Page 92 of The Devil's Weakness

“I saw him in the kitchen when I got here yesterday. He was looking around for something. He looked really guilty, and he was hiding something under his shirt. That’s what I was talking to him about when you got here.”

She hits me with a frantic stare.

“How much money are we talking about?” I ask.

“I don’t know… more than a thousand.”

She looks like she’s about to cry, scream, or throw up. And I don’t blame her.

“Why would you keep a thousand dollars in a can in your house when you live with a drug addict?”

She looks injured, like I just punched her in the gut.

“Michael barely knows his own fucking name most days. I didn’t think he would stumble on it. I kept it up there behind a bunch of shit.”

“He’s an addict. The only thing he cares about is drugs and getting money to buy more drugs.”

“I’m worried about him. The last time he didn’t come home, I got a call from Captain Turner letting me know he was being rushed to the hospital and was probably going to die.”

She checks the time on the microwave.

7:36 A.M.

“I can’t deal with this right now. God, I told Ellie I would work this morning. I don’t want to bail on her again, but I have to try to find him.”

I follow her back into her room. She grabs her phone and pulls up Ellie’s number. I watch over her shoulder as she types out a message to her.

Sasha: Michael stole a bunch of money from me, and he never came home last night. I have a terrible feeling. I need to go look for him this morning. I’m so sorry to let you down again.

I watch her as she waits for a reply expectantly, while biting away at her already jagged nails.

“She probably won’t even answer me anymore,” she speaks to me with her eyes still glued to her phone. “Ellie’s kindness runs deep, but everyone’s well runs dry at some point.”

Finally, three dots appear as Ellie writes her response.

Ellie: Family comes first. I hope he’s okay. Let me know if you need anything.

I can feel the immense sense of relief that washes over Sasha, just standing near her.

Sasha: You’re too good to me. I’ll make it up to you.

“Are you working today?” she turns around, and the look of worry and sadness in her eyes nearly guts me.

“No.”

“Can you drive me around town a bit? I need to look for him.”

“Sure.” I place my hand on her cheek to try to calm her down, but it doesn’t seem to work.

When we do find Michael, I’ll kill him for putting her through this.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

It’s beentwo days since Michael went missing. Blade and I drove around Whispering Valley and the surrounding areas that first day. We went south to Greenmount, west to Union Mills. We searched Pleasant Valley just to the north of us, over the Pennsylvania line.

We asked everyone that we came across if they’d seen him. I called some of his friends that he stays with from time to time. Blade asked some members of a few of the other Clubs nearby to see if anyone has seen him. We checked in with the Skull to see if he’d been into The Lair.

No one knows where he is.

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