Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
“Nobody ever tells the cops anything, but they still find a way to get answers. We have to try.”
“I thought we were passing this off to ‘We.’”
“We are, but that doesn’t mean we can’t give them more if we find it.” I sensed her hesitation, so I said, “I get it if you’re done and don’t want to come.”
“You’re not going alone,” she replied firmly. “I’ll activate the Angels Phone Tree.”
I paused in trying to figure out how to pull on my shirt and still talk to her. “We have a phone tree?”
“Yeah, you call me, I call Jessie and tell her to call Harlow. Phone tree. You’re up and sound like you’re getting dressed. Which means you get to do the round of pickups. See you when you get here.”
She disconnected.
I finished dressing, went to the wall, pulled back the tapestry, ripped all the women’s pictures down, left my phone, turned out the light (climate change!), grabbed my burner and shot out of there.
We drove the Accord, me behind the wheel, and I was so fired up to do this, I was annoyed at the added delay in doing the switch out.
“First, we don’t need to be driving practically to the airport to pick up our wheels. We need a centralized location for the vehicles,” I declared. “So, I’m gonna ask for that and complete dossiers on all the missing women. We’re going to pore through them. We’re also gonna go talk to who reported them missing and any family they have in town. I missed it, even though Cap told me it was the first thing we needed to do. I’m not even sure who we’re looking for, even though I know who we’re looking for, but still, I don’t know a thing about them. And that’s the most important part!”
I was so worked up, I ended that shouting.
“Should Harlow and me meet this Clarice chick?” Jessie asked. “Because your dad’s here, Luna’s getting ready for her party tomorrow, and if she knew about us, Harlow and I could communicate with her.”
“I’ll email ‘We’ in the morning, share what we want and tell them you’re on the team, so eventually, they’ll hear from you. And I’ll tell them you need to be kitted out,” I said. “Also, I’ll ask for a laser pointer.”
“Rad,” Harlow said.
“Did this ‘We’ entity give you anything on that Jumper character?” Jessie asked Luna.
“Nada, which is a little surprising,” Luna answered. “Clarice told us we’d have something to go on within twenty-four hours, but they’ve been all kinds of thorough so far in what we’ve asked for. On him, nothing. Maybe this guy is a ghost.”
“You mean, like, a real one?” That came from Harlow, and she sounded not happy about this. Then again, she’d shared that as a child on a visit to Disneyland with her family, taking the Haunted Mansion ride had messed her up for life, so she wouldn’t be.
Another reason why it was a shocker that (so far) she was down to do all of this.
“No, I mean, like, he’s doing some sick shit, and he knows how to cover his ass,” Luna replied.
No one had anything to say to that, and not long after, I swung into Sun Valley Motor Lodge.
By the time we were out and headed to reception, Mr. Shithead was leaned all way back in his desk chair, eyes to the ceiling, clearly asking for deliverance.
Well, he wasn’t going to get it.
I pushed in with my posse and rethought black leather pants.
We’d look kickass in black leather pants.
“Can I pay you not to show up here?” he asked when he stopped looking at the ceiling.
I slapped the pictures I brought down on the counter in front of him, spread them out and asked, “Have you seen these women?”
When he looked down at them, he lost some color in his face.
Holy shit!
It was just a hunch.
But not anymore.
“You have,” I snapped. “Which ones?”
His gaze came to me, and I saw he’d gotten himself together really quickly.
This was why his reply was, “Fuck off and die.”
“Do you know what happened to them?” I pressed.
He shoved at the photos so a couple fell off the counter.
Harlow moved to pick them up.
“You can talk to me or you can talk to the cops,” I warned.
“Cops already came by, and if it’ll get your asses out of my reception, I’ll tell you what I told them. Yeah, I seen ’em. We rent rooms by the hour. I see ’em all. No, I don’t know ’em, don’t know who took ’em, don’t know where they are, and I also don’t care.”
“Is it that they’re dead that you don’t care?” Jess asked. “Or you don’t care because they’re prostitutes who sold their bodies, and they’re now forced into sexual slavery, and that’s no big thing in your estimation?”