Page 1 of Jack

ONE

This time,failure wasn’t an option.

According to his witness, the girl had gone missing twelve hours ago.

“Where did you last see Misty?” Jack Kingston crouched in front of the little blonde girl, age five, named Pearl, who clutched a small plastic piggy bank to her chest.

Around him, the living room had been tossed, blankets and pillows and stuffed animals cluttering the floor. Most of it due to last night’s movie marathon ofMoanaandFrozen.

In the kitchen, the smell of bacon had woken the beast inside him, the aroma wafting through the small bungalow in a city just outside Des Moines, Iowa.

“We were outside, playing. I went to get frosted crackers that Mommy made, and when I came back, she was gone.” She held out her piggy bank. “Please, Unca Jack, you have to find her.”

He suppressed a smile and glanced up at her mother, Natalie, dressed in baggy sweats and a T-shirt, who held baby Amber on her hip. The four-month-old, her dark hair spiked and wispy, sucked on a passie, leaning into her mother. Natalie tried to hide a smile at Pearl’s plea and raised an eyebrow.

Jack sighed. “I can’t take your money, Pearl.”

“It’s a reward.” She held it out. “Please?”

He nodded, his expression turning serious to match Pearl’s. “Okay. But I have three rules.” He held up his fingers.

“What?” She was so solemn he had to glance at Natalie not to smile.

“One. I don’t make promises.”

“You’ll find her, Unca Jack. I know it.”

He held up two fingers. “I don’t break the law.”

She rolled her eyes.

“And I work alone.”

She stuck out her lower lip.

“Except this time.” He winked. She grinned, then put the piggy bank on the counter.

“Okay, I’m on the hunt. Let’s track Misty down. Can you give me a description?”

“Red hair. She’s wearing a blue dress. One of her feet was chewed off by Snowy.”

“Got it. So she’s got a limp. Shouldn’t have gotten far.” He then scooped up the little white dog sniffing at his feet. “Snowy, I think you’re a prime suspect here.”

The little Havanese poodle licked his chin.

Pearl laughed.

He spotted West in the kitchen behind her, also in sweats and a T-shirt, holding a cup of coffee, shaking his head.

So maybe this overnight hadn’t been a terrible idea. West and his family always managed to ground him.

And it wasn’t a terrible fortification before the Big Reunion.

Darkness, fireworks, and drama awaited four hours north. But it wasn’t like he could phone in his role as a groomsman at the Epic Family Wedding.

“Okay, let’s try this. Does Snowy like to hide things? Bones, or slippers, or toys?—”

“Yeah!” Pearl fisted her little hands, her golden curls bobbing. “She tries to bury them in the sofa!” She scampered over to the saggy green sofa and started to tear off the cushions.

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