Lost and Found by Amy Shojai

Author:Amy Shojai
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Furry Muse Publishing
Published: 2016-01-31T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

SEPTEMBER’S EYES BURNED, her feet throbbed, and she smelled—no, scratch that. She stank. Amazing how pungent a person could get, even in icy weather.

Teddy’s worn sofa soothed her sore muscles but did little to ease her guilt. So many dead or at risk, all because of Pottinger’s damned flash drive. Now she’d involved Teddy, another innocent bystander.

She should have left him at the mall, but that would have been like kicking a puppy. It would have been better to drop him off at his house and leave, before he got hurt, too. But once here, he’d insisted on calling the police. She’d managed to beat him to the landline before the storm took out the phone, but he’d overheard about Pam and Gentry Park. She’d put him off for now. That was good, because otherwise he’d have insisted they kill themselves driving to the nearest police station, hospital or fire department.

In the nearby kitchen, Teddy dished cold cuts from a baggy onto a battered pie pan while Shadow watched and drooled. The pup must think he’d gone to heaven. She used slivers of cold cuts for training rewards. Shadow’s butt hit the floor, the puppy-polite request she’d taught him. Once the pan touched down, he scooted it halfway across the kitchen to lick it clean.

Lovely to be a clueless dog delighted by simple things like treats from a kind stranger, not haunted with visions of brains splashed against walls, or the fear she’d doomed April and Steven to a similar fate just by coming here. She’d gotten people killed. Cops inside her house meant Mom and Dad gave them keys. But she’d be damned if she’d drag more family into the mess.

September held the flash drive in one hand, and felt the outline of the phone in her pocket. She could end it now. Ring up Lizzie. She could reach her through April’s phone, arrange to trade the flash drive for April and Steven and get them back safe. If she could do that, maybe it would assuage some of the guilt over Pam, Freda, and Wilma. She had beaten the 24-hour deadline when she found the flash drive, but that didn’t count until the ransom exchange. Steven was still lost. So was April.

“You want coffee? I’ve got decaf or the real stuff. My doctor doesn’t like me having caffeine, but I keep some gourmet around for guests.” Teddy chuckled, a nervous unhappy sound. “Or, there’s some diet Coke, or Dr. Pepper.”

“I need to be fully caffeinated, so coffee would be great. Thanks.” She’d never finished the mug from this morning. No wonder she’d zombied her way through the last several hours.

Teddy set a chipped ceramic bowl of water on the floor. Shadow’s toenails ticked on the linoleum. He slurped.

“Hungry? I could scramble some eggs.” Teddy pulled a cast iron fry pan off a wall hook. “When was the last time you ate?”

September realized she’d not eaten all day. “Been just a tad busy.” Maybe the lightheadedness wasn’t just from dodging bullets.

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