Wanting by Calle J. Brookes Page A

without going through the proper
channels.”
    “ So we need to see if she
got on somewhere here in the city.”
     
     

Chapter 14
    *****
     
    Kevin had the address
written on the back of the private investigator’s file. It wasn’t
in the Houston area like he’d expected; his baby lived in the
Midwest. He’d been to St. Louis a time or two. He and his wife had
brought the girls on vacation once. The other time was back in his
college days. He’d driven a buddy back after the guy’s dad had
died. That hadn’t been a fun trip.
    His daughter’s building was
in the old downtown district. The red brick shouted age, but from
what the investigator had found, the building was now in decent
repair. The entire area was being revitalized. Kevin could see that
from where his car was parked, despite the heavy rain. He studied
the three-story apartment building illuminated by plenty of street
lights. His daughter owned it. Had her adoptive parents helped her?
Had they taken care of her? He’d found no record of their names,
but he was still searching.
    His daughter Brynna had a
good hand with computers—made her living at them—and was searching
for that information. The girls had jumped in to help him find
their sister.
    He and his wife had raised
a good group of girls. Any father would be proud to call them his.
And Kevin was.
    The sign on the door said
there were vacancies. Should he call the number? Pretend to be a
prospective tenant? Meet his daughter on somewhat neutral
ground?
    Though he’d only met her
once, fatherly pride filled him. His kid had come out on her feet.
Kevin opened his car door. Surely the apartment building—which
housed nine units—would have an office with a super or some type of
information.

Chapter 15
    *****
     
    “ We had an incident
yesterday.” The manager of the bus station led Carrie and Sebastian
into the small closet that served as her office around eleven the
next morning.
    “ What type of incident?”
Sebastian has shown Ashleigh’s picture to the different clerks
who’d worked the day before. Two had remembered possibly seeing a
child matching Ashleigh’s description. A third had directed them to
his manager, a look of apprehension on his face.
    “ We had four school field
trips depart from here, going in different directions. One hundred
sixty-six children around the ages of twelve to fifteen. Seems one
bus had an extra passenger at boarding but at the final
destination, the extra had disappeared.”
    “ Disappeared? How?” Carrie
asked.
    “ We’re not entirely sure.”
The manager had a completely perplexed expression on her face. “In
all my years of working here I’ve not seen anything like
it.”
    Carrie exited the restroom
behind a trio of thirtyish women, her red hair making her instantly
identifiable despite her being half hidden behind the older women.
Sebastian straightened and wrapped a hand around her arm to pull
her in his direction as she approached. This time she stiffened
even less. He took it as a good sign. She was getting used to him
touching her.
    “ We can’t be sure it’s even
her. So what do you think we should do?” Carrie adjusted the straps
of her backpack over her shoulders.
    “ We need to determine where
the extra passenger disembarked, then go from there.”
    “ The bus was headed to St.
Louis. We need to check with the bus line to see if security videos
show her.” Carrie walked at his side, her shoulder bumping his. She
was the perfect height for a woman; with him being close to
six-four, she was only a head shorter. He liked that; it meant he
didn’t have to bend down to speak to her. And she could keep up
with him, her legs nearly as long as his. She had awesome legs.
Legs he’d dreamed about in excruciating detail the night
before.
    “ Back to the manager’s
office?” Sebastian nodded in the correct direction.
    “ Yes. But first, I want to
call the hospital and check on Sophie.”
    “ This girl really got to
you, didn’t