“We don’t know.” Dylan looks back to all the police cars. “What we do know is that Will is being taken to the hospital. He was supposed to be shadowing Daisy.”
“Will…” Collin frowns, trying to place the name.
“He’s a football player, QB2,” Dylan says. “He’s got significant head trauma according to what their head coach found out.”
“And Daisy?”
“They won’t tell us shit,” I bite out, my knuckles white where they clutching the steering wheel so I won’t jump out and run over there. Or follow the ambulances to the hospital. But if she’s lying there dead, I need to know.
My phone rings. I look down to see a number I don’t recognize. I usually let those ring to voicemail, but not tonight.
“Hello?”
“Jonathan Hutchinson?”
“Yes, who the fuck is this?”
“My name is Baas. Barry told me to call you to get details. He has me looking into your girlfriend’s disappearance. I have a ninety-eight percent success rate finding people. I already have a copy of the restraining order and I have my people working on Ayer’s background including dumping his phone. If he’s stupid enough to have his own phone on him, we’ll track him to within inches of his location. What I need from you is to know what happened tonight.”
“I don’t fucking know!” My voice cracks as emotions stronger than I can control them take over. “She was at the game. She left early to make sure Lucy got back to her hotel before curfew. Then she was supposed to go straight home. I got there, she wasn’t there. I came to the hotel. There’s police everywhere, ambulances, and no one will fucking tell me anything!”
“Point of contact is the hotel,” Baas says, ignoring my outburst. “I’ll have people there within minutes to get the CCTV footage. Have the police spoken to you?”
“They tried, but Gloria told me not to talk to them without an attorney. I did give them my alibi.”
“Good. Don’t say anything else to anyone. If you have people with you, tell them the same.”
“I have Dylan and Collin with me.”
“They don’t speak to the cops without an attorney present. Can you text Daisy’s phone number to me? I’ll get to work on tracking her phone’s GPS.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll call back when I have anything to report.”
He disconnects the call, but before I can even process what just happened, there’s more knocking at my window. Barry and Cherese are standing there, looking miserable in the cold. Collin opens the back door for them and scoots over to let them in. They both look harried.
“Well, I didn’t think we’d be here this soon,” Barry says. “How are you holding up?”
“They won’t fucking tell me anything! How do you think I’m holding up?” I can’t keep the frustration and anger out of my voice, even if I am talking to the owner of the Raptors hockey team.
“The police aren’t prone to sharing details of a case,” Barry says. “It’s why I called an old friend of mine. He and his sisters run the best PI and security firm in the country. He’ll have answers a lot faster than the police will.”
“He called.”
Barry nods. “I gave him your number. He’s going to want a debrief and soon. The more information you can give him, the faster he can find her.”
“If Lucy’s not dead, she’s your best source of information. She’s the one who walked in on him beating the shit out of Daisy and she knows him. They all went to school together.”
“The basketball player?”
I nod, suddenly exhausted. Where is she? Is she even still alive? I can hear the bastard’s voice in my head, describing in detail what he’s going to do to her and how she won’t survive it this time.
“I forwarded all the text and voicemails per your request to Baas as well,” Cherese says. “Now, Hutch, what have you told the police?”
“Only where I was tonight so they could verify it.” My voice has gone hollow, wooden. What’s she going through right now? Has he already killed her?
Another knock at the window and I turn to see the same detective standing there. He looks none too pleased at all the new people in the Jeep.
