CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
NICK
The lightsof the oncoming traffic were soft and fuzzy in the drifting fog. Mid-afternoon and it had barely even thinned. Depressing as hell, and less than promising for finding Chloe alive and well with every hour that passed. The damp cold sank into your bones and the fog messed with your sense of direction. If Chloe hadn’t found somewhere to shelter early on, she’d be in big, big trouble.
I swallowed around the growing lump in my throat. We’d find her because we had to. It wasn’t a choice. I wasn’t losing my mother... again.
Mymother.
The word came with the same mix of emotions it always had, but it was getting easier to use. Increasingly, it slipped seamlessly from my tongue before I had a chance to haul it back, tripping me up as I struggled to maintain any sense of objectivity about the whole thing. I was hurtling down that rabbit hole at breakneck speed, a small boy finally getting his mother back. For better or worse, and in this case, it was definitely both, Chloe Fisher was my mother. And I wanted her back in my life.
A warm hand slipped over my thigh, and I turned to find Mads watching me with a sad, almost wistful smile in place. “It’s okay, you know. You’re allowed to hate what she did and still love her at the same time. It’s not a betrayal of yourself. It’s just... life.” He shrugged. “It’s messy as hell. Ask me how I know.”
I turned back to the road, eyes brimming. “How do you do that? Read me like a fucking book?”
He chuckled. “It comes with the boyfriend job description. Rule number one and every other rule in the book—make him believe you can read his mind.”
My mouth tipped up in a warm smile. “You’re such an idiot.” I handed him my phone. “Here, make yourself useful. Call Samuel and give him an update on what we’ve learned, especially about the Crow brothers. But keep Jacko’s name out of it.” I shot him a look. “He won’t be happy not knowing the source, but Samuel’s not stupid. He’ll likely figure it out. Either way, we’re gonna need his help. We have to find some official way to get Austin’s finances in front of the police, and he’s our best bet.”
Mads scrolled through my phone, grumbling, “Yeah. Don’t bullshit me. The real reason you want me to call is because you don’t want to talk to him yourself. Because you know he’ll tear you a new one.”
“True, there’s that.” I turned onto the main road heading east toward Chloe’s townhouse. “But I also know he won’t say no to you. He thinks you’re the sensible one.”
“Iamthe sensible one.” Mads tapped the screen and held the phone to his ear. “Samuel? Hi.” He cast me a look that said exactly what he thought about me. “No, sorry. Nick’s driving.” He listened for a moment, then rolled his eyes my way. “I’ll be sure to tell him, although there were a lot of expletives in there to remember.” He chuckled at whatever reply Samuel gave andthen said, “Well, Nick asked me to call to—” He went quiet for a moment. “Yes. Yes, I know. Heisa little shit. You’ll get no argument from me on that score.”
“Hey! That’s—” I stopped mid-sentence when a car coming toward me caught my eye. “Mads, look! Isn’t that?—”
But Mads was still talking. “We received some information about Austin that Nick thinks you should?—”
“Jesus, that’s them!” I barked as a dark blue Honda blitzed past us going the other way.
Mads’ gaze jerked up. “Who? Wh-what are you doing?” He braced against the dash as I made a last-minute U-turn and headed after the Honda.
“For fuck’s sake.” Mads straightened in his seat. “What was that for?”
The Honda stopped at a red light about a hundred metres up the road, and rather than pull up behind them, I swerved alongside the kerb to wait until it changed.
“That’s Belinda’s car.” I pointed to the Honda. “With Austin driving. Remember he told Wright he was going to drive her to the hospital to negotiate extra time off?”
Mads frowned. “So?”
“Soooo, I don’t trust him,” I bit back, instantly regretting it. “He knows that we know that he’s lying about stuff, right?”
Mads nodded.
“What’s going on?” Samuel shouted through the phone.
“Just wait a minute, will you?” I kept my eyes glued on the traffic lights while I explained to Mads, “What if he’s about to do something to cover his tracks? Or go back to the cottage while we’re not there? He’s in debt, and we just told him we have a twenty-thousand-dollar book sitting there.”
“That’s a bit of a risk, don’t you think?” Mads argued. “He’s hardly going to do that when Wright knows he heard about it.”
“I know. I know.” It sounded batshit even to me. “But here’s the thing. We think Austin is involved in Chloe’s disappearance somehow, right?”
Mads’ eyes narrowed. “Yes, but we don’t know how, that’s the problem.”
“Whatever.” Nick dismissed my concern. “If he is involved, and let’s say it’s some kind of ruse to make her look far worse than she actually is so that he can press for her power of attorney?—”
“But Chloe askedyouto have power of attorney,” Mads argued.
