Free Wicked Warning (An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 5) by Lily Harper Hart

in the room with the overhead doors for a long time,” she said. “I lost track of time, in fact. Then one day he pulled me out. I thought he was going to kill me.
    “He walked me to a barn thing on his property,” she continued. “I thought it was the end and he was going to bury me in all of the trees. Instead he took me in the barn and there was a set of steps. He had a bunch of stuff stored in a long hallway and he forced me to a room at the end of the hallway. I lived there after that.”
    “What kind of stuff did he have stored?” Ivy asked.
    “It looked like food … gasoline … batteries. That type of stuff. There was a lot of it in there, though. I have no idea why he would need so much at one time.”
    “He sounds like a prepper,” Ivy mused, talking to herself more than anyone else.
    “Did she just explain something?” Jack asked, confused.
    “Oh, no, Ivy is right,” Brian said, his eyes lighting up. “The barn and the way Jessica describes it, I think that’s a bunker. It sounds as if she was in a root cellar at one point, which means the house itself is probably really old.”
    “What’s a prepper, though?”
    “It’s someone who thinks the world is going to end and stocks up food and other supplies so they can live out their days as the world around them dies,” Mitchell supplied. “It’s been in the news some lately.”
    Ivy nodded. “There are specific stores dedicated to buying food items that last a long time.”
    “That’s a good lead,” Brian said.
    Jack was still trying to wrap his head around the “prepper” notion. “So they think there’s going to be a nuclear apocalypse … or zombie infestation?”
    “Kind of,” Ivy hedged. “It’s more like they’re planning for the electrical grid to go down or a natural disaster. It’s a real thing.”
    “That’s a great lead, though, Jessica,” Brian encouraged. “Between the truck, the prepper stuff, and the land deeds for older homes, we should be able to start looking hard at some people.”
    Mitchell looked relieved to hear the news. “Then she can come home with us, right?”
    “Not yet,” Brian clarified. “She has to stay here tonight. We’ll talk about letting her go home with you tomorrow.”
    “We can live with that,” Courtney said, grabbing Jessica’s hand. “We want her as healthy as possible when she leaves here.”
    “We do have one other thing to discuss,” Brian said, locking gazes with Jessica. “We need you to tell us about the baby.”
    Ivy was surprised by Brian’s fortitude and when she scanned Jessica’s face she found absolutely no sign of embarrassment or worry.
    “What baby?” Jessica asked.
    Brian glanced at Ivy, unsure how to proceed.
    “When you were brought here the doctor examined you,” Ivy said. “He said you gave birth at some point. We need to know what happened to the baby. If it is still out there … .”
    “I never had a baby,” Jessica said, knitting her eyebrows together. “I didn’t.”
    “But … Dr. Nesbitt says you did,” Brian pressed.
    “Well, he’s wrong.”
    “But … .”
    “He’s wrong,” Jessica snapped, her voice taking on an edge that Ivy had yet to hear from her. “I didn’t have a baby. There was no baby. Stop talking about a baby that never existed.”
    “Jessica … .”
    “That’s enough,” Mitchell said, cutting Brian off. “She says she didn’t have a baby and I believe her. Stop going after her. She already answered your questions.”
    “We know there was a baby,” Brian argued. “We need to know what happened to it.”
    “I can’t help you,” Jessica said. “Someone must’ve made a mistake. I never had a baby.”

Eight
    “ S o , what are we looking for?” Jack asked an hour later, sitting at his desk and regarding Brian with a dubious look. “I’m not sure what to think about this prepper angle.”
    After the baby question fell flat Jessica completely shut down and Mitchell asked everyone to leave so he could