Page 60 of Nico
"What?"
"I took my eyes off her for a second-- I cannot find her."
"How long ago was that?"
"Going on thirty minutes. The guards are combing the building--"
"Have you called the police?"
"No. I--"
"I'll do it and go and get Nico."
She hung up without saying goodbye.
"Miss?" The same security guard who had made the announcement hurried over to her, followed by two officers. "They want to talk to you."
"Of course. Please, can someone look if she wandered outside?"
"May we have your name?" The woman looked too young to have graduated from the academy and was spit and polished in her uniform.
Sadie wanted to scream at both of them to do something other than standing there and asking stupid questions. But she managed to give her name and the relevant details.
"Coulter? As in Nico Coulter?" The older officer lifted curious hazel eyes from his notebook.
"Yes."
"I knew I recognized you." He grinned. "You're his fiancée."
"None of that's relevant. I--"
"We found her!" One of the guards burst forward with a smiling Gracie in his arms. "She had wandered into the tiny crawl space beneath the stairs to the third floor. A dog had escaped the owner's leash and wandered off and this little tyke was trying to rescue the animal."
"Cute doggie." Gracie, completely unaware of the chaos she had caused beamed and reached her arms out for Sadie.
Crushing the little girl against her, Sadie took several shuddering breaths and was about to say something when there was a commotion a few feet away.
"Daddy!"
Releasing the wriggling child, Sadie stepped back, her body still shaking. She watched as Nico scooped the little girl in his arms and pressed her face against his chest. And looked over at her.
To her fevered mind, he had a look of accusation on his face that condemned her. She had no business taking the child out and this just proves that she could not be trusted.
Forcing herself to go over to the family and the cops gathered around them, she braced herself and tried to think of what to say.
"I'm so sorry." She began, but was interrupted when Linda stepped forward, an angry flush on her face.
"Why weren't you watching her?"
"Mother--"
"She's right." Sadie pressed her trembling lips together and took a deep breath. "I should have been watching her the entire time. And I--" Shaking her head, she stepped back. "I'm so sorry."
Ignoring his voice calling out to her, she rushed from the room, not stopping until she was outside in the parking lot. Tears blinded her eyes, and she had to take a moment to blink them away to see where she was going.
Jumping into the vehicle, she tore out of the parking lot, without the faintest idea where she was going.
*****
