Read Online The Reckoning by Jana DeLeon - Free Book Online

about the woman. All these years she’s been out in that swamp, and yet people in Vodoun have only seen her a handful of times and her mother a handful before that. Some have never seen her at all. How do we know she doesn’t have a husband or kids or other family living out there with her?”
    “We don’t, which is all the more reason not to run out into the swamp half-cocked and with a civilian. Especially that particular civilian. What were you thinking, bringing Alex with you?”
    “It was the only way we could get Sarah to stay put. With her emotions running high, Sarah would have been a big liability. Alex was the better choice if one of them had to go.”
    “And what about Bobby? I still think he took the girl. Surely someone’s got a line on him by now.”
    “He hasn’t been sighted at the border, and there’s been no activity on his bank account or credit cards.” Holt recounted the story Bobby’s neighbor had told him about the movers. “It doesn’t feel right.”
    “Well, if he was going to kidnap his kid and make a run for it, he’d hardly do it in the middle of the day when someone could easily see him and mention the moving truck to Sarah.”
    “I guess,” Holt said, still feeling that Bobby was the wrong direction to look. “I’ll follow up. Try to find the moving truck.”
    “I don’t suppose I have to tell you not to set foot on that island again without a warrant. And it’s going to take at least a day to get one. I mean it, Holt. Not one foot, or I’ll get out of this bed and toss you in jail myself.”
    Holt looked out the window at the blinding sheets of rain blowing across the parking lot. “No problem,” he said, thinking that was likely going to be the easiest thing he agreed to that day.
    “I’ll get a warrant, but I want your attention focused on finding Bobby. Is that clear?”
    “Crystal.”
    * * *
    A SCRATCHING NOISE AT THE window woke up Alex, and she bolted upright in bed. It took her a minute to remember she was in the guest room at Sarah’s house, and once she did, everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours came flooding back.
    No light crept through the bedroom window, so she knew it wasn’t yet dawn. She also knew that Sarah took great care in her landscaping, and that no hedges or trees would be allowed to extend close enough to the house to scrape the sides. There was no plausible explanation for the sound that had wakened her.
    She sat stock-still, wondering if perhaps she’d been dreaming. Perhaps her mind had been playing tricks on her, but just as she was about to climb out of bed, she heard it again—a faint scratching sound, like the sound of something sharp and hard rubbing against the window pane.
    She slid out of bed, hoping the hardwood floors didn’t creak as she slipped over to the window. Easing the heavy curtain to the side a tiny bit, she peered outside into the darkness. The scratching noise sounded again, this time directly in front of her. She raised her gaze just above eye level and that was when she saw him.
    The crow.
    He was sitting on the branch of a tree, about a foot from the house, staring at her with those black eyes. She brought her hand up over her mouth to stifle a cry. Her pulse spiked and she took a step back from the window, dropping the drape back in place.
    But she could still feel its eyes on her.
    “It’s there, isn’t it?” Sarah’s voice sounded from the doorway, causing her to jump. “The crow. You saw it.”
    There was no point in lying. Alex was certain the look on her face had already given everything away.
    “On a branch just outside the window.”
    “It’s toying with us,” Sarah said, a blush rising up her neck and onto her face. “Bring my baby back!” She strode across the bedroom and yanked the drape completely back.
    Alex gasped in horror as Sarah screamed.
    The doll Alex had seen on the island sat on the branch where the crow used to be.
    Alex grabbed Sarah’s hand and pulled