The truth made him dizzy as it sunk into his soul.
He sucked in a deep breath. “I care about your sister more than you could know. I don’t want her to think I would torment her this way.”
“Detective Shannon has a growing pile of evidence that points directly to you. Instead of trying to see my sister, you should spend all your time proving you’re innocent. That you didn’t do this.”
“So I’m guilty until I prove otherwise. I thought you knew me better than this.”
“I don’t! I don’t know you at all,” Serena blurted out. “That’s why this is so confusing and frustrating.”
“If you’re mother was here—”
“Well, she’s not here! You have to deal with me! And I don’t want you anywhere near my sister until the cops have finished their investigation.” Serena faced off with him, skin flushed red and hands balled into fists at her side. “Don’t try to look for her. The cops took her to a place where no one could find her. They didn’t tell me the location, so I couldn’t inadvertently lead you to her.”
“I am not her fucking stalker,” Sebastian growled.
Lachlan tugged at his arm. “Hey, come on, man. Gabrielle is not here. Let’s go.”
Sebastian allowed Lachlan to lead him out of the hotel. As they stepped onto the crowded sidewalk, he turned to his friend.
Lachlan raised a hand. “I’m already ahead of you. We’ll return to the compound and get the guys to find out where they are keeping Gabrielle.”
Chapter38
“Who fucking died?”
Sebastian glanced up from the laptop as Adonis walked into the war room carrying three pizza boxes in one hand and a case of Felipe beer in the other. He placed them on the table.
Adonis pointed a finger at each of them. “I’m serious. You fuckers sitting around here all doom and gloom like you aren’t the best of the fucking best. This shit won’t be easy, but we’ll nail that bastard Tony Brooks and find Gabrielle for my boy here.” Adonis turned to Sebastian and extended his closed fist toward Sebastian’s chest. Sebastian bumped it with his fist, even though he was running low on confidence that they would accomplish either goal.
The tracking bracelet was still offline, which could mean the cops had her in a secure location without access to WI-FI. It made it impossible for them to find her using the bracelet. He wondered if that was what Gabrielle had wanted. Did she purposely remove her bracelet to stop him from finding her? Had she started to doubt him? Her reliance on him as her rock may have turned from safety to suspicion.
Kane groaned. “Pizza? I said to bring something different for dinner, and that’s the best you could do?”
“Nobody is forcing you to eat it,” Adonis said.
Bobby reached for one of the boxes and grabbed a slice. “I fucking love you, man.” He shook his head as he shoved half the slice of goat meat and goat cheese pizza into his mouth. He pushed the box toward Everett, who grabbed a piece, then slid it over to Sebastian.
“You need to eat. No point in us finding Gabrielle, and your ass is too weak to go see her,” Everett said, nudging him. “Do it.”
He didn’t have an appetite, but he grabbed a slice of pizza anyway.
They’d worked nonstop over the past thirty hours. Each promising lead had turned into a dead end. Sebastian was reduced to scouring videos from the limited number of CCTV cameras in Conrad around the time they suspected the cops moved Gabrielle. He traced every person exiting the hotel and every car passing by for any sign Gabrielle was with them. It was mind-numbing and yielded no results.
Now was the time they needed Ike. Strategy was Ike’s strength. He keenly saw above the fray, picked out patterns, and helped navigate his teams through the most complex problems. But Ike wasn’t here, and they were struggling.
“Is that goat pizza I smell?” Lachlan asked as he walked into the room, making a beeline for one of the unopened boxes. “What are you doing here?” he asked Adonis.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Adonis responded. “Where’s Paloma?”
“Just put her down for a nap,” Lachlan explained, then sat on the couch against the wall.
“This ain’t no place for a little girl.” Adonis shook his head.
“It’s the safest place for her because we’re all here,” Lachlan countered. “Your turn.”
Adonis gave a begrudging shrug. “FOMO?”
“Well, we’ll take all the help we can get, though not sure we need your services,” Sebastian said. Adonis’s company had landed an exclusive contract as the sole crime scene cleaner for the PIIB and the network of Palmchat Island police departments. Sebastian dropped the uneaten slice of pizza back into the box. “Overhear anything at the police departments that might help with our search?”
