Page 51 of Defending A Promise
“No. What is it? A mother’s intuition is sometimes better than any fingerprint or video recording. I may not be a mom, but I sure do trust their instincts. Tell me what it is that’s got you second guessing yourself,” Kowalski says.
“Well,” she hesitates, “… it’s just that this week when I was dropping off Nicholas at school for his first day, I noticed thatthe receptionist was… twitchy. I asked Miss Rachel about it, but she said it was because it was her first day and it can be overwhelming to work there at first. I just blew it off, but…”
Then it occurs to me that I was hesitant about her yesterday, too. “You know… something felt off with her when I went to pick up Nicholas yesterday, but then Nicholas called my name, and I got distracted. I didn’t think about it again until you just mentioned something about her.”
Kowalski calls her partner immediately, “Smith – find out who the receptionist is that works there and let’s bring her in… not sure yet, but the mother says she seemed ‘twitchy’ the other day and Hayes said the same thing when he picked up the child yesterday… yeah… really? Well, let’s go find her… let me know.”
“What?” I ask.
“The receptionist wasn’t there when they got there. The director of the school said she was working today but when the little girl got hurt, everything just erupted in chaos, and she seems to have disappeared.” She can see the worry on my face. “Don’t worry. Smith has another detective on his way to find her now and bring her in.”
I nod and then look at Riley. “What is it? Is there more?”
“Well… there is another time where something felt weird when I was looking at the office building to rent for my business, I…” she hesitates again.
“What? Yesterday?” I ask her.
She nods, “Yeah, I just can’t put my finger on it. Something just felt… off. It was so quick, but…” she grunts, “I just can’t remember what it was. I don’t know. Maybe I saw something in the parking lot?”
“Where was this?” Kowalski asks as she dials a number on her phone.
“Hibiscus Commons.” I tell her.
“Hi, yeah. Kowalski here…I need the security footage pulled from inside and outside of the Hibiscus Commons on…” she looks at the both of us.
“Yesterday.” I answer her knowing what she was looking for.
“Security footage, all day, yesterday…yeah, pronto…thanks.” Kowalski hangs up and looks at us. “As soon as we get it, we’ll review it, and have you look at it again and see if it can jog your memory. Okay?”
We both nod.
“Great. Why don’t you go over and sit on the couch while we do our thing. If you think of anything that may help, anything at all no matter how big or small you think it might be, let me know right away, okay?”
We both nod again, and I pull Riley by the hand over to the couch.
“Shouldn’t we be doing something besides sitting here?” she asks frustrated.
“We are doing something. We’re letting them do what they do best.” I point to all the law enforcement people going in and out of our house. Bella doesn’t like having all these people in her house, but she’s sitting on the couch on the other side of Riley watching everyone with a keen eye.
“So, we just sit here? Do nothing?”
“No, we sit here, let them do their jobs while we try to figure out what made your mom instincts go off. Did something happen with that girl at the school or inside the building?”
Riley thinks about it and shakes her head, “No. I don’t think so.”
“Do you think it happened before or after you saw the office space?”
She thinks for a few minutes, “I don’t know. It could be that I’ve just been on high alert so long that I’m seeing things or hearing things.”
That makes me pause. “Wait. What do you mean by hearing things?”
She throws her hands up, “I don’t know, Declan. I. Don’t. Know.” She bursts into tears as I pull her into my chest and hold her. Forcing her to try to remember isn’t going to work, so instead, I just sit there holding her, letting her cry it out as I make a silent prayer to River that if he’s really out there in the ether, that he is protecting Nicholas and will help us find him, fast.
Chapter 21
Riley
As we just sit here, I’m getting antsy to find my son and I’m feeling completely helpless because when I was at the office yesterday with the real estate agent, my hackles got raised, but I just assumed it was because the agent had her talons on Declan and then he left with hurt in his eyes. Was someone watching me? Is that what I was feeling? Was someone following me?
