Page 10 of Off Limits Daddy

"I hope that you’ll be able to keep me informed of how Aiden is doing."

I gave her a noncommittal smile and headed out of my supervisor's office.

Back in my office, I reviewed the paper she’d given me. Duncan Ashworth was a forty-nine-year-old single man who was part-owner of a gym franchise. Strangely enough, it was the franchise that owned the gym that I had been to just a few weeks ago when I'd had my hookup with Mr. Ginormous.

Eileen Cannon stepped up to my desk. "Is there anything I can help you with? Matthews told me you might want some help?" Eileen offered administrative support, but she was also good at running down leads and finding information.

"I need to find Duncan Ashworth." I slid the paper across to her. “Do you mind figuring out where he is and maybe making an appointment? Any time he can meet with me, I’ll make myself available."

She took the paper from me. "Sure. Anything else?"

I shook my head. "No, thank you.”

She left my desk, and I jotted down everything that the social worker had said and began to put the pieces together in the way I thought that they would fit. As far as I was concerned, all signs pointed to Wally Creighton murdering Donovan and Darcy, andmaybe even Liam Quinlan five years ago. And it was possible that little Aiden Brennan was a witness.

Twenty minutes later, Eileen returned. "Everywhere I called, Ashworth wasn't there. I didn’t leave messages. I wasn't sure if you wanted him to know the FBI was looking for him."

I nodded. "I'll go out and look for him. Thank you, Eileen."

I’d planned to head out right then, but before I could, I was called into a meeting with the Organized Crime team. They didn’t share anything new with me, but I told them about the possibility of a witness to double murder.

Once again, I tried to head out but then was asked to help on an arrest in a different organized crime case. By the time I was done, it was nearly midnight. Too late to pay a visit to a six-year-old kid.

It was a rotten thing to do to show up on Christmas morning, but a child's life was at stake. I was going to do my job regardless of what day it was.

I knocked on the door and waited. The house was quiet for a Christmas morning with a six-year-old child. Then again, the social worker had said Aiden was a withdrawn boy.

I knocked again and waited.

"They're not home." I looked over to the woman next door who stared at me with concern.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

I held up my FBI badge. "It's very important that I find Mr. Ashworth."

Her eyes rounded in surprise. "Duncan? What for? The man is a pillar of our community."

"He's not in trouble, ma'am."

"Well, of course he isn't. But he isn't here. He normally spends Christmas with his good friend at a cabin."

"Do you happen to know where it is?”

She hesitated.

"It is an emergency. It's regarding his foster son."

“I don’t have the address.” All she could give me was the town.

Before I could go, I had to check in with Matthews. I also had to trade my car in for an SUV as I wasn’t sure if there would be more snow and ice where I was heading.

By the time I was on the road, I figured it would be dinner time when I arrived.

In my mind, cabins were small, rustic cottages in the woods. This place, while in the woods, wasn’t small, rustic, or a cabin. Sure, it had a cabin-like appearance, but it was huge.

I parked alongside several other cars and took the steps up to the porch and knocked on the door.

The door swung open to reveal Lindsay McKinnon.