Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn #6)- Lisa Regan Page 0,99

move.

“You talk? Say something, kid.”

“I—I—”

He shook his head. “Never mind. She’s gone.”

“Gone?” I repeated.

“She left. Took her shit and left.”

I ran toward the outside door, but his hand shot out and grabbed the collar of my shirt.

“I’m going with her,” I cried.

He tossed me as if I weighed nothing. My body flew through the air, crashed into the wall, and slid down to the floor. I felt the hurt everywhere at once. Something flared inside me—burning anger—and without thinking, I jumped back up and flew at him. I grabbed his thick, hairy forearm and clamped my teeth down on it.

He tried to flick me away, like I was a bug. “Dammit, kid. Knock it off.”

I wouldn’t let go. A growling sound started deep in my throat. Blood flowed into my mouth. With his other meaty paw, he backhanded me. Stars appeared before my eyes and my jaw went slack. I fell to the ground. “Look what you did, you stupid kid,” he muttered. Blood flowed down his arm, to his wrist, snaking between his fingers. I had made him bleed just as he had made her bleed so many times.

I tried to stand up but dizziness overcame me. “Where do you think you’re going?” he said.

“I’m going to find her,” I said.

“You’re not going with her,” he said. “You stay here with me.”

“She’ll come back,” I choked out.

Then his face was inches from mine, his breath foul and hot. “She’s never coming back,” he snarled. “You understand that, kid? She’s never coming back.”

Tears spilled from my eyes. “I want to go home.”

“You’re never going home.”

Sixty-One

The mobile command tent was abuzz with activity when Josie and Oaks arrived back at the city park. The park lights shone down on the play area, illuminating the law enforcement milling around outside the tent as well as the civilian volunteers Josie had enlisted to help search for Violet Young. She spotted Luke’s bloodhound, Blue, lumbering around the swings, sniffing at the dirt and walked toward him. Josie knelt and called softly to Blue, who recognized her. He walked over to her, his tail wagging, and pressed the length of his body into her waiting hands. She scratched his back, rubbed his sides, and spoke softly to him. Nearby, Luke was talking with a sheriff’s deputy. He smiled when he saw her, said goodbye to the deputy, and came over.

“You’re okay,” Luke said. “Word around here was that you took one to the stomach. Had everyone pretty freaked out till we heard you had your vest on.”

Josie nodded. “A little bruising. That’s all. I wanted to thank you—and Blue—for your help with finding Violet Young.”

Luke smiled and gestured toward Blue. “It was all him. I’m just his ride.”

“Well,” Josie said. “We’re lucky that you were both here.”

“It was the least I could do, especially after what happened at my place. You know, I was going to make you breakfast that day but when I woke, you were gone. I figured you had a big lead to run down.”

Josie’s gaze fell momentarily. She shored herself up and met his eyes again. “I did,” she said. “About that, Luke, what did happen that night?”

His face fell. “You don’t remember?”

“I’m sorry. I—uh—I remember dinner. Then I left and came back, and we drank. A lot. I remember watching television with you. Laughing. Then we woke up in your bed. I need to know—”

“You blacked out?”

Shame colored her face. “Yes. I told you—I hadn’t had anything to drink for months before that. Not that that’s any excuse. I’m so sorry. I don’t remember. But I need to know. If I’m going to move forward with Noah, I have to know the truth.”

Luke looked back at the tent where Josie knew Noah had been all night, working the phones and a laptop because his broken leg kept him out of the field. “Oh, you think we—you think we slept together?”

“We didn’t?” Josie asked. She tried to stem the monster wave of relief that started to crash inside of her, at least until she’d heard everything.

Luke laughed. “No, Josie. We didn’t. Not that I didn’t think about it. I mean you and I—we had some amazing times together—but no, I knew you were hung up on Noah, so I didn’t even try. I told you I wasn’t making a pass.”

“I remember that,” Josie said, cheeks on fire.

“Well, I meant it. We watched television. We laughed our asses off at some comedy special that came on. You said it was a good