When the Bough Breaks (Rose Gardner Investigations #6) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,103
doing a much better job at it than I ever could. I’d just have to take a chance. With my body pressed to the side of the building, I reached around and slid the two-by-four out of its brackets, tugging it free.
I heard a whimper inside.
“Ashley?” I whispered.
“Aunt Rose?” she cried out. “Aunt Rose!” The relief in her voice was nearly my undoing, but I forced myself to keep it together—for them and for the baby. She started to cry.
“Shh,” I told her, my voice tight with tears. “You need to be quiet, okay, honey?”
“Okay,” she said through her sniffles.
“Is Mikey with you?”
“Yeah.”
My heart sank. “Mikey?” I called out softly. “Can you walk?”
When he didn’t answer, Ashley whispered, “He’s scared.”
“That’s okay,” I said, trying to sound encouraging. “I’m here to take you home.”
“To Daddy?” she asked with a tiny sob.
I wasn’t sure what to say, so I lied. “Yes. He’s very worried. Now we have to hurry. I unlatched the door, but I want you to push it open the tiniest of cracks and send Mikey out to me, okay?”
“Okay.”
It was a huge risk. The Collards might shoot them coming out, but I reasoned that they wanted the kids alive, otherwise they would have killed them already. They might shoot me if I came around the corner, but I doubted they’d shoot at the opening door if they didn’t see anyone on the outside. And maybe the shadows would conceal the front of the building enough that they wouldn’t notice—so long as the kids didn’t open it too far.
Peering around the edge, I saw the door open a sliver and Mikey’s face appeared, his eyes wide with fear and his cheeks flushed.
I reached out a hand to him and gave him a big smile. “Take my hand and stay close to the wall, okay?”
He hesitated.
“It’s okay, Mikey,” Ashley said in a grown-up voice. “It’s Aunt Rose. She’s gonna help us.” But he’d hardly seen me since Violet had died, and six months to a three-year-old is literally one-sixth of his life. He barely remembered me.
Slowly, he reached out a hand and I grabbed it, tugging him out of the building and around the corner. The door banged against its housing, the dull sound of wood against wood as I held him close. Smelling of sweat and urine, he wrapped his arms around my neck and clung for dear life.
I held Mikey tight for several seconds, kissing the top of his head before I pried him loose, then held his face between my hands. “I have to get Ashley out and then I’ll hold you, okay? We’re all going home together. Now.”
He nodded, and I gently pressed him against the building at my back, then peered around the side to make sure we hadn’t drawn unwanted attention. I figured I was about two minutes from another contraction, and I didn’t want to have one out in the open. Especially not with the kids at my back.
“Ashley, do what your brother did, okay?” I called out softly. “But we need to try not to let the door bang this time.”
“So they don’t hear us.”
A sob built in my throat. Six-year-olds shouldn’t have to consider such things. Poor Ashley had seen her mother fade before her eyes, and now she’d been a prisoner to some bad men. Her childhood had been taken from her much too soon. But I couldn’t fret about that right now. I needed to get the kids to safety.
“That’s right,” I forced out. “Now come on out. Slowly.”
The door cracked again, and Ashley’s dirty, tear-streaked face appeared, her eyes wide.
“Good girl,” I said. “Stay as close to the building as you can.”
She did as I instructed, taking my hand as she pressed her tummy against the building and slipped out of the icehouse. She didn’t release the door until she was safely out, and then she let it close softly behind her.
I tugged her around the corner and hugged her tight, kissing her too. “Such a smart girl.”
Mikey threw himself at the both of us, nearly toppling me over.
“I want to go home, Aunt Rose,” Mikey whispered, his tiny voice cracking.
“So do I. Let’s go. We’re gonna play a game of Church Mouse. Do you know how to play?”
Both kids looked up at me wide-eyed, shaking their heads.
“You have to be as quiet as you can,” I whispered. “Even when you walk. We can stop playin’ when we get farther away, okay?”