20. Declan
Chapter 20
Declan
I ’ve teased Jax about his reckless driving over the years – he drives too fast and swerves around traffic too much. Today is not one of those days. I’m thankful for his driving skills. Not only did he get us to my house in record time, but he got us there in one piece. Eli is right behind us the entire time.
“Riley?” I burst into my front door; gun drawn in case anybody else is lying in wait.
“Go. I’ll clear the house.” Eli says as he and Jax go in the opposite direction of my master bedroom.
“Riley? It’s me. Declan,” I call from the side of the master closet door after I make sure no one is in the room. I don’t know what state of mind she’s in right now, besides being terrified, and I don’t want her to accidentally shoot me because I startle her.
The door bursts open and she’s in my arms in a nanosecond. “He’s got our baby!”
I grab onto Riley as I see Bella standing guard by the French doors from the room onto the back patio. Her hackles go up and she releases a deep growl because she sees Jax and Eli on the patio. “Bella – heel. It’s okay.”
She turns to me to verify I’m sure everything is okay and then stands behind Riley as I hold her in my arms. We’ve got Riley sandwiched between us.
“All clear,” Jax says from the patio door.
I nod at him as he leaves Riley and I alone. Pulling her back, I check to make sure she’s physically okay as I take the gun out of her hands. “Let me have that.”
She willingly hands it to me. “I don’t know what to do. What do I do?” Her voice cracks as the tears don’t stop falling.
“We’re going to find him. I promise.” I kiss her tears. “Let’s go into the living room. The detectives are on their way here and to the school. The entire force is looking for him.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, my lady. You’re family. It’s what we do.”
We go into the living room and just as I predicted, Detective Kowalski is standing at the counter talking on the phone to someone as she’s diligently writing in her notebook. The Chief of Detectives is standing in the doorway directing people in the needed tasks as the crime scene analysts come in carrying big tackle boxes full of equipment.
“What are they going to do?” Riley asks me when she points to them.
“They’re going to make sure no one else has been in the house besides us.” I tell her as she has a death grip on my hand.
“Okay.” She looks just as terrified as I feel. My little guy is out there somewhere with god knows who and when I get my hands on this fucker, he will no longer be able to breathe.
“Miss Ashford,” Detective Kowalski says as she hangs up her phone.
“Riley, please.”
“Okay, Riley. Detective Smith is at the school and has interviewed everyone there, including all the teachers, aides, the director, a Miss…” she looks at her notes, “Rachel. Plus, he got permission from the little boy’s parents to question him to find out what he saw.”
“And?” Riley asks hopefully.
She twists her head a bit, “Well, unfortunately, due to the accident with the little girl, no one saw anything except the little boy…”
“Joseph. He’s Nicholas’ best friend,” Riley answers her.
“Right, Joseph. He only saw Nicholas walk out the door with an adult. He can’t even tell us if it was a man or woman,” Detective Kowalski says almost apologetically. “But we’ve pulled the security tapes, and they are on their way over to the station now to be analyzed. We’re going to find him, Riley.” She places a comforting hand on Riley’s shoulder.
Riley only nods but when the detective starts to walk away, Riley stops her. “Wait. You think a woman may have done this? Done all of this to us? The notes, the text messages… everything? A woman?”
As a keen detective, one of Hibiscus Harbor’s best, she notices something in the way Riley asks that question. “Yes, I do. I believe that anyone is capable of doing anything when they have motivation to – whether it’s right or wrong. Why do you ask me that, Riley?”
I’m wondering about that, too. Riley seems to have some kind of inkling of something, and I want to hear it now. “What is it, Riley? Tell us. No matter how big or small.”
She starts to shake her head and wave it off, “It’s nothing, I’m sure. Never mind.”
“No. What is it? A mother’s intuition is sometimes better than any fingerprint or video recording. I may not be a mom, but I sure do trust their instincts. Tell me what it is that’s got you second guessing yourself,” Kowalski says.
“Well,” she hesitates, “… it’s just that this week when I was dropping off Nicholas at school for his first day, I noticed that the receptionist was… twitchy. I asked Miss Rachel about it, but she said it was because it was her first day and it can be overwhelming to work there at first. I just blew it off, but…”
Then it occurs to me that I was hesitant about her yesterday, too. “You know… something felt off with her when I went to pick up Nicholas yesterday, but then Nicholas called my name, and I got distracted. I didn’t think about it again until you just mentioned something about her.”
Kowalski calls her partner immediately, “Smith – find out who the receptionist is that works there and let’s bring her in… not sure yet, but the mother says she seemed ‘twitchy’ the other day and Hayes said the same thing when he picked up the child yesterday… yeah… really? Well, let’s go find her… let me know.”
“What?” I ask.
“The receptionist wasn’t there when they got there. The director of the school said she was working today but when the little girl got hurt, everything just erupted in chaos, and she seems to have disappeared.” She can see the worry on my face. “Don’t worry. Smith has another detective on his way to find her now and bring her in.”
I nod and then look at Riley. “What is it? Is there more?”
“Well… there is another time where something felt weird when I was looking at the office building to rent for my business, I…” she hesitates again.
“What? Yesterday?” I ask her.
She nods, “Yeah, I just can’t put my finger on it. Something just felt… off. It was so quick, but…” she grunts, “I just can’t remember what it was. I don’t know. Maybe I saw something in the parking lot?”
“Where was this?” Kowalski asks as she dials a number on her phone.
“Hibiscus Commons.” I tell her.
“Hi, yeah. Kowalski here…I need the security footage pulled from inside and outside of the Hibiscus Commons on…” she looks at the both of us.
“Yesterday.” I answer her knowing what she was looking for.
“Security footage, all day, yesterday…yeah, pronto…thanks.” Kowalski hangs up and looks at us. “As soon as we get it, we’ll review it, and have you look at it again and see if it can jog your memory. Okay?”
We both nod.
“Great. Why don’t you go over and sit on the couch while we do our thing. If you think of anything that may help, anything at all no matter how big or small you think it might be, let me know right away, okay?”
We both nod again, and I pull Riley by the hand over to the couch.
“Shouldn’t we be doing something besides sitting here?” she asks frustrated.
“We are doing something. We’re letting them do what they do best.” I point to all the law enforcement people going in and out of our house. Bella doesn’t like having all these people in her house, but she’s sitting on the couch on the other side of Riley watching everyone with a keen eye.
“So, we just sit here? Do nothing?”
“No, we sit here, let them do their jobs while we try to figure out what made your mom instincts go off. Did something happen with that girl at the school or inside the building?”
Riley thinks about it and shakes her head, “No. I don’t think so.”
“Do you think it happened before or after you saw the office space?”
She thinks for a few minutes, “I don’t know. It could be that I’ve just been on high alert so long that I’m seeing things or hearing things.”
That makes me pause. “Wait. What do you mean by hearing things?”
She throws her hands up, “I don’t know, Declan. I. Don’t. Know.” She bursts into tears as I pull her into my chest and hold her. Forcing her to try to remember isn’t going to work, so instead, I just sit there holding her, letting her cry it out as I make a silent prayer to River that if he’s really out there in the ether, that he is protecting Nicholas and will help us find him, fast.