“Fuck,” I groaned and sucked in lungfuls of air even as I pushed my body faster.
Why hadn’t I learned my lesson in August and worked on my stamina?
My cute furry boots skidded on the wet concrete as I slowed to take the corner. I know the alley opened to a private lot for the downtown businesses, which butted up to the street that ran parallel to Main. If he had a car waiting for him back here, I’d lose him for sure.
“Stop—”
Something struck me from behind, and I fell to my hands and knees. Pain radiated from the center of my back, and the skin on my palms burned from landing on the concrete.
“Whore,” a voice hissed from behind me.
I turned to look over my shoulder and met the dead-eyed stare of my attacker.
“Hello, Granddad.”
Chapter 31
Gray
I gave Ruby a ten-minute reprieve before I excused myself from the group and headed downstairs to the coffee shop. Fika was quiet when I exited the shared back stairway, which wasn’t uncommon. Freja Strauss had opened her shop only a few months ago, and she still had yet to get a foothold with the locals. Freja was a master baker and made an awesome cup of coffee. It would only be a matter of time before she found her niche.
“Hey Freja,” I called as I approached the counter. “Have you seen Ruby?”
“We just got done with a big group of tourists. I think I saw her standing by the flyers,” the cafe owner replied.
“Kitty, did you see Ruby?”
The teenager stopped wiping down a table and turned to us. “Uh, is that the redhead chick that booked it out of here like ten minutes ago?”
Booked it?
“About 5’4”. Curvy. Wearing dark jeans and a red sweater with white polka dots,” I said. “She came down for a coffee.”
“Yeah, that sounds like her. She was standing by the window when we had all those German tourists. Then suddenly she gets a weird look on her face and runs out the door.”
My heart leaped into my throat. “Which way?”
“Uh left, I think?”
“Fuck,” I swore as I ran toward the door. “Tell Hunter upstairs that something’s up with Ruby.”
“Who?”
“Blonde guy. Upstairs!” I yelled as I burst through the door and turned left.
I narrowly avoided a couple laden down with shopping bags as I sprinted down the street. The only things that were down this way were a few more shops and the city parking lot that was attached to the visitor’s center.
“Ruby!”
I skidded on some black ice as I ran to the end of the block and turned right toward the lot. I scanned the area for a red sweater or a mass of auburn hair, but I saw nothing but cars and a few tourists milling about the area.
“Ruby!”
Nothing.
I had nothing to go on. No idea which way she’d gone or why she’d run. My heart was thundering in my chest, and the blood roaring in my ears muffled the sounds of activity in the parking lot. A few people had turned to stare at me, but I didn’t care.
I heard running behind me, and I spun, ready to face whatever was coming my way.
“Woah! It’s just me,” Hunter said as he skidded to a stop with his hands held up. “What’s going on?”
“Ruby ran out of the cafe. The barista said she came this way, but I can’t see any sign of her,” I explained in a breathless rush. “Hunt, we gotta find her.”
“Okay. You head that way. I’ll go over here and talk to these people. We’ll see if anyone’s seen her.”
I stalled him with a hand on his chest. “Hunt, I can’t—”
“Don’t. Don’t even entertain the idea. Just go over there and start looking.”
We canvassed the area, stopping people and asking if they’d seen Ruby or anyone looking suspicious in the parking lot. After twenty minutes, we still had no signs of Ruby, and there were no other people in the area to question.
The dread in my stomach felt like a stone weighing me down.
“I called the cops,” Hunter said as he walked up to me at the edge of the lot.
“She’s not answering her cell,” I replied.
Light snow was falling, and the wind had kicked up. A major storm was predicted to hit the area the following day. I hoped it hadn’t arrived earlier than expected. It would only hinder our search.
“We have to assume she saw someone and chased them down.” Hunter looked around at the lot again. “Do you think it could have been Pearl?”
“Maybe?” I said and ran a frustrated hand through my hair. “I can’t think of who else would make her bolt like that.”
“Well ... she chased after that bunny ...”
“Don’t,” I cut him off. “Don’t downplay this. Her mom is missing, and the barista said she left the cafe in a hurry. This isn’t some silly rescue mission like the bunny.”
Hunter held up his hands. “Okay. Okay. I won’t mention it again. Let’s just go back to the coffee shop and wait for the cops.”
“I’m not leaving here. This is where she ran. There has to be an answer nearby.”
“Okay,” Hunter agreed in a quiet voice. “I’ll go meet them and bring them here.”
U
Luck was on our side for once. The deputies that responded to the call were Liam Van Ess and Sadie Douglas, the only two deputies who had volunteered to search for Pearl.
“Grayson,” Liam said. “How are you doing?”
“How do you think?” I shot back.
The deputy grimaced. “Yeah, shit. Sorry.”
“Hunter brought us up to speed,” Sadie added. “But could you tell us your version of events?”
“Sure.”
In as concise a manner as possible, I told them what had occurred over the last hour. To their credit, Liam and Sadie asked pointed questions and even took notes. Neither of the deputies seemed to think my concern was unwarranted.
