Bri crashes over the coffee table in her need to see, and she lands beside me as I open the message.
Jodie:
“There’s nothing there,” Bri cries, seeing the same disappointment as me. “She’s got signal though. Check her tracker.”
“Shit.”
The wait for the app to load is the most agonising few seconds of my entire life. But what I can’t prepare for is just how fast my stomach plummets when it finally does load and I get to see where she is.
“Motherfucker,” I bark, jumping to my feet.
We’ve searched my old house almost as thoroughly as we have Jodie’s, but there was no sign of anyone being there since the day Nico found me on the roof.
I’m at the front door with my shoes on before my brain has even registered the move.
“Wait,” Bri calls from somewhere behind me. “You’re not going alone.”
“I’m not taking you there,” I growl.
“Where is there?”
My phone pings again and my stomach knots.
Jodie: He wants you to come alone.
My teeth grind as I picture exactly where she’s going to be.
But I don’t give a shit. If it’s me he wants, then he can fucking have me—as long as he lets her go free.
“Hell,” I state, pulling the door open, ready to follow that motherfucker’s orders. Something I promised myself that I’d never do again. But I never expected this. I never thought I’d have to save her from her own fucking father.
“Just stay here,” I warn her. “And if we don’t return, then you know where we are.”
“No, Toby. I’m not letting you do this. Call the others. Take someone.”
I head off, leaving her shouting behind me.
Without looking back, I take the stairs as quickly as I can, knowing that she’s going to follow if I’m not fast enough.
I don’t remember the drive across town. It’s a route I’ve taken time and time again, but it’s not familiarity which makes the sights outside of the windows pass me by. It’s pure fear for what I’m about to find that blinds me.
She hasn’t been there all this time. We searched that entire house from top to bottom, so I know he didn’t take her there.
But they’ve gone back. Why?
Why is he risking moving her around? Giving her the opportunity to reach out?
My stomach churns with the fear that that message wasn’t from her.
It could just as easily be him leading me into something.
My palms sweat against the wheel, my grip making my hands cramp as the house comes into view.
Dread sits heavy in my stomach, but the possibility that she’s got hold of her phone, that it’s her on the other end keeps me going.
Just before I pull the car to a screeching halt outside the front door, my phone starts ringing and Nico’s name flashes up on the screen.
Ignoring him, I grab my keys and take off, leaving my car running and Nico’s call ringing through the bluetooth.