I nod my head. “Okay.” There’s not much else to say. The more people helping us try to find Autumn, the better. I’m not going to turn away a rich, powerful man who’s willing to make calls on our behalf. It doesn’t feel like the police are getting anywhere, so I’m going to take all the help we can get and be grateful for it.
“Okay.” Declan nods his head. “I want to explain everything, but now is not the time. Let’s go wait and see what my dad finds out.”
I give him an understanding smile. “You’re right. Let’s go find our girl.”
He threads his hand through the hair at the nape of my neck and brings my mouth to his, planting a languid kiss on my lips. He teases my mouth open with his tongue for a brief moment before pulling back.
“Let’s go find our girl.”
Chapter 32
Penny
Declan’s father comes back a little while later sans lawyer. “My contacts are trying to get a hold of the senator with no such luck so far. But Carlisle is going to gather as much information as he can against Brad. We’re not going to leave any stone unturned. I have a feeling the senator knows what her son is up to.”
I was afraid of that, too. “And the cops can’t find anything?” I ask the room, looking ateveryone.
Lucas answers. “Nothing so far. I have a couple of my guys looking into Brad, but from what we can decipher, he’s so clean he squeaks.”
“So, what can we do in the meantime? There has to be something.”
“I think the best thing you can do is to get some rest, and we’ll keep at it in the morning. The police are taking this seriously, and they are doing everything they can to find Autumn. If they haven’t made any progress in the morning, we’ll shift focus,” Lucas says.
I blow out a breath. I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep tonight knowing my baby girl is out there with Brad. None of us has any clue as to how unstable he is. And considering he kidnapped a child, I would say his mental state is close to unhinged.
“I’m heading to a hotel, but I’ll keep trying to make contact,” Phillip says.
He comes over and shakes Declan’s hand, and when he steps in front of me, I pull him into a hug. His arms tentatively wrap around my shoulders, but he returns the gesture. “Thank you,” I tell him. “I appreciate what you’re doing for my daughter.”
When he pulls back, he gives me a warm smile. “If you need anything else, just call. I’ll be right down the road.”
“We’re going to head home, too. But we’ll come back in the morning,” my dad tells us as he and my mom wrap us in hugs and head out the door as well.
It’s just Becca, Jordan, Lucas, Declan, and me left.
Becca starts rummaging through the cupboards and pulls out a half-empty bottle of tequila. “Sleep isn’t happening right now. We need alcohol and ideas. There’s no way that little bitch boy just disappeared into thin air.”
Declan looks at me, and I shrug my shoulders. Becca’s right. I’m not going to sleep until my daughter is back in my arms, safe and sound. Might as well settle in and try to find out anything we can about Brad and where he might have taken my daughter.
I know the police are doing everything they can, but I need to feel useful.
Once Becca pours everyone tequila over ice, we all settle into the living room. Lucas has his laptop open and is using his work programs to go over anything we might have missed, and Becca and Jordan are using my tablet to search Brad’s Facebook while Declan and I search his Instagram.
“Does this guy love himself, or what?” Jordan says out loud. “I’ve never seen so many selfies of a dude in my life.”
She’s not wrong. Every other picture on his Instagram is of himself. He’s with a different woman in every other photo, too. It makes me wonder how many of them had to sign an NDA. If he poked holes in condoms, that means Autumn potentially has siblings out there in the world… unless those women did what I couldn’t.
I have no doubt there have been women in the same position I was in, and it makes me see red. Brad can’t get awaywith any of this. If his mom weren’t in such a public role, I have no doubt he would have already been behind bars.
“What are we looking for exactly?” Declan questions.
“Anything you might think would help. He turned off his cell phone, but there might be a chance he’ll log onto one of his social media accounts. We could potentially track him through that,” Lucas relays. “My contact at the police department says Brad's records are sealed, and if that’s the case, he’s done things his mother doesn’t want anybody to know about because it could potentially ruin her career.”
“There’s no doubt Brad gets all of his personality from her,” Becca seethes. “How do such awful people get away with the shit they do? It’s not fair.”
It really isn’t. But I suppose you have to have some sort of evil in you if you’re going to use power to control the people around you. And the senator has no problem abusing her power. She’s been known to manipulate and undermine whomever she can, to advance her career, not caring about the good of the public in the slightest. She’s a snake who has many people in her pockets and isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty if she needs to.
I finish off my tequila and lean my head against the couch in defeat. I don’t see anything that can help us, and the further into the night it gets, the more helpless I feel.
