“He wasn’t with the others. He, Raphael, and a couple of his guards are missing, but don’t worry. They’ll find them.” She takes a seat across from me, reaching for my hand, but I pull away.
The door opens, and I look up at Lloyd, whose serious face breaks into a relieved smile when he sees me. “They finally let me see you. Are you all right?” he asks, concern filling his eyes. “I have some good news. We figured out who Raphael’s contacts are, found the places where he held the victims, and identified their families. We’ll make sure they’re all protected.”
“That’s great, but I have to find Caleb. If he’s with Raphael...” I stumble to my feet and Lloyd catches my arm.
“Whoa, girl. We’re working on it. You did your part of the deal. You should go home to your parents so their bodyguards can protect you, get some rest, and I’ll call you immediately as soon as we know something, okay?”
I nod, but I’m not about to go take a nap when Caleb’s life is in danger. Raphael’s little empire has just fallen apart. I can’t image he’ll be calm or reasonable about it. One part of me hopes Caleb escaped on his own, but I know better. He’d never abandon Jade. “Is Jade here?”
“Yeah,” Lloyd says. “She’s fine. Well, a bit shaken, and she refuses to say anything, but hopefully she’ll see we’re not going to hurt her.”
“What about Raphael? Do you know anything about him? His real name, address, anything?”
Lloyd licks his lips. “Not yet, but...”
“Cassandra, please take me to my parents’ house,” I say, then turn to Lloyd. “Thanks. Just call me if you find out anything.”
“Sure.” He inclines his head and lets go of me. “Don’t forget to pick up your things.”
After Cassandra and I finish all we have to and walk out of the building, I stop and look around. “Actually, take me to Katherine’s place. I need to talk to her.”
“Okay,” she says, her brow creasing. “But isn’t it safer to go...?”
“No, I need a friend. My parents would be too worried and ask too many questions. Just call them and tell them I’m fine. They can send a bodyguard for me, okay?”
“Yeah,” she says.
“Good. Let’s go.”
“You two need to tell me everything you know about Raphael’s hideouts,” I say as I stride into Katherine’s apartment. She just stares at me, still at the door, her mouth hanging open. Isaac jumps up from the couch and approaches me.
“What happened?” he asks.
“I put that video of Raphael up on the Internet and made a deal with the cops. They arrested everyone and found Raphael’s accomplices, but he and Caleb are missing. We need to find them,” I blurt out. “If you know where they could be, you have to tell me.”
“Fuck.” Isaac runs both hands through his hair. “He went after him. Fuck.” He turns to me. “What about Jade?”
“She’s fine. She’s with the cops,” I say. “The others, too. The cops found the places where he held his victims, but he wasn’t there, so...”
“He has friends. He could be anywhere,” Katherine says, hugging herself. “If your video is still up, someone will recognize him and contact the cops.”
“Yeah, and that might take days!” I’m not sure if we have that much time. How will Raphael react? Will he take his anger out on Caleb? I take a deep breath. I can’t let panic overtake me. “Look, he’s out there somewhere, and while we wait, he can take Caleb God knows where.”
“He won’t.” Katherine shakes her head. “Everyone will be looking for him.”
She and Isaac share a look and I wish I knew if they know something they don’t want to tell me. Or maybe they just don’t know what to do with the madwoman who barged into the apartment and demands answers they don’t have. Shit.
“I’m sorry. Not knowing anything drives me crazy,” I say.
“I know.” Katherine places her hand on my shoulder, her eyes softening. “I wish we could help you. We want to find Caleb, too, but we’d need to make contacts and that takes time. And I’m sure everyone’s heard about this so they’re keeping a low profile.”
“I can’t believe this is happening.” My phone starts to ring and I dig it out of my pocket. “Yeah?”
“We haven’t found him yet,” Lloyd says, “but one of the women... Helen... She said Raphael was using them as a shield and then slipped away through a hidden doorway in the wall. But before that he sent one of his guards to get Caleb. They held him at gunpoint.”
“Why wasn’t anyone guarding it?” I do my best not to raise my voice, because I’m sure everyone was trying to do their best.
“We didn’t know about it. The tunnel was dug recently. Maybe a week or so ago. It leads to old tunnels under the building. We hope we’ll...” He lowers his voice. “I shouldn’t even be telling you this, but...”
