Outside, the sun was setting, and the temperature was dropping. Dash zipped up his jacket as he, Holden, Katie, and Mike put their heads together on the marble steps.
Dash asked, "You guys find out anything?"
Mike nodded, unlocking his phone and pulling up the email. "I listened to that recording. I can't identify the voice but listen to the background."
All Dash heard was an echoing sound. The voice was so familiar, and the way the dude breathed… "Where have I heard that before? God, I can't think…I need to think."
Dash stormed off away from the group, barreling down the stairs toward the crosswalk. He didn't know where he was going. Everyone caught up to him as he waited for the light to change.
"Have some water," Katie said, nodding toward a coffee shop on the corner. "And maybe something to eat. It might help you think."
There was no way Dash would be able to eat or drink anything before he found Harper.
He crossed the street at a run before the light changed, still unsure where he was going. Cars honked as they blew past him; a city bus almost hit him, and he darted away just in time on the opposite sidewalk. Dash had gone feral, not knowing where to
look or what to do.
He replayed the recording over and over in his mind.
Whoever was on the recording knew exactly where Katie was.
His fists balled, Dash pounded his chest as he ran.
"Idiot. Why did you leave her alone for even a second? She probably went sniffing around for that story and… Jesus. I hate this. I hate this."
He slowed down to a fast walk and tried to clear his head of his self-defeating thoughts. He tried to think of ideas as to where she might be. Who might have her.
All he was left with were thoughts about how he wished he had behaved.
Dash wished he had stopped being such an argumentative asshole with Harper much sooner. He wished they'd gotten together at a younger age, wished they had started a life sooner. Maybe they would have moved out of this hellhole neighborhood, bought a house in the suburbs by then.
Oh, but who was he kidding? Even if they had been together for years by that point, he would have zero chance of moving Harper Ross out of Dockside. She loved it there, for whatever bonkers reason.
Come on, Dash. You know the reason. That place is a part of her.
The real wish, the deep-down raw truth of it, was that he wished they'd been together all along so that he could have told her that he loved her.
And he did.
He may have cursed her name, grumbled as he watched her flit around the neighborhood promoting one cause or another. But the truth was he loved Harper. His arms hurt—actually hurt—to hold her. His world was empty without her in it. His heart thumped as if he wanted to burst outside of his body to find her heart.
As soon as he found her—and he would—he was going to tell her right away. She would know that he loved her, and he didn't even care if she loved him back. He loved her an insane amount, and he no longer cared about keeping guard of his heart.
He wanted to love her the way his dad loved his mom. Those two did not have nearly enough time to spend together in this life, and he was going to be damned if he wasted another second of his life acting too cool for anything. He loved Harper, and that was that.
He would do anything to protect her, and whoever intended her harm had better be praying to God to save their ass because Dash intended to bury it.
When Dash figured out who had taken her, he would lay him six feet deep.
He stalked down the block, aware that his friends were catching up to him.
You can't murder whoever is responsible for Harper's disappearance. Then you'll be rotting in jail for the rest of your life. Still, Mike was a fucking scary dude. Between him and Billy, maybe they would know how to make a body disappear for good. Somewhere where nobody would look. He'd heard legends of mafia guys tossing their victims into wet concrete at construction sites, their bodies never found again. He'd have to have access to some construction site with lax security first. The storm sewers would not work; a body would just show up days later in the river.
The voice of evil polluted his mind deeper and deeper the more he thought about it. He had to stop focusing on revenge and start focusing on Harper.
He replayed the recording again in his mind. "…tell that little chippy to leave it alone or end up so far underground nobody will ever find 'em."
Dash stopped dead in his tracks. Suddenly, his sixth sense woke up, and he could hear the words. He understood their meaning.
He spun around and faced Holden and Katie. "I think I know where she is."
Holden grabbed his friend by the shoulder. "What do you need us to do?"
"Call Levi and have him meet us at the sinkhole. Katie? Where's Mike?"
Just then, tires screeched as Katie's Jeep SUV came to a halt right next to them on the sidewalk. "There he is," she said calmly, hopping into the back seat. "Dash, you take the front and navigate."
As they all buckled in while Mike peeled away down the street toward the south side of the city, Dash muttered, "Gee, Holden.
