However, there are still four other kids who might be considered loose ends. As much as I want to find Sawyer and stand by Mitch, I can’t give up on them.
“We can’t lose sight of the big picture, Jacob.”
“I know.”
Another thought suddenly occurs to me, turning my blood cold in an instant.
“I’m going to need some wheels of my own to get around.”
“I’ll get a rental dropped off for you,” he offers immediately.
“Thank you.”
I rattle off the address and promise to call as soon as I hit the road.
Then I hang up and quickly dial another number.
“Remington.”
“Lee, it’s Opal. Are you home yet?”
“No I’m just leaving the ER. They had to set my fucking nose. Why?”
“Have you been in touch with Melissa?”
“Yeah, I called her earlier, why? What’s going on?”
Shit.
If Kendrick in fact has eyes on either Mitch or me, we may have been followed to Remington’s address.
“Her location may have been compromised,” I share, my heart beating in my throat.
“How the fuck did that happen?” he snaps, understandably upset.
“Long story, I’ll tell you as soon as I can get there. Call her now, tell her to lock herself in a bathroom until you get home.”
“I’m right around the corner.”
“Are you armed?” I ask, wishing my own guns weren’t stuck in my truck at the impound lot.
It takes a minute for Lee to respond.
“I’m covered,” he finally answers.
“Good. Stay inside, lock everything, and don’t move until I can get there. I’ll see if I can get someone to keep an eye on the house in the meantime.”
Next, I call Pearl, explaining why I need to ask her to head over to Remington’s place to keep an eye on it until I can get there.
By the time I get back inside, Adam is sitting at the kitchen table, a laptop open in front of him, while Joe and Mitch hover over his shoulder. Becky is nowhere in sight.
Mitch lifts his gaze when I walk up.
“What are you working on?” I ask.
“Seeing if we can trace her phone.”
“Good. I’ve got Pearl looking into the car. Have the police been contacted?”
“We put out a BOLO on Sawyer and the car,” Joe answers.
A BOLO is a be-on-the-lookout order that can range from a missing person to a hardened criminal. All it means is that officers are going to keep an eye out for anything or anyone that matches the description given.
“What about you? Anything?” Mitch wants to know.
I pause. If the possibility Kendrick somehow took his daughter hasn’t occurred to him, I really don’t want to be the one to put that image in his head. Especially since I’m running on instinct alone. But I may not have a choice. There’s too much at stake.
“Where is Becky?” I counter instead.
“She’s upstairs, trying to get a hold of her husband.”
The way Mitch says it, I’m guessing there’s no love lost between the two men.
Now is my chance, since I don’t want to ramp animosity if Becky were to hear how Sawyer’s disappearance may have been the result of the case we’re working.
“Matt and Raj are on their way back, but Matt is having someone he trusts put Jamie in protective custody. I just spoke to Remington, who is on his way home to make sure Melissa is safe.”
I let that hang for a moment, giving the guys a chance to put one and one together.
“Kendrick,” Adam is the first to guess.
“It’s possible.”
“I didn’t want to think it,” Mitch says, sounding defeated.
“We have to account for that possibility,” I tell him gently, putting a hand on his arm.
The expression on his face is raw and I resist the urge to put my arms around him. Given these are his colleagues watching on, and his ex-wife’s house we are in, he may not welcome that kind of public display. So instead, I give his arm a little squeeze.
“She’s my world,” he whispers, breaking my heart.
“We’ll find—”
“I’ve got a location,” Adam interrupts, leaning closer to the screen.
We all gather around him.
A red dot is blinking on the screen. It looks like a park, but I can’t quite make out where it might be.
“Where is that?” Joe gives voice to that question.
Adam zooms out and I feel Mitch freeze beside me.
It takes me a second but then I recognize it too. It’s a small neighborhood park.
Two blocks from Mitch’s house.
TWENTY-TWO
Mitch
“Who the hell was that?”
Kate turns around, a set of keys in her hand as the guy she was talking to takes off down the driveway where he hops into a waiting car.
“He dropped off my rental car,” she says, bumping the door closed behind her.
“Why do you need a car?”
I can tell from the apologetic expression on her face I’m not going to like her answer.
“I need to be mobile, Mitch. I’m more use out there doing my job than I am here. I can’t afford to take my eyes off the ball. There is too much at stake, too many lives in the balance.”
With emotions already close to the surface, that comment hurts. Sawyer is all I can think about right now, and my anger flares up when Kate reminds me there are others.
“You want to leave? Then go. Everyone else has.”
My tone is sharp, but I don’t care. I reach around her and pull the front door back open.
Everyone else being Joe and Adam, who left to find my daughter’s phone in a park near my house. I was ready to dart out the door but it was Kate who suggested it was better to let my colleagues go. It killed me, but I had to concede when she reminded me emotions as a parent would diminish my effectiveness as an agent.
It’s an argument I’ve used myself on parents of missing or abducted children. Leave the investigating to those who know what they’re doing. Right now, all I know is fear, panic, and you can add anger.
Becky is a mess. I could hear her arguing on the phone earlier with that asshole husband of hers. Apparently, Chad is too busy lobbying on behalf of a large pharmaceutical giant to crooked politicians in Washington to come home when his stepdaughter is missing. Piece of shit.
Yeah, I’m angry. But if I’m honest with myself it’s mostly from guilt. Why didn’t I put my foot down last night and drive her home? Instead, I let her drive home by herself, eager to get back inside to the woman who has slowly but surely started filling a void in my life I hadn’t realized existed.
I feel like I’m adrift in the middle of a storm, and the only one I can hold on to, to keep my head above water, is leaving me to drown.
“I’ll be in touch,” Kate says softly, lifting a hand to touch my face.
I turn my head at the last minute, afraid if I let her touch me, I’ll be begging her to stay.
Jesus. How did I get so weak? So lost?
The distinct sound of my phone ringing has me running for the kitchen where I left it on the table. Just as I reach for it, I hear the door close with a soft snick and guilt overwhelms me. I shake it off and answer Joe’s call.