by Bella Jewel
Smart, crazy woman.
“Meet you at the garage in ten.”
I hang up and turn to Lucy, who is puffing from climbing all over Indi’s house like a Russian spy. She exhales and fans her face, “She definitely isn’t in here, honey.”
“We’re going to the garage to look through some records, see if we can find a family member.”
“Good idea!”
We both get into the car and drive over to Rumblin’ Knights. When we get inside, everyone is already here. Lincoln, Shania, Damon, Slater and Ellie. They’ve got Indi’s employee records out on the table, searching through them. Lincoln runs his finger down the page, searching for information.
“Fuck,” he growls.
“What is it?” I ask, moving closer, desperate to see.
Honestly, I’m desperate, period.
I don’t know what’s happening to Finn right now. I don’t even know if we’re over reacting. Maybe he’s just helping her out and everything is fine. Either way, we’d be fools not to say anything. It has been well over a day, and nobody has heard anything outside of the strange text the guys all got.
“She has a name, but no address or phone number. The other receptionist mustn’t have checked it before she left. Fuck sakes.”
“What’s the name?” Ellie questions. “Maybe we can track it down.”
“Rose Shackles, whoever the fuck that is,” Lincoln mutters. “There are probably hundreds of them in this city.”
“Rose Shackles,” Damon says, narrowing his eyes. “As in the Rose that Finn dated for a month or so in high school?”
“Finn dated a Rose?” Lincoln says, looking to Damon.
“Yeah, briefly. Don’t remember much about her, but I know they went out for a bit. Not sure if he ever even brought her home.”
“So, this Rose,” I say, confused as all hell. “She’s Indi’s emergency contact?”
“Yep,” Lincoln mutters.
“Anyone else getting an eerie feeling right about now?” Lucy mutters.
“Yep,” Slater nods.
“So, wait, there’s a chance that Indi knew Finn, way back when, through whoever this Rose woman is? All of this…it could have been…some sort of set up?”
My mind is spinning, even as I say the words.
“Startin’ to look a fuckin’ lot like it is,” Damon growls. “I swear to fuckin’ God if that psycho hurts him, I’ll take her down myself.”
We all turn and stare at Damon. He is always, without a doubt, the cool calm and collected one. I guess his brother means a hell of a lot more to him than he lets on.
“So, how do we find this Rose? Like you said, there could be hundreds of them with the same name?” Ellie asks, pondering it.
“Facebook,” I say. “We find her on Facebook.”
“Good idea,” Damon says, pulling out his phone. “I’d know her face, even after this long.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Lucy pipes up. “I’ll check other platforms, see if I can pull up pictures.”
We all start hunting around for the Rose Shackles we’re looking for. We show a few pictures to Damon, but he shakes his head. Finally, after about ten minutes, he finds one and yells, “I got her!”
We all rush over, and he turns the phone towards us, showing a pretty woman who doesn’t look like Indi at all, with a husband, on beach somewhere.
“I’ll message her, see if I can get an address. Or at least, get some information as to where Indi might be.”
Damon types out something to the mysterious Rose, and we all wait, desperate. I pull out my phone again, and dial Finn’s number. Off, as always. Frustration bubbles in my chest. I want to know where he is. I need to know if he’s okay.
“What if…” Slater mutters, then shakes his head.
“What if what?” Ellie asks him.
“What if Finn is actually with Indi by choice? Here we are runnin’ around acting like he’s been kidnapped, when he’s probably taken her away somewhere and this is all a big fuckin’ over reaction. Gotta be some way we can go in without lookin’ stupid.”
My heart twists.
What if Slater is right? What if Finn did decide to give Indi a shot, and took her away somewhere?
Is this an overreaction?
Are we grasping at straws?
The idea that he’d do that, hurts me more than I’d like to admit. But Finn was a well-known player, and maybe, just maybe, he hasn’t been telling the truth.
Still, even though the ache in my belly, I can’t give up on him. Because if he hasn’t done anything, and this isn’t an overreaction, then we need to find him. I’d never forgive myself if I stopped now, and something happened to him.
“Even if it is,” Lucy says, before I can speak, “are you honestly willing to take that chance? Does your gut tell you that we’re making a mistake here?”
Slater looks to her, then shakes his head, “No, you’re right. It doesn’t.”
“She’s messaging me back!” Damon yells, causing us all to hurry closer again. Damon reads his screen, and then types something quickly. “She’s calling.”
A few minutes later, his phone rings. He answers it, putting it on speakerphone.
“Rose, hi, thanks for getting back to me so quickly.”
“Damon, it’s nice to hear from you, it’s been a long time. Sorry it’s under such crappy circumstances.”
Crappy circumstances? What exactly did he ask her? Did he just get straight to the point and tell her that he thinks her sister has stolen his brother? God, that sounds so fucking bad it’s almost laughable.
Almost.
“Yeah, I’m sorry to have bothered you. But, we’re unable to find Finn. He was last with Indi, but for some reason, they’ve both just vanished. We’re concerned, as you probably would be, too. Have you got any idea where she might be?”
Rose exhales, her voice soft and drained.
