To Tell An Altswood Lie (The Altswood Saga #3)

Chapter 15 - Abduction

Chapter 15 - Abduction

"You're kidding," Annabelle exclaimed over the phone. "Kaydee is—"

"Shhh!" I interrupted. Gabriel winced too, trying to split his attention between driving and reacting to Annabelle, who I had put on speaker.

"Isn't it lunch right now?" he asked. The general bumble of cafeteria noise was audible in the background of the call. "Keep your voice down."

I didn't think Annabelle heard his warning at all. She was muttering to herself, and then likely relaying our information to Jules, who also exclaimed half of the statement loudly before Annabelle shut him up.

"I honestly," Annabelle continued, dropping to a low whisper now, "did not see this coming. It would be Douglas', right?"

"I think that would be why he had a copy of the ultrasound in his locker," I replied drily. "Do you see them in the cafeteria?"

The line rustled as Annabelle took a look around. "Yeah, the both of them are at their usual table," she reported. "They probably haven't noticed anything amiss yet."

They probably hadn't realised that I had their black duffel bag on my lap, and Gabriel was driving us en route to the police station.

"I can't believe you didn't let us go with you," Jules grumbled, his voice becoming loud as he leaned into the receiver on their side. "Thanks for giving me the slip, Kingston."

"It was safer," Gabriel insisted. I brought my phone closer to him so he didn't have to shout. "The school has probably already noticed that Luca and I aren't there. If all four of us were missing, Douglas would be sprinting to his locker right now to check the bag."

And at the moment, it seemed that we would get to the police station before Douglas could notice anything. We needed to save our own asses from claims of murder, and frankly, I didn't care if Douglas and Kaydee had a sob story about this bag of money. I wanted the town to know that I didn't kill Maire Reeve, and I wanted them to know now.

Gabriel pulled into the parking lot of the police station.

"We'll check in later, okay?" I said to Annabelle. "You and Jules need to act normal."

"Easier said than done," Annabelle sighed. "Text me updates. Buh-bye."

We hung up, and Gabriel and I slid out from his car, marching towards the station with the bag swinging from my shoulder.

"I bring news," I shouted the moment I crossed the threshold into the main area. "Douglas Louws and Kaydee Merchand are the people on the footage. Here is the proof."

I dropped the heavy duffel bag onto a nearby table with a loud thud. It was only then that I looked up, and startled, saw that Gabriel's parents were in the station too, sitting in front of Dad's desk.

"Mom? Dad?" Gabriel was, understandably, extremely confused. "What are you doing here?"

Mrs. Kingston blinked at him. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

Dad turned around. He didn't even look surprised to see us—only weary. "I would second that question, but I've just learned not to ask."

He gestured for all the nearby officers to get back to work, since our entrance had drawn their curious attention. I noticed with a breath of relief that thankfully, Officer Louws wasn't here. He was likely on patrol around the island, otherwise he wouldn't have let my declaration go unchecked.

"No, really," Gabriel said, lowering his voice. "What are you doing here? Did something happen?"


"I hope not," the Mayor replied.