“Thirty-two,” I answered her with a smile. “And what’s your name? Mine isCallie.”
“I’mAddison.”
She let out a puff of white, misty breath into the cold night air. Again, she didn't have a jacket on, and she was outside alone. This was a straight up child servicescall.
These kids were too precious; please let this be a tired, overworked mom who fell asleep while doinglaundry.
"And what is this little guy's name again?" I nudged my shoulder up, and the baby made a littlesnore.
"That's Ben," she said, leading me up to her front walkway toward herdoor.
"Hello?" I called out as I knocked. The door swung open on its own. Inside, all the lights were off, setting off a tingling sensation at the base of my neck. "Addison, where's the switch to turn the lightson?"
“Right here.” Addison’s tone was high with impatience. “Can you help me find herpwease?”
“Of course,” I said, scanning theroom.
The house was pretty bare. One couch, a few toys scattered over the floor in one corner. A pile of wrinkled clothes covered a family room table. The place wasn’t dirty, but it wasn’t taken care ofeither.
In the far corner was an old playpen. The netting on the sides was ripped, and one of the legs bent forward. I hoped it would hold the baby, because there was no way in hell I was walking through this house without my hands ready for something to happen. This could be one messed up scam to hurt an officer. Or a ransom. Or some other crazy-assedcrime.
I laid the baby down softly and spun on my heels. “Addison, I want you to wait here on that couch for me, okay hun? I’m going to look for your mom.” My firearm was out of my purseimmediately.
She sat down in a huff and crossed her arms over her middle. “But I told you she’s missing! She’s nothere!”
I slid against the far wall and peeked my head in the next room. An empty kitchen. A small dinette set sat in the middle of the room with an empty water bottle ontop.
The rest of the house was just asempty.
Each room was lifeless, no mother or any other adult or guardian was inside. The house itself looked dead. Not one picture was hanging on the walls. No telephone. No plants. Even in the baby's room—there was just a little ocean-themed mobile over a thinly sheeted crib—no other toys or baby things at all. Maybe they were moving.Maybe they just forgot to take the kids. I closed my firearm back into my purse and strapped it safely around mybody.
“Officer Callie?” The little girl was standing by the opening of the door. “I’mhungry.”
My hands fisted around the spindles of the crib. This shit didn’t make any sense.Where were these kids’parents?
“When was the last time you saw your mother,Addison?”
She shrugged and clutched at her stomach. “She gave me chocolate chip cookies for breakfast and kissedme.”
“Do you know what time thatwas?”
"I don't know how to know the time it was." She bent forward a little, and a pained expression crossed her features. "I'mhungry."
“Come on, then, let's see what'shere."
I took her hand and walked her back into the kitchen. She climbed onto one of the kitchen chairs and kicked her feet back and forth as she waited. I tore through the refrigerator, finding a half a loaf of bread and a jar of strawberryjelly.
Who the hell only keeps strawberry jelly? Where’s thegrape?
“How about a yummy jelly sandwich?” I smiled, holding up the sticky jelly jar and suspiciously hard bag ofbread.
Her face fell. “Is that all that’s inthere?”
“Yeah, sweetie, I’m sorry.” I rummaged through the cabinets for more food. There were a few half-empty boxes of cereal, but no milk, and about a dozen packages of gummy bears. “Obviously,that’simportant to someone,” I murmured under my breath. "Crusts or no crusts?" I asked, opening the loaf of bread and smelling it to see if it was okay for a human to consume. It smelled like the inside of a bakery, so I guessed it wasokay.
“No crusts. They taste like fartypoops.”
“Okay, then. Farty poop crusts are coming off.” I sliced off the crust and slathered the bread with jelly. “Here you go, Princess. A fart-free, poopless, jelly sandwich.” She took a huge bite, practically swallowing it without chewing. “Be careful, and eat slowly. I’m going to go changeBen.”