“Look, Indi isn’t well. She hasn’t been well since mom died a few years ago. She’s struggled. I tried to help her, but she didn’t want any help. She ran off the rails a bit, did some drinking, took a few drugs, and overall got herself into a shitty place. I managed to get her to start talking to someone, she has problems that run deeper than I can understand. She came good for a while, but then she stopped, and I’ve had trouble keeping up with her.”
“She’s been working with my brother for a few months now, we didn’t realise she had problems.”
Damon’s voice is calm and understanding. Not at all judgmental or cruel. He’s a good guy, Damon. He’d help anyone, that’s the best part about him.
“She said she had a job, I didn’t know where. You said she is with Finn? Your brother Finn?”
“Yes.”
“Oh,” Rose says.
“Are we missing something here, Rose?”
“Indi didn’t talk to me for years because I dated Finn. She said I took him from her. She was so angry. Sure, we were young, and we all knew she had a thing for the Knight brothers, Finn most importantly, but we didn’t think it was anything more than infatuation. I finally started talking to her again, but as I said, she was having issues. I didn’t realise she’d found Finn again.”
“Not only found him but slept with him and claimed she’s pregnant with his child.”
“Oh, lord,” Rose exhales. “Indi.”
“Look, Rose, we can’t find either of them, and it’s concerning us. We’ve checked his place, and we’ve checked hers. She’s not at either one. Do you have any idea where we might find her?”
“I can give you a list of her friends, that I know of, you can try them. Her best friend lives close by with her partner, I don’t think she’d take him there, but I know where she lives. Otherwise…wait…”
She covers the mouthpiece and mutters something to what is very clearly a man in the background, then she comes back on and says, “I think she could be at my place.”
“What makes you think that, aren’t you there?” Damon questions.
&nbs
p; My heart is racing right about now.
“No, we’re overseas on a trip. I forgot, but a few years ago, I gave her a key when she needed to go in and get something. I completely forgot about it, I don’t see her much anymore. It’s possible she has taken Finn there, though how she’d manage to pull that off, is beyond me. I doubt she could transport a man around…”
“You’d be surprised,” Damon mutters. “Thanks so much for your help Rose, if you could give us your address and anyone others you might have, we’ll check it all out.”
“I’ll give you the number for her doctor, she may need help, Damon. I’ll get the next flight home.”
“I’m sorry to have bothered you on your holiday.”
Rose exhales. “That’s okay. Please, keep me updated.”
Once the call is done, Damon receives a text with the addresses.
“Let’s split up,” I suggest. “Lucy, Slater, Ellie and I will check Rose’s place. Lincoln, Shania and Damon, you guys go and check out her friends. Call with news?”
Everyone nods in agreement.
Then we get in the car and pray to fucking everything that we find Finn.
Sooner, rather than later.
~*~*~*~
“Doesn’t look like anyone is home,” Lucy says, staring at the massive, expensive house in front of us.
“No, it doesn’t,” I mutter, “but looks can be deceiving. Indi proves that point.”
“We’ll go around back,” Slater says. “You two check out the windows, knock on the door, ring the phones, do anything you can to see if you can find out if anyone is inside this place. It would have one hell of an alarm system, so we can’t exactly just break a window.”
He’s right about that, a place this big, while the owners are away, wouldn’t be without an awesome security system. So, if we’re getting in, we have to be let in.
“The only thing we can do is call out, and check around everywhere,” I say, feeling slightly deflated.
Not that Indi is going to just answer the door and be all, ‘hey guys, wow, I can’t believe you’re all here. Come in, I’ll just go untie Finn.’
Nope.
She’s not going to do that.
So, we can scream and knock all we want, if she doesn’t want to open up, she won’t.
“Can probably wait until Damon gets here and ask him to get the code off Rose,” Slater says, staring at the big house, eyes scanning every part of it. “Then I can break in.”
“She’s not going to give us a way to turn her alarm off,” I tell him. “No way. She doesn’t know us.”
“Sure she can change it,” he mutters.
“We’re wasting time arguing here,” Ellie says carefully. “Let’s split up and see if we can find anything.”
Ten minutes later, after looking where we could look, we all come up empty. There are no sounds coming from the house, a couple of lights on inside, but people always leave lights on when they go away, and all of the shades are closed. It’s no use. They’re not here.
“We’ll find him,” Lucy says, squeezing my shoulder as we stand on the front porch.
I’m starting to think we won’t. Not for a while.
She could be doing anything to him.
I don’t like it.
“Let’s go,” Slater says. “We’ll keep lookin’.”
We go to step off the porch when I notice a shoe rack. It has a heap of shoes, for both men and women, and they’re all stacked neatly. Sitting right in the middle of those shoes, are a pair of boots. I’d recognise them anywhere, because Finn left them at my door once. I had to move them because they were covered in mud. They’re his. No doubt about it. They stick out like a sore thumb, because whoever the other man’s shoes are, they’re the cleaner type, like he isn’t as rough.
The boots don’t belong.
“Wait a second,” I breathe, rushing over and grabbing them off the rack. “These are Finn’s, I know it!”
I spin around, boots in hand. “He’s in there!”
