Stolen Child (Coastal Fury Book 13) Matt Lincoln (chrysanthemum read aloud .txt) 📖

I noticed that they looked a little more put together today, at least, though that wasn’t saying much.

This was short-lived, however, as the second they caught sight of Jackson, they both jumped up from where they were sitting and started screaming at him.

“What’s he doing here?!” Curt roared, pointing violently in the other man’s direction.

“Where is he? Where did you take him?” Annabelle cried, tears suddenly streaming down her previously clear cheeks.

Apparently, Annabelle had changed her tune since the previous day, when she’d been adamant that Jackson couldn’t have had anything to do with Mikey’s disappearance. It was more likely than not hope, for the same reason that Nina and I had hoped that Jackson had the boy. It would be simpler that way, and we would be closer to finding him.

Osborne and Holm both looked back at us questioningly for good measure.

“Alright, alright,” Nina said, more than a twinge of annoyance in her voice, and I saw why she let Osborne handle the parents on her own before. “Everybody just calm down.”

“We’re in the process of officially clearing Jackson,” I explained, and Holm’s shoulders slumped while I watched the corner of Osborne’s mouth twinge downward. They knew it was better for Mikey if Jackson had him, too.

Of course, none of the parents were completely in the clear yet. As far as I was concerned, all three of them were suspects until we knew what happened for sure. Someone else Mikey knew could’ve taken him, too, which was why the Atlanta police were interviewing everyone he knew from school and daycare.

“So… so it wasn’t Jackson who took him?” Annabelle asked, her whole body sagging at the notion.

“How could you think that I would do something like that!” Jackson challenged her, his pale face suddenly beet red for the second time in an hour. “He’s my kid!”

“He’s not your son. I’m his father!” Curt cried, taking a step in the other man’s direction.

I moved between them, holding out my arms in either direction.

“He’s both your sons,” I said as calmly as I could. “I think everybody just needs to get nice and clear about that. And all this fighting and going back and forth isn’t going to help us find him any faster.”

All three parents hung their heads, then.

“Hey, uh, what’s going on, boss?” Holm asked, rising from his seat and crossing over to mutter into my ear.

I quickly pulled him and Dr. Osborne aside while Nina begrudgingly watched the three parents, who were now pacing in opposite corners of the lounge area from each other. I explained everything we’d learned from Jackson.

“God, we have to find this kid,” Holm said, shaking his head as his expression darkened. That sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach was pulling me practically all the way to the ground then, and I nodded.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “We really do.”

Time was running shorter every second.

We returned to the main lounge area, where the parents were still on opposite ends of the room, glowering at each other, while Nina stood tenuously in the middle, looking like she wanted to be pretty much anywhere else.

“Alright, now this is a small police station,” Osborne announced to them. “So we can’t exactly keep you three separated this whole time. Now’s as good a time as any to learn to get along, if not for your own sakes, for Mikey’s.”

At the mention of the missing boy’s name, something shifted on each parent’s face, and they glanced uneasily at one another. Then, almost in unison, they nodded somewhat reluctantly, though agreement was agreement as far as I was concerned. I’d take the win.

“Good,” I said, nodding to each of them in turn. “Now, can you all stay here and talk to Dr. Osborne? I’m sure they can get you anything you’d like here. You can even get a hotel room, though you’ll understand that someone will have to remain with you at all times. We can’t rule anything out yet.”

“We understand,” Annabelle murmured, her eyes swimming.

“Why can’t we help look?” Curt asked, a twinge of anger in his voice. “We want to help find our boy.”

“We appreciate that, but these people are armed and dangerous,” Nina reminded him. “You could end up doing more harm than good.”

“People? As in plural?” Jackson asked, his tone and expression frantic, and I realized that he only knew what was in the police reports.

I sighed, not wanting to get into this all again right then. I was itching to get out looking for Mikey myself.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get them all updated,” Osborne assured me, sensing my reticence.

“Thank you,” I said, nodding to her in thanks. “You all stay here. We’re going to go find your son.”

13

Ethan

We joined the police search after that and spent the rest of the morning combing through every corner of the town and the surrounding area, looking for anywhere that the perps and Mikey could be hiding. We spoke to shop owners in town, as well as homeowners in the residential areas. None of them knew anything, though all of them expressed support for our investigation and concern for the missing boy. More than a few of them also hinted that they’d love to hear more details about our search to fuel the local—and now, even national—gossip mill, but we always rebuffed these requests by thanking them for their time and going on our way.

In the end, we had to determine that the perps and Mikey were likely no longer there, either skipping out to sea as the Coast Guard report suggested, or driving or even flying off to some other corner of the world that we had yet to reach in our search.

“Damn, it’s getting hot,” Holm said when it was getting to be around lunchtime, running a hand through his hair. It glistened in the sun, a thin coat of sweat atop his head.

“Maybe we should break for a spell,” Nina suggested. “We’ve been at it for hours, and we have to eat sometime. We can get