1
Jax
“Kinsey Holland?”The CPA security guard—whose name I’d learned was Ken—stared at me with wide eyes. “Your girlfriend isKinsey Holland?”
“Yes, and she’s gone missing,” I said. “That text I showed you earlier wasn’t from her. Someone else sent it. I think they’ve hurt her.”
Panic thrummed in my chest, and guilt crept around the edges of that. I shouldn’t have left Kinsey alone tonight. Not even for a minute. I should’ve come up with a different plan to get into the security office; one which involved both of us.
Ken lifted a palm. “Just back up a little. When you approached me earlier, you didn’t tell me that your girlfriend is Kinsey Holland.”
“I didn’t think it was important for you to know her name when we were looking for her,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “The most important thing was for us to find her.”
“You know perfectly well that Kinsey isn’t allowed on campus without her security escort.”
I took a deep breath and steeled my jaw, trying my best to stay calm. “The escort leaves after school is finished for the day. Kinsey came back here during the football game, and the school was still open then.”
“She really needed to study,” Erin added. “She wasn’t hurting anyone. Just sitting in there reading books and taking notes.”
Ken’s mouth flattened as he considered our words. Then he rubbed his right temple and sighed. “I’ll admit, this does look quite disturbing,” he said, dipping his chin toward the parking lot. “The phone, the blood… something must’ve happened. I’m hoping it’s nothing more serious than a nosebleed, but…” He trailed off and patted his pocket. “I’m going to call the police. You two hang tight.”
While we waited for the police to arrive, we scoured the parking lot for things we might’ve missed earlier. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Kinsey’s presence anywhere else. Just her phone and the small spatter of blood in one of the parking bays.
“We don’t actually know if it’s her blood,” Erin said when she caught me staring at it again. “Maybe the security guy is right. Maybe a teacher had a nosebleed out here earlier, just before they got in their car.”
I swallowed thickly. We both knew that wasn’t likely. The blood looked too fresh to have dropped on the ground earlier in the afternoon. I appreciated Erin’s optimism, though, so I said nothing in response. Just nodded briefly and kept hunting around the area for clues.
Twenty minutes later, an officer from the Crown Point PD showed up. He spoke to Ken first, and then he came over and asked for statements from Erin and me.
When he was done, he frowned and glanced down at his notepad. “All right, let me see if I’ve got this straight. Kinsey came to study in the library earlier. Fell asleep and got locked in when the school closed. Then she sent you that text you showed me, Jax. You got worried and went to see Erin, and she tracked Kinsey’s phone to this exact parking lot, where you found the phone.”
“And the blood.”
“Yes, the blood too,” the officer said, scribbling something else down on the pad.
I nodded stiffly. “That sounds right.”
“How did you trace Kinsey’s phone, Erin? Find-a-friend app?”
Erin bit her bottom lip and looked down at her shoes. “Um… not exactly. It’s a program I have on my computer. You can find anyone as long as you have their number.”
“That doesn’t sound legal, but I’ll let you off, given the circumstances,” the officer said, forehead creasing. He straightened his shoulders and slipped the notepad into his jacket pocket. “Look, I’m glad you two let me know what’s going on here, but I don’t think there’s much cause for concern. We know that Kinsey hasn’t left the city limits because the alarm on her ankle monitor hasn’t been triggered. She might be on her way home as we speak.”
My jaw dropped. “Are you kidding?” I said, furious heat rising in my chest. “What about the blood over there? It was only a couple of yards away from her phone!”
“Exactly!” Erin said, eyes flashing with anger. “How can you see all that and think there’s no need to worry?”
“We don’t actually know if that’s blood on the ground.” The officer motioned toward a signpost on the other side of the parking lot. “I noticed that sign over there says the art building is quite close. Perhaps someone accidentally spilled a small amount of red paint while they were transporting supplies into the school.”
“Are you serious?” Erin looked aghast. “It isn’t paint! It’s obviously blood!”
“I’m going to take a sample of it before I leave, and our lab will confirm what the substance is,” the officer said, giving her a stony look. “There’s no point in panicking when we don’t have all the information yet. I believe one of you mentioned something about a possible nosebleed?”
Ken nodded and raised a hand. “That was me.”
“Jax, you live with Kinsey. Is she prone to nosebleeds?” the officer asked, looking back at me.
I gritted my teeth. “No, she’s not.”