Page 103 of Sleigh Bells and Snowstorms
I went to the clerk, sitting behind the counter with her eyes on her phone.
“Excuse me.”
She looked up. “Can I help you?”
“I’m here with my…” The need for a label tripped me up. What was I supposed to call her? Maybe girlfriend wasn’t right, but I didn’t care. “My girlfriend. Long dark hair, hauntingly beautiful eyes. Do you know where she could have gone?”
The clerk shrugged.
“Are there more fitting rooms? In the back, perhaps?”
“No. Oh, there’s a restroom. I think she went in there.”
“Brilliant.”
That answered the question. She was in the restroom.
So why were my instincts still telling me something was wrong?
I went down the hall that led toward the back of the shop. A door stood ajar, leading into a stockroom. Another looked like it led outside, and a third had a restroom sign affixed to it.
“Natalie?” I called through the restroom door. “Darling, are you in there?”
“Occupied!” a voice rang out.
A voice that was not Natalie’s.
Shifting back a step, my foot caught on something. A red bra and a red-and-white negligee lay on the ground, both still on their hangers.
I checked the stockroom, but it was empty. No sign of Natalie. The restroom door opened, and a woman came out. Shehiccuped, then giggled as she went to join her friends. I glanced into the restroom, but it was for a single occupant.
Where the fuck was Natalie?
Pushing the hangers aside with my foot, I tried the third door. A blast of cold air and whirling snow hit me. It led to a narrow alley between buildings.
The tracks were quickly filling, but I could make out a set of footprints and two troughs in the snow, like something—or someone—had been dragged outside. Fresh tire tracks led away.
Panic flashed through me. It was like being kicked in the stomach. The air rushed from my lungs, and for a second, I couldn’t breathe.
A second later, one thought solidified, consuming my entire being.Find her.
I couldn’t chase them down on foot, so I flew back through the shop and out the front door. Ignoring the freezing air and the thick snow on the sidewalk, I hurried down the street to my car.
Hoping against hope that Julian hadn’t discovered the tracker I’d put on his car, I brought up his location. He was moving, not far from downtown, heading toward the highway.
Did he have her?
It was the only thing that made sense.
My tires spun as I pulled out onto the street. As much as I wanted to race to catch up with them, visibility was shit, and the snow was accumulating quickly. I couldn’t save her if I was in a ditch.
Keeping an eye on the moving dot on the map, I followed. The wind gusted, blowing drifts of snow across the road. Twice I had to stop until the wind died down again when I couldn’t see past the front end of the car.
The dot kept moving away from town. Where the fuck was he taking her? Not to his house. That was in the opposite direction.
Doubt crept in. Was the tracker still on his car? He could have found it and put it on another vehicle. Was I chasing a decoy?
A car pulled out in front of me, losing control as it made the turn. I had to stop as it spun almost in a full circle. Gritting my teeth, I growled in frustration, and my eyes flicked to the dot on the map again.
