Secret Delivery. Delores Fossen

declared insane. For the past eight months you’ve been confined to a private mental institution.”

       Chapter Four

      Alana didn’t have much color in her cheeks, but Jack’s announcement drained what little she did have. She swallowed hard and eased her head back onto the pillow. Her eyelids fluttered down.

      She looked beaten and overwhelmed.

      Jack knew exactly how she felt.

      For eight months, he’d dreaded Alana’s return, but with each passing day, it’d been easier and easier for him to convince himself that she wouldn’t come back. That she wouldn’t fall back into his life and try to claim Joey.

      Yet here she was. A force to be reckoned with. A woman to fear. He should be bracing himself to do battle. But unfortunately, like her he was feeling overwhelmed himself. And empathy was starting to creep into this equation. But that wasn’t the only problem.

      There was this physical pull he had for her.

      He was sure those two emotions were connected. That, and the fact that Alana was attractive. It would have been hard not to notice that about her. But empathy and attraction could cause him to lose focus. That, in turn, could cause him to lose Joey.

      “So now I’m crazy,” she mumbled. Alana chuckled, but there was no humor in it. She opened her eyes and blinked back tears. “I’m not crazy, Jack. I’m not.”

      He didn’t want to offer an opinion on that. Instead, it was best to go ahead and put everything out in the open. “There was a court order committing you to the institution.”

      Her gaze slashed to his, and she swiped the tears from her face. “I want to see it.”

      He nodded. “It’s being faxed.” He wanted to see it, as well.

      “And I want to speak to Ted Moore and Margaret Vargas. I want them to explain why they gave me a date rape drug. That’s hardly the medication a reputable institution would dispense to a so-called patient.”

      Jack knew about the drug. Dr. Bartolo had already told him. He wanted to ask that same question himself. In fact, he wanted to ask Ted and Margaret a lot of questions.

      Because something wasn’t adding up.

      More than anything, he needed Alana’s situation to make sense. If she was legally insane, then he could send her back to an institution. She wouldn’t be able to take Joey. He didn’t relish the thought of Alana being crazy, but he was desperate to hang on to his son.

      But as a lawman, he also needed the truth.

      He cursed himself. This need for justice had been an obsession most of his life, and it’d had devastating consequences. His own father was in prison because of it, and while most would say that the man deserved to be behind bars, Jack would always remember that it was his testimony that had turned the key to his father’s prison cell.

      “Margaret was the one who had the authorities put out an APB on you,” Jack explained. “She’s also the one who’ll be faxing the court order.”

      She stared up at the ceiling, and her mouth tightened. “Let me guess. My brother initiated that court order? He’s the one who had me sent to that place.”

      “I’m not sure.” But it was a darn good guess. When Jack had met Sean eight months earlier, the man had made it crystal clear that he didn’t want Alana raising Joey. Sean thought she was not “emotionally equipped” to be a single parent. Still, it seemed extreme that Sean would have his sister committed. Unless he truly thought she was insane. Then, Sean might have wanted to hide her away so she wouldn’t be a liability to their business and so she could discretely get some help.

      “Margaret didn’t know where Ted was,” Jack added. “She said she hasn’t seen him since last night when he went after you.”

      “Well, I know where he was. He was in that alley. He tried to hurt me.”

      Jack didn’t dispute that. But he was sure, though, that his body language was suggesting some doubt. “See, that’s one of the things that doesn’t add up. The APB was out there. Plus, you were right next to a sheriff’s office. If it’d been Ted in that alley, he would have just walked inside and asked me for assistance.” He paused. “And I would have given it to him.”

      “So, who do you think it was in the alley?” she demanded.

      A hallucination caused by the fever and the drugs already in her system. Except Jack had seen that car with the mud-smeared plates. Still, a strange car didn’t mean this Ted had tried to grab her.

      “If Ted had come to apprehend you, why would he have run?” Jack asked. “He had a court order to keep you confined. The law was on his side, not yours.”

      Another punch of frustration rushed through her eyes. “Maybe that court order isn’t worth the paper it’s being faxed on.”

      “Maybe. That’s one of the things I might be able to determine when I see the document.”

      And when he questioned Ted and Margaret. Whenever that would be. The woman hadn’t exactly volunteered to come to Willow Ridge, which meant Jack would have to make a trip to the Sauder Mental Health Facility about an hour’s drive away. Margaret hadn’t been chatty about the exact location, claiming that the place was private to prevent the media from finding it and the occasional famous patients who entered the facility for drug rehab.

      Margaret’s explanation had made him even more uneasy. But he couldn’t go until he had things stabilized with Alana. Fortunately, he’d already gotten Ted and Margaret’s photos from the online database of drivers’ licenses, and he’d run computer checks. Neither had criminal records, but Jack had asked his deputy to do a little digging to see if anything flagged.

      “When the fax arrives,” Alana continued, “I want you to read that court order word for word. I’ll do the same. But first, I’ll have to battle my brother.” She lifted her head from the pillow again, and this time she pushed his hand away when he tried to stop her. “I need some clothes. I don’t want Sean to see me like this. I’m sure I look frail and weak. It’ll only give him more ammunition to try to have me recommitted.”

      Jack couldn’t argue with that, but Alana wasn’t ready to be up and moving around. Still, he didn’t stop her. “I can’t guarantee the doctor will let you leave the hospital, but I’ll see what I can do about getting you something else to wear.”

      She’d gathered up the blanket to drape around her. Her gaze met his. “Thank you.”

      He didn’t want her thanks. He didn’t want empathy. He didn’t want to feel that she was getting railroaded.

      But he did.

      Damn it. He did.

      Jack stepped outside the room, and welcomed the moment he had to himself. He didn’t usually have trouble being objective, especially since Alana was officially part of an investigation now. But she was also a huge threat to his happiness. That was coloring his objectivity.

      When he spotted Sara Murphy, a nurse and a woman he’d known his entire life, he walked up the hall to her. “Could you possibly scrounge up some street clothes for the patient?” Jack hitched his thumb toward Alana’s door.

      Sara nodded and shifted a pink wad of sugaryscented gum in her mouth so she could answer him. “Sure will.” She volleyed her doe-brown eyes between Jack and the door. “I heard what’s going on, and I’m sorry. She’s here to try to take little Joey, isn’t she?”

      Jack settled for saying, “It’s complicated.”

      “Not so complicated. You love that boy. Everybody around here knows that.” Sara patted his arm. “Have you learned anything more about the night she wandered out of the hospital?”

      “No.”