Page 5 of Unplanned Target

“What’s going on is my mother fucking cursed me with a daughter just like me.” Miranda turns and storms away, leaving me to come in and close the door.

I flip the deadbolt before following behind her out of the entryway and into a formal living room. I’ve been in a lot of nice houses over the years I’ve worked for Alaskan Security. Some of them had dead bodies in them, but whatever. It comes with the territory. And while this house isn’t technically the most luxurious of the lot—even though it’s definitely above middle class—it is the coziest.

The furniture is feminine, covered in plush blankets and flower-printed pillows. Thick rugs cover the hardwood floor and an assortment of lamps cast the space in a comforting glow. The air is sweetly scented, likely thanks to all the candles placed around the space. Even though they’re not currently lit, the mismatched melts make it seem like they regularly are, which has probably resulted in a permanent sort of imprint.

Miranda paces across the space, her steps quick. “I don’t know what the fuck she was thinking.”

Hoping I can calm her down by being calm myself, I lower to the sofa, keeping my voice even when I ask, “When did you first notice Allie was missing?”

“Right before I called Tony.” She reaches the end of the room and turns. “I thought she was sleeping or something, so I went upstairs to get her for dinner and her room was empty.”

“Did you try to call her?” I don’t realize it’s the wrong question to ask until Miranda’s head snaps my way, eyes narrowing.

“Of course I tried to fucking call her. Do I look stupid?”

I’m starting to see the family resemblance.

“It’s got nothing to do with being stupid. Most people can’t think straight at times like this.” It’s the same reason I’m not gonna take her snippiness personally. “Tell me what happened when you called her.”

“It went straight to voicemail.” Miranda goes back to pacing as she recounts the numerous times she called her daughter without success, followed by her attempt to use the location finder to identify Allie’s whereabouts. Again, without success.

“So her phone’s off.” I pull out my own cell and start a message to Heidi. “I’ll have my team find the time it shut off and the last tower it pinged.”

Miranda stops pacing, her eyes wide as they lock on where I sit. “You can do that?”

“I can do anything.”

It’s a boast that’s not entirely true. There are limits to what I can accomplish. But I don’t think they’re going to come up and make a liar out of me.

“Can you kill people?” Miranda circles back to the same question she asked earlier.

“Anyone can kill people.” I send off the text to Heidi. “But not everyone’s good at it.”

“Are you good at it?” Miranda almost sounds hopeful.

And while I don’t generally disclose the exact nature of my career to people I don’t know, I can’t seem to make myself let her down.

“Very.”

Miranda stares at me for a second. Then a smile works its way across her face, wide and brilliant. “Fantastic.”

For a second, I’m transfixed. Unable to do anything but stare at how fucking pretty she is.

This could be a problem.

Tucking my phone back into its designated pocket, I get back to doing the job I’m here to do. “Tell me more about what you’ve done since you realized Allie was missing.”

The smile on Miranda’s face disappears, replaced by an amount of focus I’m happy to see. “I checked her text messages. That’s how I found out she was supposed to be meeting someone claiming to be her friend.”

I try to follow what she’s saying, but so much about it doesn’t make sense. “I thought you said you tried to call her? Did you find her phone here?”

“No.” Butch’s sister cringes. “Don’t judge me, but I have an app on my phone that receives all of Allie’s texts.” She holds up both hands. “I’ve never actually looked at it before. It was just in case. Allie’s very smart, but she can be...” She tips her head. “Let’s just say she’s very strong-willed.”

I hold out my hand. “Let me see the messages.”

Miranda only hesitates for a second before unlocking her phone and passing it off. I scroll through the few lines that are relevant, reading them twice just in case I missed something important. But there’s not much to miss.

“And you’re sure she didn’t come home after school?” I want to know as much about Allie’s movements today as possible. Whether she went straight to the coffee shop or came home first will tell me a lot.