I cycle through all the cameras again. My heart is already aching for the loss of it that’s on the horizon. As much as I love this building, I love Charlie even more. When I decide that I’m all in on something—which is what I’ve done with both The Shadowridge and with Charlie—then I’m all in. What if I lose her right along with the building?
It’s possible the building won’t be lost. I know there’s a glimmer of hope. But I also know it won’t beeasy, even if it does end up being possible. What if new funding takes a long time to secure? What if I have to go through the approval process and get all new permits? What if the timing doesn’t work out with the Philadelphia train station restoration? Will it take so much time that I won’t see Charlie even if she does stick around?
My crew needs work. They didn’t like being off for two days when I couldn’t get the insulation. They won’t be able to just wait around for me during whatever delay is caused after Giovanni is arrested, before I can even start looking for new funding, and then during the months it’ll take to finalize it. And that’s if I can even find funding. It won’t be like finding it the first time around.
My regular crew has already melded. It always takes a bit, but now they’re working so well together. I’ll likely not be able to get them all back—if I can get any of them back. They’ll have to move on to other jobs.
And what will Charlie do when I’m working further away? When there’s so much more than a single wall separating us? Will she move on, too? Probably. I think back to what Luis said about me choosing people who reinforced my belief that people always leave. But I didn’t do that with Charlie. And yet, here we are.
I know I’m spiraling. I can feel it. ButI also can’t seem to stop it. There are just so many unknowns. I like being able to wake up in the morning and sing my to-do list because I know what to expect of the day. What will tomorrow bring? Another day where I can go to work and make progress, ignoring The Shadowridge’s impending doom? Or will it be the day that things implode? Can I ever tell my crew if I can’t tip off Giovanni? Charlie gave me advance warning. Will I not be able to do the same for my crew?
I close out of the camera app and get out of my truck. I lean my back against the bed, close my eyes, and breathe in the night air slowly until my body calms and I can think straight without the spiral.
This whole situation sucks. That’s just the way it is. I tell myself that it’s okay to grieve this place I love so much. But just like Charlie said, the outcome I fear the most isn’t guaranteed. And Luis warned me that my brain was already halfway packed for a breakup with Charlie. I can survive losing The Shadowridge. I can’t lose Charlie. I have got to find a way past this, or I think I’ll be guaranteeing that’s exactly what will happen.
CHAPTER 31
OPERATION: FIND MY FAVORITE HUMAN
CHARLIE
Imanaged to get off work early, which is good, because I can’t stop worrying about Owen. When I told him about Giovanni and The Shadowridge, he left. I could tell he needed some time to process, and following after him wasn’t going to give him that. When I finally heard his truck pull into the driveway last night, I was already in bed, but I hadn’t even begun to calm my mind enough to fall asleep. Knowing he made it home safely helped.
Which was good, because I had to go into work so much earlier than normal today to help with the search for Giovanni. The package going missing that the courier had left that night in The Shadowridge—the one that Ledger snuck in to take after I found it—must’ve really spooked him because he’s gone underground.
I’ve been tracking his credit cards, wire transfers on any of his accounts, watching for hotel stays or purchases that match his or any of his aliases’ spending patterns, and tracking his phones and tablets. It was all going well until suddenly, there was nothing. No hints of him anywhere.
He has to still be in Italy, though, because I’ve also been using real-time facial recognition software to scan airport terminals, major metro stations, train stations, toll booth cameras, gas stations, bus station CCTV, customs lines, and I’ve been monitoring coastal surveillance systems, and he hasn’t appeared on any. Which makes it so much more difficult to arrest him.
When I leave work and make it back to my place, Owen’s truck isn’t in the driveway, which isn’t strange for this time of day. He probably won’t be home for another hour. But I still don’t let my phone out of sight as I head upstairs to change out of my pink work dress and black cardigan and into jeans and a dark gray tee. I’ve been texting him all day, but haven’t heard a single thing from him. I’m really getting worried. I dumped a lot on him last night, and I need to know if he’s okay.
I’m hurrying down the stairs so I can head to his work when Reese gets home. She’s hanging her school lanyard and keys on the hook as I round the corner, and she looks at me, anticipation all over her face. “Inever saw you last night, and I’ve been dying for an update! So, did you tell him?”
It takes me a moment of just staring at Reese, wondering how she knew I was going to tell Owen about Giovanni and wondering why she’s acting excited about it, before I realize she’s asking if I told Owen about my kidnapping.
“Oh! No, I didn’t.”
She puts her hands on her hips. “Charlie, you swore.AndI took out the nasty garbage.”
“I know. And I will do some other nasty chore to make it up to you. But he got some devastating news, so I couldn’t.”
Her expression immediately changes into one of concern. “Is everything okay?”
I shake my head and say, “I don’t know. I need to go find him.”
Owen’s truck isn’t at The Shadowridge, but I still park and head inside. I find Grady working to prep a long wall for painting, and I ask if he knows where Owen is.
“Not a clue,” Grady says. “He was here until this afternoon, but he hasn’t been himself all day.”
Trent came over when he saw me andadds, “Yeah, normally the guy has a smile twenty-four, seven. I don’t think he smiled once today.”
Then Grady tells me, “He said he got some bad news and needed to blow off steam right before he left, but he didn’t say anything about where.”
I thank them and head back to my car, worrying about Owen even more than I had before going inside. Where would he go if he were upset? Obviously not to me or one of the guys he works with. Home to Bridleford? That hour-long drive might’ve been what he needed.
That doesn’t feel right, though. To a park? To visit a friend at one of his previous site locations? His sister is back at college in Boulder, so visiting her wouldn’t be easy. Hopefully, he didn’t just hop on a plane without telling anyone. Maybe he went for a run? Nothing feels right, and I’m racking my brain trying to figure out where he could be.
Then it hits me. At Jace and Mackenzie’s wedding, Zoe had asked if he ever went to bars to blow off steam. He’d mentioned one in Baltimore. Not by name, but said he liked it because of the architecture and because it was a good place to think. What had he said about it? Oh! That it was a carriage house for a nearby hotel, built in…1880-something? I pull out my phone and start Googling.
