Flash thought about it. "Yeah, you're right. He's too smart for that."
"He wouldn't be as big as he is if he wasn't." I walked back and forth in the lounge. He had my daughter. He had my woman. Gigi. Jamie. Every beat of my heart had their names on it. I couldn't stand not knowing where to go.
I grabbed my keys from the bar. "Come on. I have to do something."
Flash followed me. "What if he calls here?"
I thought about it. "He could get my cell number from Jamie. If he wants to find me, he'll figure something out." We climbed on our bikes. Headlights filled the parking lot, and I turned around. There was a cab pulling up. I reached behind me, feeling for my gun just in case. Who knew what sort of games The Scarecrow played?
The door opened.
Rae stepped out.
I didn't relax when I saw it was her and not some enforcer. "Get outta here!" I roared. My hand was still on the gun.
"Please, please. I gotta talk to you." She sent the cab away.
I laughed bitterly. "I don't know why the fuck you just sent him away, because I don't wanna have anything to do with you."
She looked dejected. Good. I wanted her to. She should have. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Huh? Why would you come here?"
"Man, relax. She might have some info for you." Flash put a hand on my arm, the one behind me. "Steady."
I let go of the gun, and he dropped his hand. He was right. She was the only person who might be able to tell me something that could help. Otherwise, I was totally screwed. "What do you want?" I asked. My voice was quieter.
"I wanna help find her."
"Them. You wanna help find them."
"Them?" She looked at me, then Flash.
"Jamie. Gigi's teacher. He took her, too."
"What?" Rae covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh no. Jesus."
"Yeah. You know her, huh? Anyway, they're both gone. Because of you."
"Lance, please. Come on. I came here to help."
"How can you help?" Flash asked.
Rae opened her mouth like she was about to say something, then closed it.
I shook my head. "She can't. She doesn't know shit. She only came here so we would protect her." I got on the bike, ready to ride away. "She already did enough damage."
"I can help, I swear!" I could hear her over the engine.
"Lance, wait." Flash stopped me again. He asked Rae, "What do you know?"
"I know where Scarecrow does all his deals."
That was enough to stop me. I turned off the engine. "Where?"
She paused again. "Will … will you help me? Like, if you find him … will you help protect me from him?"
I knew it. I laughed, shaking my head. She was fucking insane. "Rae, if I find him, there won't be anything to worry about by the time I'm finished. You better start talkin'."
She nodded. That was good enough for her. "There's a motel on the highway. North of here. Almost nobody ever goes there."
I thought I knew which one she meant. "The one that looks abandoned? The sign is broken?"
"Yeah, that's the one."
I saw it all the time. It used to have a big sign you could see from miles away. All that was left was a metal frame-the glass and light bulbs were gone.
"You know which room he uses?"
"Yeah. Room two thirteen. I've been there."
"I'm sure you have." She still made my skin crawl. "You said he makes his deals there?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Drop offs, sales."
"Sales of people, you mean?"
She looked at the ground. Who the hell was she? She knew about this shit, and she never did anything about it. I stared at her. She wouldn't look at me. At least she still knew she should be ashamed of herself.
"And this is where he'll be now? You know it?"
"He doesn't use any other place. That's it. Out of the way, not a lotta people there. He can do what he wants."
Flash and I looked at each other. "It's as good a shot as any," he said.
I didn't need to think about it. It was about a half hour up the interstate. I was sure I could make it in less time than that.
"Get everybody together, I want them all there."
Flash nodded, and I took off. I didn't look at Rae when I did-I might have run her down. She wasn't even a person to me anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jamie
The ride to the motel was the longest half hour of my life. I was terrified that I wouldn't get there in time to help Gigi. God, if he let anybody hurt her … ! How many people were there? What were they doing to her? I felt sick just thinking about it.
I couldn't think that way. I told myself not to. She would be just fine. I would get to her in time, and she would be all right. I would find a way.
