“He wouldnae leave Dixie,” Kane said.
I shot my gaze to him, grateful that someone else saw what I was beginning to think I’d imagined.
Shade nodded agreement. “Timing is interesting. Likely around when Lex’s body was left.”
Cassie cocked her head. “Lex argued with Tyler over Dixie.”
Arran shot them both a surprised look. “That wouldn’t have been him.”
Shade argued back, “I didnae say it was. I said we should look at the timing.”
Arran’s gaze landed on me. He swore under his breath. “I don’t keep tabs on Tyler. He doesn’t need it. But Kane’s right. Him leaving you like this? That’s not him.”
Hope flared, fragile and painful.
I swallowed. “Even if he thought he was bad for me?”
Arran didn’t hesitate. “Especially then.”
The words lodged deep.
Kane dragged a hand through his short hair. “I don’t like coincidences. We need to find him. Now.”
The guard returned, holding a crumpled-up piece of paper.
Arran snatched it and read. His expression darkened. “Jonas says Johnston’s out. He wants Tyler to handle it.”
Kane’s eyes flicked up. “Who’s Johnston?”
“A gangster he had history with,” I breathed.
Arran stole a curious glance at me. He knew. Then like me, he was holding Tyler’s secrets.
Kane said, “Enough to pull him out?”
Arran replied, “It’s enough to get his attention. But not enough to make him disappear all day.”
Which meant that even if he’d gone off on a personal mission, something had gone wrong.
I twisted my fingers together. He didn’t leave me. He wouldn’t, not after last night. He hadn’t told me he loved me, but I knew what I felt. His obsession moving on. Becoming so much more. Tyler’s rule broken.
The pressure inside me snapped. “He wouldn’t just walk away from me.”
Silence stretched.
Then Arran nodded once. “Agreed. Which means something is stopping him from coming back. We’ll bring Jonas here. Let’s work that angle while Manny searches local cameras. If he’s gone after someone, that’s where we’ll find him.”
His action landed like a verdict.
Tyler might have left on purpose, but he wasn’t able to return. Had he been taken? Or had someone captured him?
The thought settled, heavy and undeniable.
I gazed down at the useless tracker. At the vague smear of land to the north.
Shade leaned over my shoulder and glowered at it as if it could fix the problem. “As a minimum, we know he left the city.”
“Is his car outside?” Cassie asked.
