He saw us? I closed my eyes, hating that I flushed.
He grabbed my bicep and my eyes flew open. He yanked me to my feet. I faltered and he held on, steadying me, before putting his face in mine. “This is how it’s gonna be. I’m gonna take off the tape covering those pretty lips of yours and you’re gonna keep your mouth shut. You know why?”
He waited and I glared, my eyes saying, no, asshole, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me. “Because if you scream or call out, I’m gonna shoot the first person who comes to your aid.” He waited. “Give me a nod that you understand.”
Silently fuming, I nodded.
“Good girl.”
He ripped the tape off.
“Arrgghhh!” I cried, my face stinging.
I was spun around and he removed the tape from around my wrists. Then my shoes where handed to me. “Put ‘em on.”
I took my shoes, hopping about as I slid one on and almost toppled over. He grabbed my hand and put it on his shoulder, making me use his body to steady myself as I put on the other one.
He threaded our hands together and we walked out of the passageway, taking the opposite direction that I came in. He was making it look like we were simply a couple leaving the airport. I was pulled in close behind him, practically rubbing against his body as we walked and I realised he was hiding my bloodied dress.
We reached his car without incident. The fact that it was a hot car with motherfucker tyres just like Casey’s didn’t surprise me. After doing a quick scan of the car park, he opened the passenger door wide and growled, “Get in.”
I lifted my chin. “Where are you taking me?”
“To Luna fuckin’ Park,” he declared sarcastically as he went to shove me in the car. “As if I’m gonna tell you, babe.”
“No one’s going to believe Casey killed me. No one,” I hissed. “But mark my words, he’s going to kill you for this.”
He paused, staring down at me, the cocky glint in his eyes so familiar it made my heart pound. “You really think he’d kill his own brother, babe?”
“Kelly,” I breathed, struck all over again at how much he looked like Casey. They could’ve been twins. “I honestly don’t know what he’s going to do. What I do know is that you’re going to hurt a man who’s already hurting enough.”
Kelly’s eyes flattened, but not fast enough for me to miss the pain flashing through them. “I don’t give a fuck. He left me with that asshole. Compared to what I went through, he doesn’t know the meaning of hurting,” he sneered. “Now get in the fuckin’ car.”
“Is that why you’re doing this?” I asked, my chest aching with grief for what these two boys had gone through. I put a hand on his arm. He glanced down at my hand before meeting my eyes. “Because he left you?”
“No, but that’s all I’m givin’ you, babe. The rest is between him and me.”
Present time…
She’s not dead, I repeated to myself for the thousandth time. I would know it, right? I would feel it.
Gabriella returned to the interview room, interrupting my pacing. I spun around, searching her face as she strode towards the table. She gave nothing away as she slapped her folder down. My eyes fell on it and I had to clench my hands to fight reaching for it. Sitting back while someone else ran this investigation was bullshit.
“Goddammit, Gabriella,” Mitch growled from beside me, echoing my sentiments. “You’ve been gone two hours!”
She jabbed a finger his way. “Don’t start with me, Mitchell!” she snapped in that husky rolling Spanish of hers. Gabriella was not only intelligent, she appeared to have balls bigger than most guys I knew. Mitch must have a hell of time working with her. “I’ve had to drag forensics to the lab on a Sunday. Do you know how hard it is to do that when you’ve been working in this department for two days?”
“Two days?” I nailed Mitch with a savage glare, wanting to punch something, namely him. “You said we could trust her and you’ve known her two fucking days?”
“Suficiente!” Gabriella snapped again, sweeping a lock of hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear. “This is not a pissing contest over who knows who and for how long!” She turned her livid, gold-flecked eyes to mine and jabbed that finger in my direction. If she wasn’t a girl I would’ve snapped it in half by now I was so pissed off. “I work for the good guys, comprende? But most importantly, I work for Grace.”
