Page 22 of Deadly Lies

“No, Daddy. I’m fine. I’m scared, though. When are you coming to get me?”

“I’m on my way, sweetheart. I’m on my way.” I didn’t want to interrogate her now, but not knowing where she had been, who she had been with, and what had happened to her was killing me. All that mattered, though, was that my baby was alive.

Still, I had to ask. “Who were you with?”

“Grandpa.”

“Grandpa?”

“Yeah, one of Mommy’s friends. Mommy told me to call him Grandpa. And then he let me play at this nice lady’s house, but she left.”

Who the fuck was this Grandpa guy? I wouldn’t rest until I found out.

My chest constricted. April was lucky she was in a coma right now. If she was conscious, I would go off on her. Could she have possibly set this up? Is this why she’d overdosed? Who had she been hanging out with? And the fucking judge thought she was a more fit parent than I was because I was deployed serving my country? I would’ve arranged the best nanny for my kids. What a joke.

“Baby, I love you. I’m going to take the first flight down there to come get you.” I turned to Sam, who was clutching his little stuffed Buzz Lightyear. “Sam. Miss Ashley found your sister!”

Sam jumped up from the sofa and ran toward me and tried to grab my phone. I put it on speaker.

“Sam wants to say hi, honey.”

“Sienna! Where are you? I worried.”

“Sammy, I’m okay. I love you.”

“Hurry back so we can go back to Disneyland.”

Yeah, that was never going to happen again.

“Sweetie, I’m going to get there as soon as I can. I love you. Let me talk to Miss Ashley.”

“Okay. Love you, Daddy.”

“Love you, darling.”

I took her off speaker and waited for Ashley to speak.

“She’s fine, Mitch. I grabbed her and called 911 after I texted you. The police are on their way.”

“Ash, I can’t say it enough, but thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I’m just glad we found her.”

“No. I do, and I will. I’m going to thank you every day for the rest of my life. And I’m so sorry for what I put you through.” And I meant it. I had said some unkind things to Ashley. Had she not followed her hunch, I may have never found Sienna.

“It’s okay, Mitch. She’s safe—that’s all that matters.”

“How did you find her?”

She exhaled. “The lead I was following led me to her.”

“The lead? You mean the girl who looked like Tiffany? She had her?”

“Apparently. I went to the apartment complex she was staying at, but she had left. I don’t understand it myself. It’s a long story. Just get here, and I’ll tell you everything.”

I couldn’t make sense out of the thoughts in my head. Tiffany, the stripper Joaquín was in prison for murdering, was alive? She’d visited him in jail, and she had taken Sienna?

That made no sense. None.