Samuel shook his head. No. He was sure Adrien would have stopped somewhere. Morganna swore she hit him with one of her shots, and there was blood on the car seat. No, Adrien would have stopped. The police were certain that he wouldn’t leave the state that he would stay fairly close, this was territory Adrien knew, he’d stay in familiar places. Even the people he hired agreed. Going too far carried its own risks especially since he was carting someone around with him. It only made sense that he would have stopped somewhere and was now laying low.
Now, all they had to hope for was that Adrien was at least partly rational, because if their assumption was wrong, then they’d wasted some time since they found out about where he might be.
“Okay, say you’re right. He had someone or someones watching the estate. How do you track them down?”
“We have a lead. An unfamiliar vehicle showed up in your neighborhood prior to all of this. We went back through several days of surveillance feeds on your cameras, as well as your neighbors. We’re having Jacobs run the plates, see if anything pings. I just wanted to keep you updated.”
Samuel listened. It was something, at least, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel excited anymore. "Okay, keep me in the loop.”
“Roger that.” Chris disconnected the call.
In the end, he decided to check a few things himself. Adrien had to have been paying these people somehow. Maybe he could follow the money.
Just like that, he distracted himself following up on leads that went nowhere for a few more days. They had all seemed pretty solid when he’d found them, but none of them led to anything feasible. The bank records only led to fake corporations and dummy accounts that were non-existent when he tracked them down, or to names on accounts that had already been drained and closed and the paper trail ended there.
Samuel once again ended up in his study, wanting to throw something, only to realize his house phone had yet to be replaced. He couldn’t risk throwing his cell phone, it was the last thing he could stand to lose, and there wasn’t anything else in there that would be satisfying to throw.
He was frustrated at himself, at his men, and at the police, who continued to be of very little help. Well, not so much toward the police, since he hadn’t expected much from them to begin with, with all the bureaucracy crap they were buried in that wouldn’t allow them to use up a significant percentage of their force just for one person.
At this point, they would have to cross their fingers that someone paid attention to the APB on both Adrien and Camila.
He really was starting to lose hope, though. He finally relented and allowed the police to put out an all points bulletin with Adrien’s face on it. It went live on all the crime stopper shows, and much to his regret, it only led to confusion with the general public.
Samuel his reluctance had been well founded, but he knew the good of having Adrien’s image moving around, so they tried to do it in a way that allowed the public to know that they were looking for Samuel’s twin, Adrien. The only problem was, he was still mistake for Adrien, and it was only because he was out in public searching for signs of Adrien and Camila. He ended up gently setting a confused grandmother straight about being Adrien’s twin, not the culprit they were searching for.
Jacobs , when he showed up to apprehend ‘the miscreant’ as the grandmother had dubbed him, had thought the situation was some sort of humorous twist, and had laughed himself silly.
Samuel just found it even more frustrating. Afterwards, he ended up back home, feeling exhausted, both physically and mentally.
Morganna and Brianna took one look at his face and didn’t ask how it went. Instead, Morganna patted his arm, attempting to comfort him. “Why don’t you go get some dinner? Maria made chili. I’ll take Bri up and get her settled.”
Samuel nodded. He walked into the kitchen to grab a bite of the food Maria had left out for him, and then went to his bedroom. Brianna had been feeling well enough to move back into her own room, so he had it to himself again.
Morganna, he knew, had moved the trundle bed into Bri’s room and was staying with her so she wouldn’t feel afraid.
Having his bedroom to himself again was nice, but he didn’t want to sleep. How could he when the last time he’d slept in his bed, Camila had been there with him? Thoughts of her, of what she was going through wouldn’t allow him to sleep well anyway.
Even if he could sleep well, Samuel wouldn’t waste his time with something as useless as sleep. Not that his body would allow him to go without. If he didn’t sleep, his body would start to shut down. He wasn’t that old, but he wasn’t young, either. If he pushed himself too hard, he might not be able to keep up, and he wouldn’t allow that to happen. He had to stay strong. For Camila.
He had to be fit and healthy for when he finally found Adrien, so he would have the strength to save Camila. And kill Adrien.
It took a while for him to fall asleep. His mind wouldn’t stop running thoughts around, and most of them were negative, wondering what would happen if they hadn't guessed Adrien’s true motives, what he could possibly have been doing with Camila in all that time. It was obviously nothing good.
What if she isn’t still alive?
He quickly shook that thought off, though it was the loudest one going through his head. Even if he was lying to himself, he had to believe she was at least okay. He would know if the woman he loved was dead, wouldn’t he? Yes, his heart shouted. He held onto that thought.
Finally, after a long while of tossing and turning, his body relaxed as it eased into sleep.
He fell into a dream, and in his dream, he saw Camila.
She was exactly as he remembered from their happier times, relaxed, with a smile on her face that made her glow.
“Samuel.”
She whispered his name, and he felt his chest ache. He hadn't heard her voice in so long, and even if only in a dream, she sounded lovely.
“Why do you look so worried?” she murmured. “Just come here and let me help you relax, okay?”