“It’s my fault. I was the one who made bad choices and put her in danger.” Tears trickled down Jennie’s cheeks.
A knock on the door had all three of them shifting their attention to the entry.
“That should be Randy. It’s time to put the pity parties away and focus on finding Zoey.” Brandon rose and answered the door.
Officer Hanes strode in, his arms loaded with files and laptops. “Hey y’all. Where do you want this stuff?”
“On the table’s fine.” David stood and the room spun. He grabbed the back of the couch and steadied himself.
Jennie clutched his arm. “You sure you should be up and working?”
“I can rest after we find Zoey.” He’d lost his heart to that little girl the moment she’d called him about the texting mix-up. He made his way to the table. “What do we have?”
“Rick and Sandy from your team will be here soon.” Hanes spread the information out and booted up two laptops. “Mags is running down the information you asked for on Levi, Adam, and Kenny’s girlfriend. She said she’s throwing in a profile on Kenny as well.”
“Good. Hopefully, she’ll have it soon. And as for Rick and Sandy, we need all the brain power we can get.” Brandon sat and gestured to the empty chair. “Sit down before you fall down.”
David obliged. He prayed he’d last long enough to point in a direction to investigate.
“I know we put out an Amber Alert, but I want to make sure we didn’t miss anything. The stress level was high, and we might have missed a detail.” Brandon grabbed a pen and paper. “Go over the events one more time.”
David and Jennie took turns filling the two officers in on the details.
“Nothing new there.” Brandon tapped his pen.
Officer Hanes looked up from the computer screen. “What was Zoey wearing?”
“Jeans and a purple sweatshirt.” Jennie added.
Hanes typed without looking at the keyboard. “What about under the sweatshirt?”
Jennie shook her head. Her voice rose to panic levels. “I don’t remember.”
David stared at the vase in the middle of the table. “It was a light blue t-shirt with paw prints on it.”
Jennie gasped. “Yes, that’s it.”
David straightened and wince at the pain shooting down his side. Why hadn’t he remembered earlier? “She’s wearing a dark purple rubber bracelet that I gave her before we left the house.”
“The one you had me put the tracker in?” Brandon asked.
“You gave her a tracker?” Hurt filled Jennie’s eyes.
“Yes. Before we left your house.” David cringed as he remembered Jennie’s words about secrets. “I’m sorry. I told Zoey, and I promise I planned on telling you as well, but things moved fast after that.”
Jennie stiffened. “Fine. Then find her and arrest the guy responsible for taking her so we can go home.”
A woman saying ‘fine’ was never a good thing. And in this case, he’d royally messed up. His intent was good, but with her background… He pulled up the app on his phone and checked Zoey’s location. He came up empty. “It’s not that easy, Jennie. We have to be within five miles of her. And according to my phone, she’s not within the radius.”
“Then what good is your spying on my daughter?” Her voice rose with each word.
“David was only trying to help.” Brandon stood up for him.
“I get that. And I’m grateful we might have a way to find Zoey.” She spun and leveled him with a glare. “But you had no right to stalk her.”
David lowered his head. He’d thought he’d found the woman of his dreams only for his actions to turn it into a nightmare. “We’ll find her and bring her home to you.”
She raised an eyebrow then faced Brandon, ignoring him. “I need a moment to calm down. If you need me, I’m going to find a bedroom.” Jennie disappeared down the hall.