“You work for Grace? I fucking live for Grace!” I shouted, unable to keep my raging emotions in check. Grace was mine to protect and I was stuck in this shithole interview room, unable to do a damn thing. “She’s out there right now and she needs me. Not you, not Mitch, not your team, or the goddamn Tooth Fairy. Me! So hurry up and get me the hell out of here before I fucking lose it.”
A rap came at the door before Gabriella could tell me I’d already lost it.
“Sit,” Gabriella barked, pointing at the chair in front of me. I resisted the urge to kick it across the room and sat, hanging my head in my hands.
She murmured quietly with another detective at the door when I heard someone yelling. I glanced up and saw Henry pushing through the door, his eyes red and swollen and wild with fury.
“You can’t come in here,” was all Gabriella managed to get out as she grabbed for him and missed.
I stood abruptly as he came at me. My chair fell over, skittering backwards as I planted both feet apart, bracing.
His fist connected with my jaw and I managed to keep my feet, welcoming the sharp burst of pain. My lip split on impact. I felt the skin bust open, tangy, metallic blood flooding my mouth. This. Fists. Rage. Pain. In a world without Grace, where nothing made sense, this was what I knew, and it somehow grounded me with its familiarity.
“You motherfucker!” he shouted, swinging again. I lifted my chin, wanting it. I wanted that burst of pain. I wanted to feel my stomach roll and my head scream from the jarring impact. It was no less than I deserved, letting Grace out of my sight the way I did.
“You need to leave!” Gabriella grabbed for him again, but Mitch got there first. Twisting Henry’s arms behind his back, he locked them in place. Henry bucked, his chest heaving as he tried to get at me.
“Let him go!” I ordered, my voice harsh to my own ears.
Mitch met my eyes from behind Henry, veins straining on his neck as Henry fought his tight hold.
I nodded once and Mitch let his arms fall away.
Suddenly free, Henry came at me again. Fisting my shirt in both hands, he slammed me up against the wall. My neck snapped back at the aggressive manoeuvre, air leaving my lungs in a rush.
I shook my head, dizzy.
Henry’s back was to Mitch when Mitch came up behind him, ready to restrain him all over again. I held up a hand, holding him off.
“What did you do? Where is she?” Henry shouted in my face, so close his nose almost touched mine. Before I could answer, he jerked me forward and slammed me against the wall again. My teeth snapped together on impact.
Dazed, I had to force myself to look at him.
“Henry.” I blinked away spots. “You know I wouldn’t hurt her. You know me. Trust me on this. Please,” I begged, locking eyes with his. “Grace is still alive. I know it. Mitch and Gabriella are working hard to clear me so I can get out there and find her, okay? I’ll find her. I promise you. I fucking promise you.”
Henry swallowed hard, the light slowly leaving his eyes as he sagged against me, his arms falling slack from their hold on my shirt. I knew then that he didn’t believe I’d hurt Grace. He was scared, just like we all were, and taking it out on me was easy.
With a shake of his head, Henry found my eyes. “Grace has cancer,” he said, his voice cracking and his knees suddenly buckling. I wrapped my arms around him as we sank to the floor.
I looked up at Mitch and nodded at the door. “Go,” I mouthed.
Without a word, he turned. Putting a hand on the small of Gabriella’s back, he pushed her out the door. The sounds of her protests were
muffled when he closed it behind him.
My eyes burned as Henry cried, each sob from his chest making my own squeeze a little tighter. “I know, Henry,” I whispered thickly, my heart so damn heavy that nothing could pick it up off the floor.
“She kept it from all of us,” he told me, his voice hoarse as he pulled away. Wiping his eyes with the heel of his hands, he looked at me as we sat there together, huddled on the floor. “When did you find out?”
I tipped my head back against the wall, my eyes trained on the ceiling as I willed myself not to cry. “I found out last night. I picked up a phone call from John that was meant for Grace. He told me.”
I shut my eyes, her face coming to life behind closed lids as she straddled my lap on the bed.
