Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 70630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“Got it,” John confirmed. “Yard looks clear. There’s no movement in the windows.”
With that, we all moved in.
***
Three hours later
We were standing outside the hospital when Georgia pulled up.
She didn’t stop to talk to us, though, instead going to the front entrance instead of the side one that we were at.
“Your woman’s here,” Downy said dryly, running his palm over his head.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
The last three hours had been fucking awful, and the end result had been the death of four people.
Those four people being Candice and Guy Spears, as well as Anton and Masha Sergei.
And with them they took all the answers as to why.
The only bright spot in it all were that all seven children that’d been in the house, were okay.
We’d gotten them out of the house before the actual gun fight had begun, thank God.
The death of innocents were always hard pills to swallow. The deaths of innocent children, on the other hand, was unbearable.
I stayed where I was, letting her do her job.
I hadn’t been the one to call her.
Detective O’Keefe had called her boss, who’d then called her since all four of the children were under her care. And now there were three more children that the Sergei’s had adopted.
“Hey, did you ever talk to that chick that gave Sergei those kids?” I asked O’Keefe.
He nodded and lifted the notebook out of his pocket. “Yes. She wasn’t helpful at all. She lawyered up almost immediately. I have an appointment to meet with them later this afternoon.”
I nodded. “Do you mind if I tag along?”
He shook his head. “Nope. Don’t mind if you do.”
***
“She knows something. And whatever it is, they’re holding it over her head,” I muttered to O’Keefe.
O’Keefe nodded.
“Sure as hell does,” he agreed. “I’ll speak with the judge, see if I can get a warrant on what I got.”
What he had wasn’t much, since Stephanie had refused to speak at all.
Her lawyer had done most of the talking, and had refused to give an inch. Which I suppose was what a good lawyer did.
Still sucked ass for us, though.
“You’ll keep me informed?” I asked as I pulled out my phone to check the time.
He gave me an insulted look. “Haven’t I given you information even before you asked this entire case?”
I pounded him lightly out the back and left the interrogation room.
Amazingly, I wasn’t stopped as I left the building. And even more amazing, I wasn’t stopped as I made my way out to my rental, a sweet little Tahoe that I’d debated getting when I’d gotten my truck.
It was actually pretty nice, but I liked and missed my truck way more.
As I drove home, I thought about all that had transpired that day, and how my life had gotten so out of control.
When I got home, I walked straight to my bedroom and collapsed on my bed where I commenced taking a three hour nap.
Chapter 18
Bad shit follows me. Seriously, maybe you should walk in front.
-Nico to Georgia
Nico
“This day has been a no good, very bad, day,” Georgia collapsed onto the bed next to me.
I nodded. “Yep.”
I agreed wholeheartedly. In fact, it’d been fucking horrible.
“I’ve got the kids spread out throughout the city. All with police officers, believe it or not,” she sighed.
My head turned to her in surprise. “Really?”
She nodded, burying her head further into the pillow beside me. “Yep. Angel’s with your chief.”
I believed it. Chief Rhodes had a soft spot for children. He’d lost his only child, a son, during a training exercise gone badly in Iraq early last year. His wife and him had been understandably devastated and had been in a depression ever since.
It was the calls on children that always made Chief Rhodes react the greatest. He’d always say, “Kids are our future. They’ve got nothing but rose colored glasses on, and don’t have an ounce of corruption in them yet. Teach them right, and they could save the world. Treat them badly, and they can become their own worst enemy.”
“Good for him. He deserves it and more. Are they looking into just fostering her for the night, or an extended period?” I asked, turning over to look at her face.
Her eyes were closed, but when she felt my gaze on her, she opened them and smiled. “It’s only until they find pre-approved foster homes in the area. Although the state would be willing to put them all through a fast-tracked foster classes if they’re interested in making it long term.”
I nodded and looped my arm around her waist, pulling her closer.
She came willingly, placing her hand on my chest and sinking into the curve of my arm.
Her lips skimmed the sensitive skin of my neck, and I closed my eyes, trying not to remember how bad today was.
Eventually we fell into a fitful sleep, but my dreams weren’t pleasant.
They all consisted of everything I’d ever done wrong in my life.
Losing my best friend. Getting innocent people killed. Nearly losing the love of my life.
I woke up around two hours later to an empty cold bed, and got out of bed in a slight panic.
The fog of my dream was still upon me, so when I found her in the living room watching re-runs of I Love Lucy, I wasn’t the most rational when I yanked her over the back of the couch and buried my nose in the crook of her throat.
After long moments, her hands started petting my head, giving me the soothing touch of her skin on mine.
“Bad dream?” She asked quietly.
I walked around the couch and fell down, letting go of her so she fell on the cushion beside me.
I nodded, and she laid her head on my shoulder. “Yeah, fucking brutal. They never stop, either. They only get worse. Before, there weren’t kids in them. Now there are.”
She sighed. “I had a bad dream, too,” she admitted.
I snorted. “Two peas in a pod we are.”
Taking pity on my extreme dispassion at watching I love Lucy, Georgia turned the channel until she saw the oldest Spiderman movie on FX.