Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
My lips twitched as she picked up the bathroom trash, pulled the clear plastic bag out of it, and then set it nicely on the floor before tucking the trash can underneath her arm.
Seconds later she was picking up her toothpaste—I didn’t realize this, but there really is a wrong way to push toothpaste out of the tube, meaning we had his and her toothpaste tubes—and her toothbrush.
“Let’s go.”
We arrived at Lynn’s place fifteen minutes later, the last ones to arrive.
“Sorry,” I said as I held the door open for Blaise, who was busy puking into her bucket. “But someone decided that morning sickness was a thing for her today.”
Blaise looked up, her face now even more green.
“Welcome to the club,” Beckham snickered. “I puked so much while pregnant that it wasn’t even funny. I puked at the smell of clean laundry. I puked at the smell of dirty laundry. I puked at the smell of the washer when it was empty. I puked…”
“I think we get it,” Six drawled. “You puked a lot. Now let’s find this baby.”
Lynn grunted and tapped a few buttons on his phone, then sent whatever it was that he had on his computer to a screen that pulled down from the ceiling.
That’s when I saw the chocolate brown eyes of a little girl with long brown ringlets all over her head.
“Child missing is a female,” Lynn said. “Stolen from a bathroom at an all-night diner. Parents allowed her to go to the bathroom by herself since they were seated right by the bathroom doors. When she didn’t come out within an allotted amount of time, mom went in to find the little girl gone. Bathroom window the size of a postage stamp was open.”
“Fuck,” Beckham breathed. “What about the security cameras? Who was in there with her?”
“I got that,” Hunt said as he wiped his tired eyes before replacing his glasses. “The diner had eight people inside and two on the outside. Three females in the restaurant, and only two went to the bathroom around that time. These two ladies.”
Hunt pulled up a photo of two ladies. One was an elderly lady with short silver hair curled tightly to her scalp that was using a walker to get around. Her eyes were old, her gait was old, and it was obvious that the woman couldn’t move well.
So obviously not her.
But the other woman? The other woman was for sure more than capable of hoisting a three-year-old up and out of a window.
“Let’s head to the scene,” Lynn suggested. “There’s an incident commander there that can more than answer a few of our questions.”
That was how we ended up at the scene of the kidnapping, and the shock of a lifetime rolled through me.
Because it wasn’t just anyone that had her daughter go missing.
It was someone I knew.
Granted, it wasn’t someone I really liked, but it was someone I knew nonetheless.
“Shit,” I said as I caught Blaise’s hand up in mine, squeezing it lightly. “The woman that had a child go missing is Ames.”
Blaise’s head whipped around so fast that my head spun at her reaction.
She moaned and clutched her ‘bucket’ tighter.
Blaise’s mouth fell open and she focused on Ames standing in the middle of the chaos, her face a mask of tears as she cried and screamed. “My baby! Someone please, find my baby!”
Shortly after Ames’ words rent the air, Blaise threw her hand over her mouth and groaned.
“How about you go over there,” I suggested, pointing to where there was a calm spot in the parking lot. “You go sit on the curb for a bit, get yourself under control, and listen from there.”
Blaise sighed then patted my hand. “Thanks.”
Then she moved away from me.
“Come on,” Lynn ordered as he arrived with Six. “Let’s go see what we can do to help.”
I was reluctant to follow, mostly because I didn’t want to upset Ames any more than she already was.
Hence the reason I stayed on the outskirts, listening intently to the incident commander explain everything that had gone down as far as he knew.
My heart physically hurt after hearing everything.
Jesus, that kid had to be terrified right now.
“Ma’am,” Lynn said. “Where’s your husband? We’d like to talk to him.”
That’s when she shocked the living hell out of me.
“He’s at home.” Ames looked away.
“What?” I asked, unsure if I’d heard her right.
Her eyes came to me, and they narrowed in anger and disgust.
My eyes flicked up at an indelicate snort coming from my woman that had wandered closer to hear everything but was still far enough away so that she could discreetly puke in her trash can.
“He’s at home,” Ames repeated, sounding miffed. “He has to get up early in the morning. And if he doesn’t get a certain amount of sleep at night, his lower body aches.”