The Waiting Room by Emily Bleeker

Author:Emily Bleeker [Bleeker, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503900882
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2018-08-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

She ran down the steps of the bank, skipping two or three at a time. She immediately located Gillian’s car parked around the corner and ran as fast as she could for the second time that day. The door was thankfully unlocked, and she leaped into the passenger seat, slamming it shut and tossing the itchy visor into the cluttered back seat.

Gillian didn’t even flinch this time. She must be getting used to the adrenaline rush. Instead she simply put down her phone—some game with geometric shapes adorned with human faces disappearing at the push of a button—glanced over at Veronica, and shrugged.

“So what did he say? Is he in?”

Veronica hesitated. She hadn’t considered how to tell Gillian. After all, the woman had always been skeptical of the suited man—and it turned out she was right. Perhaps Veronica had spent too much time in isolation and had forgotten how to read good and bad intentions in other people. But somehow she knew Gillian was good. She knew Lisa genuinely wanted the best for her. She knew her mother loved her despite Veronica’s failures as a daughter and, more currently, as a human being. She knew Detective Perry was an arrogant asshole. But then again, she’d also thought Mark was a kind banker with a teenaged daughter. Maybe Veronica should stop trusting her instincts and start following this trail that led her to Mark and, hopefully, Sophie. She pulled her legs underneath her, twisting them into a pretzel.

“There is no Mark,” she said, having a harder time saying the words than she’d expected. “He’s fake,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m not positive, but he might be involved.”

Veronica had been afraid all day, panicked, scared even, but when she really considered what it would mean to have Mark involved in her daughter’s disappearance, she felt a whole new terror overcome her. Who was this man? Was she right that someone had taken pictures in her daughter’s room? Was it Mark? She’d balked when Gillian had called him a stalker, but with the waiting room, grocery store, and bar all lined up next to his lies about his job, it was looking more likely that she was a target rather than a potential love interest.

She’d always thought the people who took babies were family members trying to stop a custody order or crazy women who wanted to fake a pregnancy. Or at least that had been her hope, because at least the crazy-woman option meant Sophie was being taken care of until the police could find her. But what the hell was a grown man doing taking a child from her home? It just didn’t make sense.

“That asshole,” Gillian cursed with more venom than Veronica had ever heard from the quiet pleaser. Even when talking about her husband and their divorce, Gillian was measured and halting in reporting his lousy behavior toward her, but not today. Today she was pissed off and she didn’t care who knew it. Veronica loved seeing strength in

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