Page 87 of Wandering Souls

“Abi. Don’t let her out of your sight. My sister must be out of her mind with worry. I’ll call her.”

“Don’t worry, Ray. I’ve got this.”

She ended the call and returned to the porch to hear Millie’s quiet sobs. Sitting on the step beside her, Abi touched her shoulder. The kid jumped but didn’t look up.

“Your uncle is going to be a little while. Do you want to wait here?”

Millie shrugged.

“Or you could wait at the police station?”

Millie’s head shot up. “No, please.”

Abi smiled. “Then we wait here. Are you hungry? Thirsty? We could go get something to eat if you like.”

Thin as a rake, Millie’s eyes widened a touch. “I don’t want to be any trouble.”

“Nah,” Abi chuckled before pushing up to her feet. “No trouble. What’ll it be? Thick shake? Donut?”

The kid’s eyes glazed over. When did she last eat? “Both?”

Abi held out a hand and smiled. “Done. The bakery isn’t far.”

As they left the property, Abi sent Ray a quick text, letting him know where they were going.

~

Ray could hardly concentrateas he left the station and headed to the bakery. The last ninety minutes had been stressful enough without wondering how Millie ended up here in the Crossing without her mother knowing. Needing to focus on the raid of the warehouse drug lab, he’d put off calling Grace. Now, as he dialed her number, he waited several rings before she answered.

“Ray?”

He took a breath to calm down. “The one and only. Care to tell me what’s going on?”

He heard her swallow. “Why do you ask?”

“Because apparently my niece rocked up on my doorstep an hour ago.”

“She’s with you?” Her voice quivered, as if she was going to cry. Hearing her distress smashed his resolve to grill her.

Ray stopped moving and focused on his sister’s voice. “Talk to me, Grace.”

“We had an argument. I didn’t think anything of it at the time.”

“When was this?”

“Yesterday afternoon. She went to bed and, I assumed, went to school this morning. Apparently not. I’m so sorry. I’ll call in sick and drive up tomorrow.”

Ray rubbed the back of his neck. Mother and daughter troubles. How was he supposed to handle this? Until Grace told him about Millie’s recent suspensions, he’d thought they were travelling along just fine. Clearly something was wrong.

“Grace, listen.” He sighed. “Don’t. Let her stay with me for a few days. I’ll see if I can talk her round. Is there anything I should know?”

“She’s been asking about her father.”

Touchy subject.Grace didn’t like to talk about that at the best of times. Having her teenage daughter ask questions probably didn’t go down too well. “Have you told her anything?”

“No.”

Ray didn’t blame her. “Okay. I can work with that.”

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