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My shoulders dropped as I took one last glance around the room. “Maybe we could look downstairs?”
Lincoln shut the dresser drawer he was digging in. “Good idea. I think I saw an office next to the washroom.”
Lincoln hurried down the hallway ahead of me and took the stairs a couple at a time like he’d lived here forever. I wasn’t as fast. I still couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow we were going to get caught here.
I reached the bottom step and glanced around for Lincoln. He’d disappeared on me. I didn’t have to look long.
He popped out from one of the rooms down the hallway, making me jump. In his hand was a large tablet. “I think we can make this work.”
I jogged down the hall to him and peeked over his shoulder as he went to work getting into the device. There was a pin, but he typed in 1-2-3-4 and got right in. It made me wonder what the point was to even have one if it was that easy to crack.
I laughed out loud. “That was easy!”
He chuckled. “You’d be surprised how easy some people make it.”
I shook my head. “Wow.”
Lincoln held up the tablet and shook it as his smile widened. “We should be able to send an email, and I think I can update the website with this. Although the connection is not as strong as I would like it to be.” He made a pouty face.
I took the tablet when he handed it to me. He’d pulled up the Outlook tab and opened a blank email. I quickly typed in my dad’s and my mom’s email addresses. Then I typed out a quick message letting them know that I was okay and with Lincoln, and that we’d taken up residence in a house.
My finger hovered over the send button. “Do you think it’s safe to send this?”
Lincoln’s lips formed a tight line. “As safe as it can be.”
My finger shook as I hit the send button. It made a swooshing sound, and the email disappeared.
“Now what?” I asked.
Lincoln gave me a once-over as a smile spread over his features. He lifted his brows and then wagged them at me. “How are you feeling? Are you still cold?”
Now that he mentioned it, there was a chill in the air, and my body still felt like it was an ice cube.
Lincoln grasped my hand. “Come on. I know there are a couple bathrooms in here. But let’s get you in a hot shower. I bet you’ll feel better after that, and then maybe we’ll find something to eat.”
My stomach rumbled loudly at the mention of food. A hot shower and food sounded amazing.
I went to set the tablet back down on the edge of the desk when it binged, and a new email shot into the inbox. It was from my mom.
I licked my lips and picked the tablet back up, opening the email. As I scanned over the contents of the message, my heart dropped.
My dad and brothers weren’t back yet, and she hadn’t heard from them.
Eighteen
Lincoln
I read the email from over Sloane’s shoulder. Her breath hitched and her hand went to her mouth.
My throat got scratchy. I rubbed at it, hating that Sloane was hurting, and put my hand on her back, rubbing small circles into it.
She set the tablet back on the desk and turned to me, falling into my embrace. Her shoulders rose and fell as she cried.
I smoothed my hands over her back and made a shushing noise. It’s something I remembered my mom doing when I was younger and I’d been hurt.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. It hasn’t been that long since everything went down. Cell phone reception can be really spotty out here. Trust me, I’ve used every carrier and had problems with them all.”
My assurances didn’t seem to help. A tick formed in my jaw. If Mikey had hurt her family, he was going to pay.
