Lost in Silence (The Lost Series Book 1)(49)

“Why would Alice be coming in at one in the morning?” he turns to me, his dark eyes inquisitive. “Isn’t she staying with you?”

“We had a misunderstanding,” I answer, shrugging it off. “Alice stayed with Missy last night.”

”Where were you tonight?”

“Kingston,” Missy hisses, he turns his head, taking a step back. “Stop with the third degree. They didn’t attack me.”

“I’m not saying they did,” he breathes, his hands on his hips. He looks down at his feet, scuffs his shoe against the concrete, before looking up at me. “Can we talk a moment in private?”

I nod, squeezing Alice one more time before letting her go to follow Kingston. I already know what he’s going to ask. We get three cars lengths away from the girls before he turns to me and runs his hand down his whiskered face.

“Could this be him?”

“Could be,” I cross my arms, glancing back at Alice. She’s tucked in next to my sister. “It doesn’t make sense for him to break into Missy’s place. Alice is staying with me.”

“She stayed here last night though,” he points out, his dark eyes on me. I hang my head, worried I’d put my sister in Erik’s path now. “Maybe he’s watching?”

It was a fact I didn’t want to consider. It meant I let my guard down and failed Alice. I couldn’t let that happen. I promised to keep her safe and I needed to keep my word.

“Is her bag still here?”

“Should be,” I answer, my mind jumping to the same thought as Kingston’s. “I picked her up here tonight for our date.”

“Date?” he lifts an eyebrow, curiosity now mixed with his concern.

“It's nothing,” I brush him off and change the subject. “Is there anything missing from the house?”

“No, but I want Alice to walk the room she stayed in, go through her bag, make sure everything is as she left it. If it was him, maybe he left her a calling sign or something. You okay with that?”

I nod. He turns and heads back to the ambulance. I wait a moment trying to gather my thoughts. While this could be something completely unrelated to Alice, my gut screamed otherwise. No one knows where Erik disappeared to after Detective Edwards which mean he could be anywhere. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I dial Edwards’ number but it goes to voicemail. I close my phone without leaving a message, my gut still in knots.

Kingston and Alice disappear into the house but return moments later. He carries Alice’s bag out of the house. His eyes meet mine and he shakes his head.

Nothing is missing.

Maybe it wasn’t Erik after all.





Chapter 17


Hudson

The events of the last few days weighed heavily on me, last night the heaviest of them all.

Driving away from my sister’s house was hard to do but I knew Kingston would keep her safe. He didn’t want her staying alone and insisted she stay with him while we beefed up her security system and fixed the damage the intruder caused. Missy didn’t like the plan, not in the least but Alice had somehow convinced her to go with it.

I spent most of the day in my office ordering the gear for Missy’s place and trying to get in contact with Edwards. He still wasn't picking up his phone and it worried me. His precinct said he was on assignment but it wasn’t clear when he’d return. I didn't like it, especially with Erik running around, location unknown.

I look over Erik’s file for the thousandth time, scouring it for some new detail I might have missed. Like all the times before, there was nothing. Sneak hadn’t found anything new on him either. I knew we were missing something but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

A knock on the door interrupts my thoughts. I look up to see Alice standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame, notepad in hand. She offers me a warm smile.

“Hey,” I breathe, giving her a smile back. She’s wearing a pair of black yoga pants and a light pink tank. Her short brown hair is wild and my hands itch to find themselves lost in it. “Is everything alright?”

She steps into the room and shows me her notepad.

I’ve been thinking about what happened last night.

“Me too,” I admit. She turns the page. Her perception doesn’t surprise me. She’s been on the run too long not to figure things out for herself.

Do you think it was Erik?

“It’s crossed my mind but there’s no proof. You said everything was accounted for,” she nods and turns the page again. I smirk. How she knew what I would say before I said it was beyond me. Was I that transparent?

What do you want him to leave a note? Hudson, I know how he works. This has Erik written all over it.