Page 56 of Chasing Forever

The parking lot of Fresh Foods. Warren. The gun.

I remembered getting in his car, then it all just... stopped. He had to have knocked me out. Lifting a hand, I gingerly prodded at my left temple. There was a huge knot on the side of my head—the source of the headache and dizziness, no doubt, and when I pulled my fingers back, I saw blood.

His gun. I remembered he’d hit me in the side of the head with the butt of his gun.

My gaze darted around the space again as I tried my hardest to figure out where the hell I was. The room contained a single square table with two chairs and a twin-sized cot I was currently sitting on. That was it as far as furniture went. There was a tiny galley kitchenette in the back right corner with two countertops, a single row of three cabinets, a hot plate, a toaster oven, and a mini-fridge. There was an old cast iron wood-burning fireplace in the back left corner, and a single window with iron bars. The space was completely utilitarian, and from the dust and cobwebs everywhere, it looked like no one had been in it for several years.

I carefully stood, holding my arms out for balance as the world tilted. I knew for certain I had a concussion, and it was a bad one. But I couldn’t let it keep me from trying to figure out where I was, and more importantly, how to get the hell out.

I checked the window and saw that it had been painted shut at some point. Not that it mattered since there was no way I was getting through those bars. I tiptoed across the room and gripped the doorknob, holding my breath as I slowly tried giving it a turn, but it didn’t budge. It had been a long shot, hoping Warren hadn’t locked me in, but the disappointment still burned in my gut as I struggled to keep the panic attack at bay.

I had to figure this out.

The good news was he hadn’t tied me up. I knew how he thought, and I knew he hadn’t bothered because he assumed I was still the same weak, scared, obedient wife. His arrogance wouldn’t let him consider anything else. And I could use that to my advantage. I just had to figure out how.

I checked the kitchenette next, opening the cabinets quietly. There was a dusty plate covered in rat droppings and a glass with a dead bug in the bottom of it, but that was it. I grew disheartened as I moved to the two drawers. They were my last hope. The first one was empty, but in the second, there was an old, rusty Swiss Army knife. The blade had been broken off, but the cork screw was still attached. It would have to do.

I quickly popped out the curling piece of metal so it was ready to go when time came to use it, and stuffed it into my pocket.

Footsteps sounded somewhere outside the door, and I quickly raced back to the cot, ignoring the throb in my skull and my churning stomach. I sat down as the lock clicked and the door opened.

Warren stood in the frame. “Oh good. You’re awake.” He smiled in a way that sent a chill up my neck and made the little hairs on my arms stand on end. “Punishing you while you’re unconscious wouldn’t have been any fun.”

Tristan

I pacedthe stretch of asphalt behind Merritt’s car, raking my hands through my hair. It hadn’t taken long for a call to come in about an abandoned SUV in the parking lot of Fresh Foods. Harrison and I had raced out of the station, Hayes closely on our heels. When we got there, I spotted the vehicle immediately. The back hatch was opened, two plastic grocery bags sitting on the black carpeting, along with her purse. But the cart was still there with Merritt’s remaining bags inside. It was like she’d vanished into thin air in the middle of unloading her groceries.

There was no sign of her anywhere. No blood, no evidence of a struggle. And no one had seen a thing. She was just... gone. Her keys, phone, and wallet were with her purse, so I couldn’t track her location.

The only thing holding me together was my skin. Blythe had rushed to the school to get Levi, and she was keeping him entertained. I’d asked her not to tell him Merritt was missing yet. If the time came when he had to know, I wanted to be the one to tell him, and I wanted to be there in case he crumpled.

I’d put in calls to everyone I knew. The Hope Valley grapevine had been activated, and there were currently people searching all across town. Rhodes had split his guys into teams, some searching digitally, some with boots on the ground.

So far no one had turned up anything. I couldn’t accept that we might not find her. Couldn’t accept the thought of a life without her. Not when I just got her.

Patrol cars filled the lot. Police were canvassing, but every minute that passed where I didn’t hear from her felt like an eternity in hell.

“We’ll find her,” Hayes assured me, coming up and clapping me on the shoulder. “We’ve got the whole town lookin’, son. We’ll find her.”

Harrison came running up holding a tablet in his hand. “Got it!” he shouted as he ducked under the police tape that had been stretched out and rushed up to us. “I got the security footage.”

“Show me.”

He used his finger to rewind the digital image, then tapped play. No one said a word or breathed too loud as we watched Merritt open the back of her car and start loading bags in. She was totally unaware of the person climbing out of the car beside her until it was too late.

The figure in a dark hoodie moved in behind her, and my entire body stiffened at the same time Merritt’s image did. The two of them stayed like that for a few seconds before the man took two steps away, but it was enough space for the camera to catch the gun he had in his hand.

“Goddamn it,” I hissed as the scene continued to play out. There was no audio, so I didn’t know for certain what he’d said to get her into his car, but I could imagine. As soon as Merritt was in the passenger seat, the man rounded the hood of the car, scanning the parking lot as he went, providing the perfect angle to see his face.

“Fuckin’ knew it!” I growled. I’d known all along it was him, and now there was poof. I was going to make him pay.

My cell started buzzing in my back pocket, and I pulled it out to see Rhodes’s name flashing across the screen. It wasn’t too long ago he’d been in my shoes when Blythe had been taken, so if there was anyone I trusted to help me get my girl back, it was him.

“Just got video confirmation it was Bell. Tell me you got somethin’.”

I’d gone with my gut, and as Harrison drove us from the station to the grocery store earlier, I’d put in a call to Rhodes, telling him to dig up everything he could find on her ex, and to start with property records. He was spiraling, but he wasn’t stupid enough to take her back to his house. So he had to have another place in mind.

“There wasn’t anything in his name other than the house we already knew about. But I searched that shell corp like you asked, and I got a hit.”

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