Looking for Lily

By Kelli Crockett

Living in a small, wealthy town, Detective Rick Owens doesn't see much more crime than a drug bust or suicide. That is, until a string of specific kidnappings come along, children being held for ransom, and Rick's daughter is on the list. Getting a taste of the action, Rick goes undercover to join the perpetrators, find the kids, and get them out safely, but will he get himself kidnapped in the process?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kelli Crockett
• Release date: Feb 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311135261

Kelli Crockett

My name is Kelli Crockett. I am the teen author of Looking for Lily, a novella that was published last year, and am currently working on a couple other novels. When I’m not writing, I love to read, listen to music, and make art, but who am I kidding? I never stop writing.

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Looking for Lily

Kelli Crockett

Looking for Lily

Copyright ©2015 by Kelli Crockett

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Published by Kelli Crockett at Smashwords

ISBN: 9781311135261

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Don’t Jump if you can’t take the fall.

-Kelli

Table of Contents

Part 1: Rick Owens

Part 2: In Contact

Part 3: Lily

Part 4: The Oncoming Storm

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Part 1: Rick Owens

Hundreds of lights settled in the distance against the dusky clouds, warning Rick that he would be on the road longer than planned.

A horn blared somewhere behind him, another of many agitated drivers struggling to escape the harsh reality of their occupations. The speedometer in front of him was crawling to the left as he approached the steady line of automobiles ahead.

The back of his squad car still reeked of smoke and tobacco from the arrest earlier that day, so he rolled the window down to the odor of car exhaust instead. He could swear that beneath all of this, the early May flowers were blooming somewhere, but for now he waited as the line inched forward.

Rick's day hadn’t gone as he’d expected, but he was sure this is how all of the workers in rush hour felt right now. He’d stayed back at the station a little longer than usual, something he only did when stressed, and this was a stressing case.

His eyes flicked to the trail of yellow lights in his rearview mirror, and mistakenly caught a glimpse of his own tousled dark hair and flat black suit, his ID badge displayed on his breast pocket.  

He had just gotten back from a drug bust, one of the simpler cases he worked in between, but those things were usually cared for and filed by the other detectives, the ones below him that had to obey his commands. These are typical cases, the pot heads that are arrested for illegal drug use, usually intoxicated at the time, then filed after the drugs are confiscated. It’s monotonous to go through that over and over.

He had currently been in between cases, and was mentoring a newer detective, his new-less-experienced partner on correct protocol for handling a druggy when Chief Collins had stuck her head out of her office. Detective Owens, the shrill voice called into the station, then seeing Rick talking to his new partner, continued in a lower voice. There’s a new case, and this one is going to be perfect for you.

Perfect? Rick had thought that meant sitting at his desk, researching databases and recording the evidence that he’d get to inspect beforehand. That’s what most of the cases in the county were, the few major cases anyway, since they lived in a fairly wealthy district that had an impressively low crime rate, what with all of the alarm systems and technology reigning against the crime.

But that was hardly the case. The look on the Chief's face when he closed the door behind him sent a shiver down his spine-- or was it the air conditioning?-- and told him that this was something new.

The office was exactly as anyone would think: tan walls with only a few framed certificates, the faint scent of cheap air freshener, a crowded oak desk in one corner accompanied by a filing cabinet, and a new leather swivel chair behind the desk with none other than Chief Collins herself seated comfortably in it. Then, of course, there were the two corduroy chairs on the opposite side (seated slightly lower to make up for the Chief's height) for those who were about to get hired, yelled at, get a new case, or fired.

Rick had barely lowered himself into the tattered cushion seat when the Chief slid a tan file folder his way. Reluctantly, Rick picked up the file, making careful eye contact with the Chief before flipping it open. Rick's eyes scanned the pages as he flipped through.

This is a case that will get you in the field. As lead detective, you have the most experience, but you haven’t ever done anything like this case. In our sleepy town there’s hardly ever any danger, so I thought you should handle this one instead of me getting outside contacts involved.

The Chief was a pretty friendly person, for a boss, and pretty humanly too. She understood if he ever needed to take off for his family, even though she didn’t have any kids herself.

Rick furrowed his brow. Excuse me, Chief, but I don’t see how this is going to be fieldwork. It’s just going to be a few investigations, maybe take some of the suspects in for questioning… He trailed off. Rick had to admit that he didn’t have much experience compared to the detectives in the bigger cities. Here, the only dead bodies-- which were few and far between-- were ones that had ended their own life, or died of natural causes.

The file was more interesting than most of the crime that had turned up in the last few years he’d been employed here. It was four occurrences of