Once Taken. Blake Pierce

table. “I know what you’re doing.”

      She could barely make herself heard over the music. She reached over to the player and turned it off.

      “This isn’t what it looks like, Mom,” April said.

      “This is exactly what it looks like,” Riley said. “Give me the rest of it.”

      Rolling her eyes, April handed over a plastic bag with a small amount of pot in it.

      “I thought you were working,” April said, as if that explained everything.

      Riley didn’t know whether to feel more angry or disappointed. She’d caught April smoking pot just once before. But things had gotten better between them, and she’d thought those days were behind them.

      Riley stared at the boy.

      “Mom, this is Brian,” April said. “He’s a friend from school.”

      With a vacant grin and glassy eyes, the boy reached out to shake hands with Riley.

      “Pleased to meet you, Ms. Paige,” he said.

      Riley kept her own hands at her sides.

      “What are you even doing here?” Riley asked April.

      “This is where I live,” April said with a shrug.

      “You know what I mean. You’re supposed to be at your dad’s house.”

      April didn’t reply. Riley looked at her watch. Time was running short. She had to resolve this situation quickly.

      “Tell me what happened,” Riley said.

      April was starting to look somewhat embarrassed. She really wasn’t prepared for this situation.

      “I walked to school from Dad’s house this morning,” she said. “I ran into Brian in front of the school. We decided to skip today. It’s okay if I miss it once in a while. I’m acing it already. The final exam isn’t till Friday.”

      Brian let out a nervous, inane laugh.

      “Yeah, April really is doing great in that class, Ms. Paige,” he said. “She’s awesome.”

      “How did you get here?” Riley asked.

      April looked away. Riley easily guessed why she was reluctant to tell her the truth.

      “Oh, God, you kids hitchhiked here, didn’t you?” Riley said.

      “The driver was a really nice guy, very quiet,” April said. “Brian was with me the whole time. We were safe.”

      Riley struggled to keep her nerves and her voice steady.

      “How do you know you were safe? April, you’re never supposed to accept rides from strangers. And why would you come here after the scare we got last night? That was incredibly foolish. Suppose Peterson was still around?”

      April smiled as if she knew better.

      “C’mon, Mom. You worry too much. The other agents say so. I heard two of them talking about it – the guys who drove me to Dad’s house last night. They said Peterson was definitely dead, and you just couldn’t accept it. They said whoever left those stones probably did it as a prank.”

      Riley was steaming. She wished she could get her hands on those agents. They had a lot of nerve, contradicting Riley within earshot of her daughter. She thought about asking April for their names, but she decided to let that go.

      “Listen to me, April,” Riley said. “I’ve got to go out of town on a job for a few days. I have to leave right now. I’m taking you to your Dad’s house. I need for you to stay there.”

      “Why can’t I go with you?” April asked.

      Riley wondered how on earth teenage kids could be so stupid about some things.

      “Because you’ve got to finish this class,” she said. “You’ve got to pass it or you’ll be behind in school. English is a requirement, and you blew it for no good reason. And besides, I’m working. Being around while I’m on the job isn’t always safe. You ought to know that by now.”

      April said nothing.

      “Come on inside,” Riley said. “We’ve only got a few minutes. I’ve got to get some things together, and so do you. Then I’m taking you to your father’s house.”

      Turning to Brian, Riley added, “And I’m driving you home.”

      “I can hitch,” Brian said.

      Riley simply glared at him.

      “Okay,” Brian said, looking rather cowed. He and April got up from the table and followed Riley into the house.

      “Go on and get in the car, both of you,” she said. The kids obediently left the house.

      She latched the new slide bolt that she’d added to the back door and went from room to room making sure that all the windows were fastened.

      In her own bedroom, she picked up her travel bag and made sure that everything she needed was still inside. As she left, she glanced nervously at her bed as though the pebbles might have returned. For a moment, she wondered why she was headed off to another state instead of staying here and trying to track the killer who had put them there to taunt her.

      Besides, this stunt of April’s had her scared. Could she trust her daughter to stay safe in Fredericksburg? She’d thought so before, but now she had her doubts.

      Still, there wasn’t anything she could do to change things. She was committed to the new case and had to leave. As she walked outside to the car, she glanced into the thick, dark woods, scanning them for any sign of Peterson.

      But there was none.

      Chapter 6

      Riley glanced at her car clock as she drove the kids into an upscale part of Fredericksburg and shuddered to see how little time she had left. Meredith’s words came rushing back.

      If you’re late, there’ll be hell to pay.

      Maybe – just maybe – she’d get to the airstrip on time. She had planned to just stop at home and grab a bag, and now things were getting a lot more complicated. She wondered if she should she call Meredith and warn him that family problems might hold her up. No, she decided; her boss had been reluctant enough as it was. She couldn’t expect him to cut her any slack.

      Luckily, Brian’s address was on the route to Ryan’s house. When Riley pulled up to a big front yard and stopped the car, she said, “I ought to come in and tell your parents what happened.”

      “They’re not at home,” Brian said with a shrug. “Dad’s gone for good, and Mom isn’t there much.”

      He got out of the car, then turned and said, “Thanks for the ride.” As he walked toward his house Riley wondered what kind of parents would leave a kid like that on his own. Didn’t they know what kind of trouble a teenager could get into?

      But maybe his mother doesn’t have much choice in that matter, Riley thought miserably. Who am I to judge?

      As soon as Brian went inside his house, Riley drove away. April had said nothing during the whole drive so far, and she didn’t seem to be in any mood to talk now. Riley couldn’t tell whether that silence was due to sullenness or shame. She realized that there seemed to be a lot she didn’t know about her own daughter.

      Riley was upset with both herself and April. Just yesterday they’d seemed to be getting along better. She’d thought that April was beginning to understand the pressures on an FBI agent. But then Riley had insisted that April go to her father’s house last night, and today April was rebelling against being forced to do that.

      Riley reminded herself that she ought to be a whole lot more sympathetic. She’d always been something of a rebel herself. And Riley knew what it was like to lose a mother and to have a distant father. April was bound to be afraid that the same thing would happen to her.

      She’s terrified for my safety, Riley realized.