Daylight Robbery (An Aspen Falls Novel)

by Melissa Pearl

  “Take a seat.”

  Leah obeyed, slipping onto the hard metal chair. She glanced up at the officer as he assessed her. He was fidgeting with the cuff key, his wide lips pursed to the side. Grabbing her wrists, he paused before undoing them.

  “If I take those cuffs off, are you going to behave yourself?”

  She glanced down at her wrists, the cuffs rattling as she twisted her arms. Her shoulders twitched as she pictured exactly what she’d do once she was freed. She started counting steps to the door, figuring she’d dart into one of those bathroom/locker areas. They usually had back windows to let steam out. She was skinny; she could climb through and make a run for it.

  Robin had said he’d come for her, but how much easier would it be if she escaped on her own? He’d be so proud of her for doing something proactive, wouldn’t he? Maybe she wouldn’t get in as much trouble.

  “You know what?” Officer Moss killed her plan as he quickly released one side of the cuffs then swiveled her body to face the table. With swift movements, he re-cuffed her to the metal rings on the table. “After what you did to my partner, I think I’m going to leave them on for now.”

  He patted her shoulder while she fought the cuffs and glared at him.

  “I’m just going to go see if he needs stitches.” The man’s brown eyes were large and reprimanding. “That would be thanks to you. Attacking a police officer is a really dumb idea. If you want to help yourself at all, you better think about talking. This day is only going to get worse for you if you don’t.”

  And with that, he turned and left.

  The door clicked shut behind him. The finality of the sound was not lost on Leah.

  Glancing at the dark glass wall, she scowled at her reflection and then started fighting the cuffs. They rattled and mocked her while she let out pitiful little grunts of annoyance and hopelessness.

  “Shit,” she mumbled under her breath, tears burning the back of her throat.

  This was bad.

  This was so, so bad.

  If the police didn’t beat her for what she’d done, Robin probably would…unless she could give him a damn good reason to be proud of her.

  She had to make up for her mistake.

  She had to escape.

  That was the only way to survive.

  6

  Wednesday, September 26th

  2:35pm

  Kellan walked into the station, nodding at the different staff who greeted him. He wasn’t in the mood to smile and chat, although the friendly receptionist, Sarah, scored herself an eye-smile. It was hard not to soften his gaze when talking to her. She was like a sweet mother hen, always checking up on her chicks in blue.

  Thankfully the rest of his staff were used to his serious demeanor, so he wasn’t raising any questions as he hurried, unsmiling, through the station in search of Blaine.

  He wanted to check on him before dealing with the girl.

  Officer Hartford was one of the best officers on his team, and although he quietly cared about them all, Blaine had always been a favorite. Seeing him hurt didn’t sit well, and he was relieved when he found the tall man standing post in the small bay connected to the interview room. It was about the size of a large closet, which Kellan liked. He didn’t want too many officers looking in when a suspect was being interviewed.

  There was enough space for three people, plus the recording and sound equipment.

  Kellan walked in to find Blaine alone, staring through the one-way glass at the girl who’d made him bleed. A neat bandage had been placed against his eyebrow.

  “No stitches?” Kellan closed the door behind him.

  Blaine shook his head. “Tim put on a couple of butterfly stitches to hold it together. It should be enough.”

  “Hurt like hell?”

  The edge of Blaine’s mouth twitched. “Not as much as my pride.”

  “Word’s already out, huh?”

  “It’s kind of hard to hide it when you have to walk through the station with blood streaming down your face. I asked Ollie to leave the ball crunching out of the report, but I don’t know if he’ll be so kind.”

  Kellan smothered his laugh with a hand over his mouth while Blaine ran a hand through his hair.

  “Shit, what a day. Bested by a couple of kids.” Blaine pointed at the window, irritation radiating from him. “Ollie’s writing up the report while I keep an eye on her.”

  “She’s still cuffed.” Kellan leaned toward the glass to study the girl. She was sitting stock-still at the table, her hands clasped together as she stared at the wall.

  “Ollie didn’t trust her. He said her muscles were practically vibrating, so he thought it best to keep her attached to the table.”

  “Have you offered her a drink or anything?”

  “Yeah, but she just shot Courtney a couple of death rays when she tried. I think there’s a bottle of water rolling around on the floor under the table. She smacked it off after Court left the room.”

  “At least that’s some show of emotion. Maybe if she gets desperate enough, her mouth will start working.”

  Blaine shook his head. “Maybe she doesn’t speak English.”

  Kellan frowned. “She seemed to understand what we were saying…” Kellan’s voice drifted away as he studied the girl. She had a prettiness to her, but was obviously still in the gangly stages of teenage-hood. She was thin and wiry, with freckles on her sharp, pointy nose. A muscle in her jaw worked overtime.

  She was scared.

  Young and terrified.

  But the fact that she hadn’t said a word showed a certain amount of strength…or stubbornness.

  She was a fighter.

  The hardest nut to crack.

  Kellan let out an audible sigh as he scrubbed a hand over the back of his buzz cut.

