“Okay, what about an address? Does she know where the party was?”
“If you can hold on for one second, I can look for the address in her text messages.” I put the phone on mute and looked at Ink for help. “Should I give her the address?”
He nodded and handed me a piece of paper with the address already written on it.
“Ah, here it is,” I said and took the phone off mute to read the address to her.
“Thank you,” she said, sounding somewhat relieved to have new information. “I notified the police, and I gave them Ariel’s name. I’m not sure if they’ll contact you.”
“It’s fine if they do,” I said. “And please let us know when you’ve located Elsie.”
“I will. Thank you,” she said and ended the call.
I handed the phone back to Ariel. “There’s a chance the police may come by to talk to you.”
“What?” she gasped. “Why?”
“To get your story. Just tell them the same thing you told me,” I said and glanced over my shoulder at Ink. “But don’t mention anything about Blaze, Raven, or Ink.”
“What if they ask me how I got to the hospital?”
“Answer honestly and tell them you don’t remember how you got there,” I said. “They should be focused on Elsie, not you. And I can handle any other questions they might have. It’ll be fine, sweetie. I promise.”
“Okay,” she said quietly.
“Close your eyes and get some rest. I’ll wake you if there’s any news.”
“Thanks, Mom,” she said and closed her eyes.
I exhaled heavily and returned to the kitchen, gesturing for Ink to follow me. “Is this going to be a problem?” I asked and busied myself with my coffee.
“What? The police?” Ink asked.
“Yeah,” I said and joined him at the table. “I don’t want there to be any trouble for you or your friends.”
“I appreciate the concern, but there’s no need for it. If the police ask, you can tell them what happened. In fact, youshouldtell them what happened. Leaving out parts of the story might make it seem like you were hiding something, if there was indeed something to hide,” he said.
“Are you sure? Pissing off a motorcycle club doesn’t seem like a great way to thank them for saving my child.”
Instead of answering me, he pulled out his phone, tapped his screen a few times, and placed his phone on the table.
“What in the fresh hell is it now?” a man said instead of the usual greeting.
“Hey, Prez. I’m here with Presley, and there’s been some new developments,” Ink said. “Ariel had several messages on her phone from her friend’s mother. Apparently, her friend went to the party and called Ariel to pick her up, but no one has heard from her since. Presley spoke with the friend’s mother a few minutes ago, and she told us the police might stop by to speak with Ariel. Presley has some concerns about this regarding our involvement with the events of last night.”
“What kind of concerns?”
“She said she didn’t want to piss off a motorcycle club.”
Phoenix chuckled. “Can she hear me?”
“She can.”
“Presley,” Phoenix said. “If the police come to your house, tell them what you know. Not what you think happened, or what you might suspect happened, only what youknowto be true. Same for Ariel. If they need to speak with any of us, send them our way. We can answer whatever questions they might have.”
“I will. Thank you,” I said.
“You’re welcome. I hope everything is okay with your daughter’s friend. Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help.”
