Page 76 of Hart of Hope
Grace rose. “I’ll call Ted.” She followed that statement by explaining, for Janet’s sake, that Ted was family and in charge of the gang unit for BPD.
“I’ll be right back.” I needed a minute to compose myself, a quiet space to think.
I beelined it for my bedroom, walked into my closet, and punched in the code to my safe. Before I pulled out my gun, I called Fran again as tears burned hot and bright.
When her voicemail picked up, I lost it. Tears poured out before I could stop them. I couldn’t lose her. All I could think of at the moment was sex trafficking. Fran was a prime candidate—young and pretty. But I’d schooled my daughter on that very topic. Even Grace had given her pointers as to what to be aware of when it came to sex trafficking.
While Grace phoned Ted, I needed my best friend.
I tucked my gun in the back of my jeans then leaned against the closet wall and called Duke.
As soon as the line connected, Duke asked, “Is Grace okay?”
“Fine, it’s Fran. She might be missing.”
“What?”
I explained to Duke everything Janet had relayed then shuddered.
“Fuck,” Duke growled through the line. “Do you think this Ryan kid is shady?”
“My first impression was yes. I’m beating my head against the wall for not looking into his background, although Fran and her friend did. They found nothing.”
“Fran checked him out?” Duke chuckled. “Wow. Like father, like daughter.”
“She’s smart, man,” I said. “She’s a good reader of people too.” I rubbed a dull pain in my chest. “Grace is calling Ted as we speak. I need to do something. I can’t just sit around.”
“I’m on my way.”
After we hung up, I didn’t move for a long minute. My mind was going places it shouldn’t. I gulped in a deep breath and shook off the morbid thoughts filling my head. I had to believe Janet might be right. Fran and Ryan must have lost track of time.
My little girl was fine. I repeated that line as I closed the safe then returned to the living room.
Janet and Nora hadn’t moved from the couch.
“Where’s Grace?” I asked.
“She said to tell you she needed some air, so she went down to the lobby to call Ted,” Janet said.
I couldn’t blame Grace, especially after she’d woken up from sleepwalking. Just the same, I called the lobby to check with Ray.
“Yes, Mr. McCauley,” Ray said.
“Is Grace down there?”
“Yes, sir. She’s sitting on the couch in the lounge.”
My racing heart slowed for a moment. I wouldn’t be able to handle both Grace and Fran missing at the same time.
27
GRACE
The lobby lounge offered a sweet escape from the suffocating air in Brian’s apartment. After watching the emotions cascade from Nora like water from a broken dam after a harsh rainstorm, I felt like I was drowning.
Above all, I couldn’t help but think that Fran might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe because of my history, sex trafficking was the first thing that came to mind. I prayed that wasn’t the case.
Thea, my dear ride-or-die friend in captivity, had been fooled by a seemingly lovely woman who called her, claimed to be a nurse, and convinced Thea that her mother had been in an accident. After Thea hung up with the woman and ran out of the mall to her car, she’d been kidnapped and thrown into a van.
