30
AUSTIN
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Someone’s pounding on my freaking bedroom door. Again.
I’m already up, just coming out of the bathroom. Chance has Miles and me trained now, but damn. I blearily glance across the room to the clock on the side table. It’s barely six.
“What the fuck do you want?” I yell.
“You decent?”
Of course. Chance’s voice.
I’m in my boxers. “Barely.”
The door opens, and Chance walks in.
“Sure, please come in.” I roll my eyes.
“Hey, is Carly here? Please tell me she’s here.”
A jolt of fear lances through me. I stiffen and narrow my gaze. “No. She went home last night. You know that. I took her myself.”
“I know, but her father’s on the phone. Apparently they were supposed to have breakfast this morning, and she’s not there.”
“What?” That lance of fear morphs into all-out panic. “What do you mean she’s not there?” I shout.
“Talk to him yourself.” He holds out his cell.
I grab it from him and put it to my ear. “Mr. Vance?”
“Where the hell is she, Bridger?”
“She’s not here. I swear to God. I dropped her off last night. I watched her go inside, even spoke with your wife.”
“That’s correct,” he replies.
“No note?” I ask.
“No.”
Chance is watching me, easily following the conversation.
“We need to find her. Where could she have gone, and why?”
“Stop lying to me, Bridger,” he snaps.
I run a hand through my hair. “Mayor, this is serious. I don’t know where she is. You have a right to be panicked. I am, too. Please. We need to work together to figure this out. What can you tell me? Was her bed slept in?”
Silence for a few seconds, until—
“Yes. Her bed is unmade.”
“Oh fuck. Fuck. You don’t think…” I don’t want to say the rest, that someone may have taken her from her bed.
“You think I wouldn’t have heard if someone came into my house and took my daughter?”