Now or Never(57)

“She’s not here. She’s not here.” Harsh breaths sawed in and out of his lungs as Jay struggled to regain control, reminding himself again and again that his worst fears hadn’t come to pass. But he needed to be absolutely sure.

The entire block was so quiet that the sound of his fist pounding on that front door echoed off the surrounding houses. Jay remembered the last time he’d stood in that exact spot. He’d been just as terrified then that he was too late. And he almost had been.

“Em!” He tried the door handle, finding it locked, and pounded harder.

“Excuse me?” Jay spun around, prepared for a fight, and found an older woman standing timidly on the walkway behind him. “Can I help you?”

He took a deep breath to calm himself. The last thing he needed was to give this woman a heart attack. “I’m looking for someone.”

“No one’s been here for a month. They took that poor man down to the police station and won’t let him go. All of these nonsense allegations flying around. He was a perfectly nice man. If you ask me, it’s just some teenager looking for attention. That girl ruined his life for her fifteen minutes,” the woman clucked.

Jay had to grit his teeth to avoid opening his mouth. God only knew what would come out if he did, and it wasn’t his place.

“Thank you.” If nothing else, he could be grateful for the information that that monster was exactly where he deserved to be. Behind bars.

“You know, his niece was the same. Ran away from home on some whim and just about gave that poor man a stroke. Never seen nobody so upset. Teenagers, they’re all such lying, conniving, cruel—”

Jay had heard enough. “His niece is the kindest, most honest person I’ve ever met, so don’t go around talking about things you don’t understand.”

He didn’t have time for this bullshit. There was somewhere he needed to be. Leaving the old woman gaping after him, he climbed back into his truck, slamming the door hard enough that the entire thing shook. No wonder Em was so afraid to say anything for so long. He couldn’t understand how anyone could believe someone would make something like that up, but the proof was right in front of him. The thought of Em facing that alone twisted his heart. When would she stop feeling like she needed to prove herself?

The police station wasn’t hard to find, situated right on Main Street. Jay made several passes and couldn’t decide if he was worried or relieved when Harrison was nowhere in sight. Had she been there already? Had she done it without him? Had she been frightened? Confused? Upset? Had she wished he was there with her?

Oh, Em. Where the hell are you?

He was running out of places to look. Payphones were few and far between these days, so when he spotted one on the corner, Jay was stunned to find it actually worked. Dialing Ashlyn’s number, he tapped his fingers against the glass as it rang.

“Hello?” The background noise immediately told him she was still at work.

“Hey, Ash. It’s Jay. Is Em there?”

“No. Where are you? Bart’s livid.”

“I don’t care about Bart. Is she at your place?”

“No. Mason swung by after his shift ended to check. He called right before you did and said the car still isn’t back. He even checked your house. Do you know where she is? Is she okay?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know. But I’m going to find her.”

“Jay?”

“Yeah?”

“ . . . Take care of her.”

Jay sighed. “I’m trying to.”

Climbing back into the driver’s seat, he rested his aching head against the seat back. If she didn’t go back to Ash’s, and she didn’t go home, and she wasn’t here, where else would she go? The hard truth was he didn’t know that town—or her—well enough to guess. Em rarely spoke about her past, not that he could fault her. His was never a point of conversation, either. But that meant what he knew about Em really only went back less than six months. And that left only one other place he could think of. It was a last ditch effort, but he was willing to take the chance.

***

She’d run from that place once before, and he knew exactly where she’d ended up then. It was his best hope. He hadn’t been back since the police had run them off, but instinct led him through turn after turn on those crowded city streets, into painfully familiar territory. As he bumped down the rutted street, he could only hope instinct had led her there, as well.

Sure enough, a few blocks down, sat Ashlyn’s Pontiac POC. Jay pulled in behind it and cut the engine. Em wasn’t in the car, but she wasn’t hard to find. She was the only person sitting out on the sidewalk, staring at a vacant lot like it held the answers to life in the fading sunlight.