Free Black Jack: A nail biting, hair-raising thriller (Jack Ryder Book 4) by Willow Rose Page B

little.
    Shannon ate her catfish while looking at Emily who had ordered a fish but barely touched it. Jack didn’t see it, but Shannon did. The girl cut out the fish into small pieces, and then pushed them around on the plate making it look like she had eaten. She was getting really good at hiding it, it was almost scary.
    “Can we get dessert, dad, can we pleeeeeaaaase?” asked Abigail and as usually she got her way. The kids were served chocolate ice cream and soon bouncing off the walls of the small private room.
    Luckily Tyler slept through everything. At least Shannon didn’t have to worry about him. Jack put his arm around her shoulder.
    “Do you want a dessert too?” he asked.
    “I can’t,” Shannon said.
    “Ah come on,” he said. “You look great. No need to worry.”
    “I have to be able to fit the dress,” she said. “They just finished it. I can’t make anymore adjustments to it.”
    “Oh, well I could do with some chocolate ice myself,” he said. “Arrr.”
    “Dad it’s not funny anymore,” Abigail said. “It never was.”
    Jack ignored her. “How about you Emily? You love chocolate cake. They have that with vanilla Ice-cream?”
    Shannon could have screamed. How could he ask her that? Did he not see that she hadn’t eaten? Did he not see her?
    Emily shook her head and leaned back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest. Shannon felt a pinch in her heart. She could see how Emily’s hands had gotten so skinny. The bones were too visible. She wondered how she looked underneath all that clothing. Shannon realized it was going to be up to her if anything was to be done about Emily’s condition.
    Jack ate his ice cream and they paid. Shannon put on her big hat when walking back through the crowd. All it took was one person recognizing her before hell would break loose. Shannon knew it was vital that no one saw her here. The press would hear about it and make a circus out of their wedding.
    Tyler started fussing as they walked towards the entrance. The kids stopped to look at some door that another pirate told them was magical. Shannon felt the pressure of Tyler’s demands and Jack saw it on her face.
    “Just go out to the car with him while I gather the kids,” Jack said.
    Shannon carried Tyler in his car seat out through the front door of the restaurant, leaving all the chaos behind her. It had gotten chili outside and Shannon took her jacket from around her waist. To use both her hands she had to put Tyler down on the porch. She put the jacket on and as she turned to grab the handle of the car seat, it wasn’t there.

Chapter 24
    M ay 2016
    At first when I heard Shannon scream I thought it was part of some gimmick in the restaurant. Someone screaming pretending to be a ghost or to have seen one. I laughed and gathered the kids. We walked towards the entrance when I heard it again. This time it was a lot more serious and I realized it wasn’t part of a show put on by some people working here. This was real.
    It was a nightmare come true.
    My eyes met hers when she opened the door to the restaurant and stepped inside. “Did you take Tyler?” she asked her voice trembling.
    I shook my head, panic starting to emerge in the bottom of my stomach. “What are you talking about?”
    “Did you take him? Did you come out and grab him?”
    “No. I have been in here with the kids, trying to gather them. You took him outside, remember?”
    “He’s not there,” she said. “He was there, and then he wasn’t.”
    It sounded like she had lost it. Her voice was calm like someone in deep shock. I had seen it before and it scared me even more. “What do you mean he isn’t there? Didn’t you hold on to him?”
    “I had him in the car seat, carrying him outside on the porch. Then I felt cold, put the seat down to put on my jacket. When I reached down to grab the handle, it wasn’t there. He was gone.”
    “Oh my god,” I said and stormed outside on the old wooden porch. I looked to both