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“I’m fine…I’ll…I’ll text you later.”
I flew back down the hallway with Dakota calling behind me, “Savannah?”
I didn’t slow. I pushed back through the swinging door, dodging a few people as I hurried through the restaurant and store before I was pushing out into the afternoon sun. I ran toward my car parked across the lot, clicking the locks and jumping inside. I rooted through my purse to find my phone, and I dialed Ezra’s number as I backed out.
It rang four times before it went to voicemail.
He’d told me before I left this morning that he was going to call in for a meeting with the mayor to talk to him about his concerns about Hayden after I’d told him my suspicions. The way my gut coiled in foreboding every time he came near. The way he had a tattoo that I didn’t believe for a second was coincidence.
The proof of it was in that journal.
He was likely in the middle of that meeting, so I left him a rushed message as I peeled from the parking lot. “Ezra, hey, I left work early. Hayden came in. He gave me this vague warning, telling me I should leave town. And I know I told you that I thought he might be responsible, but I…” It hit me like a deadbolt clicking into place. “I think he was trying to scare me away.”
But that meant my sister…she could be right here.
Alive.
I refused to believe the alternative.
Hope weaved through the panic, a frenzy that lit a path of desperation through my bloodstream. Pounding hot, a thunder that raged. “She has to be here. I have to find her. I’m…”
My eyes went wide when I saw Hayden driving in the opposite direction, his Maserati that was outrageously out of place in this town standing out in the few cars that passed by going that way.
And there was nothing I could do. I checked that the path was clear before I made a U-turn and got in line behind Hayden, two cars down. “He just passed me heading the other way. I’m going to try to talk to him. I’ll text you where I’m at.”
I needed answers.
I needed to find my reason.
I needed my sister just as sure as I was certain that she needed me.
I kept pace with Hayden as he drove down Manchester, though I made sure to remain a couple cars behind him so he wasn’t aware he was being tailed. The last thing I wanted was for him to try to ditch me. As it was, I doubted much the answers I was seeking were going to come all that easily.
He made a left up ahead, and I stayed back, waiting a few seconds before I followed. It was a neighborhood of nicer houses, larger than those in Ezra’s area on the opposite side of town. Most were two story and sitting on sprawling lots, fronted by manicured lawns and trimmed, perfect trees.
I kept my distance, his glittering black car a speck that gleamed beneath the sunlight that blazed from the sky. He made a right, and I held my breath, praying I didn’t lose him.
I thought I had when I finally made the turn and began to crawl up a winding road. Here, the houses were even larger, tucked way back and hidden by the dense trees. Some were concealed by towering walls that were protected by gorgeous, wrought-iron gates.
My heart hammered, my pulse so heavy that I felt it pressing up beneath my skin. I finally spotted him up ahead, rounding a bend that curved to the left. The trees soared, their branches stretching out to cover the road in a hedge of shadows. Rays of light speared through, flashing against my windshield as I inched forward.
I slowed even more when I realized there were no longer any houses on either side, and I eased to a stop where I was shrouded by flowering bushes that hugged the road. I peered through them, watching as Hayden reached out his window to punch a code into the single gate that sat like a fortress up ahead.
It opened and he drove through, one second before the gate closed behind him.
“Crap,” I muttered, glancing around, wondering what the hell I was supposed to do. I’d come here for this sole purpose. Not to cower and wait.
But to find my sister.
I clicked open the door and slipped out, trying to keep my feet from crunching as I crept along the road toward the fence line that almost completely blended in with the scenery.
My attention caught on a glimmer flickering to the right, barely visible through the trees.
A ripple of silver against a vat of black.
A pond.
A pond.
I’d scoured the map, searching for each one in the area, which was why I’d ended up five miles out of town camping out next to the one on Mr. Landers’ property.
