“Yeah, but if she’s not here to answer the door, she’s probably at work. You think we should wait?”
Arriving at the same conclusion I’ve already accepted, he asks, “We’re breaking down her door, aren’t we?” I nod. “Okay, but when Penny gets mad, it was your idea, not mine. On three?”
“Like Mississippily?”
“Is there any other way?”
“One, Mississippi . . . two, Mississippi . . . three . . .”
We both lunge at the door, but Dominic stops short, and I’m the only one that hits the solid surface, shouldering it with all my might. It gives way with a concerningly easy crack of the frame that’s definitely going to need repair.
“Your idea and you did it. I’m totally in the clear,” Dominic brags, pumping his fist. “How’s your shoulder?”
I don’t care about the blame, and I sure as hell don’t care about the dull ache in my shoulder. I need to lay eyes on Penny and make sure she’s okay.
Please let her be taking a shower and have not heard us knocking. Or have fallen asleep and forgotten about her food delivery. Hell, I’d take something like she fell and can’t get up at this point, because I would happily carry her wherever she needs to go, even if the hospital is the first destination.
A quick scan of the living room, no Penny. A glance toward the kitchen, empty. I dash toward the bedroom, where her unmade bedtaunts me. The bathroom is the last place to check, but that dread is growing rapidly.
She’s not here. Penny is gone.
Back in the living room, I meet Dominic’s eyes, his face a mask of concern the same way I’m sure mine is. “Do you think she would’ve gone out for something?”
“And left her food? That was damn near all she was talking about this morning. She wouldn’t just leave.”
Pursing my lips, I glare at him, because he knows as well as I do that she absolutely would. She’d leave simply because Dominic told her not to.
“What’s all this racket?” a voice grumbles from the hallway. An older woman in a ratty bathrobe, slippers, and glasses appears in Penny’s doorway, seeing us at the same time we see her. She gasps, clutching her robe closed at her neck before remembering that she’s the building’s resident Grumpy Bitch. “I swear these girls are running a whorehouse over here. Guys coming and going all day,” she complains, her lips curled up in distaste.
“Guys? What guys?” I bark.
She scrunches her face, and I fully expect her to tell me to watch my tone, but she just waves a hand toward Dom and me. “Two big guys like you.”
I cut my eyes to Dom to find him looking at me too. We’re on the same page. It had to be Miles Conniver’s guys. And after that bastard told me Penny would be safe.
“They were out here in the hallway earlier, talking with the cheerleader through the door. Loud as you please, like they didn’t give a rat’s patootie if they were disturbing other people’s peaceful afternoons.”
“Then what?” Dominic demands.
“They left,” she answers, and I’m not sure if she means the guys or Penny or both. Could they have snatched her in broad daylight and this woman have not done a damn thing to stop them? “She left a few minutes later.”
Okay, that at least tells me that Conniver’s guys didn’t kidnap her. It’s a small consolation from the worst-case scenario forming in my mind. Still, wanting to be sure, I clarify, “She left on her own? The guys weren’t with her?”
“Yeah,” she says, nodding. But then she pauses dramatically before drawling out, “Weeell, up here. But I watched out the window. I like to keep an eye on things, you know?”
Does she want a cookie for being the neighborhood snoop? “And?”
“Cheerleader got in an Uber. The guys were driving one of those big, fancy SUVs. They followed her after the Uber pulled away.”
“Shit!” Dominic hisses.
“Come on,” I tell him. “I know where she went. At least I hope I do.”
“What about this door?” the neighbor tuts. “You can’t leave it wide open like this. They’ll get robbed blind.” Is she expressing actual care for Penny and Talia? Hell, that’s as much of a shocker as anything else, considering she’s always banging on the wall like they’re the most annoying pests in her life.
The door is a concern that’ll have to be addressed, but it’s not the priority when Penny’s in actual, real danger at this very moment, so we pull it closed behind us ... well, as close to closed as it will go with a cracked frame. “You like to keep an eye on things? Make sure nobody but Penny, Talia, or us goes in there, and I’ll make it worth your while.”
Her eyes flare, looking something other than grumpy for the first time, and she smiles, revealing pristine dentures that contrast oddly with her unkempt appearance.
