Pattern

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty Nine

// Avery //

I burst into the station, and the man at reception looked up in surprise.

"Where's Robert Knightley? I need to talk to him, now," I said, my breathing loud and fast.

"Is this about Prudence?" He asked, some light appearing in his eyes. "I've been worried sick.."

"You know her?" I was confused, but brushed it off. "I need him, now, I was just talking to her. She's alive, but I don't know for how much longer.

"Oh, jeez," He said. "Robert's interviewing a suspect now, but I'll get him. And yeah, I'm her dad's best friend. She's a great kid. I'll get him now."

He disappeared, and I knew where he went, because I'd been in one of those rooms before, and annoyed the officer interviewing me with snark comments and blunt sarcasm. But right now, I felt like the interviewer, just wishing Ms. Lawless would tell the truth.

They both returned, and her father looked at me desperately. "What happened?"

"She rang Crystal - she's a girl in my class - using Hanna's phone, and she's injured, but not fatally, she said there was a scissors in her leg, and then she said she was in a basement or something, and the kidnapper was a guy in his forties, but then she heard him come back and hung up, and she's so scared, she really is."

I said all of this really fast, but they both kept up, their eyes widening as I went on.

"So, it's definitely the same guy that took the other three, but we knew that, and he's in his forties.." The other officer who knew Prudence too spoke. "Did she say anything else? Anything at all?"

"Yeah," I said, continuing. "She said he was smaller than me, and had, um, green eyes and brown hair.. He was wearing a green jumper.." I wondered if any of this could possibly help, as it could sum up plenty of men in Oakwood.

"Thank you, Avery." Officer Knightley sighed. "Melinda Lawless is staying quiet, but.. This should help. At least she's alive. Have you tried ringing again?"

I nodded. "She didn't pick up.. Maybe you could try, too."

While I was telling them this, Crystal walked in, breathing hard. I glanced at her, then walked over.

"What was that?" She asked angrily. "You just ran off with my phone! Was it really Prudence on the other line?"

"It was," My voice had quietened, the hope leaving it again. She'd been alive, but she'd been so certain he'd kill her, so surely she wasn't going to be alive for much longer. And we were getting nowhere.

"Oh." Crystal sounded a little sad. She reached up to touch my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Avery, I really am."

"So am I," I replied bitterly. "At least I got to talk to her, right? And she's alive, for now."

"Yeah," She agreed. Crystal seemed resigned, even though she barely knew Prudence, it was like she was giving up too.

"I'll give you your phone back," I murmured, taking it from my pocket. "Can I just save that number on it?"

"Of course."

I registered the number in my phone, as "Hanna" even though it was technically my only link to Prudence rather than an old friend who'd been dead a month, then gave Crystal back her phone.

"I'll walk you home, give me a second to talk to them again," I told her.

"You don't have to-" She began, but I interrupted her.