To my other side, Frank asks, “What’s going on with Haley? She’s missing?”
Wendy makes an alarmed sound. “Haley’s gone?”
“It couldn’t have been even ten minutes,” Miss Webber tells me. “I’m sure it was less than that. But it’s just me and a couple of parent volunteers. I can’t watch all the kids all the time.” Her chin wobbles. “I don’t… Haley’s one of the most responsible ones. She helps the little kids with their costumes. I didn’t think?—”
I turn to Alec and bark, “Check the security cameras.” Then I glance over my shoulder at where Gage and Justin should be. They’re both still there—Justin still standing slightly apart from everyone else, and Gage not ten feet away, watching him intently.
“Justin,” Angel starts.
“He’s still back there.” I yank out my phone and shoot off a text to Gage.
Haley’s missing. Find out what Justin knows. Don’t let him out of your sight.
I watch Gage as he reads my message. He doesn’t respond. He just goes over to Justin, clamps his hand around Justin’s arm, and marches him out of the auditorium.
“Gage will find out if he knows anything,” I tell Angel. To Alec, who’s already tapping away on his phone, I add, “Call Enzo. Sage. Patrick. Shit, call Max and Sawyer, too. I want as many feet on the ground as possible for this.”
Hazel glances at Frank. “We need to start searching.”
He nods, looking more solemn than I’ve ever seen him. Then he taps his wife’s arm. “Call all your friends. Tell them we have a little girl missing.” His face seems to age a decade in a second. From what Angel’s told me, Frank’s the closest thing Haley has to a grandfather. “We need to find her.”
“Ronan.”Angel tugs at my hand. “We need to look for her. What if Sharon… Justin…”
“We will.” Wrapping my arm carefully around her, I guide Angel down the row and into the aisle. “We’ll find her.”
Curious voices buzz as Angel and I rush out of the auditorium with Alec, Hazel, Frank, and Wendy close behind us. When we burst into the hallway, Gage is there, looming over Justin and firing questions at him.
“Ang!” Justin’s gaze darts to Angel. “What’s going on? Is Haley?—”
“Don’t talk to her,” I snap.
Angel casts a desperate glance up and down the hallway. “Where could she be?” she asks me. Her voice trembles. “What if someone took her? What if?—”
I turn her so she’s facing me. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. She could have wandered off. Maybe she got stage fright, like you said, and she’s hiding in one of the bathrooms.”
“Wandered off?” Her brows shoot to her forehead. “She’s nine. She wouldn’t justwander off.”
It doesn’t sound right to me, either. But I’m terrified to think about the alternative.
Alec comes to my side. In a low, urgent tone, he says, “Enzo’s on the way. So is Knox. They’re bringing in Sawyer and Max. I texted Patrick and he’s headed over with Sage. If Haley isn’t in the building, he said they’ll put out an Amber Alert.”
Angel whimpers. “An Amber Alert?”
“Hopefully, she’s in here,” Alec tells her. “It’s the most likely explanation.” His phone buzzes, and he glances at the screen.“Enzo’s bringing a couple of thermal imaging cameras. And one of the drones. Gage can fly it over the surrounding area if he needs to.”
Wendy hurries over to us. Her face is drawn. Pale. “I sent out a group text to my book club,” she says. “There are ten of us. They’re putting out the call for help. So we can all search.”
“I can’t wait,” Angel insists. “I need to do something. Search the school. Outside. Something.” Tears well up in her eyes. “Ronan. I need to find my baby.”
I feel like crying, too.
Haley’s supposed to be on stage, playing the role she’s so excited about. Then we’re supposed to take her over to Max’s property for the snowmobile sleigh rides he hosts every year. Then we’re going back to Angel’s to watchThe Night Before Christmasand we’re going to each open a present and?—
Fuck.
It’s hard to breathe past the fear.
But I have to. Angel needs me.
