Stolen Child (Coastal Fury Book 13), Matt Lincoln [ebooks children's books free TXT] 📗

“I suppose if they’re on the run, they’re not going to want to waste any food,” I added. “They wouldn’t open anything they weren’t going to eat entirely.”

“That’s assuming this guy’s thinking straight, which he doesn’t seem to have been this whole time,” Nina pointed out.

“Fair enough,” I relented, though I certainly hoped that Charlie was thinking straighter now than he was before. Otherwise, what did that mean for Mikey?

“As for how old it was, I’m sorry, but I couldn’t tell you,” Andrews said apologetically. “Maybe the forensics guys will be more help, but it was all dry food and water, and all that was left were a couple of crumbs. The wrappers were kind of wet from the ocean spray coming into the cave, but that could mean anything. Minutes or hours, who knows?”

“We understand. Thank you for telling us all this,” I said, giving them each a strained but grateful smile. “And you did well calling in another team and leaving someone there to look after the scene and not messing with it yourselves. We’re going to have to call that forensics team in to excavate it right away.”

I looked to Nina at this, and she nodded and pulled out her phone.

“I’ll just be a minute,” she told us. “I’ll go call the station and get someone down here.” And with that, she walked several paces away so that we could continue talking without obstructing her call.

“How about you tell me where you’ve already covered and where you think we should look next?” I asked Prior and Andrews when she was out of earshot. “Are you two done for the night?”

“Oh, no, sir, none of us are stopping until this boy is found,” Prior assured me, his tone and expression very serious. “We were going to wait here for the forensics team and lead them out to the caves. Another boat is coming in soon.”

“Alright, that’s good, that’s good,” I said, nodding slowly. “Thank you guys for dedicating yourselves to this. How long have you been going?”

“In the search?” Andrews asked, and I nodded again. “Since late last night, around midnight, I’d say. But we took a couple of hours off this afternoon, and we’re good to go through the night again.”

“Lots of energy drinks, too,” Prior added for good measure, and we all chuckled.

“Well, we appreciate it,” I told them. “We know that everyone’s running on fumes here, ourselves included, but time is of the essence in cases like this one.”

They both nodded gravely, and all humor was wiped off their faces.

“As for your question, there are a few possibilities we think are pretty good,” Andrews said, pulling a folded map of the ocean out of his pocket. I looked over his shoulder at it to see that there were bright red markings along the coast in several places. A couple were crossed out.

“These are the caves that we were going to search through,” Prior explained, pointing at the red parts. “The crossed-out ones are the one’s we’ve already searched. See this star? Those are the ones where we found the wrappers.”

I followed his hand and saw that one of the markings I’d taken for a poorly-written “x” was actually a star.

“Now these are the caves nearest to there,” Andrews said, pointing to a few red spots to the right of the starred area. “The ones on the other side have already been searched. If they’re still in the area, I’d bet anything that they’re in one of these caves.”

I squinted closer at the map. It looked like there were four or five possibilities along the ocean.

“We’ve got three teams, including yours looking for them,” Prior explained, following my gaze. “But we’re both here, and the third is waiting for the forensics team. We tried to call another boat in, but they’re too far out. We’ve also got some ships looking for them further out in the ocean. We can call them back in if you’d like.”

“No, we should be able to cover this ourselves once we get a forensics team out there,” I said, shaking my head. “And we don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket. That could’ve been someone else’s rescue supplies, or they could’ve gone back out into the open water. We just don’t know for sure.”

“Understood,” Andrews said, standing very straight. “That’s what we thought, sir.”

“You’ve done well,” I assured them both again. “If Mikey’s to be found, we’ll find him tonight. Let’s make sure of that. We all know how short on time we’re running, here.”

“Is it true?” Prior asked, leaning in close to me like he was afraid that someone else might hear. “Are we going to start looking for a body if we don’t find him tonight? That’s what people are whispering.”

“Let’s not go there yet,” I said, offering just the sort of non-answer that confirmed the men’s suspicions. “It’s important to stay positive, for Mikey’s sake and for our own.”

Both men nodded and hung their heads, showing that they knew exactly what I wasn’t saying. That if Mikey wasn’t found soon, he was probably dead, and even if he wasn’t, everyone would start assuming that he was.

It had to be tonight. It had to be.

Nina walked back over to us then, her face cloaked with worry.

“What’s going on?” I asked, taking a step toward her and furrowing up my own brow. “What’s wrong?”

“I… I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head in confusion and staring down at her phone. “I can’t get ahold of anyone.”

“No one?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

“No one,” she confirmed. “Not a soul is answering at the station.”

24

Nina

Nina and Marston left the two Coast Guard men at the dock to watch the boat as they rushed back to the police station to see what was going on. There was never any question that that was what they had to do. It didn’t make sense that no one was answering. Chief Raskin, one of