And it’s going to happen tonight. No one broke in and made a pentagram on Fallon’s floor. She did it. She did it for him! Look at the moon! It’s the seventh phase. They’re trying to open a portal and they need to do it tonight.”
Alex leaned back and cocked an eyebrow. “Bud Hastings is some kind of warlock?”
“Warlock?” Will thumped me on the shoulder and rolled his eyes. “Can you believe this guy?”
“Bud Hastings is taking these girls and Fallon is involved. And I think I know what this”—I waved my arms, doing my crazy best to indicate—“is all about. I think I know who the next victim is.”
Alex crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Why?”
“What do you mean why? She’s crazy? She’s the—the bad seed? Why? She just is. You have to get her!”
“These girls are her classmates. What makes you think Fallon is involved or that she’s after another girl? That’s not this perp’s pattern.”
I gaped. “Not the pattern? Kayleigh has gone missing, too, Alex.
“Will, find her!”
Alex shot out a hand and grabbed Will’s arm. “Wait a minute.”
Will started to shrug Alex off. “Don’t touch me. I’m not in your jurisdiction, either.”
“I’m going to go find Miranda and Bud.” I spun, then slapped my hands to my head. “Nina took my car.”
Will took my hand and folded his keys in my palm.
“Nigella?” I whispered.
“Just find the girl.”
My heart was slamming against my rib cage and tears were stinging at the back of my eyes. I furiously dialed Nina, Vlad, and Miranda at every stoplight, getting nothing but a busy signal, a direct to voice mail, and no answer.
“Where would he take her, where would he take her, where would he take her?” I mumbled to myself as tears flooded my vision.
“The Battery!”
Adrenaline shot through me, hot and pulsing, and I stamped my foot on the gas, blowing through a red light on Kearney, my tires squealing as I took a left on Columbus. I was trembling, using the back of my hand to push away tears as I gripped the steering wheel with one hand. I was focused on my mission, focused on getting to Battery Townsley before Miranda, Kayleigh, and Alyssa could become another set of bones, tossed like so much trash, forgotten in some godforsaken hole. The thought hit me with another round of sobs, which is why I probably didn’t notice the car inching up behind me. It may have been there when I rounded the corner, may have been waiting at the last intersection. I caught its lights—and its driver—in my rearview mirror just before I heard the metal crunch, the ear-splitting pop of windows shattering. I felt myself vault forward; my teeth chattered and my brain seemed to ramp against my skull. Something ripped across my chest and my flesh was on fire. I could taste fresh blood in my mouth, hear the squeal of tires and someone screaming.
And then everything went black.
Chapter Eighteen
Everything hurt—my eyes, my face, my stomach, my hips. My hair hurt.
“There she is.”
I blinked, the effort causing a painful spasm that reverberated through my skull. “Will?” My throat was parched and my lips felt dry and cracked. I tried to touch them with my fingertips, but a piece of tape pulled at my skin. “I can’t move. Why can’t I move?”
Will’s face came into focus. His eyes were kind, but his brows dipped down into deep Vs. “You’re in hospital.”
“You had an accident.”
I tried to sit up, tried to angle my gaze toward the other male voice. “Alex?”
“We’re all here,” Nina said, lacing her cold fingers through mine. “Will, Alex, and me.”
I looked around at my friends, a brief, warm sense of comfort washing over me. As soon as the calm feeling settled, it was chased away by a bitter cold and I sat up. “Bud! Miranda!”
Alex came over to my left side and very gently guided me back toward the pillows. “We followed up on Bud, Lawson.”
“And?”
Alex pressed his lips together, the muscle in his jaw jumping slightly. “He’s dead.”
“What?”
Alex slipped his leather notebook from his pocket and flipped it open, his ice-blue eyes going over the pages. “We found him at Battery Townsley. Someone called in an anonymous tip—they heard a gunshot.”
“But who—?”
“We’re thinking self-inflicted.”
My stomach roiled and had I been attached to a heart monitor, it would have flat lined. My eyes went from Alex to Will. “The girls?”
Will avoided my gaze. Alex swallowed hard. “We had Fallon in protective custody. She doesn’t know anything about Bud. And while we were securing the crime scene, we found Alyssa—alive—wandering in the parking lot. She was badly beaten and so far, hasn’t said a word.”
“She’s catatonic,” Will said. “They have her in the trauma ward upstairs. She didn’t even react when her parents came.”
I licked my lips. “Kayleigh?”
Alex looked down, studying the pattern on my blanket. “We haven’t found her yet. We’ve got men at Bud’s place. We’re going over it with a fine-toothed comb, trying to find the secondary location.”
I looked to Will, hopefully. “But Miranda’s okay, right? He let her go?”
Will hung his head but didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.
“We failed.” A sob lodged in my throat. “We failed all of them, Will.”
I sunk into my pillow as Will reached under the blanket, his hand finding mine and giving it a tight squeeze.
“We did the best we could.”
I snatched my hand back. “No. That’s not good enough.”
He fisted his hands, his eyes going from Alex to me. “I’m going to get you a cup of tea, okay?”
I lolled my head on the pillow, avoiding him. Nina popped off the bed. “I’ll go with you.”
Alex waited until the door closed behind them.
“I can’t believe that Kayleigh is still out there—somewhere. And maybe Miranda.”
Alex cleared his throat. “We’re not going to let this go. We’re still working,” he said. “We brought in the yearbooks you had in the back of your car.” His smile was tight. “As well as the box of files that went mysteriously missing from my office.”
I threw myself back on my pillow, tossing an arm across my forehead. “Oh! The pain!” I watched beneath lowered lashes while Alex rolled his eyes.
“Right. Anyway, I was hoping you could go through them and let me know of any other girls you think may have gone missing.”
I screwed up my brow. “You suddenly want my help? What happened to distancing yourself?” The anger was simmering in my gut, and I was mad at Alex for his continuous flip-flop behavior, at myself for not finding Bud—and Kayleigh—sooner.
“Lawson, you don’t understand.”
“No, Alex,” I said, swinging my head. “I don’t understand. Why don’t you explain it to me?”
