It had been over a year since she escaped, when she finally got a solid lead on her family’s location. New York. It was a big city, lots of people. Exactly the kind of environment she liked to avoid, but Oline and Derek offered to watch Zebra, and Sadie had hopped on a Greyhound bus. She’d been there for two weeks, staying at a hotel downtown.
She’d managed to find a picture of Rockland and Caleb on social media. It had been posted by a woman named Kari. Rockland must have been around ten. Caleb was red faced, like he’d had too much to drink.
Using the picture and Shield’s facial recognition technology that she had gotten permission to use, Sadie found security footage of a boy who was unmistakably Rockland. One footage clip was from three days prior, outside of a library. Sadie had gone to ask some questions, but hadn’t gained any further leads. The next clip she found, however, had been from the day before. He and a red headed woman had entered a veterinary clinic.
So she made her way downtown to investigate once again.
A little bell jingled as she stepped into the clinic. Her blue eyes were alert, wary. She had bags under her eyes from a lack of sleep, having spent the previous days wandering the city near the library, in case he came back. Humans were typically creatures of habit. The fluttering of her heart was paired with familiar nerves. He could be here. He could really be here. Her baby.