Slater looks at the boots, then to me, and growls, “Fuck this. I’m goin’ in.”
“Slater wait,” Ellie cries, “you’ll get into trouble if you break in. Plus, Rose was so nice. We can’t ruin her house.”
“I’ll pay for it,” he snaps, and then stops and looks down to Ellie, “Sorry.”
“Ellie is right,” I say, heart racing, breath coming out in short pants. “And besides, what will we do when we get in there?”
“I’ll ring her fuckin’ neck,” Slater hisses.
“That’s not going to help anyone. She’s unwell, clearly. As much as I want to strangle her, it’ll cause more problems, and Finn could get hurt, or worse. No, I think we do this the right way, make her truly think about her actions…”
“You want to call the cops,” Lucy pipes up, nodding. “I like it.”
“Not only will we not get done for break and enter, she’ll get formally charged for kidnapping. She deserves punishment, but in her state of mind, I think that’s the safest one.”
“You want me to call the cops?” Slater asks, looking more than horrified.
“Yes, Slater, I want you to call the cops.”
He goes to argue, then exhales. “Fuck me. Fine.”
He pulls out his phone, and he calls the cops.
Here goes nothing.
24
ERIN
The cops arrive no more than ten minutes later, two cars, four people. We’re still standing on the front porch, all of us desperate, wanting to bust down that door. But this is the smartest option. It’s clear Indi is unwell, there is something wrong in her mind, and we could be putting Finn in danger if we go in there. Besides that, she needs to understand her actions are wrong, and probably look at getting the help she truly needs.
We’re not the people for that.
Abusing her, or worse, will only send her over the edge.
I’m not risking that.
Not on my watch.
“We received a call that a man is being held against his will.”
The police officer that speaks, is an older man. Greying hair, slate grey eyes, but he speaks with a kind voice.
“Yes, my partner,” I say, without thought, “is in there. A girl named Indiana has him. She’s…unwell.”
“Unwell,” Slater grunts, “She’s fuckin’ crazy.”
“And you’re sure she’s got him here?”
We all glance over again at the big house. “No,” I tell the officer. “No, I’m not sure. But I’d nearly bet money on it.”
“Okay,” The officer says, turning to the other three. “Two around back, we’ll go through the front.”
They move quickly, knocking and calling out, tapping on windows, but when they get no response, they move to doing the only thing they can to get into the house, and that is busting the front door down like it’s the easiest damned thing they’ve ever done. I wish I knew how to do that. They made it look badass.
Once inside, the alarm does indeed go off, sending a high-pitched scream through the house.
One officer immediately calls the security company, confirming her identity, and getting it shut off.
My ears burn after that.
If Indi didn’t know we were here before, she does now.
“Please stay here,” The officer tells us as they start looking around the house.
“Like fuck,” Slater growls, walking towards a room and swinging the door open, yelling, “Finn!”
“Can I help you, officers?”
We all spin around at the sound of Indi’s voice. It’s calm, collected, and not at all freaked out. She’s standing at the entrance to the living area wearing a robe like she’s just done showering, even though her hair is not wet.
“Are you Indiana?” The officer asks, “I’m Peter. We’ve received a call that you’re holding a man against his will, can you please confirm this?”
She’s not going to confirm that, Peter. She’s going to lie through her fucking pretty whit
e teeth.
As predicted, she gasps like it’s the most insane thing she’s ever heard and says, “Sorry, what?”
“Finn Knight,” Peter goes on. “Is he here with you?”
“Of course not. Finn dropped me off after an argument the other night, and that was the last I heard from him. You’re more than welcome to check the house,” she says, her eyes darting to me.
She’s bluffing. She’s hoping they won’t. Deep inside, she has to be shitting herself.
I glance around, and my eyes move to the kitchen, “Have someone over for breakfast, did you?”
Her eyes move to the kitchen sink, where two plates, two cups and some other dishes are stacked ready for washing.
“No,” she says quickly, “I just haven’t done the dishes in a few days.”
“She’s lying!” I snap, losing it.
I’m fucking done with this woman, and everyone else around her.
“Where’s Finn?” I demand.
“I don’t know, Erin.”
“Where the fuck is Finn?” I growl again.
“I said, I don’t know.”
“You’re fucking crazy, Indi. Where is he?”
“Maybe you’re the crazy one!” she yells.
“You fucking…”
I take two steps towards her but am pulled up quickly by Peter stepping in front of me. The other officers are still searching the house. Slater too, thankfully.
“Calm down, ma’am.”
“She’s lying,” I grind out.
“If she is, we’ll find your friend. Please, take a seat.”
Fuck no.
Lucy steps up beside me, and we watch as Peter keeps questioning Indi.
Then I hear it. Slaters voice, booming from somewhere…below us. “In here!”
I knew it.
I fucking knew it.
Indi moves fast, but Peter is faster. He grabs her, jerking her hands behind her back and cuffing her before she can even blink.
“You’re not leaving,” he says to her, his voice still calm.
“Please,” Indi begs, as we all start running towards Slater’s voice. “Please, we’re just having a bit of fun.”
I don’t hear anything else. I run towards where Slater is still calling out, down some stairs and into the basement.