Page 50 of Rescuing Sara

It was like waiting to go into battle. Everything ready but you had to wait for the signal. The KPD crew had been up all night, looking at every possibility, IT surfing the Internet like no one ever had with Kristopher lending his expertise, calling his dad for information on cults. It was looking more and more like Soli Deo Gloria had a hand in this, but they were well hidden, and it was driving Patrick to the breaking point.

Close. We’re so close to finding Danni and Sara and Robin and who knew how many other little girls are still out there. Please God. I lost my niece to that scumbag father, and I couldn’t stop it. Please, help me help make this right.

“Do you need some coffee?” Kristopher’s soft voice asked. “There’s a fresh pot of Blue Mountain.”

“If you ever tell anyone I said this, I’ll hang you up by your thumbs,” Patrick threatened. “But no thank you.”

“Dear Heaven, it’s a sign of the second coming,” Kristopher murmured. “I think I’ll go to the chapel.”

He drifted away and Patrick went to brace his head on the window and stare out at the faintly approaching dawn.

Please Lord, he prayed again, hoping no one would notice the tear tracks on the glass.Please bring them home.

Then he went to find Grant Miller and Captain Haggerty to see if they could find him something useful to do.

Later that morning.Knoxville Downtown Precinct.

“Can I help you, little ladies?” The white-haired police man smiled at them from behind a big desk. Then he frowned and asked, “You girls sure are a mess. Do your parents let you go to school looking like that?”

“We need to see the person in charge!” Sara shouted. “We just escaped from being kidnapped and now Sir has got Danni!”

“Danni?” A tall blond man with a beard who looked awfully tired came charging over. “Sweet merciful Savoir!” he said, squatting down to their level. He was so tall he had to. “Are you Sara Turner?”

“Yeah.” Sara pointed at her friends. “This is Robin Masters, and Elsa Jones and Alice Peters. We just escaped in a vegetable truck and we wanna go home. But we’ve got to save Danni.”

She started to cry, even though she’d told herself she wouldn’t, but she was so tired after riding all morning in the truck. The others started to cry too and suddenly there were a whole lot of men and women in police uniforms hurrying toward them.

“Folks, let’s get these young ladies into the private command room.” A tall, pretty, black lady had joined the blond guy, who was now standing and holding Sara. “Miss Turner, I’m Captain Haggerty and I’m in charge here. We are very glad to see you. Would you follow me?”

“I’m tired,” Sara whimpered. “You’re not gonna arrest us, are you?”

“They’ll probably give you a medal.” A man with black hair, not as tall as the blond man but still nice-looking was here now too. “No jail.”

“You bet your tuchus on that.” The tall blond man swept her up and followed the captain and Mr. Black-hair to a big room full of people. Everyone started cheering when they saw them, and Sara stopped crying. When she and the girls were inside another room and the door was closed, the blond man took her aside and said, “Sara, my name is Patrick and I’m Danni’s friend. We’ve been looking for you, but you found us first.”

“Danni always told me, when I needed help, if she wasn’t around to find a cop,” Sara told him. “Her dad was one of the best copsever, so she should know.”

“You got that right,” Patrick agreed. “How do you know someone has Danni? Did you see them do it?”

“I heard them talking about it last night,” Sara said. “Sir and my-my–”

Her voice wobbled and she was really afraid she was going to cry again when Patrick guessed, “Your grandfather?”

“How’d you know that?” Sara gulped back a really big sob.

“‘Cause Danni is smart, and she figured it out,” Patrick said, and for a moment, Sara thought he was going to cry too. “Do you know where Danni might be?”

“I know where she is,” Sara said proudly. “She’s in Sir’s morgue. Is that weird to have your own morgue?”

“Maybe,” Patrick said as if he was trying to figure it out. “What does Sir look like? Can you describe him?”

“Here.” Sara dug in her dress pocket and pulled out Elsa’s drawing. “Elsa’s a good artist. It looks just like Sir.”

Patrick nodded and unfolded the paper. Staring back at him was Duncan Freidman in all his bald-headed glory.”

“Holy Sainted Mother of God,” he whispered. “Sara, can you sit right here for a bit and wait for me to go get Danni and bring her back to you?”

“Yeah, but can you hurry?” Sara asked. “I’ve missed her, and I really love her a lot.”

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