Nathan stared at her. “Something you said. The way you said it. He might have commented to get a reaction to find out if it was you. I’m more worried that if it is the abductor, that he can find out your new identity.”
Erin rubbed her arms. She didn’t need one more thing to worry about.
“Erin...”
She hadn’t realized Nathan was talking to her again. “I’m sorry. What?”
“Someone with know-how could dig through the many layers and find your true identity, couldn’t they?”
“Yes.”
Erin was much too close to look at this logically or to ferret out the criminal mind behind it—though hadn’t that been the whole reason she’d become a psychologist and focused on the evil?
She’d wanted to learn why. Why had someone taken Missy?
Compassion flooded his gaze, and he pressed his hand over hers. “I don’t know what or who is at play here, but I do know that I don’t want to see you get hurt. Just know that I’m here for you. We’ll go through this together.”
This time.
She saw encouragement in his eyes, and more understanding than she deserved. In return she gave him a subtle nod, hoping he, too, understood her silent message—they would make it through this together.
“I think I understand now why Mom whisked me away so fast and changed my name. She understood what I couldn’t back then. She told me people would look at me funny. The news would chase me. The best way for me to get over it and move on was to relocate and change my name, our names. Our lives and identities. But now I wonder if she was just worried that the abductor would come after me because I was the only one who had seen him.”
And now he’s found me.