“I was just thinking that,” he said. “It doesn’t always happen, does it?”
“No, but when people click, they click,” she said with a smile.
He nodded. “Nice to see that too,” he said. “I felt like I was a fish out of water for the longest time. When you’ve been in a major accident, you know that a lot of other people don’t even know how to relate. They don’t have a clue on what to do or what to say, so they ignore it all, which, in a way, is best,” he said, “or they awkwardly compensate by making it out that you’re incapable of doing anything.”
She burst out laughing. “Oh, isn’t that funny how, when you’ve got a broken leg, sometimes people speak louder because it’s as if you’re suddenly deaf too.”
“And it’s so darn frustrating,” he said with a grin. “At this point, I’ve just learned to smile and to accept it and to ignore it all.”
“It’s really all you can do,” she said. “We nurses see that all the time. People just don’t have any experience dealing with something like that, so they don’t know how to react.”
He grinned at her. “And that’s very true,” he said, “but that’s also what makes you very different. You have experiences that I can relate to.”
“And you have experiences I can relate to,” she said with a nod. “I think all of that helps make it feel like I already know so much about you.”
As they sat here, going back and forth, mentioning bits and pieces of their lives, places more relatable in blocks of time, she said, “I wish we didn’t have to leave Bernie in the truck.”
He nodded. “And speaking of that,” he said, “I think I’ll go check on her.” She frowned, and he shook his head. “I’ll be back in five minutes,” he said. “By then we should be served.”
“Okay,” she said, and she watched nervously as he headed to the truck. She didn’t know why she was nervous, but just the thought of being separated from Bernie and Tucker gave Addie anxiety. And that was just stupid. She’d been an independent female for a long time. She should be sitting here and smiling to herself because she finally met somebody who she really liked.
Instead she was almost getting depressed at the thought of being separated in a couple hours from his presence, and they hadn’t even been together very long. But the time they had been together had been incredibly powerful, she admitted. So what would she do about it now? How strange this whole mess was. Still, she sat here and waited, and, when their meals arrived, she realized how long Tucker had been gone. She pulled out her phone and quickly sent him a text. Meals are here.
When there was no answer, she froze, then quickly dialed him, but he didn’t answer his phone either. When the waitress came back, Addie said, “I’m sorry. There’s been an emergency. Can we pack the meals to go, please?” The waitress stared at her a second, but looked down at the burgers and fries, then nodded. She took the plates away, and, by the time she returned, Addie was standing up and had already put the money on the table for their bill. The waitress handed her the take-out bags. Addie thanked her and raced out the door.
Once outside, she stopped. The truck was still there—thank God—but she saw no sign of either Bernie or Tucker. Maybe he’d taken her out so she could go to the …
At the truck, she put the food items in the front seat, noting that it was unlocked, but then he would have unlocked the door in order to get the dog out, and then she raced around, looking for him. When she found no sign in the parking lot, she started calling out. She called his phone again, and, when it rang at the edge of the parking lot, alongside the woods, she raced over, following the sound, until she caught a glimpse of something in the long grass. His phone. Her heart sank.
She snatched his phone, swiped it like she’d seen him do, and called the last number. With the words tumbling over each other, she tried to tell the guy that Tucker had gone missing.
Badger calmly said, “Let’s take this from the top. How long has he been missing?”
She took a long slow deep breath. “I can’t really say. Maybe fifteen minutes. I found his phone in the brush.”
“And that’s, of course, the most worrying part,” he said. “Stay very calm, and stay at that location. We’ll use satellite to track you.”
She didn’t even think about that. Maybe that’s just what these people did. As soon as he came back online, he said, “Somebody is coming toward you.”
“A cop?” She looked around nervously.
“Actually it’ll be Tucker’s brother-in-law.”
“Rodney? Was he still at the site?”
“We caught him on his way back too,” he said. “So he should be pulling into the restaurant any minute.”
“Oh, thank you,” she said. “I just can’t imagine what happened.”
“I imagine either he was kidnapped or attacked,” Badger said without mincing his words. “But I don’t want you searching the woods there on your own, in case the attacker is still there.”
“You could have said something else,” she said in exasperation, “something that wouldn’t send me into a panic.”
“Maybe, but it wouldn’t have been the truth,” he said, “and I’m on the side of life that deals with the truth.”
Just then she heard a voice calling out to her.
“Addie, you here?”
She turned and saw Rodney and ran to him. “My God,” she said, “I don’t know what happened.” He quickly asked for a breakdown. She gave it to him. He nodded and said, “That’s what Badger said to me.”
She held up the phone. “I have Badger on the phone right now.” She put it on Speaker, and Badger spoke up.
“Rodney, take a good look around the woods there. See if Tucker’s lying unconscious somewhere.”
“I’m on it,” Rodney said, his voice grim. He turned to look at Addie. “You stay here.”
“Hell no,” she said. “Two sets of eyes are better than one.”
“It’s almost dark,” he said. “Nobody can see anything.”
“All the more reason,” she said, “for both of us to look. We don’t have any time.”
He snorted. “At least this way I won’t have to worry about you disappearing too.”
“What if another vehicle came and got him?” she asked both Rodney and Badger.
“We’re looking at the video cameras right now,” Badger said, his voice calm. “The only way that would have happened is if he were attacked and knocked unconscious. Did you hear or see anything when you were in the restaurant?”
“No, he only went back to check on the dog.”
“Of course he did.”
“But why would somebody be following him?” she murmured.
“Which could indicate this mess is linked to the fire scenario,” Badger said.
Rodney stopped, looked at the phone, and said, “That’s exactly what’s happened, isn’t it? Whoever was involved in the arson case was likely part of the crowd there.”
“Give me the names of whoever was there,” Badger said.