“Woman, what are we gonna do with you?”
Rosemary looked up at him with love obvious in her gaze and shrugged. “I dunno. You’ll figure it out.”
EMTs arrived on the scene, and one of them approached Grace and her men. At his direction and her men’s insistence, she allowed them to lead her to a chair that must’ve been brought from one of the offices. She sat down and allowed him to check her vitals. She made eye contact with Summer and rolled her eyes but then nodded at one of her men and kissed him when he leaned down to whisper in her ear.
Ace and Patrick Owen rejoined their group as well, and Summer turned curiously and watched as Elizabeth Owen was escorted by Hank Stinson from the store.
Patrick Jr. went happily into his daddy’s arms, which gave Kemp and Ace the opportunity to hug Summer again. Patrick hugged his son and said, “Who’s my buggabear?” Emotion clogged Summer’s throat at the turmoil she saw in Patrick Sr.’s eyes. He’d just discovered that the son he loved wasn’t biologically his.
The toddler playfully replied, “I yer boogerbear!”
Patrick Sr. turned to Ace and said, “I’m going to take him home now. We both need a little quiet time. I’ll be around the house whenever you want to come by.” Holding out his hand, he said, “Thank you, Mr. Webster. It’s a helluva lot to take in at once. I’m sorry for what Elizabeth and Paggs did to you and your friends. I promise you can have full access to her laptop to take down the blogsite if you need it.”
Ace looked down as if he were listening to something and then said, “Thanks, but it’s already been handled. The laptop was sitting on the front seat of her car. Hope you don’t mind.” He left unsaid that her car had been opened and the laptop confiscated, at least temporarily. Patrick shrugged as if it was of little concern.
“I knew she was unhappy, but I attributed it to baby blues and exhaustion from chasing Patrick. He’s a handful as you can tell.”
Ace nodded and said, “I’ll make sure the laptop is returned. The police will want to take a look at it. Our only concern is the defaming materials she’s posted on the Internet. Any evidence won’t be tampered with. Can I talk to you privately?”
The two men stepped away a few feet and spoke briefly. Patrick shook his head and hugged his son. He seemed sadder. They returned, and he thanked the girls for their part in saving his son, shook Ace and Kemp’s hands, and then left.
Summer raised an inquiring brow, and Ace softly said, “I told him our main concern was the injury Elizabeth and Paggs had caused you girls and that we would’ve been happy to leave the authorities out of it if the harassment stopped. With Paggs’s confession, it’s gone too far for that. He’s pointing the finger at her for dragging him into this. I told him the last thing we wanted was to drag his family through the media. He said he’d deal with whatever came his way. His main worry right now is retaining custody of his son. I feel for him. His wife and her lover have made quite a mess. We’re going to help him.”
“Did you know the baby belonged to Paggs?”
Ace nodded. “Duke had a feeling there was a link between these two seemingly innocuous people all along. He caught her sneaking out of Paggs’s house one evening and knew they had to be up to something together. Duke was the first one to notice the family resemblance. He got creative in obtaining DNA samples.”
Summer asked, “How creative?”
Ace replied, “It involved Dumpster diving and a new pair of shoes and clothes for Duke. He went above and beyond the call of duty, even for him.”
“Dumpster diving? Ew. Say no more.”
Ace laughed at her expression and continued, “So Duke had the tests run and proved without question little Patrick’s paternity.”
“What will he do about his little boy?”
Ace shook his head and bit his lips thoughtfully. “I don’t know, but I’m going to take the laptop back to him in a few minutes and visit with him about it. He obviously loves that little boy. He said Elizabeth’s family might be a problem.”
“How can you help?”
“Do a little digging. Same as we did for Teresa Martinez when she was concerned about the same sorts of issues with Michael.”
Summer had heard this story and nodded, remembering Teresa telling her that Ace and Kemp had been very persuasive and that she’d not heard a word from Michael’s monstrous grandparents since.
A police officer approached them and said, “Excuse me, Ms. Heston? I need to take your statement if you don’t mind.”
It was one of the officers who had been caring for Leah earlier, and Summer made a mental note to check in on Leah and get the scoop about her two attentive policemen.