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Chapter Thirty-Eight

L eaping from the car outside the Neighbourhood Centre, I was already halfway up the path before I heard the door slam behind me.

Six unanswered calls on the way over. All to give her the heads up I was coming.

I knew she would be pissed off that I was involving myself in her business again, but that was a wrath I would take in light of the risk to her safety. I was hoping that as it was only a few hours before she was meant to finish she wouldn’t be so annoyed. It was practically a full day of work, right?

Knocking once, I took a deep breath as the door opened.

“Hey, Brad,” I held my hand out and he shook it in greeting, one hand wrapped around the child who was standing at his side. She looked to be around seven and she smiled at me, twirling her long hair.

“, nice to see you. Come on in,” he walked ahead taking his leg in wide circles as the girl who clung to him giggled. The Centre was bigger on the inside than it appeared and the raucousness of children filled the rooms. No wonder Marls loved it here so much, it was beaming with positivity. It suited her personality to a tee and I could imagine her playing and laughing with the kids when she was here. I followed him through the door, glancing into every room for the rich brown hair or vibrant laugh of my girl.

“Sorry about the noise, we have a few extras who have joined us here today, like this little munchkin. Gabriel, say hi to . He's Marlee’s friend.”

He handed me a bottle of water which I declined with a quick shake of my head as I smiled at Gabriel, recognising the girl as one Marlee spoke of with fondness.

“No thanks, just here to speak to Marlee,” I answered with a forced calm.

Brad swallowed his own mouthful of water looking at me with confusion.

“Marls left a few hours ago. Said she wasn’t feeling well. I thought she said you picked her up but I could be wrong.”

“Wait. What?” I tried to quell the rising panic in my voice. “When was this exactly?” Yanking my phone from my pocket I furiously typed a message to Wayne, an instant dread sinking in my stomach.

“Ummmm, Gab, when was it? You reckon about four hours ago? Actually, it was after breakfast, so about nine o’clock, yeah? She said you were picking her up?” He tacked on as if he had just realised something was amiss.

“Urgh, yeah, she’s probably at home,” I said, a new message to Arna already opened, my fingers flying across the screen. “Thanks, anyway,” I was already jogging back to the door worried sick that she wasn’t here and now wasn’t answering her phone.

Fuck. Where was she? She left hours ago – but wasn’t with anyone who was at Nexus. Where else could she be?

Almost at my car, I was stopped by a soft voice calling my name.

A nervous looking Gabriel was standing in the doorway, her hands gripping the frame. I took a couple of steps towards her, impatient to leave but not wanting to appear rude.

“Um, Mar-Marlee asked me t-to tell you something before she left. She said if you came here today, I needed to tell you.” I raced up the path and knelt before her, my stomach knotting with a sense of foreboding.

“What did she say, Gabriel?” She was twiddling her fingers, avoiding eye contact and I had to physically stop myself from shaking the words from her.

Taking a deep breath, I softened my voice. “Did Marlee ask you to tell me something?” She nodded and I forced a reassuring smile.

“She is probably playing hide and seek with me,” I joked, my small chuckle entirely forced for her benefit.

I saw the tentative smile curve her lips and prompted again.

“It’s okay. You can tell me what she said so I can find her,” the painful truth in my words unrelenting.

When she spoke, her words were so soft I didn’t think I heard her right over the pounding of my own heart.

“She said, if you come here looking for her I need to be brave and to tell you that she said she is with Lori.”

A cold clammy sensation stole any remaining warmth from my body as I swallowed my fear. Pushing to stand, I held my hand out for a high five before jogging to my car.

“Marlee is going to be so proud of you when I find her,” I called, finding it more and more difficult to stop my fear from choking me.

Arna answered on the first ring as I pulled out of the park and rushed back to the club.

“Arna, she’s with Lori!” How had I missed this ? The whole time I’d been so focused on Lucas I hadn’t even considered his sister.

“I know! Wayne just told us,” She answered frantically. “She’s a fucking lunatic. I always told Marlee she was a crazy bitch. We need to find her, Seb,” her words broke on a sob as I ignored the amber light, speeding up instead.

“Put Wayne on the phone,” I replied, unable to offer her any comfort when I was just as panicked as she was.

“Boss,” Wayne was direct but the emotion in that one word told me he was worried too.

“I need any information we can get on Lori Smith and I need it yesterday.”

Where the fuck could they be?

Why would Lori want to harm her when it was her fucking brother who was the problem?

Were they in on it together?

The questions were circulating but all unanswered, only increasing my alarm.

“, have you heard a word I said?” Wayne asked, his voice firm now.

“Sorry, say it again,” I wiped a hand down my face and listened as I sped around the corner to the club.

“The boys are already on it. They just spoke to him. He was reluctant to talk when they mentioned his sister but it didn’t take them long to get him to squeal. Reckons his sister has had it in for Marlee since they broke up. Said she’s obsessed.” I jumped from the car, grabbing my phone and racing through the door.

“Did he say where she could be?” I called as soon as I’d opened the door, noticing Cooper was here now too, Wayne standing next to him with a hand on his shoulder. They both looked up the second they heard my voice.

“I’m waiting for an address. Will have it any second now,” Wayne answered, putting his phone away.

“What do you need from me?” Cooper asked and in that moment I loved my best mate more than I could articulate. His fists were clenched and I realised Wayne had probably been trying to calm him down too.

Andy was with Arna in one of the booths and she shot to her feet running towards me, her red eyes visibly bloodshot.

“Seb! She moved to Bondi recently. Before that she never lived here. I knew that. I knew it was weird we’d been seeing her so often. She was fucking everywhere!”

“The police are on their way here, apparently Lori is known to them,” Felicity added from where she sat with Jack and Jay, who until then I hadn’t even seen. Probably the first time Flick and Jay had ever been together without arguing.

Wayne’s phone beeped and before I could respond, everyone descended upon him.

“We have an address!” He held his phone out for me and I grabbed it, reading the screen.

“Andy, you stay here with Arna in case they come here or Marlee gets away. Wayne, can you go check that she isn’t at either mine or Andy’s house?” Turning to my best mate I saw a mirrored look of determination with a hint of rage. “You come with me,” I said to Coop as we ran out to my car.

Find her, find her, find her the driving force behind every action I made.