“Hey, man.” Tom greeted him with a smile, looking behind him at the empty elevator with a raised brow and his lips twisted to the side. “Where’s Kelsi?”
“We planned to meet here this morning.” Alarm bells rang in the back of his mind at both Tom and Dina thinking it was out of the ordinary for Kelsi to not already be there.
“Really? That’s weird.” Tom shook his head and continued on his way toward the office with his girlfriend’s name on the door.
Dylan quickly stopped his retreat, anxiety needling at him. “Why’s it weird?” He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
“She normally comes in hours early before a jury trial.” He shrugged at Dylan. “You know how she is with her routines.”
He did know, which was why he now felt an edge of panic creeping in, chest tightening. “Do you have Abby’s number?”
“Abby? Kelsi’s friend?” He held his phone up and started thumbing through his contacts. “I think I should still have it saved—why?”
“She was supposed to stay with her last night,” Dylan explained, but he was distracted as he pulled his own phone to his ear, dial tone ringing as he waited for Kelsi to answer. It kept ringing and ringing until her voicemail picked up. He dialed again, only to have the same thing happen.
His phone pinged with an incoming message, and he looked at it, finding it was a text from Tom with Abby’s contact information. Tom hovered by Dylan, not speaking but seeming to realize that something was wrong. Dylan quickly dialed Abby’s number.
She picked up after two rings. “Hello?” Abby’s familiar wary voice came through the phone.
“Abby, it’s Dylan. Is Kelsi with you?” He spared no niceties, diving right in.
“Dylan? No, she left this morning before I got up.” Her voice lost all wariness and turned hard. “Did you do something to her? If you broke her heart again, I swear I will track you down and cut your balls off and feed them to you until you choke.”
Grimacing, Dylan ignored her pleasant threat and moved on. “You’re sure she left this morning?”
Abby didn’t even hesitate. “Yeah, her car’s gone and her coffee mug is in the sink. Have you tried calling her?”
Dylan could barely repress the obvious angry retort at that question. Of course he’d called her first. “Yes, she didn’t pick up.”
“Hold on, she shares her location with me.” The line went quiet as she located her tracking app. “Looks like her phone is at the courthouse.” She paused. “No, not at the courthouse, but in the parking lot maybe? She may have left her phone in the car.”
“Maybe,” he said quietly. “Nobody here has seen her, though.”
“If you find her, call me. I’ll head over to you now in case.” Her voice was deadly serious but wavered slightly. They both knew that it wasn’t like Kelsi to have left her phone lying around.
Was this the man who had been threatening her? He should never have let her leave by herself last night. He should’ve told his friends he’d see them some other time and stuck to her side all night, protecting her. If anything happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.
Dylan could barely get in enough air, his chest was so tight with fear. He couldn’t lose her again. “Be careful,” he said toAbby. He thought for a second before adding, “Actually, one of my friends is on the force here. I’m going to call him and see if he can join you. I have to stay here for the hearing. I’ll see if she shows up and give you a call back if she does.”
He heard a door slamming and keys sliding into a lock, followed by her breaths coming in little puffs, presumably running to her car. “Okay, I’ll keep you updated on what I find. What’s your friend’s name, so I don’t tase him accidentally.”
Tase him?Dylan stared at the phone in his hand, unsure if sending the two of them together to look for Kelsi would be a great idea or a terrible one. “Kole, his name is Kole Richards,” he said finally, sighing dejectedly.
“Okay, is there anything else I should know?”
“Yeah. She’s had a stalker for the past month leaving her threats. This could be—well, it probably is—related.”
“She had a stalker? For a month? And she didn’t tell me?” Abby’s voice was tinny, and he could tell she was upset at Kelsi for not sharing that with her.
“You’re not the only one she kept it from. Just be safe, Abby.”
“I’ll call you in a little bit.” Then, quietly, “We’ll find her.”
She hung up, not bothering to wait for Dylan to respond. He wasted no time, dialing Kole immediately.
“Hey, man!” Kole’s cheery voice came through the speakers.
“Hey, you free right now?”
