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They were instructed to call when my grandfather was about to strike.
They had not called before Chrissy Hayes was murdered.
They called now.
But first, Bailey.
I went to her, nodding to Matt, who saw my approach. His eyes flashed, a guardedness and hardness flaring before he ducked his head. I didn’t consider Matt’s emotions. If he was angry at me, it made sense. I was angry at me, too.
I touched her elbow, knowing she already knew I was there. She adjusted her footing. She always did, whether it was consciously or unconsciously done, and she moved closer to me.
“I have to go.”
She looked at me. “Hmm?”
I flinched, seeing the glazed and almost glassy look in her eyes.
Bending, brushing my lips over hers, I murmured again, “I have to go.” I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, my hand lingering. Jesus. I loved her. The warmth in me shoved all the shit emotions aside, filled me with the need to take her in my arms, to never let her go, to know she’d be safe there no matter what.
I fought that down.
I applied pressure on her lips, feeling her breath and taking it in. My eyes closed. I trailed my hand down the side of her face, cupping her neck before I pulled back. “I love you. I’ll call later, when I know you’re home.”
Some of the glazed look faded. She was refocusing, seeing me a bit more clearly. “You’re leaving?”
I nodded, knowing she’d been in shut-off mode. It took this long to get through. “I’m going to get some answers and then I’ll be back.”
She stared at me. Her eyes sharpened. I saw her brain turn on. Emotions flitted over her, and then a wildness, a panicked look flared tight, and she sucked in her breath. She shut down again. Little by little, the alertness softened, then disappeared. The glazed expression came back. Her face smoothed out until she was a walking corpse, and her hand fell from my chest. I hadn’t even realized it was there until it was gone.
I wanted that touch back.
I rested my forehead to hers. “I love you. I’ll be back.”
She turned for the window. “Oh. Okay.”
That was it.
She was gone.
I looked for Matt, and he’d been waiting. He stepped away from a pocket of people who’d been trying to talk with him. He came over, his eyes on her. “You gotta go?”
“I gotta go.”
His shoulders rose. His chest lifted. One long fucking deep breath and he exhaled, saying, “Okay. I’ll sleep outside her room.”
“That might be best.”
His eyes met mine, and that hardness from before came back. “I don’t know what you’re doing, where you’re going, but I’m hoping it’s bringing you one step closer to putting that fucker in the ground. Kill him, Kash. Kill him for Chrissy.”
I would, but I’d be killing him for Bailey. I didn’t say that to Matt, just nodded and left.
Josh had the car waiting for me.
FOUR
Kash
When we landed, it was at a private air strip in a small town in Montana. The nearest lights were twenty miles away, and we could only see the smallest glimmer of them in the night sky.
