And girrrl, when you licked his ear?
She hadnotlicked Peter’s ear. She’d merely murmured a few supportiveDon’t accidentally kill hims.
Yeah, your lips touched flesh more than once, and admit it—youwantedto lick his ear and bury your nose in his neck because he smells so damn good.
“Shh!” Whoops, she’d shushed Harry aloud, and Peter heard and glanced at her.
Her friend, Peter. Her neighbor, Peter. Still a stranger to her in so many ways…
He stood out in this group of rather remarkably strong-and-handsome men, and not just because he was wearing that bright white uniform in contrast to the others’ shorts and jeans and T-shirts.
Right after the confrontation with Schlossman, Peter had received a text from Lindsey with an address in Van Nuys—an LA suburb, about a two-hour drive away—of a James and Mary Dingler, to whom “Dingo’s” maroon car was registered. His parents’ home address?Probably.
Lindsey’s police department contact had also pulled up a more local San Diego address with an apartment number for Dingo’s long-haired buddy, Daryl Middleton.
So now, along with the San Diego work address of Maddie’s friend Fiona’s aunt Susan, they had three potential leads to check out.
Four, including Maddie’s great-aunt Hiroko,Harry reminded Shay.
Peter, Izzy, and the two SEAL candidates who’d volunteered to go with him to Palm Springs were organizing and prioritizing who should be visited first. And since Shay was unfamiliar with locations and drive times, she had little to add, aside from “Might make sense to hold off on the trip to Palm Springs,” since that was just to pick up a bunch of packed boxes.
“Yeah, but the rental van has to go back by nine tonight,” Izzy pointed out.
“I’ve got the day free,” the handsome young man nicknamed Timebomb offered. “I can help. And maybe Q and Doe can—”
“I already called ’em,” wiry Seagull announced. “They’re in Tucson today—something with Q’s sister or cousin. How about Timebomb and I go to Palm Springs—” he turned to Izzy “—if you’re okay with handing off the van to us.”
“I am,” Izzy said.
Seagull continued, “That way you and Schlossman can head out to the Dinglers’ in Van Nuys, while the LT and Ms. Whitman stay local.”
“If it helps to split up even more,” Shayla volunteered, even as Harry sputteredNo, no, no, no, no! What are you doing?“I could get my car from Tevin—”
Before she could finish, Peter’s cellphone rang. He glanced at it—his intention was clearly to let it go to voicemail, but then he did a double-take, and brought it to his ear with an authoritative “Peter Greene.”
His eyes narrowed slightly as he listened for several long moments to whoever was on the other end, but then he covered the phone’s mic with his other hand as he said, “It’s Maddie’s aunt Hiroko. Maddie and Dingo were just at her house, asking to borrow money. If we hurry…”
“Go,” Izzy said. “Fly. We’ll figure this out and be in touch.”
Peter looked directly at Shayla and gestured for her to follow as he headed quickly for his truck.
Jesus, those blue eyes in that face with that uniform! “Shh!”
Peter spoke over her, thank God, again into the phone, “I thought the number looked familiar. Thank you so much for tracking me down, because yeah, Maddie’s gone AWOL. We’re on our way.” He hung up as he started his truck with a roar as Shayla, too, fastened her seat belt, and he pulled out of the parking lot.
“You gave Maddiethreehundred dollars,” Pete heard himself echo Hiroko’s words. “In a personal check…?”
In his mind, he time-traveled and was using those moments when Hiroko had first called to organize a hard-and-fast search pattern of the banks immediately surrounding this still sleepy little beach community. With three vehicles—his, Izzy’s, and Timebomb’s—and with six sets of sharp eyes, they might’ve actually spotted Maddie in a bank parking lot in Dingo’s distinctive maroon car.
But Hiroko hadn’t thought to tell him that there was a check to be cashed, and he hadn’t thought to interrogate her when she’d reported she’d given Maddie and Dingo some money. But Jesus, he wished that he had.
Shayla now reached between them as they sat on the sofa in Hiroko’s tidy little living room and she put her hand on top of his, clearly knowing exactly where his thoughts had gone. But she also knew as well as he did that wallowing inshould’ves wasn’t going to help them find Maddie, so even as she gently squeezed and released his hand, she pushed the conversation forward.
“Did she say why she needed it—that much money?” she asked Hiroko as she pushed up the sleeves of her sweater. It was cooler here, near the water, and she’d pulled it out of her bag and put it on, but Hiroko had always kept her house warm.
In truth, the elderly woman had gone above and beyond. She’d managed to get Maddie and Dingo to pose for a photo before they left. She took it with her phone, and even managed to get them to stand directly behind Dingo’s car, so the plate number was included. And then she’d tracked down Pete’s cellphone number, to get in touch with him.
She had no idea that Pete had already ID’ed “Dingo” Dingler, formerly of Van Nuys, California, via his car’s license plate number. Instead, via her photo, he got confirmation of what they already knew—yup, Maddie was definitely still in the company of the idiot who owned the maroon car.
