“Grace.”
“Why didn’t you tell me another girl has gone missing? Why didn’t you tell me it was Kayleigh Logan?”
I heard Alex suck in a breath just as Will stepped out to meet me. Will’s eyes raked over me as I stood there with the phone pressed against my ear. Suddenly, his lips were pressed in a thin, sharp line and I knew he wasn’t happy. From the sound of Alex’s sharp breathing, it was apparent that he wasn’t, either.
“Did Sampson tell you about Kayleigh?”
“Of course he did. You and me and Will are supposed to be working together on this, Alex. How are we supposed to do that if we’re not sharing information?”
“Actually, Lawson, me and Romero are working on this case. I don’t know what you and Will are doing, and frankly, I don’t care. I’ve got two missing girls to find.”
I could hear him pull the phone away from his ear and something inside me swelled and broke. “Bud Hastings.”
He paused. “What?”
“You need to be looking for Bud Hastings. He’s the janitor at Mercy.”
I could hear the sound of shuffling paper on Alex’s side. “We interviewed him. He’s got an alibi for the time Alyssa went missing. And, actually, for Kayleigh’s, too. He’s on sabbatical. So thanks, but—”
“Where?”
“What?”
“Where did Bud Hastings go on his sabbatical? Do you know? Because Will and I are at his apartment right now and Bud’s not here, but pictures of four teenage girls are—and two of them have gone missing.”
“Lawson.” I could tell Alex was gritting his teeth by the tight, stiff way he said my name. “We’re handling it.”
“Not well enough, you’re not.”
I hung up the phone and jammed it in my pocket while Will stared at me for a moment of stunned silence. Slowly, a sly, impressed grin slid over his face.
“For some reason, I’m incredibly attracted to you right now.”
I wanted to grin despite our dire circumstances. My pants also seemed to have no conscience as I felt the desperate need to take them off.
“No,” I said as much to Will as to myself. “We’re getting Alyssa and Kayleigh back. Then we’re stringing up Bud by his sicko neck.”
“I don’t understand why he’d take another girl right now.”
I pointed upward. The moon was hanging low over the bay, an enormous silvery orb half sliced by the night. “That’s why.”
Will’s gaze followed mine and he let out a low whistle. “The seventh day of the moon cycle.”
I gaped. “What?”
Will pointed. “The moon is half full on the seventh day of the moon cycle.”
My insides went to liquid. “The seventh day. He wasn’t holding the girls for seven days, he was waiting for the seventh day of the moon cycle.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“It means that Alyssa and Kayleigh are running out of time.”
“Can’t you go any faster?” I growled as Nigella huffed her way through town.
“First of all, we’re going fast enough. And second of all, we don’t even know where Bud is.”
“But we do know that Miranda is in danger. Whatever Bud us going to do, he’s going to do tonight. Go, Will!”
My heart was banging through my rib cage by the time we turned the corner. I had the car door open and my feet on the ground before Nigella sputtered to a full stop. Everything inside me was firecrackers as I listened to the soles of my shoes slap the concrete, then take the inside stairs two at a time.
“Miranda! Miranda!” I was huffing and out of breath by the time I crested the third-floor landing; I could feel the heat well in my cheeks as I gasped.
“Oh my God,” Nina said, flinging the door open. She sped out into the hall and crushed me to her, pulling me through the door. “Running for your life?”
“No,” I gasped, doubling over with my hands on my knees. “Just running. Where’s Miranda?”
“She’s with Vlad,” Will said calmly, coming through the front door.
“What?”
He held up his cell phone. “While you were busy on your sprint I called Nina, who told me that Miranda was no longer at the apartment, as she has gone off with Vlad.” He gave the phone a little shake and shot me the most annoyingly self-congratulatory grin I had ever seen.
I swore to myself I would pummel him if I were ever able to catch my breath again. “Okay, so we know Miranda’s safe. Well, safe enough. What now?”
“Fallon.”
I felt instantly guilty for not springing into the same, lung-exploding action over her.
“We’re not entirely sure these girls are in danger
My stomach burned at the mention of Alex—even more so at the idea of Alex listening to anything I said.
“And then you should take a nap. Yes?”
I started. “Wait, what? A nap?” I said, frowning. “I’m not a child. Why are you treating me like a child? I found the clue that cracked this case wide open.”
Will crossed the living room in two quick strides and gave me a soft pat on the head. “Of course you did.”
“I’m going after Bud. Now.” I took a step forward, but Will caught me and held me a hairsbreadth from him. I was staring into his eyes; I could smell the slight scent of mint on his breath. My heart thumped. My nipples sprung to attention, and I vaguely wondered if I would ever be able to be aroused in circumstances that didn’t include a possible serial criminal or imminent danger.
“Let Alex handle it.”
He gave me a peck on the forehead and sauntered out the door.
Chapter Seventeen
I could feel Nina’s eyes on me, and when I turned she had her arms crossed in front of her chest, one hip cocked, and an expression on her face that meant she was about to shake up the world. “You’re not planning on taking any kind of nap, are you?”
“Oh, so you’ve met me before.”
She grinned. “Okay, out with it. I need to know what harebrained scheme I’m going to have to pull you out of. You’re my commodity, you know.”
“Is this about my underwear again?”
Nina rolled her eyes and straightened her directorial beret. “No, this is about you being my star for the UDA commercial.”
I gave her a once-over, for the first time that night taking in her knee boots, jodhpurs, and the enormous ecru scarf knotted around her neck. “Nice outfit.”
“You’ve got to dress the part to be the part,” she said with a slick, fang-bearing grin. “Or fake it ’til you make it.”
I wrapped a piece of hair around my finger. “Fake it ’til I make it, huh? Yeah, yeah, Neens, you’re totally right. I don’t need to wait for Will. I don’t need to take a nap. And I sure as hell don’t need Alex. All I need are his files.”
