Page 34 of Run While You Can

Beside him, Andi gripped her phone, her jaw tight. “I’m going to call Emily.”

She put the phone on speaker.

One ring, then the call went straight to voicemail.

Andi frowned and tried again. Same result.

This time, she waited for the tone and left a message. “Hi, Emily. My name is Andi Slade. I’m working with Pam James regarding Gina’s disappearance. I was hoping to ask you a few questions. Please call me back when you can.”

She ended the call and stared at the screen with a frown.

Duke knew something about the call bothered her. “Maybe she doesn’t answer unknown numbers,” he offered.

Andi glanced at him and nodded. “That’s a good possibility. Especially after everything. I wouldn’t either.”

But the unease didn’t leave her face.

Her phone buzzed.

Another buzz followed.

Then another.

Andi flipped the phone facedown without reading any of the messages.

“Rupert?” Duke muttered.

“How’d you guess?”

“He’s the most persistent person I’ve ever met.”

“I already texted him to let him know we wouldn’t be on the bus, that we’d be driving ourselves,” Andi continued. “He’s probably taken some kind of issue with that.”

The police station came into view a block later—a concrete building squatting at the corner like it had grown there out of the pavement.

He pulled into the lot and parked.

Before either of them moved to get out, Andi spoke. “They may not tell us anything. They already decided Gina left voluntarily. We’re outsiders with microphones and sponsors. Not exactly their favorite demographic.”

Duke shut off the engine. “True.”

“And they may resent us poking around.”

“Also true.”

She looked at him then. “But we’re doing this anyway.”

He met her gaze. “Yes. Because sometimes you knock even when you’re pretty sure no one’s going to open the door.”

And because letting things go when they don’t sit right was how people disappeared forever. He had personal experience inthe matter. His former fiancée had disappeared, and the whole thing had nearly wrecked him.

It had been a long, painful road. But thankfully, he now had closure.

Things had turned around. Now he and Andi needed to have one little conversation . . . he just had to find the right time to have it.

Duke opened his door and stepped out into the damp air. Andi followed, squaring her shoulders as they walked toward the entrance.

He prayed the police would take them seriously. A woman’s life depended on it.