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“Sure, go ahead, we’ll meet you there,” Hud said before he ducked into their bedroom, coming out with Coco’s favorite blanket and Hopscotch. Because of course he’d think to bring those for when they found her. Offer any comfort they could for the ordeal she’d been through.
Ian’s throat tightened. They were going to go get her. Bring her home for good. Kill the motherfucker who had done horrible things to her and then stolen her from them. A quick death was too good for that asshole but he also couldn’t picture wanting to keep him alive and wasting oxygen for a second longer than they had to.
“We’ll take our chances,” he told Taj and heard his friend swear before he ended the call.
* * *
Hudson
Ian slammed the door of the house for the third time, making the whole place rattle. The faded red Dutch colonial had probably been a nice house once, but he guessed when you couldn’t have contractors out because they’d realize you’d imprisoned and tortured a woman, things kinda fell apart.
“Hey, you’re not going to help anything by making this place collapse on our heads,” he told his partner, squeezing his shoulder.
When Ian met his gaze, it broke what was left of his heart. He’d never seen his manic leprechaun of a friend look so distraught.
“But she’s not fucking here. She was supposed to be here. I thought we were going to—We could save her and I—But she’s—”
Ian looked like he was about to have a mental breakdown. Hudson couldn’t blame him. In some part of him, he was about to lose it too. But the thing was, he couldn’t, because they had to find Cosy. Had to. And they wouldn’t be able to do that if all three of them had had a psychotic break.
“I know. I hate it too.”
Hated as well that Damon wasn’t here for them to beat the shit out of to get some fucking answers. Hudson would bet his life that Damon was the kind of asshole who could dole out pain and humiliation all day but couldn’t take a lick of it. He’d promised himself a long time ago to only hurt people who wanted to be hurt but he would gladly make an exception for this shitstain.
Was Damon with Cosy? Where had he taken her? They’d turned the house upside down, including the basement and the outbuildings and it had been one horror show after another, seeing how he'd kept Cosy, guessing at the things he’d done to her, and knowing he wasn’t evil enough to ever come up with half the ways he must’ve tortured her.
Hudson rested his other hand on Ian’s other shoulder, holding him at arms’ length.
“Ryker’s on the phone with Taj right now. They’re gonna figure this out, I promise. Taj is a first rate asshole but he’s a damn smart one, and you know Ryker’s not going to give up until he finds her or drops dead, whichever comes first.”
Ian nodded absently, still looking haunted.
“We’re going to find her. We’re going to find her and we’re going to bring her home.”
“Yeah, alright.”
Ian didn’t sound like he totally believed him and Hudson wished he could be indignant about it. How dare his best friend question his competence, his loyalty? But Ian was doing no such thing and the truth was that deep down, Hudson had the same fears. They weren’t dealing with a rational person and he wasn’t sure any of them could be as crafty as pure fucking evil.
“Guys.”
They both turned to Ryker who was hustling toward them from the far side of the house.
“Did Cosima ever say anything about a cabin?”
“Yeah,” Hudson said, his skin crawling. “Said he would take her out there like twice a year for ‘special occasions.’ Belonged to an uncle or something?”
Ryker put his phone back to his ear. “Hudson says yes. Can you give us the address?”
There was a pause and Ryker’s face went from storm clouds to tempest. “What do you mean it’s not that simple?”
Another pause and then Ryker pinched the bridge of his nose, swearing. “Well, fuck, that’s all we have so that’s where we’re headed. Send me any info you have on that place, and keep looking for anywhere else he might’ve taken her. Let us know if you find anything.”
Ryker hung up and started hustling them back toward the cars.
“Paradiso’s uncle has a cabin out at Thistledon State Park.”
“Doesn’t Vance have a place out there?”
He could’ve sworn Arthur’s law firm partner had a cabin out at Thistledon which was a few hours from Clover City.
“Yeah, but Vance’s place is on the lake mid-mountain, and newer. There are a few old school cabins out in the middle of the park. Seasonal, no running water, just have generators. No roads, you gotta hike out. Heavily forested, place is huge.”
Fuck. Good news was that they knew where she was, bad news was that she was going to be next-to-impossible to get to.
Next to him, he heard Ian grit his teeth. “Then let’s go fucking do the impossible.”
