Mila exhaled, and I could almost picture the line forming between her eyebrows in a frown. “I’d feel better if I knew why you wanted her. She’s my friend.”
“Suggesting I’d do her harm?”
“No!” She backtracked fast. “I would never say that. We might not have grown up together, but I trust you. You’re my brother.”
“Then you’ll do it?”
“I will.”
Good enough for me.
Whatever Lovelyn discovered hadn’t sent her running, but I knew she’d tell my sister, and Mila would tell me. She’d do anything to save the family business she loved almost as much as I hated it.
Mila was wrong to trust me. If I had to use Lovelyn again to get to what I needed, I wouldn’t hesitate. I’d walk right through any constraints.
To find Dixie, I’d succeed at any cost. But it wasn’t for her benefit. It wasn’t even for my own. But that was a secret I’d rather take to my grave than share with another soul.
Chapter 5
Lovelyn
Out of my front door, I stepped into a grey day, my purple bag over my shoulder and Dixie’s tablet concealed within.
“Bye, Mum,” I called and set off down our street to the bus that would deliver me to the harbour.
After getting home last night, I’d had two pressing objectives. The first was to examine the tablet to see if there was any information on Dixie’s whereabouts. That had been a big fat fail. I couldn’t get into the thing.
My second was to check the latest on theEden, the ship owned by Mila’s family that had been raised yesterday from its watery grave. An event I’d missed due to being kidnapped on the way. Mila had texted last night to ask to see me. Whatever she’d heard, I was ready to break the bad news.
This was going to ruin her day.
I hurried down the street, my coat tucked close around me. Unlike yesterday, when I’d wandered straight into Kane’s clutches then been a flustered mess after, I listened out for engines and took note of passersby. I lived in a quiet, residential part of Deadwater, not known for random abductions, but there was a first time for everything.
Kane’s actions yesterday had come shortly after my father’s parting words, informing me that someone had rung the police to make a threat against me. He’d had no details. Nothing to help me protect myself any better. I still couldn’t think of a reason someone would want to harm me, but that didn’t remove the risk.
I hadn’t slept well last night.
A grey people carrier cruised towards me, the driver leaning forward as if looking for something. Or someone. I stiffened, only breathing again once it passed. The driver was a woman, but I wasn’t ruling anyone out as a threat. When I reached the corner, I peered back to check she had gone. The car was out of sight.
I exhaled my fear and turned back. Any more delays and I’d miss my bus.
Across the road, two men exited a lane, one scrawny but tough-looking, the other taller with a thick neck. Dark clothes, furtive glances, tattoos peeking out of their collars and sleeves.
I pulled up short. If the driver had seemed unlikely as a danger, these two screamed criminal. Either I’d stumbled onto a mugging in progress, or it was Bring Your Own Offender day in the suburbs.
I needed my car. I should’ve taken a taxi. Though I made good money from work, and from backhanders Arran paid me for information, I had to be conservative with my cash. I had more bills to pay than most people my age.
In unison, both men spotted me.
Shit.
I froze on the corner of the street. They were directly across the junction from me, in the way of where I needed to go. The road bisecting it was a dead end in both directions, but in these suburbs, there were lanes everywhere. I’d grown up roaming them.
Taking to my heels, I scurried along the right-hand route. Down the street, passing parked cars and driveways, I clutched my bag and drove power into my legs, thankful for the workouts that gave me the strength to flee now I needed it. Perhaps I imagined a shout following me, but my heartbeat had turned into white noise so loud it could have drowned out a siren.
At the end, I didn’t pause to check how close they were, instead diving into a narrow alley that led between a block of flats and a garden.
It turned a corner then split into three. I took the most overgrown route behind tall Victorian terraces, grass whipping at my legs, and I pictured where the alley came out. Behind an elderly person’s home with open lawns surrounding.
