Kingston Kidnappings (What Happens In Vegas Book 3) by Matt Lincoln (great book club books .txt) 📗

When I finally made it back to the office, I parked the car haphazardly before taking off across the parking lot and into the building. I briefly considered taking the stairs but decided against it. The few seconds I’d save not waiting for the elevator probably wouldn’t be worth it. I was right, as the doors slid open as soon as I pressed the button.

“I have the earrings,” I announced as I walked into the office. Fiona shot up from where she’d been sitting at Junior’s desk and nervously fiddling with the sleeve of her sweater.

“Let me see,” she muttered as she took the box out of the back and lifted the lid. She carefully lifted one of the earrings up to her face to examine it. Wallace and Nelson, who had been standing nearby when I entered, approached and waited for Fiona to give her verdict.

“I think it is a tracking device,” she confirmed before taking off toward her office. We followed her in, and I watched as she carefully removed something from one of the devices and inserted it into something connected to her computer. She quickly typed something into her keyboard, and windows began to open on the monitor.

“It’s disconnected,” she declared as she removed the microchip and replaced it with one from a different earring. I watched as she repeated the process three more times. “They’re all disconnected. Whoever was tracking them must have realized the kids have been removed from their… homes. We were too late.”

I ran a hand down over my face as I left Fiona's office and walked over to my own desk to collapse heavily into my chair.

“Hey, don’t get down on yourself,” Nelson consoled me as he walked up beside me.

“I wasn’t fast enough,” I retorted flatly.

“You don’t know that,” Nelson insisted. “We found the kids two days ago. It’s possible that whoever was tracking them turned the signal off the moment we got them out of that neighborhood. The earrings were probably off before you ever even got to the police station.”

“You’re right,” I sighed as I sat up straight, though I still felt disappointed. This was the best lead we’d had so far. We’d been so close to tracking the signal straight to the supplier, but we’d missed our chance.

I felt my phone vibrate and reached into my pocket to check it. It was a message from Eliza reminding me about Amber’s birthday party that weekend. With everything going on with the new case, I had completely forgotten, and now I felt even worse. Her birthday was actually next Tuesday, but Eliza had decided to have the party the weekend before so that we could celebrate on my day off. With the new case, though, I probably wouldn’t be able to make it, especially if Wallace ended up sending me overseas to the Caribbean.

“Is everything okay?” Nelson asked. “I’m not trying to be nosy, but your whole face fell as soon as you saw that message. Bad news?”

“No,” I answered. “Not bad news. My niece’s birthday party is this weekend.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Nelson smiled. “How old is she turning?”

“Five,” I smiled as I thought about how quickly Amber had changed from a little baby into a kid with such a big personality.

“Fun age,” Nelson nodded. “She’ll be starting school soon, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I answered. I actually hadn’t thought about that much. She’d never even been to daycare or preschool since Harry was always more than happy to watch her while Eliza was working, but if she was five now, she’d have to start kindergarten in the fall.

“You don’t sound thrilled about it,” Nelson laughed.

“I guess I just still see her as a baby sometimes,” I chuckled. “Especially when we’re working a case like this. I can’t even imagine how these kids’ parents must feel. I don’t know what I would do if that happened to Amber.” Just the thought of it made me angry.

“Well, that’s why we need to find them,” Nelson insisted. “So that all of their parents can have them back home, safe and sound.”

He stepped away and walked back toward his office. I thought about what he said and took a few deep breaths to settle my nerves. I knew he was right, but I’d gotten so worked up in my haste to get the stupid things back here to Fiona that it felt all the more disappointing to learn that it had all been in vain.

I glanced down at the time on my computer screen and saw that it was just a little past noon. Maybe going out for a walk to grab some lunch would help calm me down. I stood from my chair and left the office before taking the stairs down. The exercise would help too.

As I walked out of the building and onto the noisy street, I went through all the tactics I’d learned over the years to control my temper. Deep breaths, counting to ten, picturing myself being somewhere else, the works.

The truth was, I’d had anger issues since I was young. In fairness to myself, I’d been kicked out by my own mother when I was just a skinny teenager with nothing but the clothes on my back and no way to fend for myself. I’d been angry at her and then at the world as I got used to living on the street and realized that no one was going to look out for me except me. It hadn’t been until I met Harry that I realized that being so angry all the time wasn’t doing me any good. On the contrary, Harry would always insist that losing my temper and flying off the handle was shortening my lifespan.

I chuckled to myself as I remembered how he used to scold me. Eventually, I’d learned to rein myself in, and I’d found that I really was happier that way. Of course, I’d probably gone a bit too far, since now I tended to be