Page 26 of A Sublime Casualt
“It’s okay if you want to put it in the safe. I’ll wait.” I bite down on a smile, doing my best to tease.
“My baby doesn’t get caged in a safe.” He gives a sly wink. “That’s actually Lizzy’s. Damn thing gets on my nerves. You screw up her combo three times in a row, and it locks you out for ten minutes.” He wraps his arms around me, and his hips sway with mine. “It’s a pain. Besides, it’s got Lizzy’s gun in it.” He tucks a kiss just under my jawline. “I bought it for her. Brought it back here when she disappeared. It’s locked and loaded and ready to go. A lot of good it did her.”
“It’s waiting for her.”
He brushes the hair from my eyes and nods. “It’s waiting.”
He pulls me in close, our bodies locked over one another as we break out into an impromptu slow dance. “I thank God for you, Charlie Neville.”
“I thank God for you, too.” My lips twitch and quiver. “I mean it, Theo. It feels as if I’ve been running from myself for as long as I can remember, and here with you, I found me.”
An easy grin glides over his face as his lips find mine. Theo’s kisses taste like peppermint and want. His hands wander over my body as if he were reading my history in braille. I can feel his affection, feel his heart beating just for me. We take our time stripping one another clean, making a game of looking into one another’s eyes, and it’s only then I realize the lights are on. I’m not a prude by any means, but Theo seeing me this way has me blushing right down to the bone, nothing but crimson and heat.
Theo lands a molten hot kiss over my mouth that detonates every molecule in my body. We tangle our limbs as I climb up over him with my legs wrapped tight around his back. Theo and I love one another with our mouths, our bodies worshipping one another, becoming one long into the night.
I have never felt so safe, wanted, or loved. And although we’ve yet to exchange those three sacred words, I do love Theo. That alone brings tears to my eyes.
I have always lost my grasp on everyone I love.
* * *
The next dayI only manage to work a half a shift because Dena comes in on her day off in an effort to thank me for covering—and I suppose to gain back those hours she lost, but regardless I let her have them. Theo picks me up in his truck, and we head out to Dunbar, to the St. Regency Hotel where Lizzy decided it was as good a place as any for Miles to do a pot run. Odd. You would think if she were trying to be discreet she would have picked it up on the way or met up with him at Del Sol to get it herself. Hell, I could have scored a dime bag if I wanted. Miles still looks very much in business.
Wakefield shrinks behind us as we head on the highway, and it seems like no time that we’re taking the turnoff to Dunbar. Nice area, rural meets metropolitan. A miniature Des Moines, a very up-and-coming city complete with a skyline of half a dozen high-rises. Color me impressed. If you travel southeast, you will eventually hit Strafford and very much find yourself in hell. I, personally, would find an arrest warrant with my name on it. I read the papers via the internet once Gabby gave me her spare library card. I am a person of interest that the police are very much looking forward to speaking with. Peavey and Devyn played mute, pretended they were out celebrating with their friends and came home to carnage. I told them to say I had taken off two weeks before, but that didn’t seem to help. I couldn’t risk being incarcerated. Not for murder one. I’d rather live on the run and hedge my bets. This way I have nothing to lose.
Rodger, the manager at the St. Regency, is immediately sympathetic to Theo’s cause. And who wouldn’t be with that garish smiling poster in his hand. Her teeth alone are enough to send chills up your spine. I thought about suggesting he use the color print. I’m not even sure why the black and whites exist, but it does seem to jar the public, and maybe that’s the point. Maybe Neil knows what he’s doing after all.
Before long the manager himself is combing through credit card records but comes up empty. He’s a sturdy man, thick and round, with sweat beading at his temples, his shirt stretched taut as if it couldn’t handle the load anymore.
“Some people like to check in under an anonymous name.” He shakes his head as if he were sorry. “I’m not seeing a record of your sister at all. Is there an alias she might have used?”
“Pebbles.” Theo doesn’t miss a beat but looks embarrassed that he accidentally shouted out the moniker at top volume.
“Pebbles,” Rodger mumbles to himself while his fingers tap manically over the keyboard. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid I’m coming up empty again.” He sighs over at us, his face knotted up, distraught as if it were his own sister we were looking for.
“How about a surveillance camera?” I ask. “Could we look at footage from around June nineteenth?
“And July seventh,” Theo is quick to add. He gives my hand a quick squeeze as if to venerate me for it.
The manager chews on the inside of his cheek for a minute. “You know we just switched over to the new security cameras sometime last summer. We used to save everything for a week, then it would erase and start all over again, but the new system stores footage indefinitely. It’s all digital.” He leads us to a room in the back just a hair bigger than a broom closet, filled with monitors showing different shots of the hotel. One in particular has a spliced screen so you can see them all happening at the same time.
“I’ll disable this one.” He points to the spliced screen. He pulls out a keyboard and starts inputting information. “Looks like the one in June isn’t available.” He looks up at us, sweat pooling just below his eyes, above his lip. “Let’s try July.” He inputs the date, and before we know it, the date July seventh flashes on the screen.
“Bingo,” Theo pants as if he just ran a marathon.
The manager gives Theo his seat and pulls another in for me. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’m a bit shorthanded today, so it’s just me manning the ship.” He ducks out, and I slide my arm around Theo’s waist as we look on with bated breath.
“She was last seen at Conrad at about five thirty. Maybe start at six?”
“Sounds good to me.” He inputs the time, and the screen splices up with life once again. We watch the black and white images on fast-forward, pausing with hope to find a morsel that might assist us. It’s an hour of fits and starts until Theo pauses the images and leans back abruptly in his chair. “Shit,” he mutters, his eyes wide and stunned. “That’s her, isn’t it?” He points to a girl in a long T-shirt walking down an elongated hallway.
“Looks like it could be.” I don’t have the heart to tell him we can’t see her face. Billions of girls have long dark hair. He hitsplayat regular speed, and we watch as the girl glances over her shoulder. He hitspauseagain and enlarges the square until it eats up the screen.
I gasp at the sight. “There she is,” I say as if we’ve just come upon a celebrity. “She looks worried. Her brows are narrowed—you make that face when you look worried.”
“She’s afraid,” he says breathless as he hitsplayonce again.
Lizzy walks at a quickened pace until she hits a split in the hallway and ducks behind a corner. A few seconds later, she peers back down the hall before ducking out of sight again.