  “What’s your take so far?” Blaine gazed at the girl. “Do you think she was targeting your parents’ place specifically or just noticed it was empty?”

  Kellan briefly explained what he observed at the house.

  Blaine’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Sounds like a professional job.”

  “I know, and from what I can tell, she seems pretty switched on. I think the robbery was planned. Whether she was just working with the kid who got away or a bigger group, I’m not sure. But I’d sure like to find out.”

  Blaine nodded, still analyzing the girl. “She’s got to be in her mid-teens, right? She doesn’t look familiar to me—not that I hang out at the high school much—but do you think we should take a few photos and visit the school?”

  “It could be a next step if she refuses to talk to us.” Kellan rubbed his mouth. “I’d still like to see if we can get something out of her first. Is a court-appointed guardian on the way?”

  “A call’s been made, but who knows how long they’ll take.”

  Kellan huffed. He didn’t want to be here all night. Eventually someone would be looking for this girl—a parent or guardian—and he didn’t want them freaking out that she’d disappeared. “I wonder if someone else can stand in while we’re waiting.”

  Someone popped into his head right away, and his insides stirred with an excitement he’d been trying to deny for months…years.

  “Are you thinking of talking to her yourself?” Blaine glanced down at him.

  Kellan shrugged. “Not sure. Why?”

  “Well, maybe it’d be better if someone who wasn’t involved with the arrest questions her,” Blaine suggested.

  “That’s not a bad idea.” Kellan gave him a close-mouthed smile. Blaine was once again proving why he was one of the best. There was a strength and compassion that made up a large part of who he was and Kellan admired him for it.

  “Cam would be the best choice. Too bad she’s still on vacation.”

  Kellan thought of their female detective. She’d asked for leave after the incident with her boyfriend, Alex. They needed to spend a little time together, and she wasn’t due back to work until Monday morning.

  “I’
ll go see if Nate’s free,” Kellan murmured. “He’s the next best choice at questioning people.”

  Blaine snickered. “Give him a heads-up that he’ll have to smile.”

  Kellan couldn’t help a grin. “I’ll just tell him to imagine that he’s speaking to Sally or something.”

  “Well, we all know that’ll work.” Blaine rolled his eyes. Nate’s fiancée brought something out of Nate that no one else could. She was his sunlight.

  Kellan winced at the thought.

  He used to have a little ray of sunshine. His daughter could make him smile like no one else could. The day she disappeared, it stole a part of Kellan that he’d never been able to get back. She was gone forever, and he hadn’t even bothered to try and fill the gaping hole.

  It was too impossible.

  He’d been surviving for the last ten years.

  When he was in a reflective mood, he could admit that it probably wasn’t the healthiest way to live, but what other choice did he have?

  Work, order, control. Those things kept him safe.

  As long as he had his routine and didn’t let himself dive into the ocean of devastation that rested just below the surface, he could cope.

  As he walked toward Nate’s office, he forced his mind back to the survivor in the interview room. She had a fight about her that he understood—a silent will to not let the walls cave in. She was a scared kid who wasn’t bowing to her fear.

  So how the hell was Nate going to bust through that barrier?

  What was the best way to approach her?

  “Melina.” Kellan whispered the woman’s name…yet another excuse to involve her. Not only could she stand in until the court got their act together and sent someone, but she was the perfect person to get a scared, teenage kid to open up.

  Melina Pryor worked with social services—more specifically, with child protective services—and she would be the perfect person to call. If anyone could get that girl talking, it’d be her. She might even know the kid already, have some kind of record on her.

  Squeezing his eyes shut, he silently berated himself for not calling her on his way to the station. He dashed to his office and flicked the door shut behind him.

  As he approached his desk, he sucked in a breath, nerves skittering through him.

  Melina Pryor.

  His lips toyed with a smile as images of the gorgeous woman crystalized in his mind. He was about to hear the sound of her soft voice. He loved the way it rolled and swayed as she spoke—a cool, calming sound that could settle a frayed nerve or soothe someone to sleep. She was a lullaby, a cool breeze on a hot day.

  Swallowing back his ridiculous teenage-like jitters, he found her number and cleared his throat, reminding himself to sound professional and not give away his silly schoolboy crush.

  7

  Wednesday, September 26th

  2:50pm

  Melina tucked a lock of chestnut hair behind her ear and leaned over the report she was reading.

  Sebastian Moore. Five years old.

  Only child of Lacey Moore. Father deceased.

  Scratching the right side of her temple, she squinted at the paperwork, grateful that she had finally found some time to sit down and really analyze her observations.

  A day in the office was a rare thing, and she was relieved to be catching up. Usually she was all over the place, going from one home, school or office to another. She loved her job, but it was draining, and the quiet days in the office were a small reprieve from the constant heartache she seemed to thrive around. It wasn’t that she enjoyed seeing people in pain; she just seemed to know exactly what to say and do to fix it. That part felt good.

