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Joy’s Homecoming

Page 142

by Caitlyn O’Leary

“Fine by me,” she smirked.

“You look like shit.” Simon shook his head. “Actually, you look like you did two days ago. What the fuck were you thinking, walking out of the hospital?”

I ignored him. “What's the status on finding Joy?”

“Still nothing from the APB. But Nash has all of his deputies out looking, as well as Pigeon Forge, Gainesville, and Knoxville. Meanwhile, Hart has given us lots of leads to follow.”

“Then why are we standing around here talking?”

I headed toward the garage door, but Simon caught my arm.

“Graham.” His voice carried the authority of someone who'd led men in combat. “I need to know your head's on straight.”

“It is.”

“Because if you're still beating yourself up over Africa, you're no good to Joy right now.”

I met his gaze directly. “I'm not the same man who left that hospital room an hour ago. I've got my priorities straight.”

Simon studied my face for a long moment, then nodded. “Good. Because Joy's counting on us.”

“She's counting on me.” I headed for the door. “And I'm not going to let her down.”

We walked into the Onyx security office. Jase was leaning against a wall. He looked up as we walked in. “Nothing at Glenda's townhome. Place was clean as a whistle.”

“Too clean,” Seth added. “Like she'd scrubbed it down before she grabbed Joy.”

“Nash is treating it as a crime scene now,” Hart said without looking up from his computer terminal. “But I doubt they'll find anything useful.”

I spotted a small kitten in a carrier beside Hart’s chair.

“Where did you find the cat?”

“Locked in a bathroom,” Jase said. “No food, no water. Hardly moving. Brought it so Roxie could take a look.”

“It’s Rosebud. That bitch!” Roxie stormed over to the carrier and knelt down, making soft cooing sounds. The kitten mewed in response, pressing against the bars.

Roxie's voice carried the protective instinct that made her such a good veterinarian. “We'll get you fixed up.”

“You won’t believe the email that was waiting for me. I hadn’t opened it with everything going on with Joy until I got some leads,” Hart said, his voice thick with frustration.

“Try me.”

Hart looked up from his computer. “We just got confirmation that the original stalker was apprehended in Scotland four days ago.”

The words hit me like a physical blow. “Four days ago?”

“He attempted another kidnapping in Edinburgh. Same MO as Dublin and London, matched the description Joy gave them. Scottish police caught him in the act.”

“Son of a bitch.” I ran my hands through my hair. “If they'd told us four days ago, we would have known to look elsewhere.”

“Yeah, well, bitching about that now isn’t helpful,” Simon said.

“So what leads do you have?” I asked.

“Ava mentioned a boyfriend named Rob that Glenda recently broke up with. I ran a search.” Hart pulled up a screen full of search results. “I've been through Glenda's tablet, her social media, her email accounts. There's no mention of anyone named Rob or Robert. No photos, no messages, nothing.”

“Maybe she deleted everything after the breakup,” Roxie suggested.