Page 86 of Submitting to Them
I do, too.And it’s not like we’ll be doing anything better when we return to the Ironwood offices.There, we’re just getting in everyone’s way.
We move throughout the home, our footsteps quiet over plush rugs.Tacky-ass faux antiques have been used to furnish the place.
Room by room, we look inside.I feel like I would just know, on an instinctual level, whether Ella’s in the house.And I don’t get the feeling at all that she’s here.We check the garage, the bathrooms, the closets, and everywhere else.
Once we’ve gone through every room of the house, we move into the back yard.A shed sits behind the garage.The door is unlocked, and the shed is empty.
Wordlessly, Kingston and I move around the side of the house, back toward his car.
This was a waste of time.I knew it from the beginning, but I couldn’t hold back.She’s been here, I’m sure of it.After all, Joel took her in the Porsche, and here’s the Porsche.Unless he dropped her somewhere else, first?What if she escaped, and she’s walking around in some unfamiliar town, or along the side of the freeway somewhere?
“What’s this?”King asks, bending to pick something up.“Is this hers?”
He holds out a sparkly purple barrette.Sunlight coming through the trees catches on the glitter paint.I can picture that barrette in Ella’s brown curls—I’ve seen her wear it.My breath catches in my throat.I swallow several times, trying to ease the ache.
“Definitely hers,” I finally say.“I bought a pack of those for her.”
He grips it tightly, closes his eyes, and exhales.“She left it here for us to find.She wants us to know she was here.”
He’s not a fucking psychic, but in my gut—in my heart—I believe he’s right about this.Ella dropped her barrette on purpose.
King’s phone rings and he pulls it from his pocket.Holding it up to his ear, he says, “Yeah.”His eyes meet mine.“Yeah.Thanks.We’ll head down there, too.”
“What is it?”I ask as he pockets his phone and hurries to his car.
“Baldwin got a call about a sedan driving erratically, coming out of Ridge Rock toward I-5.The callers say they nearly got swiped when passing, and it looked like the man hit the woman.They were concerned about drunk driving and domestic violence so they called in.”
“So we’re going down there now, right?”I’m already getting into the car.
He starts the engine.“Yeah.I don’t know if we should go on the deserted highways toward Ridge Rock, which will slow us down potentially, or straight from here to I-5, which is faster.”
“Straight to I-5,” I say.“We’ll catch up with them.”
“What if we blow straight past?”he says, peeling out of the driveway.
“We won’t,” I say.“It’s just a feeling, but I’m going with it.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
We’re coming, princess, I say to Ella in my mind.We’re going to find you and bring you home.
Ella
With every passing mile, we’re getting closer to I-5.I start seeing signs for it.Once we’re there, we’ll be surrounded by other cars.If Joel takes his eyes off me for even a second, I can signal that I need help.
I have to be careful, though.Even though I’m still driving, I don’t doubt for a second that he’ll shoot me if he thinks I’m signaling other drivers.
He keeps feeling around in his pockets, probably searching for more pills.
“Joel, what are you even thinking with this trip?”I ask.
“I’m thinking we’ll go to Oaxaca and have ourselves a good time.I have a place near Puerto Escondido.”
“I don’t want to go to Puerto Escondido.”
“You’re not good enough for anything or anywhere else.You can be my little maid.”He laughs.“You know my old man and Sebastian are just fucking around with you, right?They do it all the time.They meet a street urchin, dress her up like a pet.Parade her around for a few weeks, a few months at most.Then they get tired of her and drop her.”
“I don’t believe you.”
