Some of the tension slid from her shoulders. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“But…” He just had to say this. “It is suspicious. It could damn well be the perp, Maisey. You should prepare for that.”
“Why?” She tried to blink away the tears in her eyes. “Why would he do this?”
Jinx moved to her side. “To jerk you around? To torture you? Because he’s a sadistic prick who gets off on playing with people’s pain? Lots of reasons come to mind for me.”
She frowned at him.
“Could be another reason.” Jinx shrugged.
Jinx had even less tact that Odin did. Odin cleared his throat. “It could be a trick. Could be that he thinks he might have a way of luring you to him. If he offers you Whitney, then you’d come running.”
She nodded. “Yes, I absolutely would.”
No, baby, you absolutely will not.
“If my friend is out there, if she is still alive and this guy is willing to let her go…” Now Maisey grabbed Odin’s hand. “I will help her. I have to help her!”
Jinx sighed. He peered woefully at her. “That’s why it’s called a trap. The perp dangles some bait at you. You run ahead, not even looking at the danger, and the next thing we know, bam, you’re the one who has been missing for months and no one knows what the hell happened to you.”
A dark rage burned within Odin. “Not happening.” There was no way anyone would take Maisey. If he had to chain her to him, he would do it. Maisey was not going to run into danger. She sure as hell wasn’t going to vanish on him.
“What do you want me to do? Ignore the possibility that Whitney might be alive?” She let go of Odin and gestured between him and Jinx. “What if it was the two of you?”
Odin met Jinx’s stare.
“What if someone had Odin?” she asked Jinx.
Jinx gave a rough laugh. “Then the guy is a damn fool. He made the worst mistake of his—”
“Would you risk everything to save Odin? If you thought there was a chance he might be alive, would you risk yourself for him?”
Jinx’s lips pressed into a thin line. After a beat of silence, with his eyes still on Odin, he said, “If she has the chance, your girlfriend will rush off into who-the-hell-knows what kind of situation. She’s going to do anything she can to save her friend.” A pause. “Because it’s the same shit you and I would do for each other.”
It wasn’t the same. Not even close. “We’ve had training. We know how to protect ourselves.”
“Train me!” Maisey piped up.
“We know how to kill.” Flat.
Maisey sucked in a breath.
His gaze locked on her. “That’s the thing, sweetheart. When you’re in one of these situations, when you’re going up against some sadistic asshole who doesn’t care how badly he hurts you or the people you care about, you have to be willing to cross that final line. You have to be willing to take a life.” He stared at her. “You can’t do that.” Maisey had an innate goodness about her. That goodness burned like a light whenever he looked at her. Maisey wasn’t the kind of person who could take a life. She wasn’t a killer.
But I am.
Her body had trembled, but her stare hadn’t wavered. “Yes, I can do it. You don’t know me well enough to make that call.”
“After last night, I’d say I knew you damn well.” He took a step closer.
“Oh, jeez,” from Jinx. “This just took a very awkward personal turn. I think I should step inside—”
“Don’t move a muscle,” Odin ordered him. Because he wanted Jinx to back him up. His gaze remained on Maisey. “You kill someone, and that will stay with you. The blood will be on your hands for the rest of your life.”
“I am prepared for that.” Her chin jerked up. “If this guy has hurt Whitney, if he’s hurt those other women—I will stop him. I won’t think twice about what I have to do!”
Easy to say. But killing was hard. “And he won’t think twice about hurting you. Once he gets you, what do you think he’ll do?” He didn’t want to scare her, but there wasn’t a choice. This was her life.
And she matters too much.
“He won’t let your friend go. He isn’t going to magically trade her for you. He’ll get you. He’ll hurt you.” Just the thought had Odin’s hands fisting. “That’s not happening. Not on my watch. There is going to be no running off when you get mystery calls, do you understand? No trying to be the hero. No thinking you can do this on your own.” Because you can’t, baby.
Her eyes shot sparks at him.
“Every step, we take it together.” There was no debate on this. Your life matters too much, Maisey. “You keep Jinx and I in the loop.”
From the corner of his eye, Odin saw Jinx make a little circle with his hand. “This is the loop.”
Odin ignored him. “You try to hide something from us, you try to lie to us…you put yourself at risk…” His nostrils flared. “And you and I will have a very big problem.”
“She is my friend!”
“And you are—” He caught himself just in time. Stopped right before he growled Mine. And he sure wouldn’t have meant that Maisey was his friend. She was one hell of a lot more than that.
“Ahem.” Jinx cleared his throat. “How about we all take a big breath? We want the same thing here, people We’re on the same side. In the same big, old loop of trust.” Once more, he made a loop with his fingers. “How about we come up with a game plan that works for everyone?”
“We need to find Whitney,” Maisey said empathically. “That’s the game plan. Look, I get that isn’t why I originally hired you, Odin. I went to you because I thought Clay was guilty. I wanted proof one way or the other.”
Proof they still didn’t have.
“If you need more money, I’ll give it to you,” she added quickly. “I will give you anything. Please. Just help me find her.”
Oh, hell, no. “Don’t.” Bit off. “You don’t have to plead with me for anything. I’m on your side. Always. Remember that.” He shifted through possibilities. They had to start somewhere. They had to get moving. And the place that seemed to keep connecting dots for him? “The college.”
Maisey’s brow furrowed. “I don’t have a class today—”
“You work there. Clay is there. Whitney was there. And you were almost taken from that location. It’s a central point. I want to go back and start rattling cages in that place.” Cages that belonged to other staff members, students. Whoever the hell came into his line of suspicion. His head turned toward Jinx. “And I want you to keep shadowing Clay. Stay on him.”
“Done.” He strode for the door. But stopped just before he left the balcony. Jinx threw a glance over his shoulder. “And what about the new friend you made at the club last night? Do I need to worry about him?”
Ramsey? Hell, they all needed to worry about him.
“We need to tell him,” Maisey said. “If Ramsey thinks Whitney might still be alive…”
He’d be even more desperate. Ramsey would be frantic in his efforts to locate her. Did Maisey understand just how dangerous and unrelenting Ramsey could be?