“Let me call you back,” Cal said. “Natasha mentioned sharing Alexandra’s problems with her son Nate. He’s supposedly working at the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.”
“All right, but what is he going to be able to do for us?”
Cal made a strange humming sound. “I’m not sure, but it’s a start.”
While I waited for Cal to call me back, I went to Alexandra’s bedroom. She had a spare set of keys to her car in one of her dresser drawers. I only knew about the keys because it had taken us so long to straighten her room after the police left on Friday.
Beast’s suspicion of Porter nagged at me. Not knowing his address irritated me, too. The most fucked-up idea struck me, and I needed to see if she had a GPS system in her car. If she did, maybe she’d programmed Porter’s address into the system. It was one helluva long shot, but at this point, I’d do anything to figure out where she was.
I grabbed her keys and went downstairs. Her older-model Honda was parked near the stairwell. I hit the key fob and the lights flashed. A gust of heat wafted out when I opened the door, and I crammed my frame into the car. At a glance, there wasn’t a GPS system and the car was old enough there wasn’t a navigation screen on the console either.
“Dammit,” I whispered.
No sooner had I unfolded from the car, than my phone rang. I hit the locks for the car and closed the door, putting the phone to my ear.
“Yeah, Cal.”
“Natasha talked to Nate last Tuesday. He asked when her classes started again, and said he’d check in with Lex on Monday. Which is today.”
I stopped short. “How was he planning to do that? Call her? I’m guessing he didn’t have some way of locating her on campus.”
Cal blew out a sigh. “That’s the thing. I called Mallory, and Nate spoke to her on Friday afternoon, and asked her what Alexandra’s schedule was for the summer.”
I blinked and pulled in a deep breath. “Let me guess. She gave him her schedule and exactly where her classes were.”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t sound as concerned as I am,” I clipped out.
“Don’t put words in my mouth. Nate wouldn’t hurt her, but it doesn’t make sense that she hasn’t gotten in touch.”
“Do you have any way of contacting him?” I asked, climbing the stairs to Alexandra’s apartment.
A dark chuckle came over the line. “Asked Mallory to get me his number. I should have it very soon.”
I’d only met Nate once when Alexandra and I were still on speaking terms. At the time he’d been on the verge of getting his criminal justice degree.
It struck me that if Alexandra was in danger, I didn’t want to be on the right side of the law. I wanted her back, and I didn’t care what I had to do to get her back.
“Is Beast still there? I’d like to talk to him, if he is.”
Cal hesitated. “He’s here, but what do you want to talk to him about?”
I went inside her apartment, closed the door, and locked it. “I wanted to ask him a question.”
“About the Twenty-sixers?” Cal asked.
I sighed. “I’d like to know where they are, and I got the impression that Beast knew that… at least from things he said to Brantley and Tobias.”
“I’ll put him on, but you can’t put that together on your own?” Cal asked.
I rolled my eyes. “They could be anywhere along State Road 26.”
Cal chuckled. “Yeah, but that road has another name besides Twenty-six.”
My grip on my patience slipped. “Cal, no disrespect, but I don’t want to play your games right now. Not when Lex might be in danger.”
“Yeah. Twenty-six is also University Boulevard in Gainesville. I’ll put Beast on, but youdon’tgo in there half-cocked. It could get you both killed.”
