Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
The headmaster seemed impervious to the glares that landed on him at that statement. “Nothing like this has ever happened on campus,” he said, as if that was an excuse.
The security guard muttered, “That’s a lie.”
I didn’t have room in my brain to wonder what he meant. All I could think about were Nicky and Lydia. Was he scared? Would she hurt him? Lydia had looked calm and righteous as she walked with him, which told me she felt like she was doing the right thing. I wish I knew what that thing was. Where was she taking him? How did she see this playing out? I pressed my forehead into Finn’s shoulder, unable to watch the screens any longer.
A rumble came from Finn’s throat. He was done with this bullshit back and forth. “What do we do?” he asked West and Hawk.
West handed the guard a business card. “Can you email this footage to me?”
The guard took his card and nodded.
“I need stills of her with Nicky,” West said. “The best shot you can get me of the car. Send it all to me, and I’ll get them out to everyone looking.”
West turned to face me, his eyes meeting mine, deadly serious and full of compassion. “Savannah, we’re going to find him. I promise you, we’re going to find him. I want you and Finn to go to my office and wait.”
“I can’t just sit in your office and wait, West!”
“Savannah,” West said, “There’s nothing else you can do right now. I’ve got every officer in the county looking for them. The county sheriff has his deputies on standby. I’ll get an Amber Alert posted on the highways and pushed out just as soon as we have Lydia’s license plate number. We will find them. I need you and Finn in my office, waiting for Nicky. When we bring him back, he’s going to be scared, and he’s going to want his mom. I don’t want to have to hunt you down or worry that you’re out of cell reception. You get me?”
I nodded. I got him; I just didn’t like it. I did not want to go to West’s office and wait. I wanted to do something. I wanted to find my baby. Finn tugged me out of the room and guided me down the hall and back outside to the Jeep.
“Finn,” I said helplessly.
“I know, I know,” he said, pulling me into his arms for a tight hug before he helped me into the seat and shut the door. When he was behind the wheel and we were driving, he said, “I don’t want to go back and sit in West’s office either.” He drew in a breath and let it out in a gust of air.
“I hate the idea of doing nothing, just sitting there and drinking his shitty coffee while we wait for someone to find Nicky. Can you think of anywhere Lydia would have gone?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t know if she’s taking Nicky to John, and I don’t know if he’s in Virginia or here. I can’t see him agreeing to run off with Lydia and Nicky, and I can’t see Lydia abandoning her husband of forty years to take off with a six-year-old. None of this makes any sense.”
I tried calling Lydia again. This time it went straight to voicemail without ringing. “She must have turned it off,” I said, dropping my phone back in my lap. All the crying I’d done in the last few weeks, and my eyes were bone dry. I couldn’t cry. I wouldn’t cry. Not until we found Nicky, and I knew everything would be okay.
The alternative was a horror too big for tears. The alternative was a void I couldn’t see past. Couldn’t see through. There was Nicky in my arms, my baby, safe and sound, or there was nothing. There was no in-between.
“Finn,” I said. “What if—?” My voice cracked.
Finn squeezed my hand hard, turning his head to look at me. “No, Savannah. He’s okay.” Finn blinked hard, and my fear was reflected in his eyes. Nicky wasn’t his, but he was.
“He’s okay,” Finn said again. “He has to be okay. West and Hawk will find him. They will.”
I nodded, wanting to believe. Desperate to believe. We pulled into a spot in front of the police station and got out, the thud of the Jeep door shutting heavy and final. This was the last place I wanted to be. I wanted to be home, in our cottage with Nicky and Finn, just the three of us. That was what I wanted. Not this. Waiting, terrified, thinking of Nicky equally terrified and alone with Lydia.
Finn shoved open the door to the station, ushering me in beside him. The dispatcher looked up when we entered, her eyes heavy with worry. We’d gone to high school together and been in some of the same classes. Not friends, exactly, but friendly.