Total pages in book: 225
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
I grab my phone and turn on the tracking app and I’m tweaked by the sight of her location. Her car is parked at the airport. Her phone is at the same location. But it’s turned off. I dial it anyway and leave her a voicemail message.
“Chloe? Call me. As soon as possible.”
I dig in to her logs and check today’s internet searches. Her emails from today. Nothing pointing to answers until I play the recording of the phone call she had with Alannah. And by the end I want to throw my fucking phone.
I didn’t seek out Alannah to threaten her last night; I just had a word with her when I ran into her.
But it seems from the call I listened to like Chloe’s attitude took a turn after Alannah told her about last night.
I push down the anger I feel bubbling up toward the surface. It’d be aimed at Alannah if I let it rise. I can’t. Because reacting genuinely here won’t do anything to help this situation. If I aim my anger in Alannah’s direction, Chloe would find it unforgivable. Alannah simply told Chloe what happened, and Chloe is reacting.
I’m kicking myself for taking Kenny off Chloe detail. Putting her here behind the gates to keep her safe left me with a false sense of security. I hadn’t bargained on her leaving. Especially not after her spending half the day alone yesterday without incident. But my sense of security was more about how she was with me last night.
I count backwards from fifty as I leave the house and drive toward the airport to find my wife. Before getting to twenty, I decide to contact Kenny. I tell him to check her bank account and her personal credit card and let me know if she’s bought a plane ticket.
Twenty minutes later, just as I’m pulling up to her car, he calls.
“She withdrew three grand from an ATM inside the airport,” he says.
“Fuck!” I snap. “Keep watch on her accounts, yeah? Try to find out if she booked a flight somewhere.”
“Got it, Derek.”
“And pay attention to Alannah Fisher. Put someone on her and monitor her calls live until I find my wife.”
“On it.”
I end the call.
Her car is empty, and the hood is cold. She left her phone in the car at the airport and withdrew what’s probably her daily limit in cash. Three grand won’t give her too many options, but it could make things pretty fucking inconvenient for a minute.
Three hours later, I’m ready to lose my fucking mind. Because it’s been churning over possibilities. Has she left town? What’s her next move? More cash tomorrow? If so, I’ll at least know where she withdraws it from.
I’ve driven by Hallman’s house. I’ve driven by Alannah’s condo. I’ve checked the tracker at least thirty times to see if she’s moved her car or used her phone. I’ve been assured by Kenny several times that there’s no change, no sight of her, and that she hasn’t called or been called by Hallman or Alannah. I’ve also checked the app for security at the house just in case she took a taxi back. But nothing is showing up there.
Where else would she go? She’s not close enough to her parents to call them to ask them to pick her up, is she? If I call them, I could set off alarm bells with them, so no, I won’t do that.
I’m at the house. Pacing. Checking the trackers repeatedly. Waiting on Kenny. Waiting. Fucking waiting while repeating all my earlier checks. He’s checked some of her other friends’ places. The lawyer Jeff is at his place with her friend Coraline. Her friend Madison is out of town for her job and Madison’s husband is home alone. I don’t know anyone else Chloe interacts with in Columbus.
Fuck, but I fucking loathe this feeling.
I don’t like being out of control. My trigger finger is jumpy. It’s never a good thing when I get spasms in that finger.
She can’t hide for long. I’ll get the cops in our pocket on it if I don’t have news by noon tomorrow. My father’s guy can run facial recognition checks to find matches for airport security or for other high-traffic spots around the city. But I don’t know how the fuck I’m going to keep my shit together if it comes to that, if I need to wait another fourteen hours to act. But everything inside me tells me I need to wait until then because activating anyone outside Kenny will mean my father hears about this.
I’m in the bathroom of the bar in the hotel, fishing around in the pocket of my purse for some lip gloss when I’ve suddenly got Derek’s business card in my hand. And seeing it, holding it, I shudder from my head to my toes.