“I know, but he’s the best chance we’ve got to find her and find her quickly. Every second she’s in the hands of that lunatic is one second too long.”
Don’t go there.
She’s okay.
She has to be okay.
“Are either of you going to tell me what the fuck is going on?” Nico asks, glancing between the two of us.
“We’ll try.” My brother’s expression softens, his hand resting on my shoulder and giving it a firm squeeze. “We’ll find her.”
Letting his hand drop, he goes to the back of his truck and opens the door.
Duke is sitting patiently on the back seat, his back straight, those mismatched eyes alert. Chase must have put the harness on him when he picked him up at the shelter. He whistles, and the dog jumps out, waiting patiently next to Chase.
“He doesn’t really work well on the leash,” Chase explains. “I think it might be because of his previous abuse.” He turns to me. “Do you have anything of hers?”
“Yeah.” I force my fingers to loosen and hand him Jessica’s sweater. “She wore that last night.”
Chase nods as he takes it, the dog’s eyes following Chase’s every movement.
I lift my hand, rubbing at my aching chest, when something slams against my arm.
Letting my hand drop, I look down and find Nico holding out a bulletproof vest.
“Put this on. I’m not even going to try to convince you not to do something stupid, but you’ll be of no use to Jessica dead.”
I slip it on without an argument while Nico eyes me.
“Do you have ammo?”
“I’m good, thanks.”
“So you think Duke can find her?” Nico asks, skepticism clear in his voice.
“IknowMrs. Fernandez saw Aiden with Jessica outside the house. We found her shattered phone by the woods. The same woods that, if you know them well enough, will eventually lead you to those hunting cottages. And he wouldn’t have risked driving here and getting stuck with all the people coming and going. This is the last place she was, where her scent is strongest. It’s worth a try.”
“You ready?” Chase asks, and I nod, so he turns his attention to the dog. “Sit.”
Duke’s butt plops down without an argument, interest shining in his different-colored eyes as he watches Chase’s hand. He extends it to the dog and says, “Smell.”
The dog burrows its nose into the sweater and inhales deeply, sniffing every inch of the fabric.
“That’s it, boy, get the scent,” Chase murmurs as the dog pulls back, his nose sniffing the air for a moment before his snout lowers to the ground. “Ready to go search for our girl?”
The words barely leave his mouth before the dog starts sniffing around intently. He moves around us, and that sharpness I saw in his gaze earlier is intensified tenfold now. He seems to be completely in his element, and my heart starts racing with renewed hope.
The dog stops at one spot—the same one where I found her phone discarded—and sniffs harder.
And then he takes off into the woods.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
JESSICA
He knows.
He knows. He knows. He knows.
