Dark Harvest (A Holt Foundation Story Book 2) by Chris Patchell

Author:Chris Patchell [Patchell, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-05-30T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

Driving north into the city, Seth flipped on a police scanner. While some people filled the silence of their solitary hours by having music or a television running in the background, the constant flow of coded police chatter soothed Seth. After fifteen years on the force, old habits died hard. Tonight, the argument with Marissa was looping around in his head, and he needed the distraction.

He’d called her Holly. With one thoughtless slip of the tongue, he confirmed Marissa’s worst fears. He was stuck in the past. Unable to commit.

The high-powered sodium streetlights flashed overhead and cast a golden haze over the slick Seattle streets. He’d always loved this city. The familiar pattern of interwoven interchanges arched overhead. Beyond the blue and green floodlights of the Seahawks football stadium, he glimpsed the triangular peak of the Smith Tower. But tonight, not even the familiar glow of the city lights comforted him.

Work had always been a refuge—the one place he could go where things still made sense. Where he could do some good.

The police scanner squawked with a regular stream of traffic. It was a typical city night. Car prowlers. Break-ins. A domestic assault. Seth took the Dearborn exit that curved off I-5, heading toward the southern edge of the downtown core. He stopped at the top of the exit. The light was red.

He reached for the dial to turn off the scanner, and that’s when he heard the call.

A baby.

A newborn had been abandoned at a hospital, and he still had two missing pregnant women. The coincidence was too much to ignore. The Smith Tower receded in the distance as Seth headed toward Harborview.

Two SPD squad cars, lights still flashing, were parked in the ambulance bay. The sliding doors parted, and Seth stepped inside.

Hospitals smelled like pain.

Everything about them brought back agonizing memories of the night he lost Holly. Rushing into his burning house only to find he was too late. Weeks filled with skin grafts and agonizing surgeries, the physical pain he endured was nothing compared to the devastation of what came after. A black hole of grief. Learning to live without her.

Released from the hospital, he’d returned to his wreck of a home. The main part of the house was gutted. Rebuilt. But it was never the same. He was never the same.

Like the house, he was scarred. Empty. Sure, he went back to work. Solved crimes. Went through the motions of everyday life, doing his damnedest to forget. Existing.

Until he met Marissa.

And now, here he was, facing another ending.

“Fancy seeing you here, Crawford.” Seth recognized the reporter on sight. Justin Broom. He had wavy brown hair that brushed the collar of his leather jacket. Though his tortoise shell glasses were tinted sky blue, they didn’t hide the curiosity in his gaze. “You back?”

Back?

“Seen Alvarez?” Seth asked, sidestepping the question.

“There are two pregnant women missing, and now suddenly a baby gets dumped at the ER. You mean to tell me you’re not working the case?”

“The Holt Foundation

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