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I do know what they say. Every second counts. I hope she has enough of them left to survive whatever she’s going through right now, because it’s going to take a few minutes to get those files.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
E.A.
Cressidan Grove is the closest suburb to the city, but the traffic we’ll need to crawl through to get there is going to make it feel much further away. I guess it would take even longer on public transport, so it’s lucky that Leanne has a car. It looks kind of old but it’s not in bad condition. She seems a little embarrassed as she tells me it used to belong to her mother.
“I’ll get something nicer soon,” she says, as she starts the engine.
“At least you get away with parking it here,” I tell her, motioning to the main building of Goldcrest College which we’ve got a good view of from it’s main, free parking lot.
These spots are meant for students, and her car definitely looks like it belongs to one.
“Yeah. Technically, Secret’s allowed a spot here since she’s completing her online degree in connection with Goldcrest College, and I plan on gifting her this old thing once I get something new.”
“It’ll make a good first car.”
“It did for me,” she admits. “I really should have saved better when I started working in Silver Lake.”
She reverses out of the space and takes us out of the lot, to join the main line of traffic leaving the city. The engine sounds good, and the gas tank is full. The car is fine.
It’s the drive that’s the problem.
“Why did it have to be Cressidan Grove?” I murmur.
The car barely gets forward by two car-lengths before it has to stop.
My stomach lurches every damn time.
“It does seem weird that the guy was doing this commute every day. Though maybe that explains his anger issues,” Leanne ponders out loud. She glances at me. “I’m really hoping all of this turns out to be nothing. I’m hoping Secret calls to say Beth is fine and all of this was just a waste of our time.”
“That would be nice,” I tell her, knowing it’s unlikely.
When we checked into the class attendance records, it turned out the only two students who’ve been absent for the last two days are Secret’s friend and our main suspect whose parents house we’re on the way to pay a visit to right now.
Considering all the evidence, I’d be surprised to find out the absences are unrelated.
“You think we’ll find something,” she says, sighing.
“You do, too,” I tell her.
“I do.” She sighs again. “I wish I didn’t.”
“We have one benefit in this, and that’s time. Usually, when we get called on a missing person’s case weeks have already passed, sometimes months. We’re the last-ditch attempt for people who’ve gotten nowhere with the cops, and no one’s expecting us to find the missing person alive. It’s only been a day, really.”
“Can you check my phone? It’s in my purse.”
She put her purse at my feet after I got in the car. I lean forward and pick it up.
“Sorry, I should have kept it out. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“I’ll keep it out,” I tell her, once I locate it.
I check the screen. “Nothing yet.”
I close her purse and put it back down, keeping the phone in my hand.
“This traffic is a nightmare,” she murmurs.
