“What are you doing?” asks Morgan as he returns with cupped hands. He puts them to Jenny’s mouth and lets the water wet her lips. She licks them but doesn’t move.
Nate looks down at him. “I’m removing any ambiguity from this situation. You cops tend to shoot first and ask questions later.”
A tall older guy in a suit approaches them and assesses the situation. “You stupid son of a bitch, Morgan.”
Morgan looks up at him. “I didn’t kill anyone, Chief. And we have time to save the girl. I had no idea she was still alive. The mother told me she was dead.”
The chief leans in close as Nate watches. “Don’t say a word to anyone,” he says quietly. “We’ll take care of you. The parents obviously went crazy and can’t be trusted with their version of events. We have Anna Lucas. She attempted to run.”
Nate burns with anger. They’re going to protect Morgan, even though he helped Anna cover up what she’d done. Jenny could have been found sooner if he had acted like the professional he’s supposed to be. Grant and Esme would still be alive.
The chief moves aside for the approaching ambulance crew, and the EMTs check Jenny over. When they’re satisfied they can move her without causing any damage, they gently lift her onto a stretcher, put an oxygen mask on her face and carry her away.
Morgan rubs his face and then bends down to pick up his discarded weapon. The chief immediately takes it off him, but he doesn’t cuff him and he doesn’t ask for his badge. Instead he points his flashlight at Nate, who can barely contain his anger at the thought of Morgan getting off scot-free.
“I have to cuff you until we get you to the station and find out what happened here,” he says.
Nate remains passive and silent. As the chief cuffs him, he never takes his eyes off Morgan, who looks away, clearly ashamed.
Maybe now he’ll understand why Nate hates cops.
Ninety-One
Madison wakes to Nate looking down at her. She wipes her mouth.
“Oh my God, was I drooling?”
He laughs. “Just a little.”
She’s dressed, bandaged and ready to leave this hospital and this town. She didn’t mean to fall asleep; it’s the tablets they gave her for the pain making her drowsy. She’s been sitting outside Anna’s room for an hour, waiting for news from Nate. Standing, she notices he looks tired and disheveled. “What happened out there? Did you find Jenny? You look like shit, by the way.”
He nods. “I feel like shit. I heard you got stabbed.”
She shrugs. “It was just a kitchen knife. It didn’t do too much damage, but it hurts like a bitch.”
He smiles. “Where’s Anna?”
Madison nods to the room behind her. “In there. She had her baby early, when she was trying to escape.”
“I want to tell you both together what happened.”
Madison gets goosebumps on her arms. She doesn’t know if she wants to hear this.
A guy in a suit approaches them. “Hi, I’m Chief Hennessy. I take it you’re the woman who called us about Mrs. Lucas?”
She nods.
Hennessy leads them past the two uniforms stationed at the door. Madison hangs back as he and Nate approach the bed.
Anna’s sitting up, and despite everything, she looks happy. She has her baby next to her bed, with a nurse watching her closely. Madison wonders how long it will be before child services take the baby away, and whether Anna realizes that’s what’s going to happen. Just the thought of it makes her feel sick. After all, she’s been there.
When Anna spots them all, her smile falters. “Who are you?”
“I’m Ted Morgan’s boss, Chief Hennessy.”
Her whole face drops. “Have you found Grant?”
He nods. “Yes. He’s deceased. It looks like suicide. We have it on video.”
Madison shakes her head. Even after everything she’s done, she can’t help feeling sorry for Anna. Hennessy’s bedside manner could do with some work.
Nate obviously agrees, as he takes over. “Anna?”
Dazed, with tears running down her face, she turns to him. “Where was he?”
“He was in the forest. He’d gone there to look for Jenny. To apologize to her.”
Anna looks down at the bed and rubs her hands together like she’s cold. Madison is pleased to see she’s affected by Grant’s death, because it’s been difficult to see the human behind what she did to her daughter.
“We found someone else,” says Nate. “We found Jenny.”
Anna raises her eyes and shakes her head. “I don’t want anything to do with her remains. Someone else will have to bury her. Maybe Grant’s family will take care of all that.”
Madison closes her eyes against tears. She takes a deep breath. She’s shocked at the callousness of Anna’s reaction. How could she hate a child that much? She shivers and looks at Nate. It must have been awful for him to discover her. It’s unlikely he’s seen a dead child before, and she knows from experience that something like that is hard to forget. She’d be surprised if this doesn’t trigger another depressive episode.
Nate shares a look with the chief, who nods, prompting him to go on. “Anna? Jenny’s alive.”
Madison takes a step back, as if pushed. “What?” She covers her mouth with her hands. She’s never felt more relieved in her life. “Oh, thank God.” Her reaction surprises her. She’s always been so good at distancing herself from victims. But this case was different. It got to her.
Anna shouts, “What? Don’t you dare say that! Tell me you don’t mean it?” Her face has drained of all blood. Her shouting wakes the baby, who starts crying.
Chief Hennessy takes a step closer to the bed.
Nate continues. “Somehow she got out of the water in one piece and survived over two weeks alone in the woods.”
“But there were so many rocks!” says Anna, clearly horrified.
