I ducked around a corner and fished the tracker from my bag once more. In the fuss over Lyle, I’d forgotten to challenge him on it. Now, it felt like one of his secrets I finally had access to.
One I could use in my favour.
The side road led me to an open square. I quickly crossed it and popped out again by a queue of vehicles filtering back into the busy main road.
One was a flatbed truck. I dropped the tracker into the back then lunged into a café beyond.
Hidden inside, I took a position against the wall behind the door, trying to appear casual, just waiting for a friend to arrive, even if my pulse skittered along. The café was busy enough that I didn’t draw attention. It left me the opportunity to spy through the glass.
Sure enough, Kane sloped out of the shadows, his gaze alternating between his phone and the road. For a moment, he studied the device, then his expression soured, and he took off running.
A laugh flew from my lips. I’d beaten him at his own game. He thought I was in a cab and disappearing across the city.
To celebrate, and to give him a chance to clear the area in his hunt, I grabbed myself a buddha bowl and takeaway coffee, then ordered an Uber to get back to my car and return home.
Thankfully alone.
The house was silent. In the kitchen, I started on my dinner and Dixie’s tablet.
Already, I’d added all the apps I could think about for trains, hotels, air travel. Anything she might have used in her escape. Nothing had come from it.
But I hadn’t tried the calendar sync artifact solution my father had suggested, though he hadn’t known what he was saying.
I opened the calendar. Tapped the settings to turn the sources back on, then sat back, not breathing.
A notification popped up, the app unfurling an event.
I almost squealed in happiness.
I tapped the link with a shaking finger and took a breath, because right there was a train ticket. One way. Bought ten days ago for the TransPennine Express and delivered to the calendar. I stared at the town name.Warford.
I had her. I knew where Dixie had gone.
No other information materialised to help me with a hotel or other accommodation, though I spent the rest of the evening searching. But I had a starting point to finding my friend, hopefully getting to her before anyone else did.
I packed a bag then went to bed.
Tomorrow, I’d leave Deadwater to find Dixie.
If it hadn’t been for the message that woke me in the dark, I would’ve stuck to the plan.
Chapter 11
Kane
In the driver’s seat of my car, I brooded. Tomorrow, I needed to drive south to handle my flat sale, which meant giving up on finding Dixie for a couple of days. And on stalking Lovelyn.
Across the road, her house was dark. She must have turned in early, not that I’d seen the lights go out after her trick with the tracker. Fuck. She’d thrown me off course so good, I’d been halfway to the next city before I realised I was following a truck driven by a random guy.
She’d bested me. The lass was full of surprises.
I kept my gaze on the house. On arriving, I’d been unsure if she was there. Except her car was parked by the pavement. I’d already scoped it out and stuck a new tracker under the body, but I couldn’t risk entering the property. She lived with her ma.
It burned in me to snatch her. She’d been so easy to take the first time, and I battled with myself over the urge to do it again.
Or why I was even here.
She’d challenged me on the DNA test, proving how insightful she was, but Lovelyn hadn’t told me that she’d found anything new. Going to the police station could be a sign, except I couldn’timagine her raising Dixie’s name to them or handing over photos for a digital search. She’d protect her friend’s privacy.
