“Roan?”
We piled out, checking in, around, and under his car for any sign of him.
“Roan!” Legend shouted.
He ran to the call box and jammed the button for Josephine.
Arsenio, Cairo, and Jacques ran up the curb, squealing in behind us. Arsenio and Jacques raced to me. Cairo hit the pavement and kept going.
“I don’t understand,” I said. I dialed Roan’s number for the twelfth time. “Where is he? How could they have gotten to him?”
“How doesn’t matter. We need to know where. Where is he?!”
Beep. Beep. Legend jammed the button. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
“Jo, come on. Answer!”
“Hello?” Josephine’s voice poured out the speakers. “What on earth is going on? Who is this?”
“Jo, it’s me, Legend. Is Roan there?”
“Roan? No, why?”
“Didn’t you call and ask him to swing by tonight?”
There was a pause.
“No, I did not,” she replied. “I haven’t spoken to my son since yesterday. What’s going on?”
“He was taken by the Crows,” Legend dropped without hesitation. “He got a text from you saying you need to talk to him, and left the Roadhouse. His car is in front of your gate with the keys still in the ignition.”
She gasped. “I’m calling the sheriff.”
Cairo came running back. He slapped his hands on the hood, breathing hard. “No lights on in the Crow house. No cars in the drive.”
“They wouldn’t take him there,” Jacques said. “The sheriff would have stormed the place and cuffed them for kidnapping in ten minutes. They’ve taken him somewhere private.”
I choked on a sob.
“I thought it was going to be me.” Legend kicked the fence. “It was supposed to be me!”
“We’ll find him,” Jacques said. “Ellis can’t hide. Not in our town.”
“What if he’s not in Bedlam?” Arsenio spoke up. “He could be on the road to HC right now.”
Legend made for his car. “I’m going after them.”
“Legend, stop. The Crows grew up in HC,” Jacques said. “They know where to go for privacy. We don’t. We’d end up driving around aimlessly for hours.”
“I don’t care!”
“Legend, he’s right.” The voice that spoke was mine. “Getting lost in HC doesn’t help Roan. Besides, I don’t think they’ve got him stashed an hour away.”
He advanced on me. “Do you know something?”
“I know what we all know about Jeremy and his friends. They like a spectacle. An audience. Those guys burned Arsenio’s car for all of Greek Row to enjoy. They poisoned Jacques’s mom at a party full of people, and they jumped me and Paris in broad daylight on campus. They need everyone to see your punishment.” My heart squeezed. “I can only assume it’ll be the same for Roan.”
Cairo turned me toward him. “When he was dropping his hints, did he give a clue what that punishment might be?”
I shook my head.
“You can’t think I’m going to sit around waiting to get the call he’s been hung from a flagpole!” Legend shouted more tonight than he had in the weeks I’d known him. “There’s gotta be a way to track them down. Rainey,” he cried. “Call Ellis. Make up whatever bullshit you have to. Say you want to be there when they teach him a lesson. Just get him to tell you where they are.”
I was dialing before he finished the sentence.
“Legend, are you still there?” Josephine asked.
“We’re here.”
“I’m buzzing you in. Wait for the sheriff with me.”
“I can’t, I—”
“I know what you’re going to do, and I won’t have it. We’re doing this the right way and allowing Sheriff Jack to do his job.”
“Jo!”
“I’m scared too,” she shrieked. “But Jack has the man- and firepower to get him back safely. All you four could possibly do right now is aggravate the situation worse than you already have. I want my son back safe and sound. If Jeremy Ellis and his ilk did this, I will not risk the consequences of you feeding into their hands.
“Inside. Now.”
I flicked between the guys, wondering what they would do. The dial tone rang and rang in my ear.
Jerkily, Legend swung open the gate and went inside. The others followed after, leaving me the only one standing on the sidewalk.
The call picked up.
“Hello,” I croaked.
“Rainey.” Jeremy was smooth and light. “What’s wrong, darling? You sound upset.”
I straightened, summoning calm I did not feel. “I’m not upset. I’m curious.”
“Where we are? I’m afraid we can’t tell you that.”
“No, I’m curious if Legend was right. You blew up the deal that was going to get you guys back into Bedlam U. You’ve gone from arson, assault, poisoning, and now to kidnapping. As embarrassed as you were by Roan’s little video, this revenge has officially reached disproportionate.”
“In Bedlam, there are diamonds.”
“Not to mention the Crows willing to back you into a life sentence.”
“Is there a question?” Jeremy drawled.
“What is it about Bedlam that you need so badly? The six of you must have something big coming your way that makes all this worth it, and I’d like to know what.”