“Nothing. There was no trace of her. Her purse and keys were there. Credit cards were all still in her wallet.”
“So, it wasn’t a robbery,” Zade surmised.
“Doesn’t appear to be, no.”
If there’d been a way to find Gracie, Jake would have figured it out by now. Still, Nate had to ask. “What about her cell?”
“It was also in her apartment, but it’s broken. Looks like whoever was there either threw it against the living room wall or stomped on it.”
“Pissed because they didn’t find what they were looking for?” Gabe speculated.
“Maybe. I called DPD and they sent over a team to process the scene. The officers took pictures and dusted for prints. The usual. The unfortunate reality is we don’t know much of anything at this point. Just that someone trashed her place five days ago, and Gracie hasn’t been seen or heard from since.”
Five days. Fivefuckingdays since she’d gone missing.
Nate’s mind swirled with numbers and percentages. He knew the odds of finding someone alive dropped drastically after the first twenty-four hours. Much longer than that, and the search for a missing person becomes a recovery operation.
No. She can’t be dead.
Nate pictured Gracie’s smiling face. He could still hear her laugh as they’d joked together in his apartment that night. It was the most beautiful sound in the world, and suddenly, Nate forgot all about Achim Akmar and all that other bullshit.
In that very moment, the thing Nate wanted more than anything in the entire world was to hear Gracie laugh again.
Chapter 5
Gabe, Matt, and Zade followed Nate to his place to help grab some things. After, the entire team met back up at Kole’s.
Less than an hour later, His and Sarah’s dining room looked more like control central with Nate’s monitors and other equipment spread out across the table.
The three other men stayed a while, offering whatever support they could. Eventually, the guys left with the understanding that they were all on-call and needed to be ready, in case their assistance was needed.
Nate had spent the rest of the day and most of that night doing everything he could think of to try and find Gracie. With the exception of the occasional trip to the bathroom, he kept his ass parked in his chair.
Today had been more of the same. His fingers were cramping from all the typing and searching, but he couldn’t stop. He had to figure out what happened to her.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t found out any more than what Jake had already told them. After hacking into Gracie’s apartment security, Nate was able to catch a glimpse of whoever broke into her place, but that was it.
The guy wore all black and a hood covered any chance they may have had to see his face.
Unbeknownst to the police, Jake had given Nate Gracie’s cell phone. His boss knew if there was something useful on there, he’d find it a hell of a lot faster than anyone on the DPD payroll. Unfortunately, there’d been nothing to find.
After working to recover her texts and emails, Nate had discovered nothing more than some conversations with Sarah and Kole.
He’d gotten excited when he’d found a few old texts their dead SEAL had sent to Gracie just before she moved here a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything in any of those to help, either.
By the time he was done searching, Nate was so frustrated he wanted to throw the damn thing against the wall, too.
Needing a break, he got up and walked through the kitchen to the sliding door. Opening it, Nate stepped outside for some fresh air.
He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with as much oxygen as he could before letting it out slowly. The sky was cloud-covered, and the cool breeze let him know rain was on the way.
Nate looked over to the space they’d all sat the night of the barbeque. A week ago, today.
He pictured Gracie smiling and joining in on the conversation with ease. Though, she’d only just become a part of R.I.S.C., it felt like she’d been there all along. Like she belonged with them, and now, she was gone.
Where are you, sweetheart?
Sarah’s soft, exhausted voice broke through his thoughts. “I started more coffee. Figured you might need some.”
