Child of the State by Catherine Lea

Author:Catherine Lea
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Thriller
Publisher: Brakelight Press
Published: 2016-01-05T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

DAY TWO: 10:31 AM—ELIZABETH

Elizabeth had spent the entire trip back to her office with her elbow on the car window frame, head resting on her hand, staring out at the passing city without even seeing it. By the time they arrived back at the office, a headache was throbbing at the back of her skull.

“Are you okay?” Penny asked as she pulled to a stop at a traffic light.

Elizabeth leaned her head back, staring at the spot right above her head. “So where do I go now?”

Only a tense silence followed. She glanced across at Penny, who met her gaze briefly and said nothing.

“What? You think I should just leave it at that? Just walk away?”

Penny bunched her mouth, checked the rearview mirror. When the light changed, she pressed her foot to the accelerator and they moved forward.

Elizabeth kept her gaze fixed on her secretary. “You do, don’t you? You think I’m chasing shadows.”

“I just think, y’know, you’re a smart woman, Elizabeth. Stacy broke the law, threw away all her chances. Why don’t you just leave it to the police? I don’t know what you’re trying to prove.”

“I’m not trying to prove anything. I’m trying to figure out why Stacy broke parole and ran in the first place.”

At the next intersection, Penny hit the turn signal, eyes on the road as she took the corner. “You don’t think that maybe she just ran because she could? Because the opportunity presented itself and she grabbed it?”

“Oh, not you, too.” Elizabeth sighed and turned back to the window. “Stacy told me she was afraid for Tyler. That was real. She said she had a photograph of him that threatened someone was going to kill him. That’s not chasing shadows.”

“And what if it was just another inmate that was pissed off with her? What if she’d annoyed one too many people by getting an early release and one of her buddies inside decided it wasn’t going to be all Happy Families? You said yourself that Cissy whatever-her-name-is turned out to be a complete nut job, that she was happy to step up for an early release no matter what she had to do.”

“Stacy didn’t believe it was another inmate, and neither do I. It had to be someone with access to the outside. Who else would be able to get the photograph? Who would know where Tyler was?”

“Well, there’s Kay Heathers.”

“And Nancy Pattrenko,” Elizabeth added in a sour tone. “But why? What could anyone have to gain? There’s no way Nancy would bring drugs into the prison … would she? And where was she taking Tyler?”

“I overheard her telling one of the cops she was taking him out of the danger zone because she was afraid for his life.” Penny hit the brake, stopping at yet another traffic light.

“Afraid for his life? She abducts a child and tells the police she was afraid for his life? Who’s she trying to kid?”

“She’s a parole officer. Maybe she saw something that made her think she had to get the child out of the way.

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