Page 58 of One Love
I can understand how she feels. We’ve been trapped inside this building for a week, but for good reason. Mark doesn’t want us to leave this controlled environment until they can get something, anything, on where Crystal has been hiding. Everything has been brought in to the penthouse: groceries, Devin’s doctor, visitors. We aren’t taking any chances.
The dishwasher beeps behind Devin, alerting us to the end of its cycle, and I swear Devin jumps a foot in the air, looking around the room in terror.
Standing from my seat on one of the stools, I place my hand on her shoulder. “It’s just the dishwasher, princess.”
Her breathing is rapid, and her pupils are dilated. Her expression turns from fear back to anger. “I’m going to the gym,” she spits out. “I’m sure one of the many bodyguards will follow me.”
She storms out the door, slamming it behind her. I get a text from the head of the security team I hired.
We’ve got Ms. Miller. Heading to the building gym.
Mark felt more comfortable with off-duty officers, but that wasn’t enough for me. I hired a prominent security company the day the flowers were sent. The more eyes the better.
Speak of the devil, my phone rings and it’s Mark.
“Hello?”
“Hey.” The gruffness of Mark’s voice already gives me the answer to the question I ask every time he calls, but I ask anyway.
“Any news?”
“Nothing good,” he confirms. “We haven’t been able to find her. We’ve been scouring every moment of footage we can get our hands on. There is nothing after she gets into the cab down the street from Midtown. The cabbie said he dropped her on the corner of fifty-first and Madison, but it was the weekend before Christmas in New York City. There were still hundreds of people gathering for the tree despite the snow, so there’s no way to track her through security footage in that crowd.”
I sigh, knowing he’s right. She was smart getting dropped off near Rockefeller Center.
“How’s she doing?”
“The best she can, I guess, considering everything. She’s rattled by every noise, not eating, and barely sleeping. Constantly wondering why. She wants to know why this is happening to us. She just stormed out to go to the gym after being startled by the dishwasher. I don’t know how much longer she can go on like this, Mark.”
“We’re going to find her,” he declares.
I take a deep breath and exhale slowly before saying anything. “I hope so. I don’t know what I’ll do if anything else happens to her. This is all my fault. I brought her into this mess with an insane woman. There has to be a way I can fix this. Can’t I be bait or something to draw her out? That always works on the TV shows.”
Mark lets out a sad laugh. “I wish it was as easy as they make it on TV. The detectives have been talking with Michelle's doctors from the institution she was in, trying to find the best way to end this with the least amount of....”
He trails off, unable to finish the sentence, but I know what he’s too afraid to say. Death. The least amount of death. This woman has already killed three people that we know of, possibly more in the eighteen months since she escaped.
“Sebastian, you couldn’t have known,” Mark says.
“Maybe not, but this is still my fault. I slept with her. I brought this into our lives.”
“No,” he says in a firmer voice. “Michelle Jenkins is the only person responsible for this.”
I don’t bother to argue with him. It doesn’t matter what he says or his opinion of this situation. I know the truth. I know this is all my fault. I just hope it can be ended before something even worse happens.
“Listen, I’m on until midnight,” he says. “If you need anything, call me. I’ll let you know if anything new comes in. I’ll give Devin a call and see if I can talk her into eating. Maybe I’ll threaten her with sending my mom back over there. My buddy Aaron just got off shift and is heading over to sit watch until I can get there. Hang in there a little longer, man.”
