“Bella ran off.”
“What do you mean ‘ran off’?”
“I made her come with me to the station today. She was sleeping in the bunk room when a med call came in. She was gone when we got back.”
“Have you called her?”
“No. I haven’t replaced her cell phone yet. I thought she’d be with me the whole time, or with the guys if I got called out, and it could wait another day or two.” Hindsight was twenty-twenty.
“Can you show me where she was sleeping?” He stood.
“Yeah, but I don’t know what you think you’ll find. She took her backpack with her.”
“Humor me.”
She exhaled. “Fine.” He wasn’t going to find anything.
She led the way from the conference room, across the dayroom, and into the bunk area. Her neck burned with the stares of her friends and coworkers. His repeated visits to the fire station would undoubtedly raise unwanted questions. Although, right now, all she cared about was finding Bella.
“See.” She opened the door. It looked exactly like it had a few minutes ago.
He stepped inside and looked around the room, under the bed, and in the trash can. He quickly checked through the wardrobe and then turned to her.
“May I?” He gestured to the door behind her.
She stepped out of the way and let him shut the door to inspect the area.
“There’s nothing here. I told you.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“There’s plenty here. You just don’t see it.” He turned and settled his blue eyes on her. “No signs of a struggle or that she left in a hurry. The bed is made but not rumpled, so she most likely didn’t sleep in it. This was planned, and she was just waiting on the perfect time to make her slip.”
“Did they teach you that in marshal school?” she deadpanned. All things she had figured out on her own.
He cleared his throat. “She went out the window.”
Sam looked at the window. Sure enough, it was unlocked. Sam gritted her teeth. “That girl.”
He stepped back over to the bed and pulled the nightstand away from the wall, revealing a charging cord plugged into the outlet. “I thought she didn’t have a phone anymore.”
Sam narrowed her eyes. “She doesn’t.”
He pulled the cord and handed it to her. “Actually, she does. Unless this belongs to someone else.”
“No. We’re anal about making sure the rooms are cleaned after every shift.” What was going on with her sister? Getting into trouble at school, sneaking out, now an unknown phone.
“There’s something else we need to talk about. It could be related to why she took off today.” Liam shoved a hand in his pressed navy slacks.
She’d ask if the day could get any worse, but she knew it could. There was no sense in tempting fate. Instead, she sighed. “What?”
“The night of the fire, I found cans of spray paint in Sophia’s backpack.”
“Great.” She sighed again. She’d been doing that a lot the last few days. It was like the next thing was always worse than the last. “So, they weren’t just out hanging out with friends.”
“It took a while, but I got the story out of Sophia. Our girls weren’t actually vandalizing, but they didn’t stop it. Until the group decided to move on to another location. That’s when Soph grabbed the cans and they ran.” He rested his other hand on his belt, above his badge.
“So you think that’s where she’s at now? Hanging out with those kids?” Sam fisted her hands on her hips. “Where’s your niece?”
He looked taken aback. “My niece is at home.”
