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"So, the last time you saw your daughter was earlier this evening?"
"Late this afternoon," Adam corrected. "Between four-thirty and five o'clock." He raked his hand through his long blond hair and sighed uneasily as he watched the police officer jot down some notes. His gaze then swung over to Amy. The redhead was seated nearby, eerily silent, her arms wrapped around herself. Somehow, the Canadian knew that once the cop left, she would again go into hysterics. She'd been absolutely frantic a short while earlier. He feared that, by now, she was in shock and that *couldn't* be good for the baby.
"How are you so sure this Hardy took your daughter?" the officer asked. "You know how small children are - she could have just wandered off by herself."
"Mandy *knows* not to go off by herself."
They both looked sharply toward the redhead, her words containing an angry bite.
"It was just a suggestion," Officer Michael Warner said.
"My daughter doesn't *do* that," Amy reiterated. "She *knows* better."
Adam nodded his agreement. Although he still had yet to know his daughter for even a year, he knew Mandy wouldn't wander off by herself. She knew she was supposed to only go places with an adult, preferably her mommy or daddy. And Trish had been watching her at the time of her disappearance, so if the blonde had told her to stay put, she would have obeyed.
"Hardy took her all right," he snapped, his hands reflexively clenching into fists. "And if you want to know *why* he would take her, well, simple... The guy's been bitter and vengeful ever since my wife and I got together. I don't want to bore you with our personal details, but in a nutshell, she left him for me, and ever since then, he's had a personal vendetta against us."
"And you think he kidnapped Mandy to get revenge?"
Adam refrained from showing the annoyance and impatience he felt toward the policeman. He knew this had to sound strange to an outsider.
"Yes, I do," he replied.
"That may not be the only reason," Amy spoke up, and the two men's gazes again shifted her way. "Matt basically raised her with me since she was a baby..." She swallowed hard, her heart breaking at the pained expression she read in her husband's eyes at her words. "... It's possible that his motivation *is* a combination of both."
The officer wrote down some more things, then nodded.
"All right, then," he said, "I know it's really pointless of me to say, but try not to worry. We'll get your little girl back to you."
Adam bit his tongue, again refraining from saying what he was thinking - that regardless of police efforts, he would do everything in his power to get Mandy back himself - including ending that bastard Hardy.
As soon as the officer was gone, silence reigned supreme as the couple were lost in their own thoughts. The tall blond man had the urge to smash something - or smash his fist through something. He held back, however, as he didn't want to upset his wife any more than she already was.
Amy's head was down, her eyes again filling with tears. It was well past Mandy's usual dinnertime, and she knew the little girl had to be miserable. She doubted that Matt would be treating her like a little princess. After all, he furious with her parents, so the pregnant redhead could easily see her ex taking it out on the little girl.
"She must be so hungry," she murmured. She felt the tears trickling their way down her cheeks, and tasted their hot saltiness as they reached the corners of her mouth. She sniffled. "My poor, poor baby."
"Ames... We're going to get her back," the tall blond man promised. He was amazed at how calm he was remaining. He went to her, lowering to sit beside her on the couch as he gathered her into his embrace.
The redhead clung to him as she sobbed softly.