Wicked Warning (An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

answered, bobbing his head. “That’s going to be an odd call. On one hand we found their missing daughter. On the other she’s been traumatized, raped, and possibly given birth to a child who is now missing.”
    “She’ll probably be more likely to open up to her parents,” Jack supplied. “That could be helpful for getting her to trust us.”
    “She thinks they’re dead, though,” Ivy countered. “I bet the man who took her told her that to keep her in line. If she had nowhere to run it would be easier for him to keep control of her.”
    “Ivy has a point,” Brian said. “She might not take kindly to knowing her parents have been alive all of this time.”
    “Especially if she believed they would find and rescue her one day,” Ivy added.
    “What do you mean?” Jack was legitimately curious.
    “I mean that, however irrational it sounds, if someone took me I would want to believe that you … and Max … and my parents … were out there looking for me,” Ivy said. “What happens when faith goes away and you have nothing left?”
    “Honey, no matter what, if someone took you I would find you,” Jack said, brushing her hair away from her face. “We can’t go back in time and save this girl. We can move forward and help her to the best of our ability, though. That’s the only thing we can do.”
    “I know,” Ivy said, shaking herself out of her doldrums. “I’m sorry. That was extremely unhelpful.”
    “You’re always helpful,” Jack said, pulling her close for a hug. “You should probably get back in there with her, though. We need to call her parents and … .” He broke off, unsure how to finish the sentence.
    “And I need to tell her they’re alive after all,” Ivy finished for him. “We have to prepare her for their arrival. It won’t take them more than an hour to get here from Alden.”
    “No,” Jack agreed. “I’m sorry this is falling on you. If I thought I could bear the burden, I would do it.”
    “I know you would,” Ivy said, flashing him an appreciative smile. “You can’t, though. You saw the look on her face when she saw you. I think your size frightens her. I’ll tell her you’re a marshmallow to soften her up.”
    “Very cute,” Jack intoned, shooting her a dark look even though he was secretly happy she managed to muster the energy for a lame joke. “This marshmallow wants you to know that I’m really proud of the way you’re handling this.”
    “Thank you,” Ivy said. “Maybe later I’ll pretend to be a chocolate bar and we can make s’mores.”
    Jack offered her a weak chuckle. “I’m looking forward to it.” He watched Ivy shuffle back toward Jessica’s room, keeping his gaze trained on her until she disappeared. When he shifted his attention to Brian, he found his partner glaring with unfettered contempt. “What?”
    “You two are really sick sometimes.”
    “She needed to make a stupid joke to remind herself it was okay to laugh,” Jack said. “She didn’t mean anything by it.”
    “I know that,” Brian said. “I’m the one who made a stupid joke just now because I’m terrified of making this call.” His cell phone rested on his knee. “What do you think they’re going to say?”
    “I think the first thing they’re going to say is ‘thank you and we’re on our way,’” Jack replied. “I think the realizations hitting them after that are going to be a little harder to deal with.”
    “Sadly, I think you’re right,” Brian said, blowing out a sigh as he punched numbers into his phone. “Here we go.”
    Jack watched, sympathy rolling off of him. This was the sort of call every police officer thought he wanted to make until faced with the reality of doing it.
    “Mr. Stamper? My name is Brian Nixon. I’m a police detective over here in Shadow Lake. We have some news … about your daughter. We found her. She’s alive.”

Four
    I vy was a nervous wreck by the time she returned to Jessica’s room. She had no idea how