Chapter 3
Callie
Dark red lipstick.
Smokyeyes.
Freshly waxed…everything.
I slipped a tiny black dress over my head, shivering as the silky material slid coolly against my skin.Maybe I should use my vibrator before Ryan’s party? If I didn’t, I was going to end up mauling the first guy who said hello to me in some coat closet between a pair of faux fur jackets that smelled like the little old ladies that owned them.I desperately needed a release, someone to take home and just let loose with. I checked my ass again in the mirror.Perfectlydoable.
I would dome.
Yeah, I definitely needed to usemy—
The doorbell buzzing ten times in a row cut off mythoughts.
“Okay, okay! Hold on!” There was absolutely nobody who should be ringing my door like that. My heels clicked against the floor as I rushed for the door—the buzzing continued wildly. I yanked on the knob and slammed the door open. “Hold your horses,Jees—”
A wide pair of bright blue eyes stared up atme.
“What the f…fudge?” It was the kid from across thestreet.
“I need the 911!” The kid shouted the demand, hands on her hips—and it wasa her. Up close, I could see her adorable little girly features—bright eyes, pink lips, a tutu around her waist, and a small doll stroller with a baby doll hanging lopsided insideit.
I squatted down in front of her, almost tipping over in my heels. “Where're yourparents?”
“Are you a police officer?” she asked, ignoring myquestion.
“Yes, I am.” I looked out over her shoulder toward the house I’d always seen her in. Not one light was on inside. “Where are yourparents?”
Next to her, in the tiny plastic stroller, the dollmoved.
Then it started tocry.
I fell back on my ass, legs sprawled out in front of me, stunned. “That’s not adoll—”
“No, that’s my babybrwudder.”
Her baby brother?Her baby brother was strapped clumsily into a tiny plastic toy stroller that had a broken wheel and some sharp piece of plastic jutting out of theside.
I bolted upright instantly. “Okay, sweetheart. Where is your mom?" I scanned the yard in front of the house. The street, the garden, everything lookedempty.
“That’s what I need the police for. My mom’slost.”
Everything in me stilled. My breath whooshed out of my lungs in a loud gasp. “What do you mean she’s lost, honey?” My heart sped up, thundering through mychest.
“I don’t know where she is, and Ben smells like poop. He pooped so much, it’s coming out of his diaper.” She held her nosegravely.
The mother had to be in the house somewhere. Maybe she was sick orhurt.
"Okay, honey. Let's go see what's going on, all right?" I unstrapped the baby from the plaything quickly. The stench of putrid shit hit me like a brick. I batted my eyes, trying to fight the sting in my sinuses. "What the heck does this kid eat?" I tried to make it like it was nothing, I didn't want the child to worry more than she already was, so I kept my voice even and sweet; inside, though, my mind was reeling, I was expecting to find a body somewhere in thehouse.
The baby promptly nuzzled into my chest and fell asleep. The little girl took my hand in hers and pulled me down to the curb to cross the street. “When you find her, don’t tell her I crossed bymyself.”
“How old are you, honey?” I asked, stepping off thesidewalk.
“Four. How old areyou?”
