Page 90 of Our Little Secret

“We don’t have any,” she argued.

Neal nodded, his brows drawing together. “Maybe she’s just out.”

“With Nick,” Leah said. “That’s my bet.”

Brooke was dying inside. “I hope you’re right,” she said, though she wouldn’t have thought she’d ever hope that Marilee, in an act of rebellion, had left the house behind her parents’ backs to be with a boy. “But we can’t take a chance.” She turned horrified eyes to Neal. “Not when Allison and Penny have gone missing.”

“Don’t even go there,” he warned.

“Have you checked the fire escape?” she asked suddenly.

“The what?” Leah, the lapels of her robe still clamped in her fingers, looked confused. “Fire escape?”

“The back stairs.” Neal was already heading to the door on the second floor.

Brooke hurried alongside him, stride for stride. “The door is locked.”

“I’ve got a key.” He fished in his pocket and extracted a jingling key ring.

“You have a key—to the—?”

“Of course I do. I have keys to all the locks here and at the office.” He sorted through the keys, extracted one, and slipped it into the lock before pushing open the hallway door and stepping into the back staircase. A few seconds later a light snapped on, spilling a weak shaft of illumination into the hallway.

“All this time I thought that was a closet,” Leah said, poking her head inside, then, “Ooh, ick. Spiders!” She swiped a hand in front of her face as if she’d stepped into a web.

“We don’t use them.”

“Maybe you don’t use the back stairs”—Leah gestured toward the door yawning open—“but it looks like maybe he does. Why else keep a key on his ring?”

Brooke was wondering the same thing and as she did, all her worries congealed.

“The things you don’t know about people,” Leah observed.

“Amen,” she whispered as Neal reappeared.

“Nothing,” he said to Brooke’s unspoken question, “but I think someone has been in there. The dust was disturbed. I saw footprints.”

Myfootprints, Brooke thought.

“What are you talking about?” Leah demanded and he explained that they never used the back stairs because they were unsafe.

As he spoke, Brooke’s legs gave out and tears began to drizzle down her face. Her girl was gone. Her baby. Fear curdled through her blood.Don’t do this, she told herself.Now is not the time to fall apart. You need to find her. Youhaveto find her!Blinking, she swiped her sleeve over her nose.

Neal crouched down beside her, his worried eyes holding hers, and as if he’d heard her thoughts, vowed, “We’ll find her.” He gathered Brooke into his arms. “We’ll find her.” His fingers tangled in her hair as he held her close.

She choked out a sob.

“Shh,” he whispered.

She closed her eyes and got lost in his strength.

“Come on.” He pulled her gently to her feet.

Brooke sensed Leah staring at the two of them huddled at the top of the stairs, their world crashing in around them.

Leah cleared her throat. “Look, I think she probably just snuck out with Nick,” she said. “I know, I know with the other girls going missing that you’re freaked. I am too, but really, she was here. In her room. She’s probably with Nick.”

“Let’s hope,” Neal said.

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