Page 130 of Faded Gray Lines

“Obviously, something happened.”

“Yeah, Alex happened. I walked right into their trap.” Holding up the wristband, she waved it between us. “You know, this thing started the ball rolling today, but after everything went wrong, I forgot I even had it on. Kind of crazy, huh?”

“Leighton, every minute of the last eleven days have been crazy. Care to elaborate?”

“My mother always liked to think everyone was beneath her, but when it came down to it, she and Emilio shared the same fatal flaw.”

“Which is?”

“Pathological narcissism.” Her response sounded so clinical that I raised an eyebrow which she answered with a snort. “Neither of them could kill me without bragging in detail about what they’d done. And this?” she said, tapping the band against her other palm. “This recorded it all. It’ll condemn her, but...”

“But what?” I asked, noticing the pained expression in her eyes.

“Mateo, what if Stella’s hurt? What if—”

“Stop!” I yelled, maybe a bit too loud because she jumped, but I wouldn’t let her say the word, let alone think it. “We’ll find our little star, Leighton.”

Even as I heard myself make the promise, I wasn’t sure I believed it. I’d seen the sickness humans were capable of when it came to children firsthand.

My stomach churned with images as Leighton gasped, jumping and hitting the steering wheel with both hands. “That’s it!”

“What’s it?”

“Little star!” she screamed, her voice echoing inside the car.

Still lost in my own mind, I shook my head. “It’s just a nickname, it’s nothing—”

“No,” she interrupted, grabbing my arm in a fierce hold. “The rhyme, twinkle, twinkle, little star. Oh my God, Sarah said that. I thought she was just hysterical, but Stella and I sing that rhyme all the time.”

“I don’t get it. What does it mean?”

“Right before she passed out, Sarah said, ‘the circle of life.’”

“Like the song?”

“Exactly.” Letting go of my shirt, she flung her car door open. “I know where she is.”

* * *

A plain white sign was taped to the back door of Caliente, matching the one taped to the front. Leighton and I saw it as we circled the parking lot in my Tahoe, choosing to park in back for obvious reasons. It was scribbled in a female’s handwriting.

CLOSED INDEFINITELY DUE TO DEATH OF OWNER

Good news traveled fast.

By simple deduction, I figured they’d been posted by either Emilio’s wife or Amanda, and my money was on the wife. She wasn’t a stupid woman, and she sure as hell wasn’t blind to his years of infidelity.

Still, it was only eleven o’clock at night. The authorities must have worked fast on this one. Then again, Mayor Donovan was involved, so everything had probably been expedited at warp speed.

After ordering a few trusted soldiers to drive out to the train tracks and get rid of Atwood’s car, I tucked my phone in my back pocket and pulled my switchblade out of the other. As I went to work on the lock, Leighton paced behind me.

I cursed as the tip of my knife missed the angle I needed to pop the spring. Leighton’s pacing was getting out of control, so I got her talking to keep her focused.

“Tell me again why you think Stella is in here.”

“Sarah said, ‘the circle of life,’” she said, rubbing her chilled skin. “I thought she was hallucinating, but when you called Stella little star, I put it together with the rhyme, and it all made sense. Emilio said Sarah followed him and tried to stop him from taking her. I didn’t think about it at the time, but if she followed him, she knew where he took her.”

I stopped twisting the knife and glanced over my shoulder. “You figured all that out from a song title?”