Shackled Read Online Free

any witnesses. They checked the security tapes and found her going outside the store, waiting for a second, then jogging off into the parking lot. That’s all they had. That’s the last time anyone saw her.”
    David’s eyebrows wrinkled together. That sort of felt nice. Like he cared.
    â€œSo today, this old guy showed up with this girl, and she just . . . it was her, it was Tara. I don’t know who the guy was, but it wasn’t her dad.”
    â€œHow did you recognize her after six years?”
    I licked my lips. “A mole. She had—she has a mole on her neck. It was still there. Plus she said ‘Help me.’ As they wereleaving. He was practically pulling her out of here, and she looked back at me and said ‘Help me.’ ”
    â€œYou’re sure about that?” Collins said.
    â€œPretty sure, yeah. I mean, she didn’t say it, say it. Just mouthed it. You know, so the guy wouldn’t hear her.”
    Officer Collins didn’t look impressed. And even David turned away for a second.
    â€œI’m not lying!” I shouted. “It was Tara.”
    â€œDid they order anything?” Collins asked me.
    â€œYes! A decaf coffee and a hot chocolate.”
    â€œDid he use a credit card? Do you have the receipt?”
    â€œNo . . . no, he paid cash.” I scanned the counter, trying to find the ten-dollar bill he’d passed to me. I didn’t see it anywhere.
    â€œHe did, he paid with a ten. . . .” I started fishing through my own pockets.
    That’s where I found it. I must’ve shoved it in there when I grabbed the phone. I pulled the rumpled bill out of my hip pocket and showed it to the cop as if it were proof. As he eyeballed me, I realized what it must look like.
    Like I was making up the entire thing.
    â€œListen,” I said. “I didn’t ring up the order right away, because I had to get the license plate. Look, here, see? I wrote it down. You can run the plates, can’t you? I watched them get into this car. A white car, and he practically shoved her inside.”
    â€œSo she was struggling?” Collins asked.
    My chin tilted down. “No,” I whispered, because that wasthe truth. The guy had kept a hand on her the whole time, but had Tara actually struggled? Not really.
    Oh God, this was not looking good.
    â€œThey can’t have gotten too far,” I said. “Can’t you put an APB out or something?” I wasn’t even sure what that meant exactly, other than “all persons bulletin” maybe, and it was something the cops always did on TV when they were looking for someone.
    Collins flipped his notebook shut and tucked his pen into his breast pocket. “I’ll call this in,” he said. “See what the sergeant wants to do about it. It’ll get sent to the detective in charge of the case.”
    â€œLarson,” I said. “Detective Larson. I remember him. Phoenix Police Department.”
    â€œSo it’ll go to him, if he’s still working here,” Collins said. “And he’ll probably give you a call. All right?”
    â€œUh-huh,” I said. I sounded like a nutjob.
    Collins turned to David. “Did you see anything?”
    David glanced at me. I read everything he wanted to say and couldn’t in that short moment: I wish I’d been here. I wish I could say yes, I saw the whole thing.
    â€œNo,” David said. “No, I was in the back. It was all over by the time I got here.”
    Officer Collins nodded, then got my description of the car and the license plate, and took down all my contact information. He then walked outside talking into his radio. David slid over to me.
    â€œSo, ah . . . you going to bring me up to speed?” he asked. “What happened in here?”
    â€œYou heard me,” I grouched at him. “There’s nothing else to tell.”
    â€œOh,” David said.