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“Did some creep take her?” Brice asked. “Just going by what I gathered from listening to your end.”
“You could have put that a little more delicately.”
“Sorry.”
“I can’t think that way yet.” Even though her mind was screaming that exact thing. Some freaking pervert had her beautiful girl. She had a strong grip on her pendant and rubbed her thumb on the backside of it. “Avery said a man was watching her, and he left DiversaBlend not long after Olivia did.”
“That’s enough to support a trace on your daughter’s phone. I’ll get on the line with a judge.”
“Thank you.” She felt numb as her mind processed everything. It was like she was in an alternate reality. Olivia wasunreachable. She could be— No, she couldn’t think that way. Not yet. The emotion would strip her of power. She’d best pull on her training as a negotiator. The basis of which would have her calm under pressure.
Brice was on the phone talking to the judge now. She hopped on the tracing system, so she’d be ready the second they had the go-ahead. He gave her a thumbs-up just before hanging up.
Sandra keyed Olivia’s number into the system, and it wasn’t long until she had the results. But as she narrowed in on the map to bring up the location of her phone, her breath froze.
Brice leaned over her shoulder, and she didn’t even protest how close he was to her. “Okay, that’s pointing to Key Bridge. A trail from Georgetown Waterfront Park runs under it. She could be hanging out there.”
Sandra knew the park and that trail well as that’s where she ran in the mornings. She appreciated that he was trying to alleviate her concern, though it was ineffective. Without saying more, she grabbed her coat and headed out into the brisk evening.
“Hold up. I’m coming with you.”
EIGHTEEN
Sandra let Brice drive because he had insisted, and she couldn’t present a solid argument against the arrangement. Her mind was too preoccupied to safely get behind the wheel. The second the bridge came into view she leaned forward as if she could magically see her daughter or something that would end this mental torture.
Brice parked on the street near Georgetown Waterfront Park, and they walked from there along the path to reach Key Bridge. The wind coming off the river was biting and sent shivers down her spine. She burrowed deeper into her coat.
She scanned the area, looking around for her daughter, hoping she’d find her, and that she’d be ready with some clear explanation for being there and not at her lesson. Also for not answering her phone. But her heart knew Olivia wasn’t here.
Still she yelled out, “Olivia!” while shrugging further into her coat and stepping off the boardwalk to the brush. The ground was mostly dirt, and some areas were wet. With it being winter, it was a beige and brown landscape aside from green vines of ivy wrapped around some tree trunks.
“Olivia!” Brice echoed her.
No response. Even the path was barren right now. Not a single jogger.
Sandra pulled out her phone and called Olivia’s number. She listened carefully for her daughter’s ringtone.
Nothing.
Panic surged through her. She must be too far away to hear it. Then again, between a breeze whipping through the trees, the sound of the moving river, and vehicles passing overhead they created a white noise that could have drowned out the ringtone.
“Shit.” Sandra stopped walking, a hand to her forehead, scanning the area. There was nothing to see. Despite sunset getting later, the sun was already weak and sinking in the sky today. Curse the winter months. She turned on her phone’s flashlight and cast the beam ahead of her. It brought something to life from the shadows. A pile of blankets and cardboard? The lumpy shape of a human body underneath?
Sandra started to run toward it. “Olivia?”
A bearded man with a dirty face peeked out. She saw now that she’d disturbed a homeless man.
“Sir, have you seen this young woman?” She fumbled to bring up a photo of Olivia.
He shook his head but said nothing and retreated beneath his makeshift tent.
“We keep looking. We find her phone, and it might give us a clue as to where she is.” Brice came up beside her, and she wanted to catch his optimism. “There’s no giving up, Vos.”
They were talking about her daughter. “Never.”
“Is her phone in a special case that might stand out?”
“It’s just solid pink.”