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

she repeated, all the worst possibilities running through her head. “What do you mean broken?”

“Come and see for yourself,” he suggested. “I’ll cover you.”

And just like that, they switched places, Marston taking her place at the door as she turned to take in what lay behind her.

There they were. Justin’s handcuffs, dangling from the table where he’d been chained for most of the day. Well, not quite. Half of them were dangling from the table. The other half lay on the ground, broken off in the middle, and halfway through the circle where it had lain on his wrist. There was some blood there like he’d been scratched in the process of removing them.

“But… how…” Nina stammered, trying to work through how he could’ve done that on his own.

“He must’ve had help,” Marston called darkly from the doorway, reading her mind. “Someone was here. Someone came to get him.”

“Well, I don’t see any bodies,” Nina said, turning to stand next to him then. “So no one must’ve been hurt when it happened. Whoever it was must’ve scared them enough to clear out of here, though.”

She pulled out her phone and stared at it, willing it to explain to her how this happened and why, especially why no one had called to warn them about what had happened, to tell them that the others were alright or that the station had been attacked.

Together, she and Marston surveyed the entire station again, just to be sure that they were alone inside. It didn’t take long, given how small it was. Then they locked the doors. There were security tapes, but they didn’t have the codes to access them and see what had happened.

Once she was sure that they were alone and speaking in a normal voice wouldn’t alert anyone unsavory to their presence, Nina pulled her phone out yet again and called for Osborne. Almost predictably, she heard it ringing from the lounge area down the hall and winced.

“Well, I guess that explains that one, at least,” Marston muttered, shaking his head. “She must’ve left it here when she left. I don’t suppose she knows your number by heart?”

“I doubt it,” Nina said, pursing her lips. “Nobody memorizes those things anymore.”

“Too bad,” Marston sighed, his eyes misty as if they were longing for a simpler time.

As if on cue, Nina’s phone rang. She glanced at it. She didn’t recognize the number, but it was from a local area code.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Agent Gosse, it’s Osborne,” the psychologist’s voice called from the other line, and Nina breathed a sigh of relief. “I got your number from the director’s office. I left my phone at the station. There’s been a problem…”

“I know,” Nina said, cutting her off. “We’re in the station now, and the perp, Justin, is gone. What happened? Where is everyone?”

“You’re in the station?” Osborne asked, her voice suddenly panicked. “Are you alone? Are you alright?”

“Yes, we’re fine,” Nina said, suddenly growing nervous again as she scanned the front room where they were standing. “What do you mean?”

“Well, there were just so many of them!” Osborne cried. “Are any of them still there?”

“Who?” Nina asked quickly, glancing over at Marston as he stepped toward her, his brow furrowed in concern. “What do you mean there were so many of them?”

“The goons, the ones who broke out the other one,” Osborne explained. “They acted like they were going to kill him for talking to you, but then they just hauled him away. There weren’t many people here when it happened. It’s like they chose the moment the detectives and officers were going to change shifts. Raskin was practically on his way out. There were too many of them. There was nothing we could do.”

“I… I understand,” Nina said, glancing back over at Marston, telling him with her eyes that something was wrong. “How long ago was this? Was anyone hurt? Where are you all now?”

“About forty-five minutes ago. I’m sorry I couldn’t reach you ‘till now, there was a lot to take care of, and I thought you were going out on the water. We all went to the hotel where we’re staying,” Osborne explained quickly. “Checked all the parents in. They needed a good night’s sleep, anyway. We’re trying to run things from here for now, and a SWAT team is coming in soon to take back the station from the city, but if you’re already there, and everything’s clear…”

“The station’s clear,” Nina said with certitude. “We surveyed it twice, some parts three or four times. You should send some cars over, and we’ll check and make sure everything’s clear outside, too.”

“Alright, I’ll do that,” Osborne said, and Nina could hear her barking orders to someone near her. “They’ll be there in a few minutes. Stay safe.”

And with that, Osborne was gone. Nina turned to Marston and told him everything she’d learned. When she finished, he cast a weary hand over his face.

“Well, that is something, isn’t it?” he asked, shaking his head. “They must’ve really not wanted him to testify, to take a risk like that. Someone had to have watched them, to know when they were switching shifts.”

Another chill ran up and down Nina’s spine at this. She didn’t like that. She didn’t like that at all.

“Well, we should go check outside,” she said, wanting to do something instead of just standing there. “We don’t want anyone to jump the officers when they get here.”

25

Ethan

Together, Nina and I headed outside to scope out the outside of the station. I doubted anyone was out there. If they were, wouldn’t they have attacked us when we first arrived? Even so, someone could be hiding from us instead of looking to kill us, so we checked anyway.

The station was a small boxy building, standing alone in front of the parking lot. There was a laundromat across the street, in a building next to a gas station and a pharmacy. It was late, though, and none of those businesses appeared to be open.

Together,