Page 141 of Chasing Shelter

Beth’s gaze darted to the side. “I, um. Who?”

My eyes narrowed on her. “Keep with the cop work because you do not have a future in acting.”

“Ellie—”

I pulled the apron over my head and tossed it onto the counter. “I’ll be back after I get Trace arrested for stalking or false imprisonment or being impossibly overbearing and whatever else I can throw at him.”

Thea started to laugh. “I’m surprised it took you this long to realize you had a security detail.”

“I hate you all,” I called over my shoulder.

42

TRACE

Leaning back in my chair,I pinched the bridge of my nose. That convenient pressure point did nothing for me now as I listened to Gabriel walk me through the latest updates.

“How could he have dropped off the face of the Earth?” I ground out. “A camerasomewhereshould’ve caught him.”

“I don’t know,” Gabriel said. “Bradley’s got money and connections.”

I sat up at that. “Do you think the parents know more than they’re saying?”

Gabriel ran a hand over his stubbled cheek. “Hard to say. The dad, Henrick, told me to call his lawyer, so he’s ducking for cover. The mom, Helen, has called me no less than a dozen times to see if I’ve gotten any leads on her son. She seems genuinely worried.”

“So maybe the dad’s funding Bradley’s getaway,” I suggested.

“He wouldn’t need to. As far as I can tell, Bradley’s got plenty of money socked away. And like many people in that set, a significant amount of it is in Switzerland.”

I let out a sound of frustration. Some countries’ internationalbanking laws meant tracing money in and out of those accounts was nearly impossible.

“We’ve got his picture circulating. Hotels, motels, rentals, and every place we can think of,” Gabriel assured me. “If he shows in Sparrow Falls or any of the towns in this county, we’ll know.”

Unless he’d changed his appearance or had a fake ID. But that wasn’t something I could control. All I could do now was stay vigilant and trust the people I had looking out for Ellie.

“What about Jasper?” I didn’t want to think about my father, let alone speak his name. But I needed to know that, too.

“Restraining order has been served. He has to stay at least one hundred yards away from you, Keely, Ellie, and Leah. It may be enough to send him back inside to finish his term. His parole officer is talking to the board, but if this temporary order becomes permanent, it definitely will.”

That was something, at least. Not nearly enough, but something.

“Thank you.” That wasn’t enough either, but it was all I could give Gabriel at the moment.

“There’s one more thing we gotta talk about,” my friend went on.

“Not sure I can handleone more thing,” I admitted.

“Will.”

I cursed.

Gabriel tossed a copy of some paperwork onto my desk. “This was emailed to him this morning, notifying him of his termination.”

“We get a response to that?” I asked.

“Laney let me know that he replied with a number of expletives and a promise to call his union rep so he could, and I quote, ‘fry our asses.’”

I grunted. “It’ll never come back on us.”

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