Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 71226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
“As well as several hunting lodges,” Deputy Faith added. “My pop has a hunting lodge that he takes that same trail to get to the public land off the trailhead.”
“Can we get a dog out there to find a scent trail?”
“Maybe could have had it not snowed last night,” Black grumbled. “I have Mance out there knocking door to door, asking for access to their cameras. Maybe if we can find a direction he came from, we’d have a place to start.”
The kid didn’t look any worse for wear, which meant that someone was taking really good care of him.
“What’s with that look on his face?” I asked.
“He’s suspicious of women,” he said. “Dempsey’s too close.”
Dempsey took a huge step back.
“We thinking a woman abused him?” I asked.
Just as I asked that, the doors burst open and two terrified parents came rushing in the door.
The woman made a beeline for the kid, but I caught her before she could throw herself at Black.
“Wait,” I cautioned her. “Listen to me.”
Her face went murderous, seconds away from lashing out.
The husband opened his mouth to launch into me, but I held my hand up. “Just wait. Calm down. He’s scared.”
The two parents stilled.
“He’s terrified of women,” Black explained gently. “Cautious. I don’t know if you will scare him.”
The mom moved slowly toward her son as if she were approaching a wild animal and the boy turned away, screaming and burying his face into Black’s chest, body tight as a bowstring.
A devastated look crossed over the mother’s face. “Go to him, James.”
James did, slowly and cautiously, and the boy launched himself at his dad before saying, “Daddy!”
The dad looked horrified and relieved all at the same time.
The mom looked like she’d been punched in the gut.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “He’s scared.”
She nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks.
I pulled her into my arms, hugging her tight.
I wasn’t the best man in the world.
Hell, I wasn’t even close.
But I knew when a woman could use a hug, and this mom looked like she could desperately use one. The mom caught onto my Kevlar vest straps and buried herself into my throat, sobs racking her small frame.
I patted her back as the dad’s eyes met mine, pure relief and thanks in his.
I nodded once in understanding.
“A woman was the one to find him,” Dempsey said softly to the couple, though I wasn’t sure the mom was hearing much of anything. “She tried to help him, but any time she got close, he ran and screamed bloody murder. The woman’s husband tried, and he was perfectly okay. He was checked over at the hospital already, but the same thing happened with the female nurses. Only male doctors and nurses were able to approach him.”
“Son of a bitch,” James, the dad, said shakily. “What happened to my boy?”
I wished I had the fucking answers, because there were six more boys just like him missing, too.
If one was able to get free, and was okay, there had to be more out there waiting to be saved.
Twenty-One
Don’t give up. You’re allowed to cuss the entire time. Just don’t give up.
—Gentry to Sage
Sage
The three of us sat in the break room staring at a bunch of nothing as we decompressed from the day we’d just had.
Bernice had her hair up in a messy bun, having thrown it up that way halfway through the day in her haste to free herself of the overstimulation.
Odin had lost his button-down shirt, and was now only in a pair of jeans and a white tee that he’d had under that button-down. He had a backward-facing ball cap on his head, and he was leaning said head against the wall where he was leaning back in the chair.
I, probably the most unkempt of us all, stared at the two of them.
“Why do y’all look like y’all are contemplating your life choices?” I wondered.
Odin’s eyes flicked to me.
Bernice kept staring at the table, likely lost in her head and not having heard the question at all.
“I’m wondering if it’ll always be like that, and if I should’ve never agreed to take over,” he admitted.
“Surely it can’t be that hard all the time,” Bernice mused, having heard us after all.
“At least y’all didn’t get puked on,” I pointed out.
Somewhere beyond where we were at, the door jingled again.
“We forgot to lock the door after the last patient,” Bernice mused.
“It’s just me,” Gentry called out.
All three of us blew out a breath of relief.
“Lock the door!”
Another voice answered, “I got it!” letting us know there were more than just Gentry headed our way.
By the way Bernice stiffened, I had a feeling I knew who was with him.
I was proved right when Hux arrived with Gentry moments later.
Hux was carrying a case of beer and Dr. Peppers. Meanwhile, Gentry had a stack of pizzas.