AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Sixteen
Ginger couldn’t believe what had just happened. Fury roared through her as the taillights of her truck disappeared around a bend in the road that led back to Sweet Water Falls.
Her parents were due to arrive in ten minutes. They were expecting to meet her boyfriend and his son. And they’d both just disappeared.
Her torso felt like someone had hollowed her out and filled her with bleach. And where the heck was Nick? He’d left over an hour ago to go get a new battery for his phone. He should’ve been back by now.
She turned in a full circle, trying to figure out what to do. She was supposed to report anything the inmate did that went against his terms of the reentry program. And leaving without telling her where he was going—and all by himself—was definitely against Nate’s terms.
Unrest rolled through her gut. She didn’t want him to get in trouble. She also didn’t want to stand here on this beach, alone and wondering if Nate was making a run for the Southern border the way Hyrum had.
“He’snotHyrum,” she told herself, not for the first time. She faced the water, wishing it would confirm what she’d just said. Only the whooshing of waves against sand met her ears. Spencer laughed from the towel where he lay, looking at something on his phone. Emma looked over at him, then back at her paperback.
Everything seemed normal and serene, but Ginger didn’t fit in the scene. Not without Nate and Connor. She glanced at the parking lot, but he didn’t return with her truck, and Ginger realized she could report him for stealing the vehicle. She really didn’t want to do that. Why had he left and put her in this position?
He knew he couldn’t go anywhere by himself. “This is why you shouldn’t have let him run over to the mall alone,” she muttered, as her feet took her toward her friends and co-workers enjoying themselves in the sun and surf.
That episode where Nate had gone to the mall to buy her a birthday present was weeks old, and he’d never indicated he was anything but happy at the ranch. He’d told her time and time again that he was grateful for the opportunity to be at Hope Eternal.
So what had changed?
She sighed as she sank into the beach chair next to Emma. She had to call the BOP. If she didn’t and they found out that Nate had gone missing, even for an hour, and she hadn’t reported it, she’d never get another inmate at the ranch.
She’d already contacted the Warden at River Bay and said she’d take someone else if he had them, and James Dickerson had said he’d look through his files. Ginger knew who she wanted, because Nate had talked to her about a friend of his. Ted Burrows.
She frowned, and she wasn’t sure how long she flipped her phone over in her palm before Emma asked, “What’s going on?”
“Nate left,” Ginger said as quietly as she could. “With Connor.”
Emma abandoned her book completely, her eyes widening. “What? When?”
“Just now. A few minutes ago.” Ginger shook her head, the first threat of tears burning behind her eyelids. “I have to call the Bureau.”
Emma stood up so fast, her beach chair flipped onto its back. “He took your truck?”
“Ginger,” Spencer said, pushing himself up on his elbow. “Look at this.” He wore a concerned look on his face and pressed on the side of his phone.
“…breaking news from the Sweet Water Mall.” Spencer turned the phone toward Ginger, and Emma came back to peer at the device too. A female reporter stood in front of the camera, the panorama of the mall behind her. “The police have already shut down the mall to new shoppers, and they’re apparently moving through the building in a grid pattern, searching for this man.”
An image of Nick came up on the screen, and Ginger yelped, immediately pressing her hand over her mouth.
“No way,” Emma said, her voice little more than air.
“Nickolas Talbot,” the reporter continued speaking though Nick’s picture remained on the screen. “The nineteen-year-old was last seen walking with an unidentified man, who reportedly had a handgun. We’ll bring you more as this story develops.”
“No,” Ginger said. She needed more now. Right now. She scrambled for her phone, her heart beating out of control. She couldn’t quite get enough air, and her fingers slipped on the phone.
“I’m calling him,” Spencer said, but Ginger stabbed at her screen anyway.
The line rang on Spencer’s phone, and he’d put it on speaker, so they could all hear. It rang and rang and rang. “This is Nick,” his voicemail said.
Spencer tapped the red phone icon to hang up, and Ginger tried calling Nick too. Ringing. Same voicemail.
“We have to go to the mall,” Ginger said, standing. She didn’t have the mental capacity to fold up her chair or find her sandals, not right now.
“We can’t go to the mall,” Spencer said, jumping to his feet and darting in front of her.
“Why is he even at the mall?” Ginger didn’t care if tears made her weak, because she couldn’t hold them back for another second.
