“Oh my God! Go, go, go!” I rush him out the door with a quick kiss and reminders to be careful and to call me later.
If I had known that was going to be the last time I’d kiss him, I would have lingered a little. Looked into his eyes longer, hugged him tighter. Told him I loved him. If only I knew.
Chapter Forty-Four
Jackson
When the phone rang early with a call from Mick, I immediately know something is wrong.
“Hello.”
“We got a lead,” he says as I hear him moving around. “Some girl came into the precinct last night, spinning a tale about meeting a guy and being creeped out by him.”
“Okay. You think it’s connected?”
“Not only do I think it’s connected, but I also think he’s the guy. She kept saying he tried pushing her to take a pill to relax. When she fought him on it, he got pissed off and started yelling at her.”
I start hurrying around the room, quickly pulling out the clothes I’m going to wear.
“Where was this?” I ask as I pull a T-shirt on.
“At the fucking mall. It must be their playground. Scan the area, pick out a girl, and then approach her.”
“Getting in the car in five. Meet you there.”
I run downstairs, looking in the kitchen at my girl cooking her eggs and buttering toast.
“Sorry, angel, gotta go. We got a lead on Lori.”
My girl has the heart of a saint, more worried about anyone else but herself.
“Oh my God! Go, go, go!” she says as she rushes me out the door with a quick kiss, telling me to be careful and to call her later.
The minute I get to the precinct, I run inside. Mick is already at his desk, looking through the notes. “What have you got?” I ask him, stopping to read with him.
“Same MO as Lori. I fucking smell this shit. I feel this in my gut,” he tells me.
“Where is the girl?” I ask him, looking around.
“Room one. Her parents are on their way,” Roger, the desk sergeant, tells us as he walks into the office.
“What’s her story?” Mick asks.
“Maya, sixteen, pissed at the world, hangs at the mall with her friends, bitches about her parents, bitches about school, bitches about other people breathing from what I could tell. Guy approached her when her friends left. Started flirting with her. Clean-cut guy, maybe seventeen or eighteen tops. Kept talking about his friends having a party and how he wanted her to go. Something about him was off, she said.”
“Finally, bastard got sloppy,” Mick says, crossing his arms across his chest.
I look over at Mick, watching Roger walk out. “You okay to do this?” I ask him, knowing he’s emotionally involved even if he wants to deny it. Marissa has got under his skin, but I’m not sure he even sees it yet, let alone will admit to it.
“What the fuck are you asking me, Jack?” I know I hit a nerve when he uses my nickname.
“I’m asking you right now if you are okay to do this.”
“I’m getting her back. You can do it with me or you can watch. Either way, you let me know what you are going to do.”
I nod my head, knowing he is okay with this but most of all I’ve got his back.
“Let’s bring her home,” I tell him, then follow him into the room.
I enter the room and immediately take in the hot pink-tipped, blonde-headed girl. Her brown eyes are bloodshot and puffy from crying. She has a blanket wrapped around her, and she’s rocking back and forth. Her adrenaline is finally crashing. My first thought is this could be Lilah in a few years, which makes me clench my fists.
I sit down across from her. “Hey, Maya. I’m Jackson. This is Mick. I know someone was in here earlier asking you questions. Mind if we go over a couple of things?” I ask her.
She nods her head yes.
“Can you tell me this guy’s name?” I ask her.
“Called himself Ryan,” she whispers.
“What did he look like? Any scars? Tattoos? Anything special about his appearance?”
“He had brown hair, brown eyes, shaved sides and longer on top. He was wearing cargo shorts and a plain white T-shirt.” She closes her eyes like she is trying to picture him. “Oh, and he had a tattoo.” She opens her eyes. “I just remembered. It was a diamond with the word Peace under it on the inside of his right wrist. I remember it now. I saw it when he grabbed my wrist and squeezed me.”
I look over at Mick, and he walks out of the room. He’s going to be checking the database for the tattoo.
“Did he tell you where he wanted to take you or what he wanted to do?”
“He said his friends were having a party, so he wanted to bring me to show off how hot I was.” She looks down at her hands, which start shaking again. “I almost went. Then I remembered hearing a story about some missing girls.” She looks up at me. “I don’t know what it was, but it didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to be another one of them.”