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The darkness and I were at one with the idea of destroying every last motherfucker who caused her to so much as flinch.
“Is the phone on now?”
“No, but did you know that the newer phones can be traced while they are off unless you deactivate that feature?”
“I wasn’t aware of that, no.”
She made a disapproving sound.“Not everyone does, but I’m disappointed you didn’t, Jack.I need to teach you better.”
“Can you track the phone?”
“Of course I can.Apparently Amy didn’t realize her new phone had that capability.”Her fingers abruptly stopped typing.“I thought you said Amy no longer worked at Sanctuary.”
“She doesn’t.”Because her liquefied body was swimming in a sewage drain in Oakland.
“Her phone is currently at Sanctuary.”
The sobs only escalated in the bathroom, not just Nishia’s, but my mom’s too.I let those pitiful sounds wash over me, teasing the monster who was ready to play.Whoever had hurt Nishia would pay in blood.
“Can you pinpoint where?”
“The shelter takes up some serious space,” she muttered, back to talking to herself more than me.“Looks like…south side of the property.One of the cabins?”
“Is it possible to tell which one?”
“Give me a second, I have to adjust the satellite…” Her fingers were typing quicker than normal.“Ugh.I’ve got it narrowed down to the last two cabins on the south side.If you can give me another ten minutes, I can tell you the exact one.”
My breathing increased, the thrill of the hunt taking over.“I’ll call you back.”
“Wait, Jack.Let me—”
I hung up, cutting her off.Pocketing my phone, I walked out of the apartment and through the house.There were residents in the kitchen, but on Sundays, everyone came and went at their leisure.Sometimes they didn’t make it to the kitchen until noon for their first meal, so Marcy left out pastries and fresh fruit, or they could get cereal.Dinner was a bigger deal on Sundays, though.She always made prime rib.Many of my MC brothers fought over who was going to take the security shift at Sanctuary so they could have a plate.
“Morning, Jack,” Suzanne greeted.“Is everything okay?Gracie ran out of here—”
I didn’t pause to answer her question.Slamming through the back door, I stomped down the three steps.There were two stone paths, one that led to the five cabins on the north side of the property, and the one that took me to the south.The first one belonged to Marcy and her wife; the second was Suzanne’s.I didn’t even look at them as I passed, my gaze drifting between the last two in the distance.
As I neared, the door to the last cabin opened, and Deborah stepped out with her medical bag in hand.I stopped in my tracks, waiting to see what she was doing.The last cabin belonged to another longtime resident.Tina was a little woman in her midforties who had come to us almost a decade before.After the nightmare her ex had put her through, she was still scared of her own shadow and had gotten a job as a medical transcriber that she was able to do from home.
Tina went to group therapy throughout the week and had a standing appointment with Dr.Cainfield, but she didn’t socialize beyond that.Mom didn’t press her, though.Her anxiety was always too high, which drove up her blood pressure.One of the nurses always checked on her every morning and evening, monitoring her BP even though she was on two medications to regulate it.
Deborah didn’t notice me at first, and as she turned away from the door, she pulled something out of her bag.When I saw a bright-yellow cell phone case, my brows pulled up even as the monster inside me gave a manic laugh in my head.I might not have remembered Amy’s name most of the time in the past, but she was the only person at Sanctuary who had that ugly-ass case.
And now Deborah had it.
Quickly, I tried to remember everything I knew about the nurse.
She’d grown up in Creswell Springs.Someone told me once that she’d been a regular at the clubhouse, warming a different single brother’s bed every night of the week.She was older than my mom but younger than my dad.All I’d ever cared about was that she did her job and did it well.There had never been any complaints from our residents about her skills and bedside manner.She’d always been professional, but I wasn’t sure any of the women had actually gotten close with her.
I shifted noisily on purpose to gauge her reaction.Her head snapped up from the phone screen, her eyes narrowed for a moment before she put a small smile on her face and casually tucked the phone back into her medical bag.
“Morning, Jack,” she called as she descended the porch steps.“What brings you out this way?Did Chance not show up for his shift again?”
Movement past the cabin caught my attention, but it was only Chance doing his perimeter check.He’d obviously heard her and didn’t like that she’d assumed he had been a no-show.It had only happened once in the past, a few months before when he’d been too sick to lift his head.He’d had a 104-degree fever and spent three days in the hospital with double pneumonia.
Catching my MC brother’s gaze, I gave him an all too familiar but discreet signal, and he reached behind him, his hand going to his gun without hesitation.
“Nishia had a rough night.”Knowing Chance would have my back, I turned my attention to the nurse.“Can you come give her something to help relax her?”