“I guess she got lucky. Probably for the first time in her life.”
Anna gulps, shaking her head. Madison feels like she might faint. She moves to the visitor armchair and sits down. This is amazing news.
Nate has one more revelation. “Jenny’s here, Anna. She’s on the floor above. She’s going to be okay.”
Anna screams and Madison’s not prepared for it. It pierces her ears. She watches as Anna jumps out of the bed, pulling away from the machines she’s wired to. Her baby cries louder; the nurse lifts her from the cot and takes her away.
Chief Hennessy has hold of Anna, and Madison steps in front of her to block the doorway just as the uniforms enter the room. She grabs her by the arms. “Leave her alone, Anna. She’s just a child.”
“She ruined my life!”
Madison wants to slap her. “You ruined your own life when you tried to kill her. That girl needed you and Grant, and you both failed her.”
Anna’s not listening. “My baby!” Her eyes frantically search the room, but the baby is no longer there. “You need to protect my baby from that girl!”
“Don’t worry, your baby will be protected,” says Madison, with unconcealed contempt. “She’ll be protected from you.”
Anna slumps onto the floor, defeated.
Chief Hennessy cuffs her. “Anna Lucas, I’m arresting you for child abduction and attempted murder. I suggest you hire a lawyer.”
Nate takes Madison’s hand and leads her out of the room as Anna sobs on the floor.
ninety-two
September 2017—Polunsky Unit, Livingston, Texas
When the prison guard cuts Nate’s wristband and tells him he’s free to go, Nate almost breaks down. Almost. He doesn’t want to give the man the satisfaction. He was hoping Gus would be the one to free him, so he could look him in the eye as he did so, but Gus took the day off sick.
Nate picks up his brown paper bag of belongings and walks on shaking legs to the door. An officer he’s never met holds it open, wishing him luck as he passes.
Nate stops to look at him. Is he being facetious? He looks into the ma
n’s eyes. No. He means it. That’s the first time a guard has said anything positive to him in seventeen years. The first time he’s been treated as an equal. He nods to the guy and then turns to the open doorway.
He worries that he’s going to be grabbed and pulled back the minute he steps over the threshold, because that’s what happens in his dreams: he’s always taken straight back inside and told it was all a joke. Like the time Gus told him Kristen was waiting to speak to him, long after her disappearance, and escorted him to the interview room. Nate was burning with hope and relief, anxious to see her and find out what had happened to her. When he got in there, the room was empty. It was a cruel trick.
Now, the sunlight dazzles him and it takes a while for him to be able to see anything. The fresh air aggravates his lungs, making him cough. When he can open his eyes and look up, he sees the waiting press: hundreds of vultures in front of satellite vans wanting to know how he feels about being exonerated, and whether he’ll sue the state of Texas for his wrongful conviction. He can hear crowds chanting something behind them. Probably a mixture of pro and anti capital punishment protesters.
He stops, not wanting to go over there. There are no walls or bars ahead of him, just an open landscape behind the crowds and an impossibly vast sky. He feels panicked, like he needs to find another way out, and even takes a step back toward the prison.
Suddenly he’s almost floored as someone rushes up and hugs him so tight he can’t breathe.
“It’s over, Nate,” Rex whispers into his ear. “The nightmare is over.”
Ninety-Three
Two days later, Madison is waiting to collect Nate from the jaws of law enforcement. He’s had to give a written statement about what happened in the forest.
She smiles as she watches him walk out from behind the police station’s front desk. Chief Hennessy escorts him.
“Thanks for your cooperation, Mr. Monroe,” says the chief. He notices Brody, who is sitting patiently next to her. “That the dog from the summer camp? Morgan mentioned he needs putting down. Apparently he’s aggressive.”
“No, he’s not,” says Nate. “He just doesn’t like child abductors and corrupt cops. Anyway, he’s not mine.”
“Well he might be now. I’ve spoken to the owners of Camp Fearless, who’ve told me they’re shutting the place. They’re hoping to let the bad press die down and then open it, rebranded, in a year or two. They don’t want the dog, apparently. They say he never belonged to them. So if you don’t claim him, he might not stand a chance.”
Madison touches Nate’s arm. She doesn’t want to say it out loud, but she can tell Nate’s picking up on her thoughts: they can’t leave Brody with this bunch of assholes.
“We’ll take him,” he says.
The chief nods. “We’ll be in touch about a court date.”
Madison’s smile falters. “What court date?”
Nate turns to her. “It’s okay. I’m not being charged with anything. I may be called as a witness against Anna and Morgan, but hopefully not, as Grant’s recorded confession and Morgan’s testimony about his involvement should be enough to convict her.”
“We have the mother’s journal in our possession too,” says the chief. “I understand it’s pretty damning.”
Madison is relieved. “What will happen to Jenny now?”
“She’ll be under the protection of child services. They’re best placed to take care of her.”
Madison tries not to grimace. She hopes Jenny gets the psychological help she needs in order to move on from her ordeal, but the system is stacked against her.
“Has she been told about Grant and Esme yet?”
“No. Child services are flying in a specialist from New York to do everything properly. She needs the best of the best if she’s ever to get a fresh start.”