“We need to talk.”
“Later.”
“It’s important.”
“Whatever’s going on in that pretty head of yours, as long as we have each other, it’ll work out, okay?”
“I think she was going to tell me before the party but I put her off.” I opened my eyes, shifting them in Henry’s direction without moving my head. “What about you?”
“When I rang John this morning. He and Dad are already on the next flight. I’ve tried getting hold of the twins. Someone in the naval office is tracking them down for me. Dad’s a mess,” he admitted, “but I suspect Grace would know that, which is why she didn’t tell us. Our family kind of imploded when we lost Mum. She’s scared of it happening again.” Henry’s eyes filled and he drew a deep, shaky breath. “I don’t want her to die, Casey. I can’t lose my little sister. I can’t.”
“You won’t lose her,” I vowed. It was a promise I didn’t know I could keep, but I made it anyway. I had to for my own sanity because the thought of losing Grace would send me mad.
Henry stared down at his knuckles. They were red and starting to swell. Glancing up, he said, “Sorry for hitting you.”
I shook my head. “No you’re not. You’ve been wanting to do that since you found out Grace and I were seeing each other.”
There was a silent pause. “You’re right. It felt good.”
“Same.”
His brows rose. “It felt good for me to hit you?”
Gabriella and Mitch returned, saving me from trying to form a response. I got to my feet and held out a palm to Henry. He took it and I pulled him up.
“Casey, you’re free to go.”
“What?” I faced Gabriella. “How?”
“Several things. First, we found your cab driver. He just left after giving his statement. He says you passed out after telling him to follow the cab that Grace was in. He lost her cab in traffic so he got your address from your wallet and returned you to your loft, helping you inside. We have your security footage of you returning home at the time he stated, which corroborates his story. Further, there’s no record of you leaving before Travis and Mitch arrived this morning,” she told me. “Forensics have you cleared of gun powder residue and blood on your clothes, and you’ve come back positive for Rohypnol. We’ve got experts analysing the footage of your interaction in the main bar,” Gabriella told me with a quick glance at Henry. She obviously kept her words deliberately vague in deference to his presence. “While it’s clear your drink was handled, what’s unclear in the footage is the exact moment the drug was slipped in your drink.”
Henry’s mouth fell open. “Someone drugged you?”
“Someone’s trying to set him up,” Mitch informed him with drawn brows.
“Who?”
“That’s not clear at this stage,” he replied.
“Have you picked her up?” I asked.
Mitch and Gabriella shared a quick glance before she said, “Not yet. We’re trying to locate her.”
“Right,” I muttered. Good. Because then I’d get to her first. “So I can leave?” I asked Gabriella.
“Sí.” She splayed a pile of printed pages on the table. Clicking a pen, she held it out. “You need to sign your statement and official release papers first.”
Taking the pen, I began scrawling wherever she pointed, not knowing what the hell I was signing and not caring. I needed to get out of there and get my hands on Morgan.
Minutes later I was walking out of the interview room.
Gabriella called my name. I halted at the doorway and half turned to look at her. “Officially, I need to warn you to keep out of the investigation.”
“Warning noted,” I replied with a nod, and duly ignored, I added silently, feeling her eyes on me as I walked out the door with Henry following behind. Gabriella knew full well I had no intention of heeding her official warning, yet she was letting me go anyway. I would owe her for that.
I faltered when I reached the waiting room and found it full. All eyes turned my way and relief hit me when I didn’t see a single accusatory pair in the bunch. Tim broke from the herd as soon as he saw me walk out. He launched himself at me, wrapping his arms around my neck and his legs around my waist. I didn’t break stride. I didn’t have time. Not even when I felt the splash of his tears on my neck.
“Casey,” he squeaked when my arms came around him and squeezed as I kept walking.
“You okay?” I muttered in Tim’s ear as Travis fell into step beside me. Tim might piss me off most times, but he was like a little brother to me and I looked out for him.