“No response on the cell?” Liam asked,
“None,” I replied. “And now it’s going straight to voicemail like the phone’s been turned off.”
“Did she have her car?” asked Sadie.
I shook my head. “We drove together in my truck.”
“And where’s that?” she asked.
“Parked in the private business lot behind the old bank building,” I replied. “We always park in the visitor’s spot for Natalie’s office.”
“Have you checked there?” Liam asked.
“Yes,” said Hunter. “I checked it out. There was nothing around the truck and no sign of Ruby.”
“How about you and I go check once more while Sadie and Gray go up and talk to the others?” Liam said to Hunter as he flipped his notebook closed and put it in his pocket.
“We need to do something,” I said, my frustration threatening to boil over. “Her mom’s been missing since August, and now Ruby’s gone. This isn’t a coincidence.”
“We don’t think it is,” agreed Liam. “But we have to do this right. We can’t afford to miss a single thing.”
What he didn’t say, but I understood inherently, was that time was not on our side. The longer we took to search, the harder it would be to pick up Ruby’s trail.
“Fine. But if your department fucks this up as much as they’d fucked up the search for Pearl, I promise you I will do everything to make sure everyone in your office is held accountable.”
“I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure that doesn’t happen,” replied Liam.
U
Ruby
“Ruby … Ruby, sweetheart. Wake up.”
The sound of my name being called, penetrated the fog in my brain. I groaned and slowly cracked an eye open.
“Ruby!” The voice sounded familiar and insistent.
“Wha—” M
y tongue felt thick in my mouth, and I tried to swallow several times to rid myself of the feeling.
“Ruby, don’t go back to sleep.”
“I’m not,” I slurred.
I reached up a hand to my aching head but was stopped short by some chain or something around my wrist. Panic surged, and I tugged against the restraint. “What the fuck?” I cried.
“Shhhhh. He’ll hear you.”
“Who?”
“Daddy.”
My blood turned to ice at the memory of running down the street toward the retreating back of my grandfather.
“He fucking kidnapped me?” I said in a hushed yell. “That fucking lunatic kidnapped me?”
“And me,” answered the voice in the darkness.
Finally it registered. “M-Mom?”
“Yeah, baby. It’s me.”
Tears streamed from my eyes, and a rush of relief washed over me. “Mom, we thought you were dead.”
“No, baby, I’ve been here the whole time,” she said in a tone that sounded desolate.
“What the fuck? Why?”
“I don’t know. I think he’s fallen off the deep end,” Mom said. “He claims he’s going to ‘save’ us all.”
My heart felt like it would beat out of my chest and the aches and pains from my fall made themselves known again. I shifted my body, trying to test the limits of my restraints. As I moved, I could feel that I was lying on a bed or a cot. My hands were chained above my head, with my ankles tied to the corners.
“Has he hurt you?” I demanded.
“Except for the occasional backhand? No. He’s never been the physical type in his anger. He prefers to torture me with crazy sermons.”
“Jesus ...”
“Don’t let him hear you say that. You know how he hates people that take the Lord’s name in vain,” Mom warned. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“A little sore. He knocked me down when I chased him. I think he must have hit me on the head to subdue me too. How the fuck can an old man like that be so strong?”
“Years of physical labor and a fuck ton of crazy.” We shared a small chuckle, and it felt good to find a piece of humor in our current situation. “Ruby … the girls?”
“They weren’t with me when he took me,” I assured her. “I was in town for a meeting with my lawyer. They’re safe at a friend’s house.”
“Not Ida. He’d kill her if he—”
“No!” I rushed to assure her. “Melanie and Jeff Mason.”
“Jeff? Jeff has my babies?”
“Yeah … is that …. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, it’s fine. He’s a good man. He’ll keep them safe.”
“Yes. When you went missing, a lot of people stepped up to help us out, Mom.”
She gave a soft sound that sounded like a sigh and a sob mixed. “Good. I’m glad the idiots in this town could finally pull their heads out of their collective asses.”
“Oh, there are still some assholes. But yeah. We’ve got good people helping us.”
“Good,” she whispered.
Before I could ask her how Granddad had kidnapped her and hidden her for months, the sound of movement above us stopped me.
“Is that him?” I breathed.
“Yes,” mom said just as quietly. “If you can, pretend to sleep. Maybe he’ll leave us alone.”
I shifted on the bed and tried my best to calm my breathing into a pattern that seemed like sleep. I heard several locks being opened, then the creak of hinges as a door was opened.
I heard his raspy breath as he slowly descended the stairs. Maybe he’d been injured too. If he was weakened, I could exploit that to get my freedom. If I could also get Mom free from her chains, we’d have an even better chance. But I didn’t know the lay of the land yet. I didn’t even know where we were. I closed my eyes to slits, allowing only the tiniest space to remain open just in case he turned on a light.
“Hello, daughters,” the psycho that was my grandfather crooned. “Time for church.”
Chapter 32
Gray
Three hours.
Ruby had been missing for three goddamned hours, and I was still locked in the conference room at Natalie’s office. I paced the room like a caged animal, threatening and demanding to be released. Each time I moved to leave Hunter blocked my way.
