Chapter 33
Running Scared
Justin flew down the highway but Brinn’s truck was nowhere in sight. Why wasn’t she answering her damn phone? But he already knew the answer to that question. How could he have been so stupid? He knew better than to let Charlene get close. She’d been waiting for a chance to corner him and her timing couldn’t have been worse. When his phone rang, he jumped to connect the call. “Brinn, is that you?”
“This is John Hathaway. Isn’t Brinn with you?”
Justin hesitated. "No, Sir. She took off without me a half an hour ago. She was upset about a misunderstanding. She isn't answering her phone, but I'm on my way out to Abby's house. It's the only place I can think that she would go."
“Oh, God.” John’s voice crackled with tension. “We have to find her.”
“What’s happened?” Justin’s jaw tightened as he gripped the steering wheel harder.
"I just received a call from Bud Paulsen. Apparently, the van transporting Stockman from the county jail overturned. He killed both guards, freed himself, and escaped on foot." He hesitated before adding. "We have to assume he's armed. The police have put out an APB on any stolen vehicles in the vicinity and contacted the State Police.” John’s voice had lost any remainder of calm and was now frantic. “I’ll call Bud back and have him add Brinn’s Ford to the search.”
“I’ll call Abby and warn her that Brinn is probably headed her way and to keep an eye out for Stockman.” Justin’s mind spun with the horrible possibilities of what would happen if he didn’t get to Brinn before her kidnapper. As if echoing his thoughts, Brinn’s father came back on the line, the fear in his voice palpable.
"I don't know how he could possibly get to her, but I'm certain that he will try. He knows she’s the key to his conviction...and he’s going to want her silenced.”
"I'll pick up Cody on my way out of town. Call me if you hear any news on Brinn." Justin hung up the phone and pressed his foot hard to the accelerator.
∞∞∞
By the time Brinn reached Abby's farmhouse, her tears had dried and she was as composed as she could be under the circumstances. Seeing her friend, however, sent her back into hysterics. "I hate him!" she cried, while Abby rubbed her back in soothing circles.
"They are all vermin," Abby agreed.
"I thought Justin was different." Brinn sobbed and then hiccupped. "I thought he loved me."
Abby nodded, "I’m sure he loves you, Sweetie. There has to be a logical explanation for what you saw."
YOU ARE READING
Savage Cinderella
Teen FictionEighteen-year-old Brinn Hathaway has survived on her own in the Northwest High Country of Georgia since she was left for dead in a shallow grave by the man who kidnapped her as a child. When a young nature photographer, Justin Spencer, catches the w...
