Page 81 of Love Bomb

“That was an accident,” Bain lied. And Darren was an arsehole for reporting it.

“And this morning, George Dalgliesh rang to say you’d threatened to blow him up.”

“Did he now?” Bain wasn’t surprised. In fact, he was thrilled. It meant Rona’s parents were taking the threat seriously. “Are you going to do anything about his call?”

“Apart from wishing you well? No,” Matt said.

Yeah, the Dalgliesh family hadn’t won any friends during their time in Invertary. Well, none that counted anyway.

“And what about the alleged assault on Darren?” Bain asked.

“He probably deserved it,” Matt said on a sigh.

“That makes three calls,” he told the cop. “If that’s fifty percent of your callouts, you must be bored out of your mind.”

“It’s been a bit slow since Findlay’s cat died,” Matt drawled. “Now that I’m not hunting him down every week, I don’t know what to do with myself. What do you want, Bain?”

Bain stared at the baby. “You know that paternity problem I have at the moment?”

“Aye, a lassie called Sandra something, I don’t know her personally. What of it?”

“I’m worried about her and was hoping you’d check on her.”

“Why’s that?”’

“She left her baby on my doorstep about an hour ago.”

“What the hell?” Matt exploded. “You couldn’t have started with that? I’ll be straight over.” The line went dead.

“Matt’s on his way,” he told his brothers. An icy feeling was clawing at his stomach, and he didn’t like it one bit. “We need to track down the mother. I saw her at the cèilidh the other night and there was something off about her. I’m worried she might harm herself.”

Darach pulled out his laptop and sat at the table beside the baby. “Maybe we can search for her on social media. Do you have a last name?”

Bain shook his head. “The GP might have one. I mean, there’s bound to be a name on the paternity test paperwork, right?” He pulled out his phone again and dialed his doctor.

The doc took a wee bit longer to answer than the police. “This had better be a life-or-death situation because I’m about to start tiling my shower. This is my week off, and the wife has been wanting this done for months now. If it doesn’t happen this week, she’s promised to divorce me. So, what’s the damn emergency?”

“Good morning to you too, Doc,” Bain said. “It’s Bain here. Remember that paternity test I came in to see you about?”

“This doesn’t constitute an emergency,” Doc said. “So, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some tiling to do.”

“Don’t hang up,” Bain said quickly. “The mother just abandoned the baby on our doorstep.”

“She did what?” Doc bellowed.

At least Bain had his full attention now. “Left him here not an hour ago. Matt Donaldson is on his way over, but I’m worried about the mother.”

“If she left her baby with you then I’d be bloody terrified for her,” Doc said.

“The point is,” Bain said. “I need you to check the test and tell me if her last name is on the paperwork. We’re trying to find her.”

“You don’t know the last name of the woman you slept with?” Doc was disgusted. “Isn’t it about time you grew up?”

“I don’t know it because I never slept with her.” Bain was beginning to get pissed. “Could you look at the paperwork and help me out here?”

There was a heavy sigh. “Gimme a minute. I need to go down to the office to bring up the file.”

Bain listened as he shouted to his wife while he walked through his house. “I’m going to be a bit late starting the tiling, love. Bain’s latest paternity case has gone belly up. The woman dumped the baby on his doorstep.”