Page 86 of Endeavor

“Great, your fucking gut. I need to know where my brother and girlfriend are,” I growl, on the verge of losing my shit.

“They met at the Mexican restaurant as planned at zero eighteen hundred hours. Miss Baldwin was accompanied by Carl who sat at a table two tables down and across from the table where Mr. Winters and Miss Baldwin were sitting. At zero eighteen hundred and fifteen, Miss Baldwin stood, indicated to Carl she was using the restroom, and walked down a small hallway immediately to the right of the table. Carl could see the first three feet of the hallway but did not see around the corner to where the men’s and women’s bathrooms were located. He had peeked down the hall upon entry and noted that there were only two bathrooms, a supply closet, and a back door that was locked from the outside as patrons used the front door to gain entry. There is a video camera at that door and the film is currently being analyzed by LAPD. Approximately two minutes later, Mr. Winters stood and indicated to Carl that he too was going to use the facilities. He went down the same hallway. When neither individual emerged by five minutes later, Carl entered the hallway and found both bathrooms empty. He checked the kitchen and was told by the staff that no one had been there. He walked out back and saw nothing amiss. He called Miss Baldwin’s cell phone which rang and was located on the ground near a parked car in the parking lot. The lot holds about ten cars. Four were staff members, two spots were vacated, and the remainder belonged to patrons inside the restaurant. Video feeds from a few other nearby stores and a bank are also being checked for footage as we speak. No car in the vicinity is registered to Mr. Winters.”

Dean pauses and looks over at me. “Who knows about your half brother?” he asks.

I frown. “Me, my mom, the band, and Emma, why?”

“Who knows about the notes?”

“The sticky notes?” I confirm.

He nods. I can almost picture the cogs turning in his mind. He’s got a theory and I want to know what it is, now.

“Me, my mom, the band, and Emma…and you guys and the police.”

“What if…there are two people…” He trails off, pressing his lips together as he contemplates theories in his head.

“Just fucking say what you are thinking,” I urge because I’m exasperated, scared, and fucking pissed off that both my brother and girlfriend could up and vanish while being under a protective detail.

“I don’t know yet. It could be two people working together. It could be one person with an accomplice. It could be completely unrelated. It could be a copycat. I don’t know.”

I process all his words. He’s right. We’ve been spending all this time focused on the possibility of one person. We’ve never thought about two people. Should we have? Have we wasted all this money on security and working with the police for nothing?

Dean stops outside the restaurant, and we hop out of the car. I run up to the door, but a cop stops me. “Sir, you can’t go inside.”

Dean walks up to him, flashes him some sort of credentials, and the man steps to the side, allowing us to enter the restaurant. I’m unprepared for the chaos that surrounds me upon entering the dining area. There are police everywhere, some talking to what appears to be waitstaff and chefs. Others are using powder to look for fingerprints in the hallway beyond the tables. As I survey my surroundings, a deep foreboding washes over me. This is different than the other times. This isn’t a warning or vandalism, this is a full-blown crime scene. An officer holds a bag up to Dean. I recognize the item immediately. Emma’s phone.

I grab the bag. The officer is about to say something, but Dean holds up a hand.

I flip the bag over, studying the phone’s screen. As I press it, the screen lights up, revealing missed calls from Carl. A text message from Kate. And a news alert, for a missing woman and man. The irony that the news notification of her disappearance is on her phone fails to amuse me. I hand Dean the phone, not wanting to look at it a moment longer because it is evidence that something has happened to the woman I love.

Chapter Thirty

Emma

I wake to the sound of an engine. My mouth feels dry, and my head is killing me. I open my eyes, but I don’t see anything. I’m completely disoriented. I attempt to feel for my surroundings when I realize that my hands are tied together. I go to move my feet. They are tied together, too. Shit. I start to panic. I go to call out and find that my mouth is taped shut.

My panic increases with each breath. I try to remember the teacher in my self-defense class in college. What did he say? Breathe. I take a few deep breaths through my nose. Then I am tossed up and immediately hit something.

I am in a car, the trunk of a car. But whose car? And where are we going? Oh, God! The stalker!

Does he have Jason? How long have I been unconscious? I start kicking with both legs, hoping I can jostle something loose. Don’t cars have some sort of safety latch back here? Or maybe I can kick the lights out? I read something about that once.

I start kicking and rolling around as I kick, hoping to hit something, anything.

I feel like I’m doing this for a long time when the car comes to a stop. I don’t hear anything around me and that scares me. There is no buzz of cars passing us on a big freeway. There is no sound of nearby engines. There are no sounds at all.

I hear the crunch of feet on gravel. My body begins to tremble as the footsteps get closer to me. I search around me for anything to use as a weapon, but I come up empty-handed.

The trunk pops open, and I’m surprised by the darkness. How long was I out? What time is it?

“You can stop kicking things, it won’t help,” a familiar voice says. Chills like I’ve never experienced in my life course through my body.

Jason Winters.

I squint and slowly his body comes into focus.

“I’ll take this tape off if you promise not to scream,” he says, his voice is detached, cold, and makes me shiver even harder.

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