Madison popped in to see Jenny at the hospital yesterday. The girl obviously didn’t know who she was, and Madison didn’t go into detail; just said she was on the team of people trying to find her. She wanted to see for herself whether Jenny was as evil as Anna had made out, to try to understand Anna’s thought process when planning to kill her daughter. What she found was an underweight, shy little girl who happily accepted her gifts of magazines and chocolate. Madison warmed to her, especially when Jenny hugged her to say thank you for not giving up on her. She had to leave then before she broke down. She didn’t want to upset the girl.
After having met her, Madison believes in Esme’s version of Jenny, and she prays child services will be more careful in their next choice of family.
“What about Morgan?” Nate asks Hennessy. “I assume he’s at least fired.”
“Of course. His wife bailed him out yesterday. He made a stupid decision based on his history with the mother. He’s learned a terrible lesson, and he’ll never serve as a cop again.”
Nate shakes his head. “Stupid decision?”
Madison understands his anger. They all know that if Morgan wasn’t a cop, he’d be sitting in a cell right now with no option of bail.
They’re about to walk out of the station when Chief Hennessy holds out his hand to them. Madison automatically shakes it. She watches as Nate just looks at it. He’s told her what Hennessy said to Morgan up in the forest; that he practically guaranteed he’d help Morgan get off as lightly as possible. That will bug the hell out of Nate. She doesn’t think there’s any chance he’ll shake this man’s hand.
She’s right. Nate walks away. Over his shoulder he says, “You have my number.”
Brody leads them out of the station. They walk to Nate’s car, and after they buckle up, Madison checks her phone and sighs. No messages.
“What is it?” asks Nate.
She takes a deep breath. “I’ve not heard from Steph since she sent me a text with kisses at the end, which is out of character for her. She never uses kisses. It has me worried.”
“Try calling her.”
“I have, but she never picks up. I’m starting to worry. What if those men have got her?”
He thinks about it for a minute. “Let me try calling her using my phone. She might pick up if she doesn’t think it’s you.”
She holds her phone out so he can see Stephanie’s number. She hears the line ring about four times before it’s picked up, but there’s just silence. Nate puts it on loudspeaker.
“Stephanie?” he says.
After a few seconds, a man speaks. “Who is this?”
Nate looks at Madison. “My name’s Nate. Is Stephanie there?”
More silence. Then, “Put Madison on the line.”
Nate hands the phone over to her, confused.
Madison recognizes the voice. It’s Mike. Somehow she knows what he’s going to say. Her heart beats faster and she breaks out in a sweat. “Mike?” she says.
“Yeah. I’ve just had a call-out to Steph’s house.” He pauses. “It’s bad, Madison.”
Madison’s arms go numb. She drops the phone and turns away.
Nate picks it up off her lap. “What’s happened?” he asks.
“I don’t know who you are, but you need to get Madison here as soon as possible. Her ex-girlfriend is dead.”
Nate reaches across and puts his hand on hers. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.” He ends the call.
“Madison? Did you hear that?”
She nods, her eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry.”
His words can’t comfort her. She needs action. He appears to sense this, because he drops her phone back into her lap and starts the car’s engine. “I’m going to drive us straight to Colorado. Is that what you want?”
She’s thinking of her son. Is he going to be next?
She looks at Nate as tears run down her cheeks. All she can do is nod.
Dying to know if Madison will finally be reunited with her son? Or if Nate gets the answers he so desperately seeks? In Cry for Help the body of a teenage girl is found abandoned at a fairground in another nail-biting case that will have you sleep
ing with the lights on!
Get it HERE!
cry for help
Detective Madison Harper Book 2
Get it now!
Shivering in the early morning chill, the caretaker flips the switch on the Ferris wheel and stumbles back in shock. The teenage girl’s body is slumped in a halo of pretty colored lights, long red hair spilling over her tear-stained cheeks, her eyes fixed forever on her dangling feet.
When teenager Nikki Jackson’s body is found at an amusement park, just hours after Fourth of July fireworks lit up the night sky, the Lost Creek police rule her death as suicide––a devastating final act from a girl who had lost all hope. But the absence of the knife used to make the wounds on her delicate wrists makes Detective Madison Harper think otherwise. And the partial fingerprint found on the girl’s face proves her right. Someone else was with Nikki in her final moments…
Back home in Colorado for the first time in seven years to investigate the murder of a woman with ties to the son she lost to the care system, the pressure is on for Madison to work both cases at once. Fearing the team has missed a vital clue, Madison searches the crime scene alone and finds the last thing she ever expected: a note proving the victims knew each other, and that the cases are linked. Is this a coincidence, proof a dangerous murderer is on the loose, or a trap set to lead Madison off the trail?
It’s only when Madison finally finds the knife used to harm Nikki, tucked in an almost impossible to find hiding place, that she knows she is closing in on a twisted killer. But the last person she expects to see dragged into the department in handcuffs is her own missing son…
An absolutely unputdownable crime thriller that will have you sleeping with the lights on. Addictive reading for anyone who loves Lisa Regan, Robert Dugoni and Melinda Leigh.
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