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

“Well, hold on, not so fast,” Clyde said, chuckling nervously, the sound crackling over the poor connection. “That’s possible, sure, but there are some other possibilities, as well. There’s a reason the first forensics team didn’t find this evidence. It’s slight and might not mean what we want it to.”

I could see Nina’s face fall in real-time.

“Oh, okay,” she said, clearly deflated. “What else could it mean, then?”

“Well, the only thing we know for sure is that Mikey came into contact with that wrapper somehow,” Clyde explained. “He touched it, brushed against it, something like that. We don’t know when or why. There’s no saliva or anything like that.”

“So basically, Mikey could’ve touched the wrapper sometime when they were out on the water, and then Charlie could’ve taken it into the cave and eaten it later,” I surmised, my stomach sinking slightly again at this.

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying,” Clyde agreed. “But it could also mean that Mikey ate the granola bar in that cave. I mean, you said that the food was all locked away with rescue supplies, right? So why would Mikey come into contact with it if your perp didn’t intend to give it to him to eat?”

As Clyde spoke, the line began to crackle more as the reception grew weaker.

“Clyde, is there anything else?” I asked him. “You’re starting to break up a bit.”

“No, that’s pretty much it,” he said. “We’re still sorting through the rest of the data, but I wanted to try to catch you before you got to those caves. That’s what the forensics team told me you were doing. I hope this helps you some.”

“Yes, it does, thank you, Clyde, and thank Bonnie for us, too,” I assured him.

“Will do, Marston,” he said. “Good luck.” And with one more crackle, he clicked away.

Nina and I stood there in silence for a few moments as I maneuvered the boat around a corner, creeping us closer to our destination.

“Well, that’s something, at least,” she murmured after some time, sinking back into a sitting position along the side of the boat.

It was, at the very least, a glimmer of hope.

“Odds are, that was Mikey’s granola bar,” I said, nodding slowly as I thought this over. “Clyde hinted as much. He didn’t want to say for sure, of course, but I could tell he was leaning that way.”

“Yes, I thought that, too,” Nina said, the hint of a smile tucked behind the corners of her lips. “Why would he have touched it if he didn’t eat it? I just wish we knew when.”

“I doubt that it was before they were first spotted on the water,” I reasoned. “Prior and Andrews said there are some waves and stuff in the cave where they found the stuff. I bet it would’ve washed away back then. Also, Charlie seemed to want to get out of there quickly. He was panicking yesterday. He probably wouldn’t have thought about eating for hours, at least.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Nina said, some, but not all, of the excitement returning to her sharp, pixie-like features now. “They wouldn’t have thought about having to eat for a while, at least. It wouldn’t make sense to hide in a cave right away, either, especially since they were seen out on the water later that day. I bet they were there sometime today, which means that he didn’t kill Mikey right away. He could still be alive.”

“Yes, yes, he could,” I said, meeting her eyes and smiling despite myself.

Mikey was still out there somewhere. I had never been more sure of it. We were going to find him tonight. We had to find him tonight. He’d fought this long to stay alive. The least that we could do was not give up on him yet.

I glanced up ahead of us and then down again at the map Prior and Andrews had given us. We were coming upon what looked like some caves along the shore ahead on our right.

“I think this is it,” I said, glancing back over at Nina to find a familiar glint waiting for me there in her eyes.

“Alright, then,” she said. “Let’s go in and get him.”

27

Nina

Nina’s whole body was thrumming with nervous energy as Marston led their boat into the first cave in the set of several. The boat was small, and the hum of the engine low, but it wasn’t so small or unobtrusive that they wouldn’t be noticed if someone was in the cave.

Nina pulled out her gun the second they turned inside, just in case. She noticed Marston doing the same, though he was mostly occupied with maneuvering the boat around the narrow corners of the cave and the channel leading up to it.

She pulled out a flashlight from a kit Prior had pointed out to her and shined it around the whole area, scanning the small cave with her eyes and ears.

The cave was a mostly open area, with water flowing all around. There didn’t look to be any natural resting spots on rocks or anything. It was just like a small lake with no beach around it. If they wanted to hide out in here, it would have to be on their boat, and she didn’t see one anywhere.

While the cave was deep, it wasn’t all that wide, and Marston took them in further until they could tell for certain that no one was there.

“Onto the next, I guess,” he murmured, turning the boat around quickly and heading back outside.

Nina agreed, though she remained on alert the whole time until they got back out into the open water. She didn’t want to be caught off guard just in case something was lurking beneath the surface of the water.

Nothing came, however, and the two of them churned on to the next cave, a far narrower one full of twists and turns.

Marston had to work not to crash the boat here, and Nina was sure that