I hang up and turn to Con. “You’re in charge. I’m heading to Star’s school.”
“Everything okay?”
“No. No, it’s not.”
I don’t bother wasting time explaining. I grab my keys and head out. I try to reassure myself that Star is fine, so whatever is going on with Citi is fixable. If anything happens to Star, though, there will be no pulling Citi back from the ledge.
Not sure what I’m walking into or if I’ll need back up, I call Havoc. The second my call connects, Havoc’s voice fills the Bluetooth speakers of my helmet.
“Ambros?”
“Amity called me. Something’s going down at Star’s school. Star’s fine, but Citi needs me. I don’t have any other information, and I didn’t want to pull Amity from Citi any longer than I needed to.”
“Shit, fuck. I’ll be right there.”
“Bring G. Amity’s tough, but she sounded spooked.”
“I’m on it. Ride safe.”
He hangs up as I continue to weave in and out of traffic, trying to get myself there in one piece because I won’t be doing anyone any favors if they have to scrape me off the road.
When I pull up, it’s still a little early for pick-up, but a few people have already arrived. I ignore them as I pull into the lot. I park in one of the reserved spots, not giving a damn, and turn off the engine. I leave my helmet on the bike before I jog to the reception area and buzz the door.
After a minute or so, a voice asks me to state my business in as few words as possible. “I’m here because there is an issue with Star and Citi Dillion?”
“And you are?” the voice asks sharply.
“Ambros Deveraux. Citi’s partner.”
“One moment.”
The buzzer noise sounds again before the door opens. I shove my way inside and see a tall, reed-thin woman in a dark skirt and jacket heading my way. “Are you here for Miss Dillion?”
I nod and hold out my hand to her. “Ambros Deveraux.”
She takes in my jeans and cut, but I don’t sense any judgment as she reaches out her hand and shakes it. “Maggie June, principal. They’re back this way.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“Honestly, I’m still not one hundred percent. There was an incident just after lunch, where a man tried to collect Star, saying he was her father.”
“What?” I ask sharply.
“Not all staff know Miss Dillion’s story, or if they do, they haven’t put a face to her yet. That’s not an excuse, I know. But I’m just trying to explain that we have at least one non-custodial parent trying to collect their child from school every week who isn’t on the list. This incident was handled the same way it usually is. They were denied access to the child, and a courtesy call was placed to the custodial parent.”
“Okay, did you get the name of the person trying to collect her?”
“That’s where the disconnect came in. The man said his name was Jasper Markham.”
I suck in a sharp breath as she shakes her head. “I know. As soon as I heard it, I rushed to the classroom. For all intents and purposes, Miss Dillion seemed fine when she got here. A little shook up, which was hardly surprising, but she was hanging in there. That’s when the second incident occurred.”
She holds open another door for me before it closes behind her, and the lock clicks into place.
“What other incident?”
She blows out a worried breath. “We received some donations yesterday.”
“I imagine that’s not unusual, even in a prestigious school like this one.”