“Calm down. Let the police handle this,” Hunter soothed for the hundredth time.
“You want me to calm down? You were the one that found the blood, Hunter. How can you ask me to calm down?”
“It was a small pool of blood, nowhere near a lethal amount,” he said in a reasonable tone. “We don’t even know it’s hers.”
“What else could it be? There was a goddamned brick and a pool of blood. If that wasn’t from Ruby, this town has more fucking problems than we realized.”
“Gray,” Ida called from the couch in the corner. “Come sit with me.”
She used her librarian’s voice, so I obeyed readily. As soon as I sat next to her, she took my hand in both of hers. The soft papery feel of her skin was oddly comforting, so I placed my other hand on top of hers, linking us together completely.
“Liam is a smart boy and an honest man,” Ida said in a quiet voice. “He’s not like Mooney or some of those other lackeys on the force. He’ll do everything in his power to find our Ruby girl.”
“I need to do something, Ida. I can’t just sit here and wait for news. I should be out there looking for her.” My throat felt thick with emotion, and I was barely able to get the words out. I didn’t know if I could keep it together much longer.
“Let Liam and Sadie do their job. I know you have some skills too, but we need your strength here. We need it for the rest of us.”
“Okay,” I agreed, though it felt wrong. “For you, Ida, I’ll stay.”
Before Ida could say anything more, the door to the conference room burst open, and Annika stormed in, phone in hand. “I need a laptop.”
“Here, use mine,” Natalie said and spun the computer on the table toward the journalist.
Annika sat down and started typing furiously on the keyboard. “I just got off the phone with my friend in dispatch,” she said, not looking up from the screen. “Liam and Sadie have cleared both Ruby’s trailer and her mom’s cabin. They’re on their way now to question the granddad.”
“He’s been questioned about Pearl before,” I said. “They got nothing from him and found no signs of Pearl around the house.”
“They’re not going to his house. They’re going to his fishing shack.”
“What?” Nearly every single person in the room said at once.
Annika looked up and grinned. “Apparently, the old man has owned a fishing shack for years on Turtle Lake just outside the border to the state forest.”
“There’s nothing on that side of the lake,” muttered Natalie. “I should know my family has a rental on that lake.”
“There’s nothing new on the lake,” replied Annika. “Because you’d have to go through the state land to get to the small piece that’s still privately owned. But they grandfathered in a few properties that have been there since the fifties. Including a small shack owned by Mr. Silas McLean.”
“Well then, let’s go,” I said as I jumped from the couch. Renewed hope had my heartbeat thundering in my chest. “One of you locals need to drive me over there.”
“No, Grayson,” said Natalie. “Do not interfere in this investigation. If not for the sake of Ruby, then for the sake of the people that love you both.”
“If you go there now and interrupt Liam and Sadie, we could lose any chance of finding Ruby,” added Ida.
“If you absolutely need to get out of here, I’ll drive you to Jeff and Melanie’s, and you can sit with the girls while we wait,” said Hunter. “It’s been a lo
ng couple of days. They haven’t seen you much. I bet you’d feel better if you saw them.”
Hunt was right. We’d gone straight from our weekend getaway to organizing the search party for Pearl. Though we’d been back for three days, I could count on one hand the number of hours I’d spent with Rayleigh and Britnee. Jeff and Melanie had gone over and above the call of friendship to keep the girls with them and put all of their other holiday plans on hold. Their generosity had been easy to take advantage of, and now I felt like shit for not noticing it before.
“You’re right,” I said to Hunt. “Let’s go.”
As soon as I walked into the Mason’s house, the girls jumped up from their pile of toys in the living room and wrapped my legs up in tight hugs. Their happy faces made tears burn at the back of my eyes, but I blinked them away as quickly as possible.
“Gray!”
“Gray, come look! We made a house with our blocks!”
Jeff and Melanie had confirmed on the phone before we arrived that neither of the girls knew that Ruby was currently missing. While I appreciated their decision to spare the kids, I was now faced with the dilemma of how to proceed.
“That sounds awesome,” I said and squatted down to look both of them in their eyes. “Let me talk to the Masons first, and then I’ll check out your cool house.”
The girls scampered off, and I met Jeff, Melanie, Hunter, and Lucy in the kitchen.
“Any word?” Jeff asked.
“None yet,” I replied. “But the consensus is he’s the most likely suspect.”
Melanie gave a little shiver. “He used to terrify me at school when he was the janitor.”
“Me too,” agreed Jeff. “He was always listening to that Christian radio station and muttering about ‘sins’.”
“But why kidnap his own daughter?” Lucy looked baffled. “What could he possibly hope to accomplish?”
“Ruby mentioned something after she got the restraining order about him wanting to ‘save’ her mom and the girls,” I said.
“You don’t think he’d come here, do you?” Melanie asked and put a hand on Jeff’s arm. “Those babies aren’t in danger, are they?”
“No,” Jeff assured and covered her hand. “No one outside of our little group knows they’re here.”
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