Chapter 2 - The Sheriff’s Favorite Suspect
Miguel reached a veterinary clinic before the SUV could stop him. Dr. Hannah Brooks stabilized the pale puppy and scanned the mother dog’s microchip.
Deputy Collins arrived and looked first at Miguel’s dusty boots, not the frightened animal.
“Did you steal these dogs?”
Miguel stood.
“My sister disappears from a billionaire’s ranch, her name appears inside a dumped crate, and the working man is still your first suspect?”
Collins told him to calm down.
“Men like you make trouble by becoming emotional.”
Hannah stepped between them.
“Men like him become emotional because officers like you call evidence an attitude problem.”
The chip identified Lupita as the dog’s owner. Its emergency contact was Collins.
He claimed Lupita had asked for help with paperwork.
Miguel laughed bitterly.
“You did not help her. You signed while the Vales erased her.”
Hannah photographed the wristband before Collins seized it. Its code matched Vale Memorial Hospital’s private maternity wing.
Lupita had never told Miguel she was pregnant.
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Then the clinic computer opened a hidden record: INFANT TRANSFER AUTHORIZED.
The approval carried Collins’s badge number—and the infant’s legal mother was Celeste Vale.
