A First Love to Die For

Chapter Forty-Seven- Wishful Thinking

(Lincoln's POV)

By the time we had arrived back at the station, they had already confirmed that the address that Stephie had given us did in fact reside in Candy's family. When her parents had passed, the deed had gone to an Uncle who lived in the states and as far as we knew was never here.

We were waiting for a search warrant or to reach the uncle in order to garner permission to enter his property.

I had known all day that this case was too close to my heart. That I wasn't working at my best. The problem was that I didn't trust anyone else to put in as much effort to find her. They didn't have as much invested. There was no denying it at this point. My very future depended on finding Josie in time.

It was a lot of pressure.

Every horrible scenario that I had ever been through, ever heard of, ever imagined was running through my head.

As a result, for the first time in my entire career I wanted to say fuck the rules. As Chief of Police, I didn't colour outside of the lines because I needed to keep myself and more importantly my staff out of trouble.

Right now, I wanted to break all the fucking rules. Waiting was pure torture and I knew that I wasn't alone. I could feel the nervous, impatient energy pulsing off the officers around me. Both Josie's team and my own.

It was Charlie, who was reigning us all in. "Josie is one of the best. I can guarantee you that she wouldn't want us to go in unlawfully. If anything, we do allows Candy to go free, she will be infuriated."

The dead can't be mad.

I took a breath. Walked away. Poured myself a cup of coffee that I knew I wouldn't be able to stomach but I needed something to occupy my hands. I regretted coming back to the station. To organize and plan. I wanted in that house, like yesterday.

We had used our wait time effectively. We had the blueprints for the cottage. There was a plan. We were ready.

We had an entire team on hold ready to go at a second's notice, but still, we waited, and I was fresh out of patience. This was the part of the job I hated. The moments where we could be making a difference and couldn't because of politics.

Lee walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but it's going to be okay. Josie is the toughest cop I know. She is going to fight tooth and nail. A warrant is going to come in immediately. Judges don't mess around with cops that have been taken."

I swallowed hard. These people and their lives. "I wouldn't know, I've never had an officer taken."

His smile left his face, registering that he was in a small town that didn't handle things like this often...ever.

"We're going to get her." He rephrased.

I would have said it sounded like wishful thinking except it was like saying it put it into motion. Charlie's voice boomed out. "The Uncle called back. He's given full permission. We're a go."