“No,” he managed. “I’ve never been so angry in all my life. I can’t believe they would arrest you while Grace is out there, scared and alone and hurt.” He pulled back to search my face. “Are you okay?”
“No. I’m not. I’m barely holding it together,” I admitted.
“What can I do?” Tim asked.
“You can round up the entire team and get them in the office. Get Mitch to brief them. We need everyone to hit the ground running.”
“Done,” he declared.
“Thank you.” I told him, grateful for the unwavering support. Loosening my grip, I unlatched him and set him on his feet. He returned to the huddle in the waiting room while Travis and I kept going. Mitch had been bailed up by the group and appeared to be explaining everything. I would owe him for that, too, because right now I didn’t have the time, nor the inclination, to speak to anyone. My favours were racking up.
“Casey?” Tim called out when we reached the bank of elevators. “Where you are going?”
Half turning as I jabbed the down button, I replied with a calm that belied the turmoil inside me, “To get Grace.”
“Give me the keys,” I ordered Travis when we hit the car park.
“No,” he replied, beeping the locks of his mean looking Subaru. It was gleaming black with barely legal tinted windows and a modified turbo, making it one of the quickest cars I’d ever handled. After having rendered control to Mitch and Gabriella these past few hours, I needed to take it back, and that started now, with driving Travis’s car.
“Give me the motherfucking keys,” I growled.
With what sounded like a deep sigh of regret, he tossed them my way. I caught them easily and we both slid in the car at the same time. I turned the key and the car rumbled to life.
Travis was still shutting the passenger door when I hit the gas hard. I tore out of the police carpark, passing uniformed officers and ignoring their glares. Barely pausing to check if the road was clear, I fishtailed onto the street, heading straight for Morgan’s house.
“How did it go with Henry?” Travis asked.
I gunned the engine, shooting through an orange light. “He punched it out of his system,” I replied, running a tongue over the split in my lip. It was a throbbing reminder of Henry’s aggression.
“And the test for the roofies?”
“Positive.”
“Bitch,” Travis snarled.
The tyres spun when I took a hard left. “I backed Morgan into a corner but I never expected her to retaliate with something like this.”
“Finding out about your parents and what happened with Kelly has been a long time coming,” he repl
ied, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Being so close and getting nothing? What choice did you have?”
“Getting nothing is better than losing Grace over this,” I replied, for the first time realising just how much falling in love had changed my priorities. It wasn’t until the idea of being with Grace and building a future together was snatched away that I realised how desperately I wanted it to happen.
“You’re not losing Grace over this,” Travis vowed. “We’ll find her.”
“It’s not just about finding her,” I said, glancing across at my friend. “Grace has cancer.”
Travis muttered a quiet, “Fuck,” before tipping his head back against the seat. “How bad is it?” he asked, squeezing his eyes shut, bracing for my response.
“I don’t know,” I replied, feeling my control start to slip just thinking about it. “I found out last night and fucking lost it. You saw me. What would you do if you found out Quinn had cancer?”
His eyes opened and he paled, looking like the idea made him want to puke. “I’d lose it.”
“Exactly,” I replied as I spun the wheel, careening into the street that would lead us to Morgan’s house. “So I can’t talk about it right now. I can’t even think about it. I need to focus on the now and getting Grace.”
I slowed down, taking in the surroundings as we passed by her house. It would be dusk soon, yet the interior was dark, not lit up like the neighbouring houses. She could’ve been lying low, but I didn’t believe it. The house was empty. An unmarked police car sat further down, keeping watch for her return.
“Call Seth. Get him to put Beck out here on surveillance again,” I told Travis. “He’ll do a better job than these clowns,” I added when we drove by the unmarked car.
Travis began dialling and I hit the gas, roaring away from Morgan’s house with satisfying speed. Travis glanced behind us before turning his gaze to me. “Where are we going? We could at least search her house and see if we find anything.”