We All Sleep Alone (Finley Creek #11) - Calle J. Brookes Page 0,69
was never a good sign. Usually when that happened, the kid was up to no good. Or trouble was finding her.
Marshall was waiting for Jake in the lobby when he finally found him. He had a somber expression on his face. It wasn’t all that unusual, but when Marshall said his name, Jake tensed.
Last time Marshall had looked at him like that Izzie had almost died. “What’s going on?’
“Izzie was at W4HAV the evening before last.”
Jake tensed even more. He’d just known it had to do with Izzie. “Where is she now?”
Marshall held up a hand. “She’s going to be fine, Jake. Bruised, and I believe she has at least one broken bone. A concussion. But she’ll recover fully. I saw her myself after it happened.”
“FCGH or County?’
“Hold up,” Marshall said, keeping pace with Jake as he headed toward the doors. If Marshall had more to say, he would damned well do it in the car. “She’s not at either hospital.”
That most likely meant she’d been discharged. She was probably with her buddies somewhere, getting coddled. Some of his tension lessened. Annie and Nikkie Jean would keep an eye on her. “What in the hell happened?”
“Abduction attempt. As far as we can tell. In the struggle, she was shoved hard to the concrete. The abductors got away while Allen Jacobson was tending to Izzie. He and Rafe Holden-Deane interrupted the attempt and chased off the attackers.”
His blood froze.
He’d always hated that expression, but it was the most accurate at the moment.
“Where is she right now?”
His gut told him it had to do with him and the handful of cases that only he and Dan and the chief knew about. There had been threats against all of them before.
Even against Izzie and against the chief’s wife. It had just made Jake more determined to find the bastards responsible.
Marshall held up a hand toward his own car and driver. That was one of the perks of the job for Marshall. An armed driver. “They smuggled her out of the hospital.”
“Who?” Jake fought the impatience. “Who are they? Why?”
“Just listen. They smuggled her out of the hospital that night. She has left the city. I don’t know where she’s been taken. We don’t know when she’ll get there or be back. The only ones that know about this are you and me, Rafe, Nikkie Jean, Jacobson, and Izzie. We’re going to keep it that way. Until we know exactly who is responsible. I’ve already sent Gabby and Brynna off with Brynna’s sister Mel. Just to be on the safe side.”
“Who is Izzie with?” He honestly didn’t give a damn at the moment about anyone else. His niece had been hurt. And he couldn’t get to her.
“In the car. We’ll discuss it more in private.”
Jake nodded. They both knew corruption was still rife within the TSP ranks. Statewide. He and Marshall and Dan were working to fix that. It was a damned dangerous task.
There had already been casualties. People Jake knew and respected.
They were in the car with the partition between them and the driver in place before Marshall gave him more details. “I know you don’t care for Jacobson, but he got her out of town quickly. He’s qualified to take care of her during her recovery. He was the best choice.”
“I don’t trust him. There is more to what’s going on with him than him just being an unlucky bastard right now. Hell, he could be the link to the hospital we’re looking for.”
Marshall told him the rest of the details. Jake didn’t have to like it, but it made sense. Jacobson had been the fastest choice.
“He’s fond of Nikkie Jean, Jake. I don’t think there’s anything he wouldn’t do for her. Jacobson was the quickest, safest option to get Izzie to safety. Nikkie Jean was insisting Izzie go home with her. With the kids there…well, that wasn’t going to happen. I honestly don’t think he’s involved in what’s going on. Rafe trusts him, and has said so rather vocally. Told me he’d trust Jacobson with Jillian’s life in a heartbeat. That’s the highest praise he could get.”
Jake had to agree on her not having gone to the Alvaros’. That was not something Izzie would have wanted. She’d never put those kids in danger. Not even for a heartbeat.
“That frees you up to go hunting now.”
It was time to go hunting, all right. That was exactly what Jake was going to do. This…this had made things all the more personal. “So where