“You don’t even know where to start.”
“I’ll figure it out.”I scoot closer.“I always do.”
She stares at me.“And what if it’s too late?”
“Then I’ll make whoever’s responsible wish it weren’t.”
That gets a reaction from her, a flicker of something that might be belief or might be exhaustion.Maybe both.
Her phone buzzes on the table next to the sofa.She doesn’t look.Neither do I.
“You said the note was printed?”I ask.
“Yes.”
“Where’s the printer?”
“Belinda’s desk.In her bedroom.”
I rise and head toward the hallway.Daniela follows me.Two officers are still in the room when we enter.
“Excuse me,” I say.“I’m Hawk Bellamy.My sister is Raven Bellamy, the lady of the house.Mind if I look around?”
“Just don’t touch anything,” one of them says.
“I want to see the note Belinda left.”
The officer gestures to the desk, where the note is covered in a clear plastic bag.
I crouch down since they told me not to touch it.The font is generic.Looks like Calibri to me, maybe eleven or twelve point.
“Belinda didn’t write that,” Daniela says.“She’d have used an emoji somewhere.Or a fancier font.”
I nod.The guilt is acid in my throat.“If I’d picked up my phone?—”
“Don’t.”
“If I’d been here?—”
She slams her hand against the doorframe hard enough that the officers glance over.“You don’t get to make this about you!”
The words land like a slap.She’s right, of course.It isn’t about me.It’s about a missing child and a predator who knows exactly how to hurt Daniela.
Still, I can’t stop thinking that everything spiraled because I wanted something that wasn’t mine to want.
For a second, my hands shake.I shove them into my pockets.Breathe in.Breathe out.
I leave Belinda’s bedroom and head back downstairs.I need to wrap my head around all of this.Rather, I need to get out of myownhead and focus on what’s important.
Daniela.
Belinda.
Eagle.
“What now?”
I stop at the bottom of the stairs.Daniela is on my heels.
