Page 56 of Girl Long Gone

Fierce anger spiked Connor’s heart rate. “You let a teenager boss you around and get you to do his dirty work because of an accident? Even now, as an adult, you’ve continued to let him just tell you what to do? Are you kidding?’

Simon locked eyes with Connor. “I tried to stop—tried to get help. But then I was pushed into traffic, and my dog would die, and my parents ended up in a fatal car accident. I knew who did those things. I knew what would happen to me if I refused him. So I stopped trying to fight him a long time ago.”

“Sonofabitch,” Mark whispered.

Connor let the cool air chase away the rage boiling inside him. “Did you kidnap my sister?”

Simon closed his eyes and dropped his head, hunching his slim shoulders forward. “Yes.”

Connor screamed out his anger and slammed the palm of his hand against the wall beside Simon’s head.

“Dude, take it easy,” Mark said. “Simon, you can’t make up for all the messed-up shit you’ve done, but you can help us now.”

“How? I don’t know where Gabriel is. I take the girls he tells me to, then I drop them off at his house. I don’t know where he goes from there. He’s never told me.”

Connor fixed his gaze on Simon and fought to control the beast brewing inside him. “Show us where you took Lynette.”

Graffiti-stained warehouses clustered together along the quiet street three blocks from bustling Bedford Avenue. Smashed glass and empty beer bottles littered the cracked sidewalk. A broken streetlamp loomed over Connor and Mark, but no shadows danced across the bar-lined windows. According to Simon, this was the location he and Gabriel had taken Lynette’s body eleven years ago. He’d hoped to find Gabriel and Evelyn here, but there was no sign of anyone inside.

Connor ran to a warehouse door. “He couldn’t have put a padlock on the door from the inside.”

“Maybe there’s another way in?” Mark gripped his weapon and scanned the front of the building. “Looks like there’s an alley on the side.”

Connor grabbed his gun and sprinted to the end of the sidewalk. He turned the corner and spotted a few steps that led down from the darkened alley. He ran toward them, loose gravel crunching under his shoes. This could be it.

He jumped down the three steps onto a concrete landing. A rusted steel door loomed in front of him. He grabbed the handle just as Mark joined him.

“Stay low and keep quiet,” Mark whispered.

Adrenaline pumped from his chest, sparking his limbs to life with nervous energy. He turned the knob and pulled the door open. Silence greeted them. The moonlight shone through the now-open door, and the smell of urine smacked his face.

Connor covered his nose with one hand and took a step inside. Holes gaped in the ceiling, and random blankets and grocery carts lined the far wall.

“Squatters,” Mark said.

Connor scanned the filthy room, keeping his weapon trained in front of him. “Gabriel wouldn’t bring women here. Too risky.”

A loud snore broke the silence of the room. A man with a scruffy beard covering his face curled in a ball in the corner. Connor nudged the man with his toe.

The man snorted awake. His gaze settled on the gun, and his pupils dilated. “I don’t want no trouble. Just wanted a warm place to sleep for the night.”

“Did a man bring a woman in here tonight?” Connor hurled the question. This was supposed to be the break he needed, but instead it was like another sick game.

“No one’s in here but me.”

“How do you know?” Mark asked

“Most people don’t come in here. The holes all over don’t keep the cold air out.”

Connor glanced around. Gabriel needed a private spot, someplace others wouldn’t easily venture in and out. And he definitely needed something soundproof. This didn’t fit the bill at all.

Frustration vibrated through his every nerve ending. It was another fucking dead end. He had nothing. No other leads, no information... Gabriel was going to escape and he’d do God-knew-what to Evelyn.

“Let’s walk the perimeter and make damn certain no one else is here before we leave. And where the hell’s Lynette Nelson’s body?”

Mark stayed close to his back as they cleared the building, verifying the homeless man’s claim no one else was inside.

The ringing of his phone sliced into the room. “Mitchel.”