Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 99935 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99935 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
I waved that away. “No, I can’t. I’m not offering money I don’t have— Well, I am, but only because I don’t have it yet. I put the house up for sale.”
“You what?!”
“I put it up for sale,” I repeated calmly. “It’s the only thing I own that’s worth anything, and people have been telling me for years that I’d make a killing if I sold it. Well...” I took a deep breath and released it. “Now, it’s time. Whatever it takes to get Dora back.”
“Get her back? How is this supposed to achieve that?” Daniels flung the flyer at the desk. “Do you understand what’s gone on in the twelve—twelve—hours since you posted these? The station tipline has received over two thousand calls!” he belted. “All from crazies and wackos all claiming they know what happened to your sister. Some of them even claiming they took her in the first place!”
He growled, throwing himself down in my desk chair. “Instead of hunting down real leads, we’re wading through an ocean of false flags. Miss Hunter, I know you’re trying to help. I know you need to help,” he confessed. “I’ve done this long enough to accept that telling a desperate family member to sit on their hands and do nothing is a waste of time. But as understanding as I am, Miss Hunter, I need you to stop. You are not helping. All you’re doing is running toward homelessness, and wasting police time.”
“But it’s not a waste.” I shot forward, leaning over the desk. “Didn’t you listen to a thing I just said? My sister was taken by demons, or some kind of hell beasts, so all you have to do is weed out any tip that doesn’t have to do with demons or the occult?” I threw out my hands, giving him a duh look. “I’m going to bet eighty percent of those calls said the kidnappers were human, and for the first time ever, that’s the wrong answer. We can immediately exclude them.
“Just like we’ll exclude anyone who mentions aliens, unicorns, lizard people, and all the standard nonsense tips,” I said. “All we need are the ones who mention demons. That’s how we know we’re on the right track.”
“The right track? Are you hearing yourself!” he exploded. “Miss Hunter, there is no such thing as demons!”
“I know what I saw!”
“Do you?” he shot back. “Because you just got done telling me that you had a psychotic break and hallucinated the whole thing!”
My shoulders were fixed—my chin high. “I didn’t hallucinate getting thrown through the window. I didn’t hallucinate the pieces of cake stand covered in creepy frog skin. I didn’t hallucinate the shard of glass covered in the scorpion beast’s nasty black goo. Even you said running the sample broke your DNA sequencer!”
“I said the results were inconclusive,” he snapped, shooting up. “The sequencer breaking was just a—a—a coincidence!”
“Coincidence, my backside! I didn’t want to believe it either, but all denial has done is waste time Dora doesn’t have. Who knows what th-those things have been doing to her? Who knows if she’s still—still—” My throat clogged, eyes filling. “It’s been a month and we’re no closer to finding her, so if believing in the impossible is what it takes to get her back, then that’s what we’ll do.”
“There is no we, Miss Hunter.” His voice was hard. “Now, I’ve been as patient with you as I’m going to be, but this insane bullshit ends now. This is my case, and at this point, you are officially interfering with a police investigation, so, I’ll say this once and only once.” He jabbed the flyer. “Take these down and withdraw the reward. Today.”
I balled my fist, jaw clenching. I didn’t want to blow up on the guy who stayed by my side while I ugly-cried for three hours straight. I really didn’t... but I was close.
“This is your case, is it? So how close are you to a breakthrough?” My tone was just as severe. “Did you identify that nasty black sludge that came from his body? And what about the patch? Aren’t you cops supposed to have a database of criminal gangs and clubs? Did Abaddon pop up anywhere on it? What about witnesses? Leads? Anything!” Suddenly, I was screaming. “Do you have any clue where my sister is or who took her, Detective Daniels? Huh? Do you?!”
His expression was stony. “There have been no significant breaks in the case thus far—”
“Exactly!”
“—but I’m not giving up,” he plowed on, speaking over me. “I promise you, Charlotte. I’m not giving up. No one is giving up on your sister. I am actively investigating her disappearance and will do so until all leads are exhausted, and even then I won’t stop.”
“But you’re ignoring this lead! The most important one. My sister was taken by demons—”