one?”
Judging from his expression, it wasn’t a question Presley had expected. “The one on Saddle Creek Road a couple of miles outside of San Antonio.”
Joe cursed again, but this time it was a quiet murmur. “My father worked there. He was a fireman. And it’s where Victoria and I met sometimes.”
Sweet heaven.That didn’t sound like a coincidence to Billie.
“Did Jesep know your father worked there?” Presley asked.
“Maybe, but even if he did, he wouldn’t have left a note for my dad, saying here’s your grandson.”
No, he wouldn’t have because that would have gotten Joe’s father asking questions. Why had Jesep done it then? Had it been some kind of warped act of goodwill, leaving Presley in the hands of kin? Or had the fire station merely been a convenient location because it hadn’t been in the heart of the city?
“Jesep,” Joe spat out like profanity. “Why the hell couldn’t Ellis and Craig have kidnapped that asshole? Why not him instead of Victoria?”
“Good questions,” Presley remarked. There was a cool edge to his tone, but Billie figured it was masking a whole lot of anger and shock. “Maybe because Ari and Jesep were calling the shots?” He paused. “But there’s someone else. A woman named Hattie Sinclair. She could have had Victoria taken to punish Billie and me.”
“Hattie’s sister was killed on our watch when we were cops,” Billie supplied.
Joe stared at them for a long time. “So, it might not be Jesep or Ari.”
“It might not be,” Presley confirmed. “That’s why we’re here. We need answers, and since Craig and Ellis are dead, we can’t get those answers from them.”
“And you think I can help?” Joe asked. “How?”
“We haven’t been able to find out where your stepsons held Victoria,” Presley explained. “If we know the location, we can search it to see if they left any evidence behind.”
Joe was shaking his head before Presley even finished. “I have no idea where they’d hold her. Neither of them own any property that I know of.”
“How about property you or another family member owns?” Billie pressed. “Some place private where they wouldn’t easily be seen or detected?”
He was still shaking his head but then stopped. Cursed. “The Saddle Creek Road fire station,” Joe muttered.
“What about it?” Presley asked.
