Page 45 of Silver Sanctuary (The Silver Springs #3)

Twenty-Seven

T wo minutes. That’s all it would take to get to Embrie’s school, and Nash was sure Lacy was going to try and run the whole way there, but he wanted his truck in the parking lot for the second Gage updated him on Embrie’s location.

Two minutes, and yet, it felt like an eternity. He’d tried to ignore every racing thought in his mind. Tried to give her comfort instead. Tried to tell her everything was going to be okay. But the voice of things he’d seen in his time as a SEAL was getting louder and louder as the minutes passed.

The second he pulled into the lot next to the school, Lacy had the door open, her seat belt whipping back off her body as she jumped out before he even had a chance to park.

“Wait, Lace!” he tried to call after her, but she took off like a rocket. Nash struggled to get out of his own fucking seat belt, finally throwing his door open and stalking after her. Just as she stepped onto the sidewalk, she froze and her body jerked, bending in half.

“Fuck.” He ran, catching up to her just in time to hold her hair back as she retched onto the grass .

“I’m sorry,” she groaned, wiping her hand across her mouth.

“Just take a deep breath.” His hand rubbed circles into her back as he caught a glimpse of the sheriff’s department vehicle already parked near the entrance of the school.

“I can’t. I can’t. We have to go in, but when we do it’s real. Nash, she’s really been taken. My mom… I just know. There’s no one else Embrie would go with. And if Adam is with her… she’s really in danger. And I didn’t protect her.”

“We’re going to go in there and get answers. We’re going to make sure that every law enforcement agency in Texas is looking for her, and we’re going to get her back. No matter who this is, no matter who took her, we are going to get her back.”

She stood, a determined look falling into place over her face.

“Do you need me to run back to the truck for some water?” he gently asked.

“No. Let’s go.”

They walked, hand in hand, through the main doors and into the front office of Embrie’s school. Everything was eerily calm. A woman was behind the desk, sniffling. Her eyes widened as they landed on Lacy.

“My daughter?—”

“Of course. I’m so sorry, Ms. Graves. I don’t know how this happened.”

“Clarissa, I think it’s best we just let Principal Nix speak with Embrie’s parents.”

Nash recognized the woman talking as Embrie’s teacher.

“Of course.”

“It’s Mrs. Caldwell,” Nash asserted. “You better get the principal out here right now or you are going to have a much bigger problem than me correcting you on my wife’s last name,” Nash growled .

“Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell, please.” A slender woman, maybe just a few inches taller than Lacy, but at least in her early fifties, walked out from a private room tucked in the back. “Let’s take this to my office.”

Nash pressed his hand into the small of Lacy’s back, guiding her one step in front of him through the front office until they made it to the back room. Inside, Colt and Deputy Shannon stood in front of a wall of bookshelves.

“Nash,” Lacy whispered as her eyes darted to Deputy Shannon. The last remaining color in her face was gone as her fingernails dug into his hand.

“Not. Him.” Nash had no problem pointing directly at the piece of shit who tried to blame Lacy for her store being vandalized.

Deputy Shannon held up his hands. “I understand there might be some tough feelings between us?—”

“Tough feelings don’t begin to cover it. Colt, I don’t fucking want him?—”

Colt held up his hand. “Eric. Step outside.”

“You can’t be serious? Again?”

“Step. The. Fuck. Outside. The only thing that matters is getting information, fast, about what happened to their daughter. So, if they think you’re going to be a problem here, then get out so we can get the information and do our job.”

Deputy Shannon shoved his notepad back into his pocket and left the room, the door clicking shut a sobering reminder of why they were there.

“Please, sit.” Ms. Nix gestured to the seats in front of her desk. Lacy didn’t move, so neither would he. “Okay. That’s fine, too.”

“Who took her?” Lacy’s questing hung heavy in the space between everyone.

“The description we got from our secretary was a woman, maybe in her early fifties, who came in with a gentleman and signed her out.”

“Nash…”

He nodded, knowing exactly what Lacy was thinking. It had to be her mom—Embrie would have recognized her. The chances were high that Embrie would leave with her without causing a scene or questioning things.

His phone felt oddly heavy in his hand, but just as he was getting ready to send a message to the team, a notification popped up on his screen.

Gage:

Located Embrie’s backpack. It’s in a field about ten miles east of Kingsley Road. Sending coordinates. Doc and Reap are heading out now.

His stomach dropped. Embrie needed to be okay. He had to believe she was going to be okay.

“How is that possible? Nash and I are the only two people authorized to get her from school! And Embrie knows not to go with anyone. She would have said something…” Lacy’s panic was palpable in each and every word.

“The secretary assured me that she checked identification and the name matched the driver’s license. The person opted to wait in the hallway outside the office for her. We didn’t… Embrie didn’t come into the office before she left.”

“But I know Joanne. I’ve picked up Embrie before from here. She should have recognized that it wasn’t me.”

Principal Nix nodded. “Joanne is out sick. We have a temp staffing the desk today. She did follow every procedure as we have it written.”

“We’ll need the tapes from the security cameras,” Nash barked, already sick of the excuses.

“Unfortunately, the cameras have been down this week. The school has a contract with a company in Dallas that’s supposed to come up this weekend to replace them. We never could have imagined that something like this?—”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me. So we have nothing . Nothing except the description the temporary receptionist gave, which sounds like Lacy’s mom and her boyfriend. Let’s go.”

“Nash, shouldn’t we…”

He turned to Colt. “My team located Embrie’s backpack?—”

Lacy’s gasp stopped him, but only for a second.

“They’ve already called it in to Hank. I’m taking Lacy there now.”

“Let the Sheriff’s Department handle this, Nash. I promise I’ll fight to keep you guys looped in, but in a case like this, we need everyone to stay in their lanes.”

“No,” Lacy barked. “Nash and the guys can help! And you need to be looking for my mom. She has to be the one who took Embrie. She told me this was going to happen.”

“Deputy Shannon and I already discussed that possibility and there’s another deputy on his way to her last-known location.”

“We need to go.” Nash gently tugged at Lacy’s arm.

She nodded, but didn’t move away from Colt. “I didn’t remember until he spoke, just now—on the way out of the office.”

“What?”

“Deputy Shannon—his voice. He was one of the men who assaulted me in the parking lot of Petals.”

Nash froze, his mind going completely blank. He stepped in front of his wife, her eyes filled with determination. “You’re sure, Lace?”

She nodded once, and that was all he needed. Nash dropped her hand, stalking out of the office. His eyes landed on the fucker, leaning on the desk talking to the secretary like he didn’t have a fucking care in the world.

“You think you can lay your hands on my wife and get away with it?” At least the asshole had the decency to wipe the smirk off his face before Nash’s fist connected with it. The crack was so loud he heard Lacy gasp behind him.

Another swing. Another crack.

And another.

And another.

“Nash, that’s enough.” Colt’s hand landed on his shoulder and stopped him from throwing another punch. “Get out of here. I’ve got this covered.”

“It won’t be enough until he’s behind bars for what he did, Colt. I’ll leave that to you.”

Nash turned, taking a hold of Lacy’s hand with his knuckles still covered in the deputy’s blood, and walked her out to the truck in silence.