“When did you last see her?” Coby asked.
Travis paused for a moment and rubbed his chin. “Right before the last song. She mentioned something about picking up an unscheduled delivery for Jamieson. I can’t remember her returning.”
My body began channelling vibes, really bad ones―ones that set off a churning in my stomach that wouldn’t be ignored. By the look on Travis and Coby’s face, I was not alone. Meaningful glances were exchanged before the two left the room. Finished wiping my face, I stood up to follow.
Jake, sitting to my left on the couch, snagged my wrist. “Sit down,” he growled. “You aren’t supposed to be going anywhere without either of those two.” He pushed me back down at the same time he stood up. “I’ll go.”
When Coby, Travis, and Jake eventually returned, all expectant eyes turned their way. If they were worried, they weren’t showing it.
“There are thousands of people out there,” Travis muttered. “It’s impossible.”
“Well can’t you track her phone?” I asked.
“We did. It says she’s here,” Coby answered. “We’ve organised your car. You’re all coming home with me. Casey’s on his way and Jake and Travis will stay here until we make sure she’s safe.”
“Fuck that. I’m staying. I’m not leaving without Mac.” I folded my arms for emphasise. I might not have the tracking abilities of an undercover FBI agent, and frankly, Agent Provocateur was the only type of agent that meant anything in my book, but I wasn’t leaving without Mac.
“For God’s sake, Evie,” Coby shouted out angrily, “can you just for once do what I ask of you? Do you think they can focus properly on looking for Mac if they have to worry about you bumbling around out there as well? How is that gonna help Mac?”
I hated that Coby was right, apart from the bumbling part of course. I didn’t bumble. Pressing my lips together, I began getting all our things together.
Coby visibly calmed down at what I liked to think was my Stepford Wife impersonation, and soon after, we all piled into the limousine that would take us home.
Coby was shutting the door when Travis jogged out. “Wait!” he panted, grabbing the car door and leaning in to speak to me. “Just got hold of Jared.”
My heart stuttered. I could literally feel it skipping beats. “You did? Did you tell—”
“I haven’t told him anything yet,” he interrupted, impatience to get back to badassery type things laced his voice. “He’s on his way here. I’ll talk to him, okay?”
Later that night, I pushed Mr. Chow’s around on my plate because it tasted as appealing as a mouthful of soggy broccoli. It was food wastage at its most heinous, but at that moment, my care factor was buried well below the rocky layer of the earth’s crust. I looked around the silent table to see Henry, Frog, and Cooper looking as sick as I felt. Coby was in the back office of our duplex, not even pretending to eat as his focus alternated between the computer and his phone. I gave up and shoved my plate to the centre of the table with frustration.
When my phone starting to ring and showed Jake’s name displayed on the surface, I snatched it up like a life preserver and answered breathlessly.
“Evie,” Jake responded. Nothing in his voice indicated happy rainbows and pots of gold.
To save repeating the entire conversation, I hit speaker and sat the phone in the middle of the table. “What?”
We heard muffled swearing. “It doesn’t look good. The last time Mac was sighted she was headed down to George’s gate to collect a delivery, and there’s no indication she returned.” He paused and we all heard him suck in a breath. “George has been found dead. Shot.”
“Chook?” Henry grabbed my shaking hands in his own. I could see him holding them through my blurred vision; I just couldn’t feel them. I closed my eyes.
Really? Were we all that stupid thinking I was the only ball in play? If Jimmy had Mac then I’d… I’d what? Somehow perform the miracle of finding him like no one else had managed to do? Damn it all to the great f**king fiery infernos of hell.
I abandoned the phone, the table, and the faces of worry and slipped quietly up the stairs to my bed. The urge to bust out and rain vengeance upon the man warred with the knowledge that doing so would take vital focus away from the search. I wanted to go all Rambo on the situation, strap bullet belts across my chest and line war paint across my cheeks. My only consolation was that Mac’s attitude was never say die. If she was trapped in the slippery man’s clutches, I could only hope it was after a good eye gouging and a few stabs with the nearest blunt object.
“Jake says that Travis spoke to Jared.”
I blinked my eyes open. Henry stood by the bed. His bright blue eyes were lifeless and reddened, and I wondered if this nightmare would ever end for us.
“Yeah?” I offered half-heartedly. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear any more. I’d already been laid out like Wile E. Coyote. Steamrollered to a pathetic pancake on the floor as Road Runner casually beep beeped on by.
He sank onto the bed beside me until he was on his back, folding his hands behind his head to stare at the ceiling. “Apparently, Jared didn’t say much in reply, but Jake says the two holes he punched in the wall was answer enough.”
I wished I was strong enough to hole punch a wall a two because I felt the need for a bit of redecoration myself.
