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Ally was trying not to hyperventilate. The thought of Riley driving in the state she’d been in made her hands shake like crazy. She’d passed her driver’s test back in Seattle – that much she knew from Nate – but she was still a new driver. Anything could happen. Anything at all.
“So what do we do?”
“I don’t know,” Nate admitted, his voice tight. “I’m just driving around looking for a car that matches her teacher’s. Any friends she has here are still in LA. She’s not at the coffee shop or by the beach. I just drove up to the cliff where…” his voice faded. “Yeah, she’s not there either.”
“She’s not going to do anything stupid, is she?”
“She already has,” Nate said. “So many damn times I’ve lost count.” His words were so sharp she could almost feel them cut. “I don’t know where my daughter is and it’s fucking killing me.”
“Come back here,” she said, trying to keep calm. “I’ll call the police here in Angel Sands. They have way more manpower than we do, and they can spread word into neighboring towns, too.”
She could hear the soft rumble of the engine over his Bluetooth connection, and the sound of his indicator, as he must have taken a turn from the road. Finally he sighed, and she imagined his shoulders slumping as his fingers tightened on the wheel. “Yes,” he said. “Please do that.”
“She’ll be okay,” she whispered, as much to herself as to him.
“I just want to find her,” he said, his voice cracking. “Make her safe.”
Of course he did. He was her dad, after all. And wasn’t that what any good father would want to do?
24
The doorbell rang sometime after four that morning. Nate had come back from searching for Riley, his expression dark, and he’d hardly said two words to her before he made his way to the office. That’s where he’d been since – making phone call after phone call, emerging once to pour himself a cup of black coffee before disappearing back in there again. He looked like hell. They both did.
Ally made her way up the hallway on her crutches, opening the door to see two uniformed officers standing there. “Thank you for coming,” she said, standing back to let them in. “The living room is the first door to your left.”
Nate must have heard the doorbell from the office, because by the time they reached the room he was there, shaking their hands. She looked at him as soon as she walked through the doorway, but he seemed to be studiously avoiding her eyes.
“Can I get you a drink?” Ally asked the two officers as they sat on the easy chairs facing the sofa. “Coffee or orange juice, maybe?”
“No thank you, ma’am.”
“Nate?” she asked, looking at him. He shook his head but still wouldn’t look at her.
Okay, then. She gave them a nod and went to turn away.
“Miss Sutton?” the male officer said. He looked to be around her father’s age. “Could you stay, too? We may have some questions for you.”
Ally pressed her lips together and nodded, sitting on the sofa next to Nate, though there was at least a foot of distance between them. He was still looking at the older officer, his back as straight as a poker, his jaw tight. He looked so uncomfortable and nervous it made her stomach churn.
“I’m afraid we still have no news on your daughter’s whereabouts,” the older officer told them. “All our cars have her details, and a photograph thanks to the one you sent over. And I can confirm that none of the local hospitals have had admissions that match Riley’s description.”
Ally let out a mouthful of air.
“We have a few questions that might help us find her.” The female officer leaned forward, flashing a brief smile as she pulled out a pencil and notepad from her pocket. “Obviously you’re her father, Mr. Crawford. And Miss Sutton is Riley’s stepmother, is that right?”
“No.” Ally shook her head. The officer’s cool eyes gave nothing away. “I’m just a… friend.”
“But you’re living here right now?”
The corner of Nate’s jaw was dancing rhythmically as he ground his teeth together. Ally felt herself begin to flush.
“I hurt my leg,” she said, looking down at the cast as though they hadn’t noticed it as soon as they walked in. “I’ve been staying in the spare room while I recuperate.”
“Okay.” The officer wrote something on her pad. “You said that Riley came home at little after two this morning, then left right away. Did something happen to make her leave?”
It was as though a snake had wrapped itself around her chest, making it impossible to breathe. “She, um…”
“She found me in bed with Miss Sutton,” Nate said, his voice low. He kept his gaze firmly on the officer. Ally winced, wanting to crawl into a hole and die there.
