“I can’t believe my stupid plan almost got us caught,” she said, laughing harder. “You should really stop listening to me.”
I snorted. “I really should.”
Her laughter fizzled and she wiped away a stray tear that had escaped. “I think we’ve hit our quota for the year on running into exes.”
“You can say that again,” I said, climbing into the car.
Armchair_Detective: No luck at the boyfriends?
ReidingRainbow: *Ex-boyfriend’s. And no.
WhiteKnight31: So sensitive about that word.
ReidingRainbow: No sign of the cat, and no evidence the pictures were taken there. In fact, almost seems certain that they weren’t taken there.
WhiteKnight31: Bummer. I was holding out hope he’d be the one.
Armchair_Detective: I tried tracking down the number again, but still no luck. I can confirm it was created in Grand Rapids, but that doesn’t exactly help us narrow down the list.
WhiteKnight31: Now what?
ReidingRainbow: The cat lady across the hall is still fishy.
WhiteKnight31: What about the friend who unfollowed her?
ReidingRainbow: Hazel doesn’t think that’s a possibility. But she’s going out with those girls tomorrow night, so we’ll see.
NINETEEN
Reid
“You look great,”I said, as Hazel came out in what must have been at least her seventh outfit change of the evening.
“Is it too casual?” she asked, running her hands along her light-washed jeans. “It’s too casual. I’m going to change.”
I leapt up from the couch and raced after her to her room. I grabbed her hand, spinning her around to face me.
“Hey.” Her hand was clammy beneath mine. I gave it a squeeze. “You just changed out of that black dress because it was too dressy. I think you’re going in circles here.”
She nodded, but her eyes were a million miles away. My chest tightened at the panic I saw there.
When I’d encouraged her to go out with her friends tonight to get a read on Kiara, I hadn’t realized how much I was asking of her. I’d thought this would be the easiest lead to check out so far. But judging by how anxious she looked right now, I couldn’t have been more mistaken. I wanted to ease her discomfort, but no matter what I said or how encouraging I tried to be, she still vibrated with nervous energy.
“I swear I always make the wrong call.” She pulled at the tight top that hugged her frame. “Last time, I wore a dress,because the time before that, I’d worn jeans, and they dragged me to some fancy club. But that time? We ended up at a stupid pop-up carnival, whatever the hell that’s supposed to be. I can never win.”
“Can’t you text them and ask?”
“Zoe isn’t answering.” She bit her lip, and I was about ten seconds away from telling her to call the whole thing off, throw on some sweats, and let me wrap her up in a blanket. Would she let me cuddle her? Was it weird that I was thinking that? Probably.
She pulled away from me to examine the contents of her closet. There were already so many discarded items on the bed that you could barely make out the color of the comforter.
“What about this.” I snatched a black top she’d been wearing earlier and a pair of darker jeans. “This is safe. Could be casual, but it also wouldn’t stand out if the others were more dressed up.”
She eyed it before taking the pieces. “It’s perfect. How did you do that?”
“Two sisters,” I said with a smirk.
She tore off into the bathroom. I leaned against the wall, twiddling my thumbs and waiting while she changed. When she stepped out, I had to fight the urge to tell her exactly how beautiful she looked. The jeans hugged her curves like they were made for her, and that small sliver of exposed stomach was seriously testing my self-control. Her hair was wild and curled, and the smoky makeup around her eyes was different than the natural look she typically wore. I shifted, trying to ignore the sudden tightness in my jeans.
