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“About Thor,” he murmured. “Asked around about him in your community. Found out that he likes to gamble. Likes to drink too much. And especially likes to do that after you broke up with him. Apparently, according to the two people that were very loose-lipped about him at the bar he frequented before he got ‘crazy’ according to the occupants, he loved the hell out of you. Planned to ask you to marry him.”
Catori groaned. “I was only with him for like three and a half months. I would’ve been with him less if my best friend and his brother hadn’t hit it off so well.”
Trouper shrugged.
“I’m digging around myself,” Hunt said. “Still looking and finding some very interesting things.”
I blinked, looking over to find Hunt on the opposite side of the pool, his computer in his lap, his face and body cast in shadows. He did have a phone in his hand, however.
“I also recommend,” Hunt mused. “Going in with her to buy this truck. Something seems fishy. In fact, I think we should all go. I’m ready to get out of this fuckin’ place for a while.”
Hunt seemed stressed, which was highly unusual for him.
What was even more unusual was not to find Wyett in attendance. He normally didn’t get out of his house if she wasn’t around.
“Where’s Wyett?” I asked.
“She’s at work today,” he sighed. “And this latest case is really stressing me the fuck out. I can’t find anything. Nothing. That kid’s been missing now for two weeks. One would think that we’d hear some chatter online, but so far, nothin’.”
My stomach sank.
Two weeks ago, a mother and her two children had been eating outside at Chick Fil A. The younger of the two had run out of sauce for her chicken nuggets, so the mother had gone to the door to ask an attendant for more. When she was far enough away, a black panel van had opened, and both children had been taken, right there in broad daylight.
One of the kids had been found, but the little girl, the youngest, hadn’t.
The longer it went, the worse it was for that little girl.
“What happened two weeks ago?” Catori asked, picking up a tennis ball that she’d found in the pool toy box—one of Hiro’s, Beckham and Trouper’s son’s—and started to bounce it.
The first bounce had Al whipping his head around with anticipation.
Hunt went on to explain what had happened with the kidnapping while I watched Al watch Catori.
At one point, Catori missed catching the ball, it hit her foot, and then bounced into the pool.
Al tensed.
I unhooked his leash and said, “Go.”
The dog all but barreled out of my hold and into the pool.
Since he had his muzzle on, he couldn’t pick it up with his mouth, so he nudged it to the side of the pool where Catori was now bending down to retrieve it.
“What a good boy you are,” Catori cooed, then looked back at Hunt who was once again scowling at his phone. “Is that why y’all were sore? You were hiking through woods looking for signs of that kid?”
Hunt nodded. “Since her brother was found there, it was safe to assume that the kid had been dumped there, too. But we’re thinking not any longer. We would’ve found either her, or her dead body, by now.”
Lynn came out with a beer in his hands, his eyes haunted, and a blank expression on his face.
He took one look at Al in his swimming pool, and his face lightened momentarily.
That was until his eyes settled on me.
“What is it?” I asked, feeling odd all of a sudden.
Catori stood and tossed the ball with her bad arm, causing it to miss the pool completely and wind up in the palm trees on the other side of the pool.
Al chased after it, managing to get it back to where he wanted it before collapsing into his previous spot. This time not giving Catori the ball.
She stepped back and rubbed her shoulder, grimacing as she did.
The jolt of worry that rushed through me felt weird. Like I shouldn’t be feeling it, but was. I hated the feeling immensely. Hated that she was making me care. Hated even more that I didn’t care that I cared. When you cared, shit was bound to go bad. There was just no other way around it. That was just how my life went. Any hint of ‘good’ and shit always went bad. Always.
“I just had the weirdest fucking call,” Lynn said. “How would you like to meet your biological mother?”
I blinked, a bit stunned. “What? Why?”
Lynn looked green. I would imagine he would after everything that my ‘mother’ had done in the long run.
“Because I had a tip that a young girl was recently introduced into a household in Piney Woods, Texas. About a half-hour from here. Someone called saying she resembled the girl that was missing from two weeks ago, and since we’re closest, we’re up.” He paused, his eyes narrowing on Catori. “I apologize for messing up your night.”
