Page 19 of The Devil You Know
Evan’s phone vibrated,a reminder to check in with Seth. He glanced at the time and frowned. Seth should have called or texted to touch base half an hour ago—he had definitely missed his check-in.
He probably hit pay dirt with the research and didn’t hear his alarm or didn’t set one,Evan thought. But just in case, he texted Seth.
Evan:Find something interesting?
When no snarky reply came within minutes, Evan hit speed dial. The phone rang until voice mail picked up.
Shit.
He didn’t dare leave his research notes where someone could pry, so he jammed everything into his backpack and left the books on the table, hoping he’d be back soon.
Seth’s phone might have died—but that doesn’t seem likely. He could have moved somewhere that didn’t have a good signal—but he made his previous check-in.
Every reason Evan could find for why he might be overreacting didn’t hold up when he thought about it.I knew we should have stayed together.
The bad feeling in his belly grew to full-out foreboding when he saw an ambulance parked outside the library and followed the EMTs to the same section where Seth had been researching. Neither the reference librarian nor Seth was anywhere to be seen.
He spotted Seth’s messenger bag and notes in a glass-walled room. The door was locked when Evan tried to open it. The EMTs had ventured into the stacks, giving Evan the chance to retrieve Seth’s belongings without having to explain anything. He held his hand over the lock, murmuring anunlockrote spell. The tumblers clicked, and Evan pulled the door open easily.
He shoved the papers and notebook into Seth’s messenger bag and shouldered into his jacket, hoping no one wondered about him having both a backpack and another satchel.
Seth left his jacket in the room. The hex bags are gone, and so is his phone. He must have thought there was a threat.
Evan slipped back into the larger room and edged closer to the ambulance crew. An older woman sat on the floor, surrounded by medics and a worried library staffer.
“I must have fainted,” she told them. “One minute I was looking for a book, and then I woke up on the floor, and Kevin called for help.” The staffer, who was presumably Kevin, nodded in agreement.
Evan drew back before anyone saw him and made a quick check of the rest of the special reference room. Seth was nowhere to be found.
If he were here, he’d be the one who called in the librarian’s situation, and he’d stay nearby.
Foreboding hardened into dread. He hadn’t seen signs of a struggle in the glass-walled room, and nothing in the larger outer room looked amiss. Then he spotted something on the floor and his breath caught in fear: Seth’s phone. He picked it up; the screen cracked but still working.Seth wouldn’t have left this behind willingly. He didn’t make his check-in call, so he could have been taken any time in the last hour. Fuck.
Evan hurried up the steps to the main level. Two uniformed police officers were coming his direction—and one of them was Derek Nelson.
He forced himself not to look at the cops and plastered a bland expression on his face, hoping Nelson would be so busy talking to his partner that he didn’t recognize Evan. It almost worked. Nelson passed him, then stopped and backed up.
“You were one of the guys out by the observatory,” Nelson said, giving Evan the once-over.
Evan managed a wan smile. “And now I’m at the library.”
Nelson opened his mouth to say something, but his partner showed up beside him. “We need to go,” he prompted and jerked his head in the direction of the stairs to the reference room.
Nelson turned his attention back to Evan. “Stay out of trouble,” he warned, in a tone that made it clear he’d be expecting problems.
“I always try to,” Evan replied, keeping his voice neutral and lengthening his stride. He resisted the urge to look over his shoulder and barely kept himself from running.
Fuck. He’s got it in for us. So there’s no way I can go to the cops if Seth really is missing.
He found their truck exactly where Seth parked it. The wardings would have prevented magical vandalism, and Evan couldn’t see any physical damage.But where’s Seth?
Evan dug his partner’s phone out and looked through the call history. He saw the first check-in, and several texts Seth had sent to him with tidbits and photos he had found. Seth had uploaded his findings to the cloud, so Evan could check them when he got back to the RV.
One unsent text caught his eye, and he noted the time as well as the content—a picture of a building owned by Osborn that sat adjacent to an abandoned subway station.
Interesting…
He gave Seth’s bag a quick check, something he hadn’t taken time for back in the library. Evan had feared not being able to come back for Seth’s things if the reference section got closed due to the librarian’s accident. Now that he knew Officer Nelson responded to the call, he was doubly glad no one else had a chance to rifle through Seth’s bag.
