Page 71 of The Whispering Girls
“Whining.” She forced a smile.
“Katie Scott a whiner…I don’t think so.” John averted his eyes. “We’ll get to the bottom of it. Gav should be back soon and we’ll plan on working through the storm.”
The front door slammed open and McGaven rushed in carrying bags.
“Is there more?” said John.
“Yeah, two bags in the truck,” he said, winded.
Katie grabbed the food and headed for the kitchen to sort things. She tried to keep optimistic and not to replay everything until the overthinking became relentless.
“Hey,” said McGaven. “You okay?”
“Yeah. John has made some great connections. We’ll update you.”
He studied his partner closely. He could probably tell her stress levels were heightened, but he didn’t push. “Cool.”
Cisco nudged in between them.
“Not yet, Cisco,” she said, referring to the dog’s dinner.
“It’s cold and there’s some light snow flurries out there,” said McGaven.
“That’s not good.”
“We’ll be okay. John went to bring up some more wood for the fire.” McGaven’s cell phone rang. “Wow, I haven’t heard that for a while.” He looked at the caller ID. “It’s the chief. McGaven,” he said answering the phone. He put it on speaker so Katie could hear.
“You and Detective Scott need to get over here,” Chief Cooper said. They could barely make out the words.
“Where are you, Chief?” McGaven asked.
“At the hospital.” His voice was strained and had a strange breathless quality that made it sound as if he’d been running.
“Isn’t it closed down?” said McGaven.
“I know what’s been going on and I’m sorry that… If you both could please?—”
The line disconnected.
McGaven look at Katie. “We have to go now.”
“Wait. What if it’s a trap?”
“What do you mean?”
“I just…I’ve been thinking about everything. We need to be smart about this before we go charging in there.”
“Katie, we need to go.”
“What about Officer Clark?”
“The chief asked specifically for us.”
“Call Officer Clark and Banning to give them a heads-up.”
“Fine.” McGaven tried both officers and the calls went straight to voicemail. “We need to go now.” The tone of his voice was urgent.
The detectives rushed out of the kitchen and grabbed their coats, gear, and weapons.
