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“The body’s at the lab.” I grip the phone, my whole body tense.
“Car thieves making body deliveries to the precinct?” Carson tries to reason, sounding just as lost as I feel.
I cut him off before he can continue that thought. “I want that bus found.”
“GPS is still down—”
“Get the fucking techs to hack it,” I roar.
A moment passes, then: “Quinn, where’s Avery?” Carson asks.
I close my eyes, my breath sawing in and out of my constricted lungs. “I don’t know, but I’m going to find her.” Then I hang up before I lose my shit for fucking certain.
When’s the last time anyone saw her?
I click Sadie’s number with the weight of an anvil in my gut. Getting a grip on the climbing panic, I tell myself these two are as thick as thieves lately. Avery probably took off from the crime scene, pissed at me. She never even came back to the lab. She went to Sadie, needing someone to commiserate with. Hell, they can bash me and call me an asshole all day long…just as long as Avery’s safe.
When Sadie’s throaty voice answers, I swallow my pride. “Bonds, tell me you know where Avery is.”
Time seems to freeze as I wait to hear her confirm my theory. “Quinn, no. She’s not with me. Have you tried the lab?”
My fist connects with the wall. I grit my teeth as pain slices through my knuckles. But it’s nothing compared to the fear tearing me open from the inside.
“Quinn, what’s wrong? What’s going on?” Sadie asks, barely masking her concern.
The hitch of alarm in her voice steals the last of my clinging hope. “Avery may’ve gotten into something over her head. I need you to try to find her while I track her phone.” Do I put out an APB? Wexler will have my ass if she’s just sitting at home, ignoring my calls. But as I look around the lab, deja vu in the worst way crashes over me.
I wasn’t in time to save her before.
Every second counts. Deciding I’m not taking any chances with Avery’s life, I say, “Bonds, you check her house. I’m putting out an APB and then I’ll get a trace on her last location—”
“I’m coming with you,” Sadie says, her no argument tone clear. “Colton can check all her usual haunts. We’ll find her, Quinn.”
The reassurance in her voice overrides the brimming irritation at hearing his name. I don’t want that guy anywhere near this, but there’s no time to debate. Avery comes first. “Meet me at the lab,” I say and end the call, my mind already processing the scene.
Jesus. Why the hell would she be alone? She was abducted from this very fucking spot before—but that was different. Simon had access to her. He was her own damn lab tech. And maybe that’s it; she feels safer working on her own. Pushing the facts of what she suffered at the hands of Simon from my mind, I focus on the evidence here.
I slide the body hanger over with too much force, nearly ripping it from the wall. “Where is she?” I shout. The vic lies lifeless on the stretcher, the only witness.
I’m reliving Avery’s abduction all over again, only this time, I’m too close. And I’m not helping Avery by getting in my own way. Gaining a shred of composure, I radio in to the tech working on the search. “Jason. I need you to go through the M.E. lab security footage right away. I want as many eyes on it as possible.”
“Ten-four,” he replies.
My adrenaline soars. Focus. If anything happens to Avery… I can’t go there. Not yet. I make one last call to CSU and order a rush on processing the lab. This has to be done right.
I hope I’m wrong. For fuck’s sake, I pray Avery is at some dive bar drinking her bitter resentment at me away. I’ll take the hit from Wexler gladly if that’s the case.
Starting at the top, I trace my steps back to the double doors and slip on a pair of gloves, making sure I cover the blood on my knuckles. I fumble for a loose marker I put in my pocket at the crime scene and drop it by the doors.
When I reach the table with the overturned stool, I open the laptop. The screen blinks on, a passcode barring me access. I brace the heels of my hands against the table, my gaze hard on the screen. Then, I see it.
My chest ignites in a fiery ache.
I push off the table and search for print powder. Dammit. Where does she keep it? I locate it in a drawer and rush back to the table. With less than steady hands, I dust the brush lightly over the lower part of the laptop, right below the keyboard.
The white powder begins to reveal the message, but I already know what it reads before I reach the last letter: HELP
A message from Avery. As she sat here knowing some fate was about to befall her.
