All He Has Left(14)

He quickly pulled the key out, stuck it in the keyhole, slipped inside, and then pulled the metal door closed behind him. He immediately embraced the warmth of the building. Standing in the back hallway, Jake listened for a moment. He didn’t expect anyone else to be inside the school. Not even the cleaning crew, since kids weren’t around on the weekends. At least, that was his hope. Still, he wanted to get in and out as quickly as possible.

The football offices, locker rooms, and weight room were just around the corner from the back door. Jake hustled forward, paused to take a quick peek into the next hallway, and then turned the corner. Most of the lights were off in the building, but he could still easily make his way around. He opened another door to the football wing, stepped into his old stomping grounds, and turned on a light switch. Multiple coaches’ offices lined both sides of the hallway. At the back of the hallway was the coaches’ locker room. Jake headed straight for it, eager to strip out of his wet clothes. Once inside, he started searching locker cubbies for any clothes that might fit him. Coaches always had something around. He was quickly able to pull together a full wardrobe—a pair of black jogging pants, a gray T-shirt, a maroon hoodie, boxers, socks, and even a pair of running shoes that ran just slightly big on him. Peeling out of his wet clothes, he put on his dry wardrobe and felt his whole body begin to slowly thaw.

Jake walked into the adjacent bathroom near the coaches’ showers, hit the light switch, and then stood over a sink in front of a mirror. He looked beat to hell. Examining his face, he noticed a big scrape under his left chin and a small gash at the top of his forehead from his various tumbles. It reminded him of the way he’d looked when he’d woken up in the hospital after the car crash last year.

Jake grabbed a small mirror that was sitting on the hospital table next to his bed and held it up to his face. A white bandage covered his forehead. His bottom lip was busted. There was a gash on his cheek. A doctor he recognized from earlier came into the room. Jake didn’t care about how he looked right now. He only cared about his family.

“Piper?” Jake asked the doctor.

“Some broken bones, but she’s going to be OK.”

Relief poured through him. “Sarah?”

The grim expression on the doctor’s face said everything. “I’m sorry, Mr. Slater.”

Jake’s first thought was his daughter. “Does Piper know?”

The doctor shook his head. “We thought you might want to be there.”

Jake ignored the doctor’s insistence on a wheelchair and limped down the hallway to his daughter’s hospital room. She looked tiny in the bed, like she was six years old. Her eyes were closed. A white bandage covered half her face. A nurse was messing with a machine but left when Jake sidled up next to the bed. He wanted to scoop up his baby and hold her close to him, but he knew he couldn’t do that right now. Her body was broken. And within minutes, her heart would be shattered, too. He leaned over her, which caused her eyes to flutter open. She blinked several times, and then she was aware of him.

“Daddy!”

She reached for him. He held her gently, tears pouring down his cheeks. He tried to fight them off—he wanted to be strong for her right now—but he couldn’t help it. Her world was about to be rocked. Jake knew the feeling. His mother had died in a car accident when he was only ten. He’d never forget the moment his dad came into his bedroom and shared the news with him, like a brand permanently burned into his chest. It devastated him to put that same brand into his daughter right now.

“Where’s Mommy?” Piper asked.

Jake swallowed. There was no way to cloak this news. He just had to be honest with her. “She’s gone, baby. Mom is gone.”

The sound his daughter made next frightened him. He’d never heard an audible gasp quite like that before. Then tears. Then fighting for breath. Jake held her trembling body in his arms, rocking her gently.

“I’m here, baby. I’m here.” He just kept repeating it over and over again. “We’re going to be OK. I promise. I’m here. You and me. Always.”

Turning on the hot water, Jake splashed his face and tried to get himself cleaned up. He noticed that his hands were still really shaking. But it was no longer from being cold. It was the absolute shock of his new reality. Piper had been taken. Her life was in danger. Caitlin had been shot and killed. His niece was dead. And he was on the run from the police. It was impossible to wrap his mind around it all. Because he’d fled, Jake figured his involvement was no longer in doubt by the police. Unless they’d discovered contrary evidence—which he prayed they did—the police most certainly now viewed him as a primary suspect. But it would all be worth it if he got Piper back tonight.

Jake took several deep breaths and let them out slowly. He had to stay calm and focused. Continuing to freak out was going to get him nowhere fast—it certainly wasn’t going to help him find Piper. He needed to think as clearly as possible. He stuffed his wet clothes and jacket in the bottom of an oversize trash can. Then he hurried back into the football offices and sat down inside his old head coach’s office, which had now been taken over by his best friend and former assistant coach, Drew Beamer. He wiggled the mouse on the desktop, watched the computer screen come to life. He would need a password to access the system. Drew was a simple guy. Jake doubted he had a password that was too complicated. First he typed in Drew’s wife’s name: Maggie. Denied. He then tried his son’s name: Zach. Denied. Jake racked his brain. Drew had gone to college with him back at Sam Houston State and played tight end on the team. Jake typed in Bearkats, the school mascot. Bingo. Access granted.