Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“Thank you, Uncle Hay.”
He nodded, but his eyes narrowed like he was in pain.
“Hey,” I said to Stella, “do you have a cell phone with your mom’s number in it that I can borrow and call her?”
She had it in her pocket, a cute flip phone covered with an inordinate number of shiny jewels.
“Wow,” I teased her, taking it slowly, putting it on for her benefit. “This is fancy.”
Instant glare from her. “I bet it’s nicer than yours.”
“It’s nicer than everybody’s,” I baited her, and she suddenly giggled, which was the best sound I’d heard all day. “I’ll be right back.”
Before I could go, she got up and slammed into me, hugging me as hard as she could. And yes, I was hurt, but not hurt enough to stop a scared seven-year-old from loving on me.
After putting my hand on her back, leaning over and reassuring her that she was going to be all right, I had her sit back down next to Hayden and then joined Bodhi as all the adults converged on Stella.
Bodhi led the way, his grip tight on Luke’s bicep, the hold the uncomfortable one we all knew how to do with dangerous fugitives. And not that Luke was scary or deadly. Bodhi simply hated him and what he’d done. I followed behind them, scrolling through the recent calls on Stella’s phone, finding her mom’s number easily.
“Hi, bunny,” was the warm greeting from her mother. “Are ya bored already? I can put more books on your phone.”
There was no way to begin without scaring the hell out of her. If I said who I was—terror. If I explained what happened—the same. I went with my go-to. “Ma’am, let me begin by saying your daughter is fine. She was not hurt.”
Catch of breath. “Oh my God, who—”
“My name is Josiah Redeker, but please call me Jed, and Stella loaned me her phone so I could call you.”
She was on the verge of tears; I could hear it in her voice. “Who are you?”
“I am a deputy US marshal, and I’m staying with your former in-laws at their home on Mercer Island. There’s been a situation, but again, your daughter was not hurt. She’s very smart, and she trusted me to help her.”
Deep breath in, deep breath out, trying to keep herself calm. I appreciated the fact that she was working very hard not to fall apart.
“Ready?” I asked gently.
“Yes, I’m ready.”
I explained from the beginning as Bodhi asked Luke which room was his, and when he pointed, the three of us went there. I didn’t miss the fact that the room we passed on the right had toys in it, a Wonder Woman and Little Mermaid backpack, and several Barbies scattered on the floor.
Bodhi had Luke sit on his bed with his hands in his lap before he pulled his phone from his back pocket and began making a video record of packing Luke up. He grabbed the rolling suitcase from the closet and started shoving things in. He wasn’t careful, just wrenched clothes off hangers, balled them up, and threw them in. Everything in the en-suite bathroom went into the plastic bags in the drawers and into the suitcase as well. Once that was done, Bodhi went to the nightstand, picked up Luke’s wallet, removed his driver’s license, paused the video to take a picture of it, and then started recording again. We needed the picture of the physical ID so we could add it to the file Sharpe was compiling. Always best to show the court, if needed, that we weren’t just going on what we saw on a screen but also what we had in front of us. Always best to have that extra layer of corroboration.
“You’re certain he didn’t…violate her,” Stella’s mother, Meredith Goldman—she’d gone back to her maiden name—asked me for the third time in minutes. She must’ve had a million horrors running through her mind, all of them worse than the ones before.
“He kissed her with an open mouth, he tickled her under her shirt, but that’s the extent of what occurred. And if you heard how Stella and I conversed, you’d understand she trusted me enough to relate it all to me.”
“Yes, I—she’s a keen judge of character.”
“Do you have joint custody?”
“Yes, but I have physical custody because she lives with me.”
“Okay.”
“I need to speak to my daughter, please, Jed.”
“Of course. My partner and I are walking Luke Stoker to the door, where Seattle PD will take him into custody, and I’ll give her the phone on my way there.”
Shuddering breath, and then I heard the soft sobs.
“She’s okay. I even teased her about her really frou-frou phone.”
She laughed then, and it was the second-best sound I’d heard all day.
“Ready?” I asked Bodhi.
Nod from him as he did a final sweep of the room, still recording, and then shut it off. I took the tissue he passed me, wrapped it around the handle of the rolling suitcase, and followed them back down the hall.