So damn alive.
So damn exposed.
And wearing a target with a bullseye on the back.
“I’ve been bothered by the whole Bluewater Restoration and how clean that fucking operation is,” Sterling said. “You checked them when you were looking for that compound before Simon’s arrest. Their books were solid. I’ve gone through all your older files on them and doing additional research. It’s a legit business. Outside of the LLC burying who really owns it, there’s nothing to look at.”
“Could still be laundering money.”
“True. However, the more I think about all those companies, the more I don’t believe this one was doing that. I keep asking myself—How do all of them run legit? But all of them have an LLC or two in common and those all start with blue, something. That’s a pattern.”
“We’ve talked about that,” Buddy said. “Get to the point.” He continued to focus on the area near Fallon, looking for anything that might be out of place. Anything that might be a sign the clock for this game had started ticking down.
“Take the compound. It’s not common. It’s easy to trace back to specific companies that maintain meticulous records. But if Simon were working for this EJ Vance, who owns all these fucking companies, it would be easy for them to cover this up as long as EJ stayed clean and EJV Industries wasn’t listed as an owner of any of those companies starting with blue.”
Every muscle in Buddy’s body tensed. “If that’s the case, this is one massive organization. At least double the size of Simon’s if he was a cell under Vance.”
“Have you or Dawson called tried looping in Flager with regard to what’s been happening to Fallon?” Sterling asked.
Buddy nodded, keeping a close eye on anyone who came close to Fallon. “Right now, this is a local issue—a harassment case at best. We’ve all been trying to find that connection, but nothing that Flager’s boss will take seriously, even though Flager is. A team is close by. Flagler gave them EJ Vance’s name—actually, anything we have, they have. But they have nothing to tie missing girls to EJ, or what’s happening to Fallon.”
“Guess we’ll have to find them something,” Sterling said.
Cullen inched into Buddy’s vision and Fallon didn’t flinch when Cullen drifted a little closer to her in the crowd. Two deputies stood near the raffle line. Dawson and Chloe were near the docks. If she noticed the invisible grid tightening around her, it didn’t seem to bother her… too much.
She just continued on the same way she always did—the way she did when she wanted the world to believe she was fine.
God, he loved her.
The admission hit him so hard he reached for the edge of the remembrance board to steady himself. His palm landed inches from Maya and Sophie’s faces. Innocent. Young. Gone.
You can’t save them all.
Simon’s voice.
The new bastard’s echo.
Two threats layered over the only truth that mattered:
If he failed today, Fallon would join the rest of the victims.
His stomach dropped so fast he thought he might be sick. Sterling said something—Buddy caught the rumble of his voice but not the words. The noise of the crowd muffled to a dull roar, every sound swallowed by the thudding pulse in his ears.
He stared at Fallon.
He couldn’t stop.
He didn’t try.
He imagined reaching her too late.
He imagined losing her like he’d lost those girls.
He imagined his world cracking open in the same violent, irreversible way it had years ago.
And the thought nearly took him to his knees.
“Hey.” Sterling’s voice cut through the fog—quiet but sharp. “You with me?”
