Find My Baby by Mitzi Pool Bridges Read Free Book Online Page A

to the back room. “There’s a bathroom with two doors. When they came in the second door, they locked mine. See the boarded window. There was no way to get out, though God knows I tried to pry the boards loose.” She glanced down at her hands, tucked them under her arms. She had always been proud of her hands, keeping her nails neatly trimmed and polished a soft, natural color. But she had destroyed all that over the last weeks.
    Pulling her arms down, Luke took her hands in his and looked at her ragged fingernails.
    “I tried to escape,” she whispered.
    He patted her hand as if to comfort her and she was surprised when it calmed her. She knew how desperate she must look, but couldn’t help it.
    Luke took the flashlight and studied the room.
    “There’s a new lock on the door where I was held.” She led him into the room that was her prison, tamping down the wild rush of fear that came over her. “The windows are boarded from the inside, screwed in, not nailed.”
    To Luke’s credit, he searched the small space carefully. He must be a good cop, she thought as he checked the boards over the window, traced the scratch marks she’d made with her nails with a pen from his pocket.
    “What do you think?” she asked, her voice shaky.
    “I believe you,” he said simply.
    Pulling a cell phone out of his pocket, he stepped outside.
    This was it. He was reporting that they had found the house to his boss. The cops would come now and they’d believe her. They had to.
    When he came back inside she was sitting on the worn couch.
    “I’m going to look around some more. Will you be all right?”
    She looked up at him, couldn’t stop her eyes from tearing. “Nothing will be all right again until I find Sam. But no, I can’t stay here. I’ll wait in the car.”
    ****
    “You missed the exit to Aunt Nester’s,” Kayla said a short while later, as Luke failed to take the turn.
    “We’re going to check in at headquarters. Then I’ll take you to Nester’s.”
    Kayla gasped. “You can’t.”
    “I have to.”
    The firm set of his mouth told her that no amount of pleading would change his mind. “I can’t search for Sam if they keep me.” She tried to make him understand, tried to tamp down the sudden burst of fear.
    “Trust me, Kayla. You need their help. We can’t do this alone.”
    Trust him? Maybe. Trust the cops? She didn’t think so.
    Thoughts of escape leaped through her head. Luke was big, and the steely look in his sea-green eyes told her he was determined. How could she possibly get away? She had to try. She couldn’t be imprisoned again. Couldn’t bear to have that powerless feeling again, of not being in control of her life, of her very self.
    She thought of jumping from the car and running. But they were on the freeway going seventy miles an hour. She was desperate, not stupid. She’d wait. She’d learned how to wait.
    When they were off the freeway, she saw her chance. A traffic light. Let it be red when we get there, she prayed.
    Like an answer to her prayers, the light turned red just before they got to the intersection. In a heartbeat, she unlocked her seatbelt, opened the door and ran.
    Luke wheeled to the curb, slammed out of the car, and took off down the alley after her.
    He caught her as she doubled back and out of the dead-end.
    “I won’t be kept prisoner again,” she said with tears in her voice. “I have to find Sam.”
    “I should handcuff you,” he warned. Taking her arm, he led her back to the car and made her get in on the driver’s side.
    Her breath came in short gasps. It took a minute to get herself back under control and by then they were in the parking lot at HPD.
    “Don’t run again,” Luke cautioned. “One word is all it will take for the cops you see, plus some you don’t, to be after you. And it won’t look good.”
    “They didn’t believe me. Oh, they know I had a baby all right. They also think I killed him.” She glared at him. “I won’t go in