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under. I tried to keep my smile under wraps. I loved watching him in action—even if I did usually have to clean up his messes afterwards.
    Before Matt could open his mouth and say something else stupid I said, “Listen, this is a very emotional issue for you both all the way around, we get that. But your child’s safety is at stake here, and we are genuinely concerned about her. But as Blake has said, we can’t do our job with only half of the information. We will keep your private life confidential. The only people we will talk about it with—other than the two of you—are the police.”
    Matt brought his eyes back up to Blake’s face and said, “Her name is Belinda Garner. I will text you her address and phone number as soon as I get up to my office.”
                  “Thank you,” Blake said. He was the only person in the world that I knew that could issue a thank you and make it sound more like an “F” you.
                  The Bransons left the room separately. I was glad that I wouldn’t have to be any part of what was probably going to happen between them tonight. Knowing how Celia came into the world explained Julia’s lack of maternal warmth. I didn’t know if that excused it or not, but since I didn’t know anything about marriage or having a child, I would do my best to reserve judgement on that one.
                  “You good to stay?” Blake asked. It was after three in the morning. I was sure Blake wouldn’t be sleeping at all today. He’d head into the office and start a background on Belinda Garner as soon as he left here.
                  “I’m good,” I told him. “You go home and get some rest.”
                  “I think I’ll stop by the office and see if I can find anything on this girl first.” I tried not to roll my eyes. I knew a lot of my buddies from the service with severe PTSD. They hated to go to bed at night because all they had to look forward to were nightmares. I had a fair amount of bad nights myself. I wondered if that was Blake’s problem. I wished like hell he’d talk to me about it. I knew it wouldn’t do any good to argue with him either way.
                  “Okay, man. By the way, Granny wants you to stop by and see her when you have time.”
                  That got another one of his rare smiles. Granny has that effect on everyone who knows her. “I just might do that,” he said as he left.

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    RYDER
     
                  “Alicia, do you know the circumstances of Celia’s birth?” A few hours later, after I’d spoken with the police and Vince and the property had been searched once more, I found Alicia feeding the baby her breakfast in the kitchen. I’m not sure what was in the bowl she was spooning into the baby’s mouth, but it looked almost identical to the goo that was in her diaper the day before. Maybe we'd found the problem. Alicia glanced nervously at me and then back at the baby. She smiled at Celia, and once again I was jealous of a six month old. When she looked back at me, she wasn’t smiling.
                  “I can’t talk about it. I hope you understand. I never should have said anything before. Mr. Branson is going to be so angry. I signed a confidentiality agreement. I was never supposed to talk about it. I can lose my job. If I lose my job, I will be deported. I’m here on a visa.” She sounded like she was about to panic, and I felt badly about pushing her, but I didn’t stop.
                  “You’re not going to lose your job.”
                  “You can’t guarantee me that,” she said. She was right. Knowing Branson, he probably would fire her. I would do everything I could to prevent that, but I couldn’t guarantee it—just as I’d found out when I spoke to Vince Carter that I wouldn’t be able to do much for the young security officer from the night before.