Bailey closed her eyes. She heard every word he’d said, but the pain from his abuse was blurring the edges of her consciousness. She opened her eyes again to meet his and mumbled, “I don’t understand.”
He laughed at her, but she couldn’t find the humor. “Remember that talk we had about consequences?” he said, pulling her hair tighter. She gave a slight nod, unable to so much as grimace. “Well, now you’re living your consequences. You’ll never find your father, and that fucker will never find you.”
“What?” she asked. Completely confused.
“I have too much riding on this, too much to lose, and I refuse to be the loser after putting up with all his bullshit over the years. I will see my payday even if it means getting rid of you first.”
Bailey flinched when Dex pulled back his fist to hit her again, but he didn’t follow through. He only laughed at her and pushed her back down onto the bed before turning back toward Snaggletooth.
As he walked away, he pulled a roll of wet bills out of his front pocket and handed them over to a pair of dirty, aged hands. “That’s half. You get the rest when it’s done.” He glanced back at Bailey then said, “Within the next couple of days, she’s going to be all over the news as a missing person. That gives you only about twenty-four hours to take care of business.”
“If you’re so set on seeing her dead, why don’t you do it yourself?” Snaggletooth scoffed. “I ain’t wantin’ to do no killing. I had other plans for the girl.”
Dex grabbed the man by his shirt, leaning down so they were face-to-face. He was easily a full foot shorter than Dex. Bailey could see them both in profile. “I told you, I have too much riding on this. We made a deal. You already agreed. Do your job.” Dex’s eyes grew wide. “If I hear one peep from this bitch, I’ll hunt you down. Do you understand me?”
Snaggletooth nodded, his dirty hair flipping around. “Yeah, man. We have a deal.” He grinned and said, “No worries, man. I got it covered.”
Dex tossed him aside and stormed out of the trailer.
Bailey laid her head down, trying to clear her thoughts. Find my father? Did he say father? Panic started to consume her, but she fought hard against freaking out. Did he have knowledge about a father she didn’t know about? She took another deep breath in an effort to remain calm and think, even though her head was on fire. She heard Snaggletooth stand and stumble around before walking outside, leaving the door to the trailer open. A few minutes later, the boat started, and Bailey prayed both her abductors were on it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ryan stared at the tile floor, not sure his mind still functioned at full capacity. It’d been over twenty-four hours. Exactly how many more, he didn’t know. He’d lost count at some point. But he knew he’d been searching for Bailey for at least that long. They were in the police station, all blurry and yawning, but completely spun on caffeine. The detective was questioning Mae again. Another detective was visiting businesses along the highway, hoping someone had seen something. They were also checking local surveillance cameras to pinpoint where she’d last been seen.
He heard the door squeak open and looked up to see Mae being escorted out by Officer Barrett. Mae’s face was flushed; it was obvious she was upset. They all stood, and Lucas stepped up, wrapping Mae in his arms.
Officer Barrett approached Ryan and his dad with a frown. “Go home,” he said. “You’re not doing anyone any good sitting around here. Take her and yourselves home and get some rest. Stay by the phone, and we’ll call when we get something.”
Ryan shook his head. “I’ll go home when Bailey comes home.” He felt a hand on his back and turned to look into his dad’s eyes.
“Let’s go, Ryan. We’re only in the way here. Let’s go take a nap then regroup, okay?”
“I’m not—”
“Mr. Walker,” Officer Barrett said in a raised voice. “Go home. We can’t get any real work done while you’re on our heels.”
This time, it was Wade’s hand that rested on his shoulder. “Let’s go, man.” He tugged on Ryan. “We’ll check in later, but we’re going to need a little rest to be useful.”
Ryan’s eyes dropped to the floor. The thought of going home without Bailey killed him. He looked up at Officer Barrett and nodded. “Thank you. Please, please call if you find anything.”
“Of course.” He handed Ryan a business card. “Call me if you find anything.”
Ryan left the police station, but no way in hell was he going home to sit and wait. He had shit to do. While his dad drove, he pulled out his notebook and started taking notes. First, make a flyer with the most recent photos of Bailey. No, no, first, call the media and try to get them to publicize her disappearance. No, wait, he needed the photos and the flyer first. So…first photos and flyers, then the media. He needed all hands on deck. He could close El Lago. They had twenty-two employees at their disposal. He could get them all out with flyers. The more hands, the better.
Bailey Mae’s had another four or five employees that could help. He could get his dad to call all their
