School
Nick kissed Hanna on the cheek. “Have a great day, honey.”
She smiled sweetly. “Thanks, Daddy. But why did you walk me to class today?”
He glanced around at the other kids, none of whom had parents with them. “I need to talk to Principal Adams, so I thought I’d come here with you today.”
“Okay. See you tonight.” She gave a little wave and bounced toward her seat.
Miss Redmond strolled over. “Hi, Nick. Is everything okay?”
He gestured for her to follow him to the hallway. Then he introduced her to the officer. “He’s going to keep an eye on Hanna today. He’ll just stay in the background, but I wanted to let you know what’s going on.”
Miss Redmond’s eyes widened. “Is everything okay?”
“Just a precautionary measure,” Nick fibbed. The less she knew, the less she’d worry.
She stared at him.
“It’s fine.”
“Should Hanna be here today?”
“Oh, definitely.” Nick forced a smile. “Nothing to worry about.”
She eyed the officer. “If you say so. Do you mind telling me what’s going on?”
“It’s official police business.” Nick kept his expression serious, hoping it’d be enough to convince the teacher that he couldn’t go into more detail.
“Does Principal Adams know about this?” She tilted her head.
“I’m heading over to talk to her right now.”
Miss Redmond frowned. “Okay. Thanks for letting me know.” She headed back into the classroom.
Nick nodded to the officer before heading over to the principal’s office. He had to wait until she finished with another parent, and then he went inside and shook her hand.
“Good to see you, Nick. Something I can help you with?”
He nodded. “Pleasure to see you, as well. Just letting you know that I have an officer watching over Hanna today.”
The principal raised an eyebrow. “We have security here, Captain Fleshman.”
“I know, but extra detail is required right now. It’s nothing permanent.”
“Perhaps Hanna should stay home from school today. I can have Miss Redmond put together a homework packet so she won’t miss anything.”
Nick shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. My officer will stay in the background, I promise.”
Principal Adams contorted her face. “I don’t like this.”
“What’s not to like? Extra security.”
“The fact that you have an officer watching Hanna tells me there’s a bigger danger lurking somewhere.”
“It’s precautionary, that’s all. I’m involved with a case, and I’m adding extra—”
“Is it that case with the missing cadets?”
Nick gave a slight nod. “Hanna should be fine. All your students will be. I wouldn’t put hundreds of children in jeopardy. If it was a dangerous situation, I’d keep her home.”
They stared each other down until the principal relented. “Okay, but if at any point, I have any concerns—anything whatsoever—I want you to come and get her. Got it?”
“Sure thing. Either me or her grandparents.”
“Fine, as long as someone does.”
“There won’t be any problems, so it won’t be an issue.”
“Better not be.”
Nick forced a smile. “Have a great day.”
She frowned. “Right. You too.”
He spun around and left, waving at the secretary. He’d have thought they’d be happy to have the extra security. At least she hadn’t forced Nick to bring Hanna home. His little girl deserved to be at school as much as every other kid there.
As Nick drove away, he waved to the officer across the street from the school. It was probably a good thing he hadn’t mentioned her to the principal or the teacher. They probably would’ve insisted Hanna go home.
When he reached the precinct, everyone was running around with high energy.
Nick turned to Anderson. “Did I miss something?”
Anderson hesitated.
“What?” Nick demanded.
“Maybe you should hand oversight of this case to the chief, Nick.”
Nick’s knees went weak. “Is Alex dead?”
Anderson shook his head, his color paling. “No, but his car has been found, Captain.”
“And?”
“It’s not good.”
“Meaning?”
Anderson took a deep breath. “It’s trashed. Bloody.”
The room spun around Nick. “But he hasn’t been found?”
“No.”
Nick sucked in a shaky breath. Maybe it was time he stepped completely away from the case. He probably should have as soon as he found out Alex was missing.
“Sir?”
Nick stared at Anderson. “Did you say something?”
“Are you okay?”
He nodded, though he was anything but okay. “I’ll call Crawford and let him know he’s overseeing this one.”
Nick stumbled toward his office. Anderson called something to him, but Nick couldn’t understand a word of it. He closed his office door behind himself and leaned against it, gasping for air.
He pictured Alex’s beater destroyed and bloody. Part of him wanted to get into the system and look at the pictures. Not that it would help. He couldn’t do anything.
Nick needed to call Chief Crawford, who would be pissed about having to come into the station. The man loved spending all of his time at City Hall, dealing with politics. He’d just have to deal with it.
After taking a minute to collect himself, Nick called Crawford. As expected, the chief had thrown a minor hissy fit, but in the end had agreed it was the right thing to do.
Nick slumped into his chair and closed his eyes. It was both a relief and burden to be off the case.
He forced his eyes open and grabbed a stack of papers on the desk waiting for his attention. Time to focus on work. He made his way partway through the paperwork before needing to log into his computer.
Once he was in the system, Alex’s case called to him. Nick tried to ignore it, but after a few minutes, he found himself looking for the pictures of his friend’s car.
He wasn’t going to do anything on the case. Just look. No harm in that.
Except that when he saw the first image, it felt like a punch to the gut. He gasped, unable to believe the sight of the mangled vehicle and massive blood splatter belonged to his friend.
How was he supposed to sit idly on the sidelines now?