Page 71 of Still Missing You

“Hey,” I say, stepping in front of her and blocking her path to the bar. “I was here earlier.”

“I remember.”

“Have you seen the guy I was with?”

She frowns. “The dark-haired one?”

“Yeah.”

She hesitates, then gestures toward the bar where another staff member is wiping down glasses.

“Mark saw him leave,” she says.

My stomach tightens.

I head over to the bar. The bartender, Mark, apparently looks up as I approach. “Can I help you?”

“I was here earlier with a guy. Dark hair. About this tall.” I raise my hand to a few inches below the top of my head. “Did you see him leave, by any chance?”

Mark thinks for a moment. “Oh yeah,” he says slowly. “He had truck trouble.”

My heart stutters. “What?”

“Yeah, his truck wouldn’t start,” Mark continues. “I heard him talking about it with someone as I was making my way in to start my shift.”

Cold dread slides down my spine. “Do you know who he was talking to?”

Mark shrugs. “Sure. The guy who runs that bed-and-breakfast out on the edge of town. Jim, I think his name is. He offered him a ride.”

My stomach drops.

The room shrinks. For a moment, everything stops.

“He got into Jim’s truck?” I ask.

“Yeah,” Mark says. “They left together.”

I feel as if someone just punched me in the chest.

“Hunter?” Linc’s voice comes from behind me.

I turn slowly. “Dylan got into the truck with Jim.”

Linc’s face tightens. “Shit.”

The bartender looks between us, suddenly uncomfortable. “You guys okay?”

I don’t answer. I abandoned the man I love, and now he is with a prolific killer who has been successfully murdering people for the better part of two decades.

My head is spinning and feels too light, and I can’t seem to slow my breathing. If Jim picked up Dylan, who knows what happened between here and the inn.

“Hunter,” Linc says carefully. “We’ll find him. Hell, maybe Jim took him back to the inn, and we just missed them.”

I want to believe him, but I don’t.

Outside, in the parking lot, I make my way over to my truck and pop the hood. The battery’s been disconnected. Someone who wanted to get Dylan into his truck.

I look over my shoulder at Linc. A hard frown tightens his features.