Baby On The Run

That’s when Matt noticed the back window of his truck was cracked open. Matt needed a quick redirect to get them away from Jenna and the child.

“We got into a fistfight over here.” Matt led them to the other side of the truck. “Actually, there was one other thing about the knit cap guy.”

Billings’s eyes flared.

“He had a scar above his eyebrow here.” Matt pointed to his own forehead.

“That could help,” Kyle said.

“I yelled at him to stay away from the building. He yelled back that his wife was inside, which made no sense. Then he threw a punch. That’s about it.”

“That’s a lot,” Kyle said, jotting notes furiously.

The chief kneeled, analyzing something on the ground.

“What is it, sir?” Kyle asked.

“Found a cigarette butt. I’ll bag it.”

Except Knit Cap Guy hadn’t been smoking, which meant Billings was trying to throw the investigation off course.

“Can you tell us anything else, Matt?” Kyle said.

“No, sorry. I’d better go fix the front door, and I should probably call Mrs. Harris, my boss.”

“If anything else does come to mind, please call me directly.” Billings handed him a business card.

“Will do. Thanks.”

Matt led the cops back to the front of the building, and the knot in his gut uncoiled as they got farther away from the truck, from Jenna and the little boy.

He called Lucinda Harris and explained the situation as he watched the fire trucks pull away. She was worried about Matt and told him to finish cleaning up the mess and leave early. A good thing, since he was desperate to check on Jenna and the child.

The chief and Kyle were still out front, assessing and speculating.

Matt went inside and found a piece of wood from the storage area to cover the broken window. He secured it in place and swept up the mess. He wanted to play the role of night custodian a little longer, until the cops left the premises.

And then he needed to get to Jenna and the child. Let her know everything was okay.

He started flipping off main lights. Through one of the community room windows, he noticed the two police cars pulling out of the lot.

After jogging to the back of the building, he got his jacket out of the office, locked the building and headed to his truck. He grabbed the door handle, but it was locked. Fearful of being found, Miss North must have locked the doors. He tapped twice, blowing on his chilled hands, and glanced over his shoulder out of habit.

The door unlocked with a click. He climbed into the front seat. “They’re gone.”

He felt the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his head.

TWO (#ua053ccce-31ec-58c3-83da-dc2bf9428d41)

Jenna’s hand trembled as she aimed the gun at the janitor’s head. Of course there was no way she could pull the trigger, but she didn’t know what else to do.

I might have seen Jenna North earlier, he’d said to the chief.

The man who’d killed her best friend.

Matthew might as well have opened the truck door and handed Jenna and Eli over to the guy.

“I know you’re scared—”

“Drive,” she interrupted.

“Please put the gun down.”

“Now.” She tapped the barrel against his head, not hard, but hard enough.

With a nod, he started the truck and pulled out of the lot.

She still couldn’t believe what she’d found when she’d gone through his glove box looking for a tissue.

Zip ties, duct tape and a gun.

Who was this man? Had she run from one killer directly into the arms of another?

The trembling intensified, running down her arm to rock her entire body. No, she would not let the trauma of the past consume her; she would not fall apart.

This time she’d save the child.

She had considered fleeing in his truck, but that would have meant driving past the killer police chief.

“I can explain,” Matthew said.

“Just drive.”

“To where?”

Good question. The mall was closed at this time of night, yet she needed a very public place to regroup. And then what?

One step at a time.

“I-90 truck stop.” It was very public and not far away. She wouldn’t spend a minute longer than necessary with this creep. Once away from the janitor, she’d call someone for help. But whom? Patrice, the woman who’d helped Jenna escape Anthony?

Wait—she remembered the slip of paper Chloe had given her with the name of her cousin. That’s it. She’d call Marcus to come get her.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, Miss North, but if I’d wanted to do you harm I would have turned you over to Chief Billings.”

“Then you wouldn’t have the pleasure of hurting me.”

He shot her an intense look through the rearview mirror. “I would never hurt you. I want to help.”