Page 33 of Sadie's Guarded Harbor

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Sadie tapped the tip of her toe against the floor of Tommy’s truck as he screeched to a stop in front of the Parsons’ house. Thank God Marie was at Katherine’s house, and she could leave Amelia with zero worries, allowing her to focus solely on the job.

Two squad cars, lights blazing, blocked the driveway. The moon shone through the dark clouds. Three shadowy figures stood in the yard. She strained against her seatbelt to get a better view.

“I’m here, Clara,” Sadie said into the phone. “Tommy and I just pulled up.”

Putting the car in park, Tommy shut off the engine.

Sadie jumped out and cut through the yard, stomping through the light dusting of snow clinging to the ground. She closed the distance to Clara, who fell against her with tears coursing down her face. Sadie wrapped her arms around the trembling woman. “It’s going to be okay.”

“He locked me out. I need to get in. I need to get my babies. He got out his gun.”

Fatigue and a quiet fear had replaced the frantic pleas. Clara had stayed on the line as Sadie and Tommy raced into town, but the woman had barely spoken. Too consumed with the unfolding horror to keep Sadie filled in on what was happening.

“Where’s Mitch?” Tommy demanded.

“Inside.” Brian Sterling, a weathered deputy, dipped his head toward the house. “He has both kids with him.”

Pivoting, she faced the house, but cupped her hands over Clara’s bony shoulders.

Clara kept her eyes locked on the house, the phone dangling at her side in a loose grip.

“Can you look at me?”

Clara slowly shifted her attention to Sadie. An ugly bruise circled her eye and blood dripped from the corner of her split lip.

A muttered curse sounded behind Sadie, but she couldn’t let herself spout off her own opinions. “Did Mitch hit you?’ The answer was glaringly obvious, but she had to ask.

“Yes.”

“What about the kids? Has he ever hit them before?” She held her breath. As bad as the situation was, maybe Mitch had a soft spot for his children.

Clara shook her head, her focus going back to the pretty picture window with the frilly curtains blocking whatever was going on inside. Tremors shook her body.

Sadie slipped out of her coat and covered Clara’s shoulders.

Tommy flicked his wrist toward the house. “We can’t just stand here and watch. Someone needs to get inside.”

“We know that,” the second deputy said.

Sadie squinted through the darkness but didn’t recognize the younger man. “What happened when you knocked?”

“Not a damn thing,” Brian said. “He refused to answer the door, wouldn’t pick up his phone when we called. We can’t justuse a battering ram and force our way in when he has the kids in there.”

“How do you know he’s still inside?” Tommy asked.

Brian shot him a hard look. “We have a deputy stationed in the back. No one’s been outside. We were here when he shoved his wife out the front. He has nowhere to run.”

“Maybe he’ll talk to us.” Sadie connected her gaze with Tommy above Clara’s head. “We’re the ones he was upset with. Maybe that’s enough to get him to at least let one of us inside to talk him off whatever ledge he’s on.”

“It’s worth a try,” Tommy said.

Clara clung to Sadie’s arm. “Get my babies. Please. I’ve never seen Mitch like this before. Never seen him so upset. I don’t know how he found out, but he did. He knows what I did with Shawn.”

Sadie covered Clara’s freezing hand with her own. “We will do everything we can to keep your children safe.”

Sadie stepped beside Tommy, the sturdy brush of his shoulder calming the nerves skittering like drunken ants in her stomach. If Mitch hurt the kids because they’d talked to Clara about her affair with Shawn, she’d never forgive herself.

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