If I had any clue where to look for Violet, I would ask for his help. “No, that’s okay. Really. I’m just spinning wildly. I thought I’d return to her old apartment again, and then...” I just didn’t know what to do, but I couldn’t stop looking. Sitting home and waiting wouldn’t work.
We left the door unlocked and the security alarm off in case she returned, along with a big note for her to call us. We’d also left her phone next to the note. Hopefully, if she saw it, she would call, but at this point, I was starting to wonder if we’d find her at all. She was a smart girl. If she really wanted to disappear, she could, but her resources were limited. Way too limited.
“All right.” Aiden gathered me in for a hug once we shut the door, warming me from head to toe. “We’re going to find her. She’s smart enough to stay safe until we do. Okay?” He kissed the top of my head.
“Okay.”
I also needed to track down Oliver and make sure he wasn’t going absolutely insane. I was afraid he hadn’t slept since the morning before when we woke him up. I knew he’d been to every teenage hangout in town and then started his own phone tree that led to more and more kids. Hopefully, somebody had at least seen her.
We headed out to Aiden’s snow-covered truck, and he scraped it off while I sat inside, trying to get the heater to hurry up. How was Violet staying warm right now? The fear felt like it wanted to choke me. Aiden stretched inside the rapidly warming truck, backed out of the drive, and drove through town to his office building on the lake. When he parked and stepped out, I scooted over to the driver’s seat, inching it far closer to the steering wheel. “Thanks for letting me take your truck again.”
“Not a problem.” He leaned in and kissed me, his lips firm and warm. He leaned back to study me, his body solid against the wind and his eyes so blue it almost hurt to look at them. “We weren’t followed, and you’re in my truck, so I think you’ll be fine. Do not get out of the truck, and call me to check in every hour.”
I patted my overlarge purse. “I’m packing, and I’ll watch my six.”
He glanced at my purse, and his jaw tensed. “Every hour. I’ll text you if I get anything from this guy that’ll help Nick. At the very least, I’ll be able to get a feeling about him during the interview.”
“All right,” I said. “Thanks.”
I drove out to a somewhat rough area of town and looked at the dilapidated building where I’d found Violet in what seemed like years ago. Then I waited to make sure I wasn’t followed. After about fifteen minutes, I figured that was good enough. I hadn’t promised Aiden I’d stay in his truck, and I was feeling pretty safe.
Shrugging, I jumped out of the truck and kicked through the snow on the unshoveled walkway to climb the stairs to her now abandoned apartment. She wasn’t there. I knocked on several doors, and like before, nobody answered. Either folks were out working or didn’t want to be disturbed.
Saying a silent prayer for Violet’s safety, I made my way back to the still-warm truck and turned on the heat. I hoped Violet wasn’t too cold, wherever she was. I called Aunt Yara again. “You have something?” she asked instantly.
“No. Do you? I should have used the group text, but I just wanted to hear your voice,” I said quietly.
She sighed, sounding worried. “I can’t believe we can’t find her. I raised six kids, and I’ve had foster kids stay with us before. They always go somewhere familiar when they’re afraid. Somewhere they first felt safe.”
“She first felt safe with you,” I said.
“No,” Yara said. “She first felt safe withyou.”
Violet and her dog had stayed at my place with Aiden there, and I thought she’d learned to trust us. How could she leave her dog behind? She loved him and must have been terrified to leave him. “She hasn’t come to our place.” Even my bones felt tired. “I’m going out to that diner where she used to work. I’ll call or text you later.”
“Okay. Thanks, honey. We’re going to search around the school here again.” Yara clicked off.
I did a U-turn and headed back toward Lilac Lake. Yara’s words kept spinning around in my mind. Violet had first felt safe with me. I’d taken her to Smiley’s Diner, then back to her crappy apartment, and then finally home with me.
Wait a minute. At that time, I wasn’t living with Aiden. I’d lived in my little cabin on the outskirts of a bigger estate, and my place had partially burned down. But only partially. My heart leapt into my throat, and I pressed the pedal down, driving faster. It wouldn’t be a good place to hang out, so she probably wasn’t there, but it was the one place I hadn’t thought to look.
We’d abandoned it because it wasn’t safe.
I pulled up to the cabin and noted the horrible fire damage not only to the structure but also to several of the outlying trees from the bombs. I’d had a stalker for most of my life, and he had made his move by finally bombing my place and burning half of it down. But Jareth Davey was dead. The owners of the estate had decided not to rebuild, and a part of me wondered if it was because they didn’t want me renting from them again.
If so, I couldn’t really blame them.
I jumped out of the truck and kicked my way through the snow to what had been the front door. It hung haphazardly, with the framing burned black beneath a dusting of snow. Wincing, I stepped inside, noting that most of the roof had burned away.
Snow covered the entire living room. The left side of the house, which had held the laundry room and my bedroom, had taken some damage, but not as much. I opened the bedroom door to see an empty room with snow scattered across the formerly pretty wooden floor. My gaze caught on the sliding glass door to the outside deck.
Man, I’d loved that deck.
I looked closer. A makeshift fire was at the edge of the deck, still smoldering. Excitement grabbed me. “Violet,” I called out.
I looked around and noticed the closed closet door. Running forward, I yanked it open, looking down to see Violet huddled beneath her coat, her eyes wide. Several empty potato chip bags were scattered on the floor to her side. I ducked in and grabbed her, pulling her out for a hug.
She pushed against me. “What are you doing here?”