  Helping people was her gift, so she kept doing it, even on those days when there was no happy solution. Her sole motivation was protecting innocent children who couldn’t protect themselves. Who shouldn’t have to protect themselves.

  Melina lightly ran a finger over her lips as she gazed at Sebastian’s photo. The poor kid would not want to be taken away from his mother, but Melina wasn’t sure she had much choice. She’d finished conducting her interviews at the school he attended, had also checked in with the neighbors, and the same story kept coming up over and over again.

  His mother was not fit to raise him.

  She was unstable and had been struggling with depression ever since Sebastian’s father died eighteen months earlier. The woman wasn’t coping with motherhood, and Sebastian was being neglected.

  Melina hated the situation.

  She’d tried in vain to contact relatives who might take him, but family ties had been severed and the only option if she removed the boy was foster care. It wasn’t a bad option—she worked with some amazing families—but her first course of action was always to keep things within the family if she could.

  She was loath to separate the mother and son, but he was only five and too young to take care of himself. Melina needed to set something in motion before the cold winter weather took over. When she visited the home on the weekend, there had barely been any food in the cupboard. The school was providing lunch for Sebastian, but he needed proper care. Lacey was trying. She’d agreed to meet with a counselor and look for more consistent work. She’d been fired from her last three jobs due to not showing up. Melina said she’d help her find something new as long as she could commit to hanging onto the job.

  The woman, in fear, had promised Melina she would. Melina had given her a resource sheet with local charities that could provide food assistance, and Lacey had promised she would call them. She also swore she would be a better parent to Sebastian, starting with getting him in the bath. Melina had practically heard the water running as she stepped out of the house.

  But would it last?

  Melina closed her eyes. She was due to go and check on them again tomorrow, but figured she should line up a foster care family just in case it was necessary. If she didn’t see proper action from the mother, she’d have no choice but to take the child until the mother was stable enough to care for him again.

  It would be tough, but the child’s best interest was all that mattered.

  She frowned. Foster care was always such a tough decision. The removal itself could cause significant trauma to a child, despite how loving of a family was waiting for him. And that trauma could follow him around for the rest of his life. But so could the trauma of growing up in a home where he was being neglected.

  Melina sighed. She wished there were easy answers.

  Reaching for her computer mouse, she waggled it to awaken the screen and started checking her foster family database. Sebastian seemed like a sweet, tentative kid. He needed a couple bursting with compassion and TLC. Someone like Louanne—Aspen Falls’ resident grandmother.

  A smile twitched her lips as she thought of one of her favorite people. Checking her watch, she noted the time and wondered if she could slip out for a quick afternoon coffee at Louanne’s coffee shop before returning to find the right family for Sebastian.

  She could call her mother and check in on her way there.

  After a health scare that had nearly paralyzed Melina, her mother was coming through the worst and improving daily. Having lost her father, Melina couldn’t stand the idea of having to live without her mother as well. Thankfully her older brother, Jarrett, had been amazing throughout the experience and carried most of the weight while Melina silently fell apart.

  Losing her father had been a blow. He was her hero, and to have him waste away to cancer had nearly destroyed her.

  She kept it all hidden though, not wanting to burden her family. Instead she focused on the kids she could help and tried to keep the storm of emotions in check whenever she was around her mother and brother. It no doubt came across as aloof, and was contrary to the way she always behaved at work, but survival instincts had kicked in. She never knew she’d react that way when things hit too close to home, but there it was.

  Quickly skimming the database, she mentally filed away some names to mull over w
hile she drank her coffee. They could hum in the back of her brain as she spoke to her mother, and hopefully by the time she returned, she’d have a good feeling about one of the three families she was thinking of for Sebastian. If she needed one.

  Her cell phone rang, and she reached for it without taking her eyes off the screen.

  It wasn’t until she glanced down to swipe across and answer the call that she noted the name.

  Kellan Marks.

  Her heart hitched into her throat.

  It did that every time she knew she was going to talk to him…or see him.

  She hated how her body betrayed her. Like anything would ever happen between her and the police chief. The man was a closed-off mystery. He didn’t let people close, and he wasn’t about to fall for a woman eleven years his junior.

  It was a fantasy, but one she couldn’t stop dreaming about.

  Clearing her throat, she sat up a little straighter and made sure her voice was low and professional before answering the call. “Melina Pryor.”

  “Melina, it’s Kellan.” His voice wasn’t overly deep, but there was just a little gruffness around the edges. It had a warm hum to it that always made her grin.

  “Good afternoon.” She wondered if he could hear her smile and she quickly swallowed, licking her bottom lip as she struggled to dampen the butterflies in her stomach.

  Just keep it about work.

  “You got a new case for me?”

  “Yeah, actually, I do. Just brought a teenage girl in. She’s not saying anything, so we don’t know who she is or where she comes from. We can’t contact parents or guardians.”

  Melina sat forward, instantly intrigued. She couldn’t help the buzz that zinged through her whenever a new waif or stray was brought to her attention. Grabbing a pencil out of her jar, she pushed Sebastian’s report aside and unearthed her notebook.