Once Taken Read Online Free PDF Page B

added, “And I’m driving you home.”
    “I can hitch,” Brian said.
    Riley simply glared at him.
    “Okay,” Brian said, looking rather cowed. He and April got up from the table and followed Riley into the house.
    “Go on and get in the car, both of you,” she said. The kids obediently left the house.
    She latched the new slide bolt that she’d added to the back door and went from room to room making sure that all the windows were fastened. 
    In her own bedroom, she picked up her travel bag and made sure that everything she needed was still inside. As she left, she glanced nervously at her bed as though the pebbles might have returned. For a moment, she wondered why she was headed off to another state instead of staying here and trying to track the killer who had put them there to taunt her.
    Besides, this stunt of April’s had her scared. Could she trust her daughter to stay safe in Fredericksburg? She’d thought so before, but now she had her doubts.
    Still, there wasn’t anything she could do to change things. She was committed to the new case and had to leave. As she walked outside to the car, she glanced into the thick, dark woods, scanning them for any sign of Peterson.
    But there was none.
     
     
     

Chapter 6
    Riley glanced at her car clock as she drove the kids into an upscale part of Fredericksburg and shuddered to see how little time she had left. Meredith’s words came rushing back.
    If you’re late, there’ll be hell to pay.
    Maybe—just maybe—she’d get to the airstrip on time. She had planned to just stop at home and grab a bag, and now things were getting a lot more complicated. She wondered if she should she call Meredith and warn him that family problems might hold her up. No, she decided; her boss had been reluctant enough as it was. She couldn’t expect him to cut her any slack.
    Luckily, Brian’s address was on the route to Ryan’s house. When Riley pulled up to a big front yard and stopped the car, she said, “I ought to come in and tell your parents what happened.”
    “They’re not at home,” Brian said with a shrug. “Dad’s gone for good, and Mom isn’t there much.”
    He got out of the car, then turned and said, “Thanks for the ride.” As he walked toward his house Riley wondered what kind of parents would leave a kid like that on his own. Didn’t they know what kind of trouble a teenager could get into?
    But maybe his mother doesn’t have much choice in that matter, Riley thought miserably. Who am I to judge?
    As soon as Brian went inside his house, Riley drove away. April had said nothing during the whole drive so far, and she didn’t seem to be in any mood to talk now. Riley couldn’t tell whether that silence was due to sullenness or shame. She realized that there seemed to be a lot she didn’t know about her own daughter.
    Riley was upset with both herself and April. Just yesterday they’d seemed to be getting along better. She’d thought that April was beginning to understand the pressures on an FBI agent. But then Riley had insisted that April go to her father’s house last night, and today April was rebelling against being forced to do that.
    Riley reminded herself that she ought to be a whole lot more sympathetic. She’d always been something of a rebel herself. And Riley knew what it was like to lose a mother and to have a distant father. April was bound to be afraid that the same thing would happen to her.
    She’s terrified for my safety, Riley realized. During recent months, April had seen her mother endure both physical and emotional injuries. After last night’s intruder scare, April was surely worried sick. Riley reminded herself that she needed to pay closer attention to how her daughter might be feeling. Anyone of any age might have a hard time coping with the complications of Riley’s life. 
    Riley pulled in front of the house she had once shared with Ryan. It was a large, handsome house with a portico at the side door, or