Chapter 32
The sun had barely crested the horizon by the time Cade turned down Addie’s drive. An intense, internal urge had him driving a little faster than was safe on his return trip. Something tugged at him, screaming in his head that he needed to hurry, though he had no idea why. Still, the feeling was strong and insistent, and after hearing about Ted and his friends, Cade wasn’t willing to risk being wrong.
“She’s safe,” he muttered hoping to convince that inner voice telling him to go faster that everything would be all right. He murmured the same words as he repeatedly told himself to slow down. But somehow, he ended up going faster and worry weighed on him more and more as the miles passed slowly by.
The house looked empty and dead when Cade finally pulled up beside Addie’s truck. Though the only thing that hinted at something being amiss was the front door that stood wide open. In the early light, he could just make out the TV stand and part of the couch through the doorway. Fear tickled the back of his neck and his heart thudded a heavy warning. Something was very wrong. None of the lights were on, as if she’d gone back to bed after he left, but that open door said otherwise. As did her cold truck, covered with snow and still parked where it had been when he left only a couple of hours before.
Sliding out of the cab, he quietly shut the door and carefully approached the entryway. If anyone was inside, they’d probably already heard him drive up and part of him wanted to rush inside without delay, but he held back. No need to make a possibly bad situation worse by being rash.
He reached the doorway and looked inside. Nothing looked too out of place, except for a scrap of cloth that lay on the hardwood floor just inside the door. Bending, he snatched it up and turned it over in his hands. Cold swept through him and his legs turned weak when he realized the material had come from the shirt Addie had been wearing when he left earlier that morning. His hands trembled slightly as he turned it over, his mind going to all the horrible reasons such a large piece of her shirt had been torn from her body. Why did she drop it by the door? And why did she leave the door open?
“Addie!” he shouted into the house. “Addie? Are you here?” He listened intently, but no sound emanated from inside. Stepping through the doorway, he slowly, carefully searched through every room, trepidation crushing him with every minute that passed without finding her. All he found as he hunted through every room was some of her things from her closet strewn on the floor in her bedroom, her purse upended on the dining room table along with her empty wallet, and the canister of tea bags she kept in the cupboard open and spread across the counter. Though Cade found those things odd, they didn’t seem overly alarming, but still…
Why would she dump this stuff all over the place?
Standing in the kitchen, he pulled out his phone and dialed Addie’s number. It rang until it went to voice mail. He dialed two more times, praying she would answer, but each one ended the same as the first. He tried to slow his racing heart and banish the terrible thoughts of the worst possible reasons for her absence that kept crowding his mind. He couldn’t think clearly if he panicked. And if he panicked, he would let her down.
“I shouldn’t have left her,” he mumbled and shook his head, but self-blame wasn’t going to help her, either.
Ted had to be behind this. He had a good motive, but then, so did Pete’s son. The question was, which one? Or was it both? That was possible, especially since the police hadn’t managed to locate either of them. Maybe they’d teamed up to get what they wanted. Damn… That thought scared the crap out of him. “How the hell am I going to find her?”
Staring around the tidy kitchen, Cade wasn’t sure what to do next. The fear that something horrible had happened to Addie kept jumbling his thoughts. He was debating his next act when he heard a vehicle pull up outside.
Maybe she’d gotten a ride with someone. His heart leaped at the possibility even as his hand clamped around the torn piece of her shirt. He dashed through the front room and onto the front steps, hoping to see Addie’s blonde hair swirling around her shoulders as she exited a friend’s car.
Instead, he found Jorje, just showing up for work.
Cade’s heart sunk to his toes, but he wasn’t about to give up.
“Buenos dios, Cade,” Jorje said with a friendly wave, but Cade wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries.
“Jorje, have you heard from Addie this morning?”
Jorje frowned. “No. I haven’t.”
“Did she say anything to you about being gone this morning?”
He shook his head. “No, señor, she did not. Is something wrong?”
Cade swallowed hard and glanced around before his eyes settled on his friend’s face. “She’s missing.”
“Missing?” Jorje’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and then lowered in concern. “How long?”
“I left her here, in front of the house, about two hours ago. She’s not in the house, there’s no note inside, and, as far as I know, she had no plans to leave.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked back at the front door. “Plus,” he added as he waved back
