“What’s going on?” Hollis asked.
Both cops were knocking at the bathroom door.
“We began to ask her questions, and she said she needed to use the restroom. The door’s locked, and she’s been in there about ten minutes.”
Hollis grabbed his key and unlocked it. “Teagan, I’m coming in.”
He disappeared into the room but came back quickly. “She’s gone. Out through the window. What did you say to her?”
Already heading to the door, Travis yelled, “Nothing. We never asked our first question. Stay here in case she comes back.”
My heart sank. She’d been playing me all along.
Sometimes people didn’t want to be saved.
Chapter Thirty
Alexa
It had been a week since Teagan disappeared. Part of me worried about her, knowing she was one high away from death. Deep in my heart, I believed no one should be left behind. Everyone deserved a chance to be saved. Yet I couldn’t save someone I’d considered a friend. For as long as I’d known her, I’d only had her best interests at heart. Yet… she chose to stay ill.
For the rest of the week, I’d been in a funk. I felt like a failure. But I knew I had to keep moving forward and focus on what I could do to help other people. At the end of the day, Teagan had to want to save herself first.
I imagined she was most likely somewhere dead or close to it. Her vitals had been poor. There was no way her body could take much more.
Yet I kept hoping.
As each day passed, a little more hope faded away. Teagan hadn’t been back to her apartment. No one had seen her. After the cops had cleared the area, Kane had come to the clinic and had been able to track her to a road on the other side of the woods. There he found a second set of tracks. It wasn’t far—maybe a ten-minute walk at an easy pace. From there, the trail disappeared. It was likely the mysterious Sam had met her there.
But how did she know he’d be there?
I blew out a deep breath as I sat in my car outside the community center, unhappy about being there at all. I wasn’t in the mood to socialize. But, I needed to be since Drake was on the city council. More people walked toward the balloon arch. Colored spotlights faced toward the building, nearly transforming our plain, white meeting hall.
Tonight was the local Fall Festival. It was a celebration of the end of the tourist season. Normally, I loved the event. The townspeople came together to enjoy an evening of socializing before the harsh winter set in. After this, everyone would be consumed with preparations before the temperature turned frigid.
But this year, Raquel had taken over. Normally, it was a simple town event. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be simple this year.
I got out of my car and walked to the entrance, smoothing the skirt of my simple black dress. The attire had said formal, but I couldn’t imagine anyone showing up in a tux or a ball gown. That wasn’t our town’s culture.
A couple of times that week, I’d called Raquel to talk to her about her selling her land to Milano Incorporated. Each time, my call was sent to voicemail. On Tuesday, I invited Mom to lunch. When I was already at the restaurant, she’d sent me a text saying she couldn’t come. Every subsequent text I sent went unanswered. It was like I was a stranger to my own family. An outsider to my own mother. At times, I felt like I had no parents left. When my dad had died, I lost everything.
It hurt.
A lot.
But I kept moving forward. I had no choice.
When I was halfway to the door, my phone vibrated.
Drake: Last-minute meeting ran late. I’ll be there in thirty. Need to stop by the Red Onion. It’s been a hell of a day with this Fall Festival.
Me: I’ll see you there. Love you.
Drake: Love you, too, Lex.
Maybe we’d be able to leave the festival early. Hollis planned to meet me there after he finished installing his new coffee machine that arrived that day. The Starbucks was going to miss him. Or not. I imagined he would probably keep going to retain his gold status.
I waved hello to the Twiner sisters, who stood near the door and spoke into a recorder. They normally described what people wore and what they did. Then they sent out the Twiner newsletter, which made it sound like we held some sort of huge gala with celebrities, when in reality it was just a laid-back, hometown event.