AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Not much,” he says, sounding as irritated about that as if someone had keyed his precious Audi. “The tone of his voice is too close to the pitch of the traffic noise to properly separate it, but maybe if I use a Fourier Analysis…”
He starts mumbling about shit that I don’t understand, but after a minute, he actually does manage to clean it up a bit. Enough for us to confirm that it’s definitely coming from the bus station. We even get a route number that allows us to match it with the time stamp from Sutton’s voicemail.
Not sure how much good it’s gonna do us since the lead is still more than twenty-four hours old, but it’s the first solid location we’ve had since Chloe bolted… and the way Riley’s face lights up when Logan confirms it is fucking beautiful to see.
“Oh my god,” she says, throwing her arms around me and squeezing tight. “Oh mygod.”
I hug her back, breathing deep to get a hit of that unforgettable spice-and-smoke scent of hers, but all too quick, she realizes what she’s doing and stiffens up, pulling away.
“Can we go?” she asks, looking between the three of us and then settling her gaze on Maddoc. “Can we go see if she’s still there?”
I bite my tongue to keep from pointing out she won’t be. And who the fuck knows, I might be wrong… probably not, but stranger shit has happened. And even though Chloe will most likely have long since cleared out, we still might pick up another lead. Something to point us in the right direction before McKenna’s goons sniff out the trail.
Madd obviously agrees. He tells Logan to stay back and keep working the digital file, then grabs the keys to the Escalade, calling in a few more warm bodies so that by the time we get to the area, there are at least half a dozen Reapers with feet on the ground.
“Church or bus station, princess?” I ask. “What was the draw here?”
Riley bites her lip, looking between the two. Bus station is the obvious answer, but Riley—and presumably her little sister, since the girl clearly takes after her—don’t always go for the obvious.
Riley agrees.
“I don’t think she would have been trying to leave town. Not yet. Not without me,” she says, turning away from the bus depot. “But when we were little, there was this other church over by Frank’s place that she’d sometimes hit up for after school snacks when I wasn’t around.”
“After school snacks?” I ask, smirking. “That a thing churches do now?”
“Wafers. Wine. Whatever,” she says, flashing a cheeky grin before her worry sets back in. She sighs. “The point is, she’d sometimes hang out there when Frank’s business associates were being more dickish than usual, so I could see her maybe ducking into this one to stay out of sight for a while.”
“You two go check it out,” Maddoc says. “I’m still gonna check the bus station out, and I’ll have Isaac, Shae, and Kieran sweep the surrounding streets.”
We split up like he said, trying to scope out any likely hiding places where Chloe might still be holed up, but after an hour or so, it’s clear that it’s a bust.
“Fuck,” Riley says when he calls it, her voice cracking as she turns away from us to wipe at her eyes.
It fucking kills me to see, but I leave her be. Bad shit happens every fucking day, and getting a little emotional about it is normal. It’s not like me tucking her back against my side is gonna change the fact that Chloe isn’t here, so I don’t.
Besides, this weird craving I keep having lately, wanting to reach out to her and make shit right, is starting to make me feel a little off-center. Best to leave it alone.
“Let’s head back to the house,” Maddoc says.
“So, what? You’re just going to give up?” Riley snaps, lashing out at him in a way he wouldn’t put up with from most people. But he obviously sees through her anger just like I do, because he lets it roll right off him.
“Giving up isn’t something I do,” he says, grabbing her arm and steering her into the Escalade.
The fact that she doesn’t resist speaks volumes.
“Then what do we do next?” she asks, her shoulders slumping in defeat.
I slip in the back seat as Maddoc starts up the Escalade and pulls away from the curb. “I’m leaving a few people here in case she shows up again,” he tells Riley. “I also told Isaac to question some players who we know typically work this area.”
“She wasright here,” Riley says, pressing her fingers against her window as we drive away. “Goddammit, why couldn’t Frank have…”
She shakes her head with a huff of frustration, as if realizing that there’s nothing that shithead could have done. Or at least, nothing that would’ve done Chloe any good.
“It’s still a good lead, butterfly,” Maddoc says, glancing over at her before returning his gaze to the road. “And if she left any trace at all, my people will find it.”
Riley nods, but stays quiet and subdued for the rest of the ride home.
It fucking bothers me.
