Based onthis,Slade was fairly certain the woman was a walking time bomb. If she did take JJ because of Baz, what value did she offer unless Molly was looking to make a trade? And how did they think that would play out? It wasn’t like Baz would stay with Molly after they got JJ back. Then again, based on this apartment, Molly had more than a few screws loose, so perhaps she wasn’t considering what came after.
A phone rang. Slade stopped what he was doing, peering over to see Atticus doing the same.
They glanced at each other, then at the phone sitting on the small end table by the couch.
“I’m not answerin’ it,” Slade told him.
“What if it’s someone who could help us find her?” Atticus said, once more looking at the phone.
Before Slade could remind him they weren’t supposed to be in the apartment, Atticus grabbed the receiver.
“Hello,” he answered. “No, she … uh…” He looked at Slade pleadingly.
Slade shrugged.
“She ran to the store to … uh … get some more paper. For the printer.”
He had to choke back the laugh that bubbled in his chest. He couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation, but he watched Atticus as he listened intently.
“Yeah, yeah. This is Sonny.” Atticus’s eyebrows shot skyward.
Slade pulled his phone out of his pocket and shot a text to Brantley.
— We came across the name Sonny. Not sure if it’s the redhead.
“Oh, yeah,” Atticus said to the caller. “She mentioned something about that. I’ll remind her. But hey. Real quick, while I’ve got you, I wanted to … um … do something nice for … uh …Liz. Do you know if she’s got a favorite place to go? Somewhere she likes to visit?”
Slade watched Atticus and felt the man’s disappointment instantly. No way would they get lucky enough for that caller to sayYeah, Molly/Liz has an abandoned building about two blocks from her apartment. She likes to kidnap people and take them there.But he had to give Atticus props for his creativity.
“Yeah, no worries. I’ll figure it out. Thanks.” He hung up the phone. “That was Molly’s mother. Baz is right; they call her Liz. She said Liz was supposed to come by yesterday but never showed.”
Shit.
“But she did think I was Sonny. Maybe that’s the redhead who was asking around about her. Unless it’s a nickname, there probably aren’t a lot of ’em.”
“Narrower scope, at least,” Slade agreed. “I sent the name to Brantley.”
“We should probably hurry it up here. If Molly’s with Sonny and she happens to call her mom, she’s gonna know right away that he wasn’t the one who answered her home phone.”
True.
Slade nodded and turned his attention back to finding something that would tell them who this guy was or where the fuck they might be.
***
JJ was doing her best to keepMolly talking about her childhood, desperate to keep her mind occupied.
It seemed when JJ talked about Sebastian, Molly got angry, and JJ was past thinking this was going to be easy. If Molly had it in her head that she was going to marry Baz and raise JJ’s baby as her own, she had to proceed with caution. Molly might look harmless, but the woman had managed to con Baz into believing she was pregnant with his kid for the better part of a year. JJ didn’t want to underestimate her.
Thankfully, Sonny returned a few minutes ago, carrying two brown paper bags with the McDonald’s logo on them. As soon as he walked in, Molly dialed back the crazy a little bit. And once he confirmed JJ was in the same place she’d been when he left, he’d lost the crazy-eyed stare. Kinda. He still looked crazy, but now he didn’t appear as though he was going to burn the place down. Not yet, anyway.
Not that JJ was attempting to play the good kidnappee. She’d tried to convince Molly to let her go to the bathroom, but she insisted they wait until Sonny got back. According to Molly, Sonny was capable of keeping her in line. JJ didn’t have to ask how because Molly was forthright with the information: the syringe contained a horse tranquilizer, and he would use it if he had to.
JJ wasn’t willing to risk that crazy fucker stabbing her with that needle. She didn’t care about herself at the moment, but she damn sure wasn’t going to let him hurt her baby.
Now, as JJ sat in her comfy chair, she watched the pair across the room as they chatted in what they probably thought were low tones. Technically, they were, but they were standing in the exact right spot their voices carried like an echo over to her side of the room, so JJ heard everything they were saying.
Molly: Was the line long at McDonald’s?
