Chapter 14
Sergeant Melvin Stillman, Internal Affairs division, stood outside the hospital waiting room on the fourth floor.
He was waiting on an update about Heather Coleson and the Barratt girl.
He had known of the Barratt girl for almost twenty years now.
Since he had moved to Hughes Heights when his Skylar had been only five or so.
The Barratt girl had been a teenager then.
He’d known her family enough to wave now and then when he had crossed paths with her family.
He knew her uncle Adrian’s family better. He had met the mayor—Adrian’s son, the Barratt girl’s cousin, many times before as well. Adrian was a friend.
Unlike the men standing at his left and right, Melvin was glad the girl had been found alive. He was glad Heather had been able to escape.
And he had asked God repeatedly for forgiveness for his part in Heather’s suffering.
No one was talking to anyone from the TSP now. Only a select handful knew what had happened.
Melvin tried to get Dan McKellen’s boy to tell him what they knew so far. The younger man gave him a very polished brush off. The Finley Creek Major Crimes was closing ranks.
Not that it mattered. Everything would be available to Wichita Falls soon enough. Melvin was the head of the Internal Affairs division. He was used to uncovering secrets. Some good, some bad.
He had been doing it for years.
For now…regardless of what others thought—he was just glad that young woman had found her way back to her children.
Some prayers had most certainly been answered tonight.
But…this would bring problems in the morning. Melvin had to be prepared for that. No matter the consequences. The nightmares.