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

a glance around the neighborhood. “We could wait to see if they come back. Or we could ask the neighbors if they’ve noticed anything strange.”

“That might be a good idea,” Miranda nodded. “Wait, what’s that?” She pointed down the sidewalk to the right of the house, and I turned to look at what she was pointing at. About two houses away, a small boy who couldn’t have been more than three feet tall was making his way toward us.

“That’s a kid,” I answered slowly. The boy stopped a few feet away from us as he realized we were watching him, and his gaze flitted between Miranda and me.

“Hey, cutie,” Miranda cooed as she squatted to get closer to his eye level. “Are you okay?” The boy seemed confused as if he wasn’t sure what to say, and he looked around nervously as though he expected someone else to show up at any moment.

“It’s okay,” Miranda called gently as she held a hand out to him. “Can you tell me your name?”

The boy didn’t answer, but he did walk up and take Miranda’s hand. It was so small in hers, and I guessed that he was probably around six or seven years old.

“What does he have in his hand?” I asked Miranda as I caught sight of a white envelope clutched the boy’s other hand. She eased it out of his grip gently before opening it to reveal a giant stack of dollar bills.

“What the--,” Miranda started to say before we heard the sound of glass breaking and a thump from the direction of the house.

“Stay with him,” I instructed as I pulled my gun out of its holster. “I’ll go check it out.”

I ran around the side of the house toward the back, where I thought I’d heard the sound coming from. I made it to the backyard just in time to see a man pulling himself off the ground to his feet.

“Freeze!” I yelled as I pointed my gun at him. The man turned around slowly, and I could see that one of his legs was bleeding heavily and appeared to have a large shard of glass sticking out of it. “Put your hands up.”

Rather than follow my orders, the man turned and tried to run, but he didn’t make it two steps before crying out in pain and falling to the ground. I stepped forward to cuff his wrists together behind his back before I pulled my phone out to call for an ambulance.

“Is there anyone else in the house?” I asked. The man shook his head, but I decided to do a quick search, anyway. It wasn’t like he’d be able to get far on that leg, anyway.

I could see that one of the windows at the back of the house had been smashed open from the inside, and there was blood smeared around the broken shards. That must have been how the suspect had hurt himself. I wondered why he hadn’t just used the back door, but when I tried to open it, it wouldn’t budge. It felt as though something was blocking it from opening from the other side.

I ran around to the front of the house, where Miranda was still waiting with the kid.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“The suspect tried to escape out the back and cut himself,” I huffed. “He’s handcuffed, but we probably shouldn’t leave him alone. Can you keep an eye on him while I do a search of the house? I’ve already called for police backup.”

“Sure,” Miranda nodded. “What about the kid, though?”

“I’ll put him in the car,” I replied as I leaned down to lift the boy into my arms. He felt lighter than I’d expected him to, and I wondered when he’d last had a decent meal. I carried him over to the car and sat him in the backseat. I didn’t want to leave him alone, but I needed to make sure the house was secure, and I knew he’d be safe inside the locked car.

After I strapped him in with the seatbelt, I took my tablet out of my bag and quickly looked up some kids’ videos before handing it to him. I didn’t know if he could really understand what the cartoon characters in the video were saying since it was in English, but he seemed enthralled enough by the bright colors and music. I shut the door and made sure I locked it before heading back to the front of the house.

I kicked the door in the way Charlie had taught me, and I was surprised by how easy it was to do once you knew just what angle to hit. I’d have to thank him for the tip later, but for now, I needed to focus on the task at hand. As I moved through the house, I realized that the man had been telling the truth when he’d said that there wasn’t anyone else in the house. Once I made it to the kitchen, though, I discovered why I’d been unable to open the backdoor.

The entire kitchen had been converted into a meth lab, and the back door was blocked by several boxes of supplies and tools. Now that I knew what kind of fumes were floating around in here, I quickly pulled the collar of my shirt up over my nose and mouth before heading straight back out the door. I closed it tightly behind me before rounding the side of the house to where Miranda was standing over the suspect, who was still lying on the ground.

“Is the house clear?” she asked as I made my way over to them.

“Yeah,” I responded as I knelt down beside the suspect. “There’s an entire meth lab in the kitchen, too. Do you want to tell us about that?”

The man just shot me a dirty look without responding.

“How about the kid?” I asked. “The one we found walking up to your house holding a wad of cash. You want to explain what that’s