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Her office at the hospital.
There’s nothing. One moment she was there, the next, gone. We even scanned traffic and ATM cameras in the area and all around town, only to find nothing of any value. “I’ve filed missing person’s reports with Dallas, Shreveport, Austin, and Tulsa as well.” Main cities in Texas and surrounding states. Anywhere with a large enough department that officers can be spared.
They’re all looking for her.
“You think whoever took her left Pine Creek?”
“I think it’s a possibility I can’t rule out,” I tell her, leaning back. Even as I hate what that would mean. The world is large, and there are a lot of places to hide. If she’s been taken out of town, there’s no telling where she is now.
My chest aches, so I rub the heel of my palm against it.
“Sheriff, go home and get some sleep. I’ll keep cracking at it. We’ll find her.”
“I can’t sleep. Not when she’s out there.” It’s been nearly two full days. Thirty-six hours of her out there somewhere, likely suffering. Is she scared? Cold? Injured? I know the latter is true—her blood was all over the apartment.
I rest my face in both hands and try to steady my breathing. I’m running out of avenues to chase. I have checked and rechecked everything.So what am I missing?
My cell rings, and I frantically scan the readout. It’s an unknown number, so I answer and put it up to my ear. “Sheriff Lawson.”
“It’s Bradyn.”
Relief assaults my system with the force of a freight train. “Bradyn. You all need to get back here. Now. All of you. Lani?—”
“We’re on our way,” he interrupts. They’re traveling, I can hear the wind noise from whatever vehicle they’re riding in. “Our pilot is waiting at the airstrip. We just got your message and rushed out as fast as we could.”
“What do you have so far?” Elliot questions over the speaker.
“Nothing. It’s like she vanished.”
“No one vanishes,” Tucker calls out.
“I promise I’ve looked everywhere. I hope you guys can find something I missed, I?—”
“No one is questioning you,” Tucker says. “I only meant that you have limitations to what you can access, I don’t. If there’s something, we’ll find it.”
“We know you’ll do everything you can to find her,” Riley calls out.
“We’ll have a plan of action by the time we land. Do you have an estimated timeline?” Bradyn questions.
“I dropped her off at her apartment at nine fifteen on June 2. When I texted her thirty minutes later, she didn’t answer.”
“So she was taken sometime between nine fifteen and nine forty-five,” Bradyn says.
“If I had known, if I’d even thought something would happen to her?—”
“It’s not your fault,” Bradyn says, his tone serious. “We know how you feel about Lani, Gibson, and we know you’ll do whatever it takes to find her.”
“Whatever it takes,” I repeat, hoping they understand that I don’t care what laws we have to break. What lines we have to cross. I just want her home.
“Great. We’ll be back in fifteen hours.”
“I’ll see you then.”Thank You, God. Thank You!I nearly weep with relief, overjoyed that the Hunts will be here. No one—and I mean no one—is better at finding people than they are. And it doesn’t sting in the least to admit that.
The call ends, so I set my cell down and cradle my head in my hands again.
“The Hunts are coming home?” she asks.
I look up at Deputy Brown, relief flooding my veins. “The Hunts are coming home,” I repeat. “And God help whoever took Lani.”