How, though? How would I get her away? What did I have that he would take? Money? Sure, I would give him money. Every last cent I had, and that was saying something. My parents had left me fairly well-off. I'd hand over the keys to my house, even. Anything it took to get her away from him.
But even then, was that a guarantee that he'd let her go? No. It was a sobering reality to come to. I couldn't be sure he'd keep his word.
Then what? I glanced at my bag, wondering if I should call Lance. I wanted to, but was afraid he'd go to the motel and cause an even bigger problem. What if The Scarecrow saw him coming and killed Gigi because I went against his orders? What if he killed us both? Me, I wouldn't care about, but I couldn't put Gigi's life in danger. She was already in enough trouble.
Calling Lance was out, then. I couldn't worry too much about it. The man probably only wanted money. He was a businessman, just like Lance had said earlier.
Why did I leave her? Why? Who was stupid enough to let her go? I would have died before I let anybody take her. It didn't make sense, all those people at the clubhouse and not one of them could stop a little girl from being kidnapped? I doubted he'd come in with an army-I didn't think drug dealers exactly traveled in packs.
So who was it? Which member of the club let her go? I didn't want to consider that any of them could be part of it. No way. The guys loved Lance, and I saw the way they acted around Gigi. They treated her like gold. There had to be something else happening. Maybe he'd been watching, waiting for the right moment. He'd seen Lance leave, I guessed. He knew she would be less heavily guarded. Heck, he might even have seen me leave, too.
The right moment wouldn't have come for him if I hadn't been sitting around my house in my bathrobe.
I screamed in frustration, wishing I could take it all back. That I could turn back time and not make such a huge, selfish mistake. To think, I wanted to take care of that little girl. I told myself I was best for her. Had I made the best decision in the moment? No. I'd only thought about myself. I wasn't fit to take care of anyone.
I had to make it up to her. My foot lowered nearly to the floor as I sped up, racing for the motel. Praying I'd get there before anybody hurt Gigi.
I turned into the parking lot, relieved at finally arriving. The asphalt was cracked, filled with potholes and weeds. It didn't look like anybody used the place, but there were a few cars here and there in the parking lot, and a few lights. Still, out of the dozens of rooms, only three or four were taken. I wondered at the seediness of it, trying not to imagine the sort of things that went on there. A whole other world, like Lance had talked about in his office. What did you do when you learned there was another world out there, one you didn't even know about? Had I been driving past the motel at any other time, I wouldn't have glanced in its direction, much less considered the lives of the people staying there. Or just passing through. How many stories like mine were playing out at that moment? I shivered at the thought.
Room two thirteen, he'd said. I looked for it in the dim light coming from the only working fixture in the parking lot. It was also the only room with a light in the window on the first level. I parked the car, my heart pounding. I felt sick to my stomach, the cereal I'd eaten threatening to come back up. I couldn't sit staring at the room forever, but I dreaded going in. I dreaded what I would see.
There was no avoiding it. I pulled my purse out with me and slammed the car door shut. Might as well announce my presence.
I couldn't help thinking about something similar. When I'd approached the door to the clubhouse, looking for Jamie. Had that really only been four days earlier? To think, I thought they were the threat to her. I'd had no idea. How naïve could a person be? It seemed unthinkable that I didn't know how much evil there was in my town.
"You can do this," I whispered, raising my hand to knock on the door. I pounded with the side of my fist, acting braver than I felt.
Movement behind the door. I held my breath. Please let her be okay. Please don't let him hurt her. Please let her be okay. The door swung open.
"So. You're the great Jamie." His voice dripped condescension.
"Yeah, that's me." I couldn't get a good look at him, backlit as he was by the lamp inside the room. "And you're The Scarecrow."
"You got it." We stood there for a moment, looking at each other. I saw his eyes. His dark, angry eyes. Then my eyes shifted, and over his shoulder, I saw a bed. And Gigi. She was dressed, thank God.