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My eyes flitted to Kade as I said the words. I let them flare dangerously, daring him to disagree.
“O—Okay then,” the curator said. “But… Ms. Parker, I have to say—”
“C’mon,” I said, grabbing Kade by the hand. “We’re wasting time.”
Forty-Five
SLOANE
We found Danielle at the house, crying. Sitting alone in the semi-darkness, beside the Christmas tree we’d all decorated together. The mood was somber and melancholy — a far cry from the joy and holiday spirit I’d felt the last time I was here.
“And you have no idea where he is?” asked Kade.
She shook her head sadly. “No. I tried all the usual places, called all his usual ‘friends’. None of them said they knew where he was.”
“Yeah, well those ‘friends’ lie,” growled Kade.
“I know,” Danielle said, “but not this time. I don’t know why, but I felt like they were telling the truth. They said they hadn’t seen him for weeks.”
“So that’s good,” Valerio piped in. “Right?”
He was trying to be hopeful if not helpful. It wasn’t really working.
“I can’t believe he did this again,” said Brock, shaking his head. “I—I really felt like this time was different.”
“It was,” Danielle sniffed. “Brandon even said it himself.”
“And you can’t track him?” I offered. “His phone?”
Brandon’s girlfriend nodded toward the coffee table. “He didn’t bring it with him,” she said. “He didn’t want to be found.”
“If he didn’t want to be found he could’ve turned off tracking,” said Kade. “No, he didn’t want to be called. He didn’t want to be talked out of anything.”
I slid up beside Kade and very gently laid a reassuring arm around him. It pained me to see the look of hurt in his eyes. Even worse though, was the betrayal.
“Maybe he just forgot his phone,” said Valerio.
Brock shot him a dirty look. He shrugged and mumbled a low apology.
“Nah, don’t be like that,” Kade said, looking back at his friend. He swung his gaze toward Valerio. “You’re always the eternal optimist,” he smiled weakly. “I appreciate that. Don’t ever be sorry for it.”
Just then the phone rang, right in the middle of the coffee table. Brandon’s phone. It happened so abruptly all five of us jumped. Danielle, the first to recover, picked it up so quickly it didn’t even make the second ring.
“Hello?”
Her eyes shifted to Kade. He stared back at her and she nodded.
“Speakerphone? O—Okay.”
Danielle pressed the button and put the phone back in the center of the coffee table. We all shifted position, huddling around it.
“Hi,” came Brandon’s voice over the speaker. “Can you guys hear me? Is everyone there?”
“Yeah we can hear you,” Kade said. “And we’re here. All of us.”
“Good.”
Kade’s brow crossed angrily. “Now where the fuck areyou?”
