Page 100 of The Cowboy and the Baby

I understood her point. Noah strode that fine line between truth and arrogance by simply waiting for the conversation to unfold, neither encouraging nor chastising her. There was something about his smile that gave me a little hope.

Cora turned back to the computer.

“A challenge, indeed,” he said.

Cora spread both hands out, asking an unstated question. Noah lifted a hand to his mouth, tapped a finger against his upper lip. His endless umber eyes had narrowed for a moment. The other hand worked a control or a mouse, because his gaze darted around and off to the side.

“What are your parents’ names, address, phone numbers, Miss Noelle?”

I rattled the information off, filled with my own questions. What was he going to do? How could he possibly help while they plunged into the Wyoming mountains? Yes, they were likely heading home to Chicago, but that could take days while riding with an infant. Mom might be holding Lily in her lap in the car for now, but eventually they’d have to find civilization and buy formula, diapers, and a car seat.

Right?

The clack of his keyboard filled the space. “Would your parents use a map app?”

“Uh, yes? My Dad uses the one on his Android.”

“Good. How about emails?”

“Sure.”

“Text messages?”

“Definitely. Dad is glued to his phone.”

“Do your parents have shared accounts? Such as a password application on both their phones sharing the same account?”

“Probably? I don’t really know.” A hint of color rose to my cheeks when I admitted, “Despite working for my Dad, I don’t have much contact with my parents. Not anymore. Even when I did . . . I . . . I’m not sure I could tell you much about their day-to-day lives.”

I looked to Cora, who reached over, gave my hand a squeeze, and smiled. Noah cleared his throat. His broad shoulders smoothed down as he repositioned his stance.

“So,” he said carefully, both hands on the keyboard. “I’m not tracking the phone directly. While I probably could, it’s extremely difficult, shady, and would create problems you don’t want to deal with now, or later. Plus, it would take too much time. Instead, I’m doing a reverse lookup of their phone numbers to determine their mobile carriers. We may be able to track their actions.”

He could do that?

The smooth cadence of his voice was soothing, but not as much as the confidence behind his words. He hummed, his lips tilted down as he whispered, “Yes, good. All right, Miss Noelle, I have a few things verified. Now, what I’m going to do is look for digital breadcrumbs.”

“What’s that mean?” I rasped.

He chuckled. “I’m pulling recent location-tagged activity. If they used a map app, text messages, pings, that sort of thing. I’m looking for anything that leaves a location trail: navigation, searches, messages. It’s not a direct hack into their phone or anything. It’s much simpler. If they used navigation, checked weather, anything tied to location, I can usually find a trace.”

My mouth dropped.

He didn’t look at the camera for long, and I could tell his focus remained on the screen. “I can. Most can’t. But this is a bit messy and I need to narrow it down. Give me a bit.”

The words he spoke sounded like another language, and I didn’t have the wherewithal to ask what it meant. I didn’t need to know, anyway. Noah seemed to have this well in hand, and Cora’s eyes widened a little more with each passing comment from Noah.

Minutes passed like hours. I didn’t know how long I fidgeted with my sleeve, kept an eye on my phone screen, and tried not to think about Lily crying, scared, alone. There was minimal comfort knowing Mom probably held her while Dad drove.

After a while, Cora whispered, “Noah is the best of the best, and he’s helped Hawk out before. If anyone can get a better idea of where your parents went, it’s him. At least it may help us verify whether they went on paved roads or not, right?”

“Do me a favor?” Noah called.

“Anything.”

“Call one of them, and let’s see if they answer. Sometimes people check their phone, open apps, or respond to a notification. Those little steps create a new timestamp that I might be able to access. Or try texting them. Any of it.”

I had my phone out in moments, and dialed my father. He didn’t answer, but it only rang once. At voicemail, I hung up.