Savage Echoes (The Nickie Savage Series, Short Story Prequel) Read Free Page A

realized she didn't have much room to judge. The absence of family artifacts was apparent. No framed pictures. Not a child-made trinket or a school award to be found.
    "May I sit?" Nickie asked as she lowered herself to the couch. "I'd like the names of Serena's close friends and any boyfriends. It would be beneficial if you would allow me access to her computer."
    The woman sighed overtly but agreed.
    Nickie thought of the teenage years she herself had missed and wondered if this was the way her parents acted toward the police investigation. Rich, belligerent teenager runs away from home. Except Nickie hadn't been belligerent.
    Following Mrs. Flats upstairs, she decided the downstairs must have been the tidy floor of the home. She pulled her jacket closer around her.
    Serena's room was refreshing. Her tower and monitor sat on a small Formica desk. Her mother spoke as she walked around, looking at the room as if she hadn't seen it in months. Nickie did her best to multitask, taking down the names Mrs. Flats rattled off as she searched the computer.
    Serena had left her social media page open, but other than that her computer was either barren or password protected. "Mrs. Flats, do you have access to the passwords to these accounts?" As fruitless as it seemed, she had to ask. Serena's mother rolled her eyes like a sixth-grader.
    Regardless, Nickie found the name of a boyfriend from her social media page. Serena had messaged him the night before. They'd made middle-of-the-night plans.
    Now, for the part of her job that never got any easier. Should never get any easier.
    "Mrs. Flats, I appreciate your cooperation. Could you sit down for a moment, please?"
    Serena's mother sat on the bed like it might bite her.
    "We got another call." There it was. Finally. Serena's mother's eyes darted to Nickie's.
    "Is... she dead?"

 
     
     
    Chapter 3

     
    Nickie hadn't returned his call, and Duncan wasn't about to wait any longer. He'd memorized the list of possible locations but wrote them down anyway. A highway bridge with a stream that fed into a larger lake, a spillway that generally gushed water during rainier weather and a spot close to the populated southeast part of town where the creek ran deep and flowed beneath a four-lane stretch of busy road.
    Nickie would call when she could. Dating a cop was a learning curve for him. He pulled over down the street from the highway bridge. A familiar aching wonder pressed in the back of his mind–whether the reason she wasn't calling might be because she was in the middle of something. Or worse.
    Gravel crunched under the tires of his '77 Barracuda. He looked over his shoulder, then opened the door. What if the girl was down there? He hadn't brought his gun. He parked far enough away that if they were down there, the sounds of the car's tires wouldn't be heard over the sound of the water.
    His phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket so fast he almost dropped it. "Nickie?"
    "I'm sorry it took me so long to call. We got another 9-1-1. The girl's mother is no longer in denial. I'm headed to interview a registered sex offender who lives a few blocks away."
    He shut the car door and started a three-point turn. "I could... take a look around with you."
    There was a pause. He could picture what she looked like as she considered his offer. Her pupils would dilate ever so slightly. She would shake her head twice as she convinced herself she could take care of it herself, and then...
    "I'll call it in and get the okay."
    She gave him the address. He pressed on the gas pedal, knowing if he took too long, she would damned well go in without him.
    * * *
    Nickie tapped her thumbs on the steering wheel. Duncan had exactly five more minutes before she went in without him. She still needed to get to the boyfriend's apartment and to see if she could check out the teacher who was conveniently absent from Serena's class that afternoon. It was getting dark and the temperature was dropping. If Serena was held