Page 142 of Steel

I climbed out of Kerrion’s lap and went back around my desk to finish my food. We made conversation and plans for a family day when KJ was back with us. He tried to FaceTime Ms. Anita again, but again, she didn’t answer. I could tell that was annoying him because there was no way you could have my child and not answer the phone when I called. He ended up cutting our lunch date short, and it was totally understandable.

I hugged and kissed him goodbye, telling him to update me once he got there. His entire aura had changed. I could feel it on him, and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I was worried. So much so that I knew I wouldn’t be able to concentrate for the rest of the day until I knew what was going on. He hadn’t been gone for two minutes before I was gathering my things and running out of my office. I caught Kerrion just as he was getting into his truck.

“Wait!” I called, running up to it.

I snatched the door open and hopped in.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m coming with you,” I said, locking myself into the seat belt. “If everything is okay, you can just bring me back.”

“You sure?”

“When it comes to these kids, it’s never a question. I’ll just shoot my supervisor an email and let her know I had a family emergency.”

He nodded and pulled off as I pulled out my phone to do what I said. As he drove, I could tell that he was anxious. He kept gripping the steering wheel and cracking his neck.

“Something is wrong,” he mumbled. “I can feel that shit . . . Fuck!”

He punched the steering wheel, making me jump. I reached over and grabbed his hand.

“Don’t think like that,” I said, even though I was feeling it too.

No parent wanted to feel like their child was in danger, but it was different with a baby. They were helpless. We rode in silence the remainder of the ride. When he pulled into the driveway of a nice one-story brick home, he barely shut the car off before he was jumping out. There was a car parked, so I prayed this woman was just in there asleep.

As I got out of the car, I listened for any cries of distress coming from inside but heard nothing. Kerrion knocked hard on the door.

“Ms. Anita!”

Nothing.

“Ms. Anita! You good in there?”

Still nothing.

Before I could say anything, he rammed the door with his shoulder, causing it to fly open. I muttered a curse as he stormed into the house. Frantically, he looked around the living room and kitchen area, but there was no sign of Ms. Anita or KJ.

“Ms. Anita!” he yelled, his voice cracking.

He ran toward the back where the kitchen was and peered out the window into the yard. Snatching the back door open, he stormed outside. I prayed this woman was out there. Alas, whenI stepped out, there was nothing but an empty yard. Kerrion stared at the large shed in front of us with the door slightly ajar.

His breathing became heavy as he walked toward it. I quickly latched on to his arm and followed behind him. He pulled the door open, and what I saw made my hand fly to my mouth.

“Oh. My. God.”

Before us, the shed was set up just like a bedroom. If you didn’t know it was a shed, you would have thought we were standing in another room in the house. The walls were covered in pictures, awards, and medals. The vanity was lined with hair care products, makeup, lotions, and perfume. The closet area was filled with clothes.

Everything was neat and perfect, . . . just like a shrine. It didn’t help that in the corner of the room there was an actual shrine with pictures and random items surrounded by burnt candles. My eyes landed on something in the other corner that made my eyebrows raise.

“K-Kerrion?” I whispered, pointing.

His gaze followed my direction to what looked to be a deep freezer. Why would she put a deep freezer in a place like this? He walked over to it and stood there for a moment. When he lifted the lid, he jumped back.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

I started toward him, but he held up a hand. “Stay back!” he demanded.

“Kerrion, . . . you’re scaring me. What’s in there?”