Page 79 of Confessions of the Dead

“This is on you, Matt. She clearly needed help, and you locked her in a cell. You let this happen. Who’s next? Me? You gonna get me killed?”

Behind him, Gabby screamed. She was at the door with Sally, her hand over her mouth.

Sally stepped closer. Her angry gaze jumped from Eisa Heaton to Josh Tatum. “You mother—”

“Sally, get that girl,” Matt interrupted. “Don’t let her out of your sight.”

Sally nodded and went back outside.

“Riley …” Gabby muttered softly before running to Matt’s office.

“Come on.” Matt gripped Josh’s arm and turned him toward the door.

“I want that lawyer you promised me. I’m supposed to get one, right? Where is he? Or is that a sham, too? You just buying time until you find a way to put a bullet in me? You sure look like you want to.”

“I’m keeping you safe.”

“The fuck you are.”

When Gabby returned from Matt’s office, her face was white. “She’s gone.”

“Where would she go? Why?”

“Your window is open. I don’t know. Maybe home?”

Sally came through the door with the girl. One hand on her shoulder, the other holding the hood of her sweatshirt. “We need to go. The fire crossed the street. We got maybe a few minutes.”

The girl took it all in fast, then wrapped her arms around herself.

Matt shuffled Josh toward the door. “Everyone in my cruiser. Now.”

Gabby didn’t move. “I’m not going anywhere without Riley.”

“We’ll find her, I promise,” Matt assured her. “Right now, we need to get someplace safe.”

“Ellie’s house is our backup,” Sally said. “She’s got a generator, radio, landline. If she can’t find us here, that’s where she’ll go.”

“Send Riley a text, tell her to meet us there,” Matt told Gabby.

“I thought texts aren’t working?”

“Some are. You never know. She couldn’t have gone far.”

“What about her?” Sally said, pointing at the body of Eisa Heaton.

Matt just shook his head.

Outside, the air was acidic, thick with smoke. Matt loaded Josh in the back seat, and Sally got in beside him. “Somebody has to ride back here.” She shrugged. “We can’t all fit up front.”

“Don’t hurt him.”

“I ain’t making no promises.”

Gabby rounded the car while frantically pecking away at her phone, Matt and the girl beside her.

Matt didn’t see Stu Peterson or the others until he twisted the key and started the motor.

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