“Fuck! It would probably be with his clothes…and the bastard who beat him.” His mind was racing as he pulled out his own phone.
“Does he have an iPhone or an Android?” Snow asked, coming to stand right next to Jude.
Tightening his fingers around his own phone, Jude closed his eyes and tried to get his frantic brain to slow down and pull up the memory of the last time he saw Jordan’s phone in his hands. Did it have that little apple on the back or was it…
“Samsung!” he shouted as the memory cleared. “He’s got an Android phone. He switched about a year ago to a Samsung because he liked that damn little stylus thing that came with it.” He was typing in his phone, pulling up the “Find My Device” option for Android-based phones.
But he only got as far as entering Jordan’s email address. The blank password box glared at him. He had some viable guesses based on what he knew of his brother and the fact that he’d shared a password with him once a few years ago, but he wasn’t one hundred percent certain. If he made too many wrong guesses, would the system block him? Would it lock everything down so they could never access it or its location?
“I’m not certain my guess is right,” Jude admitted.
“Try one. It won’t block you with one wrong guess.”
Taking a deep breath, Jude very carefully typed in his first guess, making sure to get the spelling right. His thumb was shaking when he pressed the submit button, but it immediately came back that the password was wrong.
He snarled, wanting to throw his phone against the wall. He was sure that this could lead them to where Jordan had been or possibly even to the location of his attacker—if only he knew what Jordan’s damn password was.
“It’s okay. We can try again. Or we can even reach out to Rowe. He might have a few ideas.”
Jude forced himself to nod, hating the calm tone that Snow was using, like he was some kind of wild animal that needed to be talked down from attack. He didn’t want to be the irrational, emotional one. That was always Snow’s job.
But it didn’t matter. Snow was right. Rowe Ward always had a few tricks up his sleeve and for once, Jude didn’t give a shit if all of them were illegal. He just wanted the truth.
Snow drove them back to the hospital, and Jude watched the city lights go past the window, too upset to focus on any one thing. There was no new information when they reached Carrick and Rebecca still in the family waiting room.
“Mana is still in with him,” Carrick said as he shoved his hands into his pockets. Rebecca had her arm around him, but she looked at Jude with worry.
“Have you seen him at all lately?” Jude asked his brother.
Carrick shook his head. “Just at one family dinner. He’s missed the last several.”
“Have you been to his apartment?”
“No. In fact, the last time I was there, he wouldn’t let me in. Said it was a mess.”
“Has he talked about money or anything like that?”
“What’s going on?” Carrick asked.
“Don’t tell Mana, but it looks like he’s sold all his things—the apartment was basically empty.”
“He hasn’t said anything about needing money.” Carrick frowned. “And I know he’s been going to work. I saw our uncle just the other day and he bragged about what a good employee Jordan is.” Carrick’s voice lowered. “What do you mean he sold his things?”
“I’m just guessing on that, but even his games were gone. Has he talked about any of his friends recently?”
“No, nothing. I’m sorry to say that I’ve been preoccupied with my own job and just haven’t been paying attention. I figured if he needed something, he’d reach out.”
“We’ve all been busy,” Rebecca said. “What about the girlfriend?”
Jude perked up. “What girlfriend?”
“I thought he had one, and that was why he’d missed some of the dinners. We were teasing him about not wanting to bring her to meet the family.”
“I don’t think there’s a girlfriend, but we can ask around.” Jude thought of Jordan’s best friend. “What about Brian Perkins? Do you have his number?”
“No, but our mana does. I’ll get it from her. Last I heard, he was working at that baseball hat shop out at the Florence Mall.”
Once again the image of his brother naked in a goddamn field filled Jude’s imagination, and he dropped the backpack on a chair and scrubbed both hands over his face.
Just what the hell had his brother gotten into?Chapter 4Jude wandered through the Florence Mall, his body feeling like a heavy weight around him. He’d gotten little sleep the night before. His brain replayed over and over again the image of Jordan lying helpless and hurting in the hospital bed. Frustration built in his chest as he tried to find some reason behind why it happened, how Jordan could have found himself in such a situation. But there were no answers to be learned by staring at the bedroom ceiling.