Page 119 of Single Teddy
The more I read, the bigger the knot in my throat became, until it was hard to breathe.
“He…he’s not at the station?”
“They said he left and took the kids with him, but they can’t find him.”
“How? How does he go missing from the police station?”
Both girls shook their heads and Ruby chewed on her lip.
“It doesn’t make sense, does it?”
“No. It doesn’t. There must be an explanation. Wait here.”
I stepped aside and back into the food truck to grab my phone.
“Are you okay, Uncle Teddy?” Bear asked, making me freeze in place.
Zach turned to me too, asking the same with his eyes.
“I…don’t know, Bear. That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
Being honest at a time like this was the only thing I could manage. I couldn’t lie. Not right now.
With that, I jumped back out and walked behind the food truck to call Wyatt.
“He’s missing,” I said as soon as he picked up.
“What? Who?” he asked.
“Wesley. And the kids,” I said, filling him in on the little I knew. “It makes no sense, right? How does one go missing from inside the police station?”
Wyatt groaned.
“We’ve long suspected there’s someone in the department who’s dirty. Maybeseveralsomeones.”
“Fuck! So now what? How do we find out what’s going on?”
Wyatt took a beat and then, with a sigh, said, “Let me see what I can find out. The police captain is an old friend. He might help piece this together.”
“Call me back, ASAP.”
As soon as we hung up, I called Slade. I wasn’t going to waste any time when every second could be life-or-death.
He answered on the second ring.
“Is there any chatter on GhostLink?” I asked him right away.
“What? No. I don’t think so,” Slade mumbled. “What are you talking about? What happened?”
I told him what I knew, which was fuck-all, and about Wyatt. I heard noise from the other end of the line as Slade rushed to his feet and got to work.
“No. Nothing. No messages, calls, or any weird codes have been sent in the last day or so.”
I leaned against the food truck and slowly collapsed to the ground.
“What-what am I going to do? How are we going to…? I can’t…”
My breath started catching in my throat and talking became harder when I was desperate to fill my lungs with oxygen.
