truck into park in the middle of the lot since it was as close to the building as he could get. A uniformed police officer approached. Will saw recognition in his gaze as he spotted him through the windshield.
Shoving his door open, Will jumped out. “Is everyone okay?”
“Yes, Mr. Campbell. Everyone is fine.”
The finest edge of his fear dulled at that. “Thank God.”
“We’ve been trying to reach you, sir.”
Will’s phone was programmed to dump callers into voicemail if he didn’t have them entered as a contact. He hadn’t checked his voicemail before heading to the studio since he was already running behind.
“There’s been an incident,” the officer explained.
No shit, Will thought. The front window was shattered and there were emergency vehicles all over the place.
“Did someone try to break in?” he asked.
“No, sir. Please come with me. We’d like your assistance accessing the security footage.”
His anxiety made a swift return over the officer’s serious demeanor. “Where’s my daughter?” he asked as he fell into step with him. “Is she with Jasmine?”
“She’s with Ms. Patel. Right over here.”
Will’s heart thudded in his throat as they neared the ambulance. Why were they going to the ambulance?
Why wasn’t Katie with Jasmine?
When he rounded the vehicle and found Katie sitting on the back of it with Alima, relief nearly overwhelmed him. Then he saw the tearstains on both their cheeks and realized Katie was wearing a shirt that was way too large for her.
What the fuck?
“Hi, kiddo,” he said in a soothing voice, not wanting to alarm her.
Her eyes met his. They filled with tears.
He reached down and gathered her against him. She clung to him, burying her face against his neck.
“Hey, now,” he said, brushing a kiss against the top of her head and running a hand over her hair. “It’s going to be okay. I’m here. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Alima rose. He looked at her over Katie’s head and mouthed, Where’s Jasmine?
She mouthed back, Hospital.
“Jasmine’s at the hospital?” he asked loudly, forgetting all about being discreet.
Katie started sobbing.
“Sir, if we could get your assistance with the security?” the officer prompted.
“Someone better start explaining what the hell is going on.”
The officer nodded. “Perhaps it would be best to leave your daughter in Ms. Patel’s care for a few minutes.”
Katie’s grip on him tightened.
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen,” Will said. To Alima, he asked, “You’re okay?”
“Yes. Thanks for asking. If you’re going to keep Katie with you, I would like to head to the hospital. I don’t think Jasmine has her phone, so she won’t have a way to reach her family.”
He couldn’t fully react to the words without further upsetting Katie. Somehow, he managed to say, “Thanks for staying with her.”
“Of course. Bye, Katie.”
Katie didn’t respond. Will turned to follow the officer. His gaze swept over the cracked window as they got closer to the studio’s entrance. Once he could make out more detail, he saw that the glass hadn’t been fractured from the outside.
Someone had done it from inside.
He did his best to maintain his composure for Katie’s sake, but it was a battle. When they walked in and he saw the smears of blood on the floor, his gut iced over. Only the knowledge that Katie needed him to keep it together prevented him from bellowing a demand that someone tell him what happened.
Crime scene markers had been placed in multiple places within the lobby. Beside a chair lying on its side near the broken window…beside the blood…beside a small pool of liquid that looked like water.
No, not water, he thought as he caught the scent of urine.
He finally clued into why Katie was dressed like she was. Knowing how terrified she must have been had him holding her tighter.
The flash of a camera nearly made him snarl until he grasped that it was a crime scene tech rather than someone trying to take advantage of the situation for a publicity pic. A man and a woman wearing regular clothes stopped whatever conversation they’d been having and turned to greet him.
“Mr. Campbell, my name is Detective Baskin,” the man said, “and this is my partner, Detective Jeffries.”
Will gave them both nods of greeting. “Can you tell me what happened?”
Jeffries looked at Katie. “I don’t think we should discuss this in front of your daughter.”
So many horrifying scenarios ran through his mind right then that he nearly went into full-blown panic mode.