When I didn’t respond, Henry continued. “Put yourself in his shoes for a minute, Chook. His little sister appears to be in the clutches of the man whose brother he shot dead. Because Jimmy spent so much of his time focused on getting you six feet under, the fact that Mac was on his radar was never an assumption. Months later, Jimmy still can’t be found, and now this has happened to make them all look like a bunch of bumbling fools who couldn’t find their own ass in the dark. Not only that, the bastard drugged you right under everyone’s nose, and after abandoning you and pretty much saying you were the crap on the soles of his shoes, it comes to light that Matt, of all people, was the one who kept you safe. As if that’s not enough, he hasn’t slept for two days straight, and is likely existing on the power of anger alone.”
Henry’s summary was enlightening, but I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with it, apart from the fleeting thought that “You’re the crap on the soles of my shoes” might make a good song. “What’s your point, Henry?”
“My point is that I’m not sure Jared’s going to be able to forgive himself. You need to know this because you’re the one who’s going to help him do it.”
I sighed and rolled over to face Henry. He rolled to face me, and I brushed at the choppy blond hair on his head. “How did you ever become such a retarded relationship bastard, Henry?”
For a brief moment, a cheeky glint lit his eyes, and he gave a mock shudder. “Because living with the two of you is enough to put any sane male off relationships for life.”
I used the hand that was brushing at his hair to shove his head. “Maybe those tight outfits you’ve been wearing mean something after all. You’re turning twinkie on us.”
“I wish. Men are such simple creatures. We just want sex. Lots of it. The end.”
“And the retarded relationship bastard returns,” I said dryly with an eye roll.
He snickered until horror filled his gaze.
I reached down to squeeze his hand in understanding. Mac was out there and we were lying here being shitty friends by making jokes, but to be honest, sometimes it was the only way to help the mind cope.
We must have dozed off into a deep sleep after that because when I woke up, Henry and I were still holding hands and the light of dawn was beginning to creep into the room. My first instinct was panic, and I swung my legs out of bed and crept down the stairs to find my phone when I heard it ringing.
I picked it up off the table where it was left last night and answered with a soft whisper, tiptoeing through the kitchen and out to the back deck so I wouldn't wake anyone.
“Hello, Evie.”
Oh fuck. “Jimmy?”
My legs wobbled and I sank into the deck chair before I ass planted on the floor.
“Twice in two days. I enjoy speaking with you,” His creepy voice ran through my body like ice water. “I won’t keep you for long. I just wanted to let you know that I have something of yours.”
Red hot rage boiled through me and the urge to throw and break things had my fingers curling into fists. Maybe Jared and I weren’t so different after all. “You f**king bastard. Where is she?”
“Relax, Evie,” he crooned. “I’m about to tell you.”
My heart thumped in my chest as I asked the question that almost had me hyperventilating. “Is she…. is she alive?”
“Of course she is. You don’t think I’d kill her, do you? Anyway, she wants to see you, so we thought we’d invite you over for coffee.”
He rattled off the address, and I struggled to memorise it as the relief thundered through me. Finally. After so long in trying to find Jimmy, I had his location in my hot little hands.
“Wait, I want to talk to her. I’m not going anywhere until I know she’s okay.”
There was crackling silence and then Mac’s bossy voice came on the line. “Evie?”
“Mac, oh, Mac, are you okay?”
“Shut up and listen to me,” she ordered. “Don’t come here, Evie. He’s just going to kill the both of us. Don’t you come here.”
I frowned into the phone, feeling sick.
“Do you hear me?” she shouted impatiently.
“Yes, I hear you, Mac.”
“Good. This is not a goddamn rescue mission, so you leave Polly alone, okay? I know you, so don’t do it. Do you hear me, Evie?” She was screaming into the phone now. “Don’t you come for me, you―”
I heard Jimmy growl. “That’s enough.”
“Goddammit,” Mac wailed in the background and my hands trembled violently when I heard a loud crack and then silence.
Jimmy came back on the line, all sense of sinister calm gone. “Get your f**king ass here now, bitch, or I’ll kill her. If you tell anyone, ring anyone, I’ll kill the both of you. I have a gun pointed at her head right now, and if I see anyone but you, I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in her brain. I’ll know if you tell anyone because her useless as f**k brothers will be over here like flies on shit, and it’ll only take one second to make the shot. Play it smart. I’m giving you half an hour.” Then he hung up.
I took deep breaths until an odd calm settled over me. It was almost like drifting at sea, no one around for miles, just the gentle lap of the ocean my only company.
Relieved to find Henry still under a deep sleep, I got dressed in the wardrobe, sliding my legs into an old worn pair of jeans and pulling a white fitted singlet top over my head. Remembering that Coby always told me my long hair could easily be used as a weapon against me, I reached up and plaited it into a quick braid before rolling it into a knot at the nape of my neck. Finished, I slid my phone into my pocket, picked up my shoes, and crept quietly into Mac’s room, a single key fisted tightly in my palm.