Jeff’s hand shot out, grabbing Michael’s shirt. “Tan F150,” he winced. “With a brown stripe. Thick.”
“A thick stripe?” Michael urged.
Jeff nodded. “You know, the old ones. Like from the 80s.”
“That’s good. Anything else?”
Jeff shook his head, his eyes already slipping closed.
“Get some rest, brother,” Michael whispered, resting his hand on Jeff’s head before turning to me.
I followed him out of the room and down the hall before he suddenly turned to me.
“That should be enough to find him, or at least narrow down the search drastically.”
“Okay, what can I do?”
I already knew what he was going to say before he said it.
“Don’t tell me to stand aside and let you do your job. Ellie’s out there!”
“I know, but you can’t?—”
“At least let me go to the station with you. I’ll sit there and keep my mouth shut, but I can’t just go home and fucking wait to hear whether or not you found her.”
I was on the verge of tears, the panic and anger working their way to the surface, along with what I could only describe as absolute terror that I would be too late, and when we found Ellie, she would already be dead.
Or worse, we would never find her at all.
“Alright, but no interfering.”
A calm washed over me for the first time since Ellie went missing. This was more than I could have ever hoped for when we first found out she was missing. It wasn’t a name or license plate, but a truck that old would narrow down the pool significantly.
We were going to find her.
I chose not to think about what her mental state would be when we did. One step at a time. Anything else, we could work through.
Except death.
I shoved that thought aside and followed Michael out of the hospital, and did my best to focus on the things we could deal with right now.
The rest would drive me insane if I thought about it long enough.
45
ELLIE
I shivered in the darkness,curling into myself as the pounding in my head worsened by the minute. I’d never had a concussion before, but based on the number of times I’d already vomited, it wasn’t looking too good for me.
Closing my eyes, I tried to think of happier times.
Like waking up in Ryder’s arms. The feel of his warm body pressed against mine. The way he whispered in my ear how beautiful I was as he made love to me.
I gasped as tears rolled down my cheeks and the pressure in my chest grew heavy. Was I ever going to see him again? Would I ever know what it was like to wear a ring on my finger or find out I was pregnant?
Life was not supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be filled with happiness and wonderful moments.
But as I sat in that basement, I couldn’t help but think of all the other poor souls who came before me—who had been taken before their time by madmen intent on causing as much damage as possible.
