“We don’t have eyes on her, no. However, we do think she’s alive and safe.”
“What?” Trey shot up. “What do you mean safe? Where is she?”
“Four minutes out,” Brantley stated. “Get up. Get dressed. Meet us outside.”
“Fuck.” Trey dropped his feet to the floor, ignored the creak in his bones. He felt like he’d gone ten rounds with a heavyweight champion thanks to all the walking he’d done the past few days.
He glanced at the clock, frowned. It was 5:43 a.m., which meant they’d slept for at least five hours. That acknowledgment brought his brain online.
“What’s the matter?” Magnus groaned, rolling over and placing a palm against Trey’s back.
He hated to part with that touch, but he didn’t have much choice, so he pushed to his feet and said, “Brantley and Reese are on the way. They’ve got somethin’.”
“What do you mean they’ve—”
Trey shut the bathroom door, effectively cutting Magnus off. He wasn’t intentionally being rude, but he needed to piss, and he needed a quick shower before his brother showed up. Four minutes wasn’t a long time.
It took him roughly five to take care of business. He left Magnus behind to get dressed while he went outside to meet Brantley and Reese. They were climbing out of Brantley’s truck when Trey stepped out onto the front porch.
“Where’s the rest of the team?” he asked his brother.
“Charlie and Jay are on their way. I asked Deck and Slade to sit tight at the senator’s house until Evan can relieve them.”
“What about the rest of them?”
“I haven’t called ’em yet.”
“Then what are we doin’?”
Brantley remained calm, asked, “Where’s Magnus?”
Irritated that his brother wasn’t telling him anything, Trey motioned toward the door behind him. “Gettin’ dressed. Now tell—”
“You want coffee?” Reese offered, carrying a to-go tray with two paper cups. “Added a couple of Splenda.”
“Fuck, you’re a lifesaver.” Trey took one of the cups, popped off the lid to let it cool before taking a hefty swallow.
The door opened behind him, and Magnus came out, shrugging into his shirt before tucking his cell phone into his pocket. “What’s goin’ on?”
Trey listened while Brantley and Reese carried on something about a woman having bought eggs and milk or some shit. He was barely able to keep up with all the details, but it didn’t take long to realize the details didn’t matter.
“We believe Gloria Steiner might have Ava at her house.”
“Who’s Gloria Steiner?” Magnus asked, his expression stony as he glanced between the three of them.
“She’s a retired ER nurse,” Reese explained. “Her house backs up to the field where the rug was found. We think Ava might’ve wandered in that direction, possibly caught Gloria’s attention.”
“What the fuck?” Magnus snapped.
“Our theory is she found Ava, and now she’s protecting her,” Brantley explained. “We checked out her house last night, but it was closed up tight. We didn’t get eyes inside, but it’s possible Tesha alerted on the house when she and Reese were there yesterday.”
“I didn’t realize that was what she was doing,” Reese said, his tone apologetic. “I missed it.”
Magnus’s face sobered instantly, the anger fading away. It made sense to Trey.
“We’ve called the sheriff,” Brantley continued, “asked him to meet us over there. We’ll let him do the talkin’. If we’re right and Gloria’s got Ava, we don’t want to bring her any trouble.”
“Why’re we still standin’ here, then?” Trey demanded.
