“I’ll be right there, sweetie. You’re both at home?”

A sniffle. “Yes.”

“Turn on all the lights and keep the doors locked. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Okay.” Sniffle.

“Love you,” he said.

“I love you, too. But hurry up, Daddy! It’s getting dark!”

Jasper could wait. He wasn’t going anywhere. “Call Hank,” Brad told Carol. “Tell him I have a family thing, but I’ll be back out there as soon as I can. I’ll keep my radio on in case something comes up.”

The receptionist nodded.

“No one else goes home unless they clear it through me. Everyone gets overtime.”

“Me, too?”

“Unless you can convince Issac to take over for you.”

“No, that’s okay. I can use the extra money, and I don’t have any plans for this evening anyway.”

“I’ll be back.” Brad hurried outside. He was fuming as he sprinted toward his car.

Damn it! Patty had promised she wouldn’t leave the girls alone. She’d sworn it wouldn’t happen again. How could she be so irresponsible? He speed dialed her cell, but it went directly to voicemail, and he angrily threw his phone on the seat next to him.

Driving through town, he put his roof lights on, though he left the siren off. He wanted other drivers to get out of his way so he could get home as quickly as possible, but he didn’t want the girls to hear his siren and panic.

Jillian was right. It was getting dark out. The day had flown by so quickly, particularly the afternoon, that he hadn’t realized how late it had gotten. How could Patty have left the girls alone when the sun was almost down?

It was conceivable that something had happened to his wife, and he wondered why that had not been the first possibility that had occurred to him, particularly with everything that had been going on. He supposed it was because Jillian had told him Mommy had purposely left her and Sue alone. That and his sheriff’s sense that, because there’d been no accidents called in or anything unusual reported around town, she was probably okay.

He shut off the lights as he approached the house and slowed down before pulling into the driveway. Immediately after unlocking and opening the front door, both girls rushed forward to hug him. “It’s all right,” he told them. “I’m here.”

“I was scared!” Sue said. “Jillian tried to scare me!”

“I did not! I was scared, too!”

Sue screamed with fright. “See?” she said. “She’s doing it again!”