Free Over by Stacy Claflin Page B

placement. Then she picked up a few, looking through them.
    They were all boring. Bills, from what she could tell. She was about to set them back into place when she froze. Now on top of the desk sat a paper with big words on the top: Shady Hills Mental Health Facility.
    Was that where Heather had been taken? Was she still there? Heather had never returned to fill out any more of her diaries that Macy could find, so Macy knew nothing beyond the fact that Heather had been sent there.
    Macy scanned the paper. The letter was addressed to Chester Woodran, the non-custodial father. So they had removed his parental rights. Macy had been right.
    He had kidnapped her because he couldn't get his real daughter back.
    Macy read it as fast as she could, knowing that she needed to get the living room clean before Chester returned. According to the letter, Heather had behavioral problems and didn't show any signs of being ready to be released.
    If Chester had lost his parenting rights, why were they sending him updates? Did he still have some kind of right even though he didn't have custody?
    Macy knew time was ticking by. She didn't know where Chester had gone, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she needed to hurry out of the study.
    Heather wasn't crazy. She had read the girl's diary entries. Considering she had lived with a monster her entire life and had to deal with the murder of her mom who she'd been so close to, Heather was probably acting out because no one would listen to her. Obviously no one believed Chester to be a murderer if he was being sent updates about Heather.
    Maybe together, she and Heather could get him thrown into jail. They definitely could get him for kidnapping. The murder charges would be more difficult if they didn't have a body, but at least they could get him in prison. Surely premeditated kidnapping would be a long sentence.
    Macy put the papers back on the desk where they had been. She backed out of the room and looked at the door. It had been left slightly open, but Chester didn't know that. Or did he?
    What if he asked if she went in? Her heart sped up. She would have to lie. Not only that, but she would have to practice it until he came back home. She would have to be convincing. Unless he really hadn't noticed.
    It was strange that he would be so careless though. It had to be a setup. But she closed the door. Living with him was making her crazy. It was a door. A door. And that was all it took for her to have an argument with herself.
    Macy went into the living room and cleaned as fast as she could. Chester wouldn't notice anything because it wasn't a trap. He wouldn't do that because of how protective he was over that room. He wouldn't give her access to it just to see what she would do.

 
     
    Opportunity
     
     
    Macy sat up in bed, gasping for air. Sweat dripped into her face, and she wiped it away. She'd had another dream about being locked up in the barn. She squeezed the soft comforter, breathing heavily.
    It was just a dream. It wasn't real. Not this time anyway. She hadn't had a dream about going back there in a while. It had to have been the guilt—if that was the right word—about sneaking into Chester's office.
    He hadn't said a word about it when he came home. In fact, he'd been distracted about something, not even bothering to criticize the way Macy had cleaned the living room. Usually, he enjoyed pointing out every small thing she hadn't cleaned perfectly.
    Her throat was dry and she needed something to drink. The last thing Macy wanted to do was to leave the bedroom and risk running into either Chester or Rebekah. The alarm clock showed that it was just before three in the morning, so the chances of them being up were low, but not impossible.
    Rebekah was sometimes up at strange times, especially since she spent most of the days in bed resting. Chester…well, he was Chester. He took pride in being unpredictable, so there was no telling where he would be or when.
    Macy's eyes