Using his key, he went inside. Clothes were strewn all over. The couch, toppled in the middle of the room, blocked his path. The television was tipped out of the entertainment center, upside down on the floor.
Jess gasped. He caught his daughter and kept her from rushing to her bedroom.
"Joey? Travis?" Silence greeted him. "Stay here."
He hurried down the hallway, checking both bedrooms. The apartment was a mess. Someone had come through and ransacked each room. Cold sweat broke out on him. Fuck.
Returning to Jess in the living room, he turned the couch and pointed. "Sit. Don't touch anything."
He went into the kitchen and called Priest. Joey understood his need to keep his family safe. She wouldn't run off to the store and leave her door open. She wouldn't be outside working on the apartments, because it was pouring rain outside.
She'd be home because he'd asked her to be home.
She'd be with Travis because she loved his kid.
She'd be cooking dinner because she took care of everyone in his family.
"Travis and Joey are missing," he said to Priest. "Who the fuck is watching the road and parking lot at the apartments?"
"I'll put a call out. Where are you now?" asked Priest.
"Home."
"We'll be there within ten minutes." Priest hung up.
He slammed the receiver down on the phone. Rage fueled his fear. If anything happened to either one of them, heads would roll.
"Dad?" Jess's voice quivered.
He stepped into the living room, spotting his daughter leaning over the back of the couch, gazing out the window. He thrust his hands through his wet hair, pushing the strands off his face. "Yeah?"
"There's a biker outside. Make that two."
"Hopefully, Priest sends the whole damn club." He went to the door.
The wind blew the rain on him. Ignoring the wetness, he stalked outside and filled Paco, Rabbit, and Razor in. Although he wanted to go out and look for them, he couldn't leave Jess alone in the apartment. Not when he had no fucking clue where the other half of his family was and why someone would ransack his place.
"Dad, Travis wouldn't run away. I made him promise never to hide and scare us, and he was serious when he said he wouldn't. He also wouldn't ruin the apartment like this." She slipped her arms around his waist. "Where do you think they are?"
"I don't know, but we'll find them." He stared over at Joey's apartment.
Each time Travis had run off, he'd found him in different areas of the city. None of them made any sense. It was almost like his son wasn't running toward something but away. Could Dean have gotten in contact with him more often than the one time he'd been caught giving Travis a ride home from school last year?
Once he thought about each time, it made sense that Travis wasn't running toward someone or something that was familiar. He was running away because he was scared.
His son wanted to live with him. Nobody could convince him otherwise. He knew his kid. Travis also loved having Joey in his life. There was nothing here that he would want to leave.
"Jess, baby?" He turned to her. "Tell me what the relationship between Dean and Travis was like before your mom died."
She curled her lip. "You know we didn't like him."
"I know that, but did Travis argue with him, stay away from him, or say anything?"
Jess looked away. "It doesn’t matter anymore. We don't live with him and mom's...dead."
He grasped Jess's shoulders. "This is important. It could help me find your brother."
"I promised him I wouldn't tell you," she whispered, tears spilling.
"Sometimes, doing what is best for someone else means breaking your word, baby. It sucks, but right now, your brother and Joey need us. I want to help him, but if I don't find out what is going through his head, my hands are tied. Now, it's cold, it's wet, and it's getting dark. I want the rest of my family home."
She wiped her face. "Travis thinks Dean killed our mom. I always tried to protect him from seeing mom when she was acting crazy. He was too young to remember what she was like when she was clean. But she wasn't always like that. When she'd go away, I'd lie to Travis and tell him she had something to do. I never let him know she stayed away because she was doing drugs. The day she died, she was acting funny the night before. I think she was on drugs when she crashed the car."
"Do you know why he'd believe Dean killed your mom?"
She shrugged. "He mentioned hearing them argue in the bedroom, but he couldn't see what they were doing. He thinks whatever happened at home killed her but I was there when the police knocked on the door a couple of days later and told us—Jess swallowed—mom crashed her car into the river."
"Okay." He kissed her forehead, wishing he could take those memories from his kids and burn them. "Okay, baby."
His thoughts sped through his head, knowing what Tarkio had told him, what Jess had told him, and piecing it all together. He paced the living room. If Dean believed Travis could point to him as murdering Claudia, he would want to silence his son.
More bikers arrived outside. He went to the door to meet them.
Frank ran to the apartment. "The first group of riders is spreading out. It's getting dark and more members are on their way. Any word?"
"No, but I need you to stay with my daughter. I'm going around and knocking on every fucking door and asking the tenants if they've seen Travis and Joey." He grabbed his leather coat.
"I can do that for you. Stay with your girl." Frank backed away.
"No, I'll do it. They know me, and won't get alarmed. The last thing I need is a bunch of people running around getting in our way." He looked at Jess. "Will you be okay?"
Jess nodded. "I won't go anywhere. Hurry, Dad."
"I
