Page 4 of Deadly Lies

“He’s a fucking basket case as expected.”

My heart ached for Mitch. After I had accused Mitch of raping me, I had learned to see Mitch in a new light. He had been open and honest with me. And he stuck by me and protected me even when Grant was still treating me like shit. Mitch may have once been a jackass—hell, he was still a jackass—but deep down, he was a good man. A loyal friend. A great SEAL. And a loving dad.

“Yeah, I bet. The not knowing is the worst part. When I thought my baby had died, I was destroyed, but in time, I had made peace with his death. But once I found out he was alive, and Lorraine had vanished with him, I learned a depth of pain that I had never experienced before. The pain of not knowing where he was, if he was safe if he was being hurt. So many horrific thoughts had raced through my head. I just can’t believe this is happening to Mitch also.”

“I know. In a way, this is worse than what happened with Julián. I didn’t even know he existed before I knew he was missing.” Grant’s words cut me. Yes, I knew I hadn’t told him that I had a son, a son that could’ve been his. But luckily, through intensive therapy and open communication, Grant and I had worked through our problems. I truly believe he forgave me. And better yet, he understood why I had not told him.

“I agree. It is worse. And Mitch blames himself because he was there. I was drugged up in the hospital when our son was taken.” I looked over at Ashley, who was staring at me. “Babe, I should go. Love you.”

“Love you.”

I hung up the phone. Ash gave me an inquisitive glance. I answered her look with a shake of my head.

No words.

No leads.

No progress on Sienna.

After another hour or so, Ash and I arrived at April’s house.

I was sure the FBI would be here soon. I didn’t want to destroy any evidence.

“What are we looking for?”

Ash shrugged. “Everything. Nothing. Anything.”

Well then. Now that we got that out of the way.

“I’ll start with the photo albums.” I grabbed an older one on a shelf. The binding was similar to the one I had found at Paul’s parents’ home, the night I found a picture of my father in it. A picture where he was with Ash’s father. Could I really be her sister? I strongly doubted that. We didn’t look alike at all. I guess I would await the DNA test. Note to self: I needed to mail them tomorrow.

I sat on the sofa and thumbed through the album. Typical stuff: pictures of Sam and Sienna as babies; pictures of April, Sam, and Sienna, traveling together. There were almost no pictures of Mitch, which I found a bit strange. But their divorce was bitter, so it was understandable if she didn’t include them in a family album.

I grabbed another album; this one was of April’s childhood. She seemed to have a normal upbringing filled with ballet recitals and piano lessons.

I studied a family portrait of her with her parents and baby brother. They were dressed up and smiling.

But one thing struck me as odd.

April had blonde hair and blue eyes. Her parents both had dark hair, eyes, and skin. She didn’t look like either of them. Or her brother.

My breath hitched. This meant nothing. Nothing at all. She was probably adopted. People adopted children all the time.

But I couldn’t ignore the feeling in my gut that somehow, someway, this could be related to Sienna.

The motherfucker who had taken Sienna and given her to that man said that she had called the man Grandpa.

And Sam had also said that he’d seen this same grandpa at Disneyland.

So, who the hell was this guy?

Maybe he was, in fact, Sienna’s grandpa.

I wanted to be sure I was on to something before I jumped to another conclusion.

I took the picture out, placed the album down, and went into the kitchen. The pantry was bare. Even though April was in the hospital, I found that odd. She had two young children; my pantry was always stuffed with snacks. Had April intended to overdose? I could only speculate.

I needed to clear my mind. Think. I was so consumed with Joaquín that I couldn’t focus. I closed my eyes and did a quick meditation.