Page 8

I did, I think. I did, Wendy, and I’m sorry.

But I don’t have much time to wallow, because something on my hip is buzzing—my phone. I fumble for it and stand, the number not in my contacts but vaguely familiar, so I swipe it open.

“Yeah?”

“Tink.” A low, velvety female voice greets me. “It’s you, yes?”

“Zuzu.” I swallow and nod, even though she can’t see me, and run my hand through my hair. “Yeah. Yeah. What’s up? Did you⁠—”

I’m aware, too aware, of the guys staring at me as I talk, all of them frozen like they’re too afraid to interrupt. Under other circumstances, it’d be funny, almost. Three tough guys suddenly stymied by a female in the mix. I stab the speakerphone button and clear my throat. “Did you see her?”

“No,” Zuzu says shortly. “No one by the house. I drive past and it’s just ashes. Dark.”

Fuck. That was my only other hope—that Wendy maybe went back to her old house, the one where her brothers…

And Zuzu was closest to Kensington. So I sent her there. For no reason, it turns out.

“You haven’t found her, then?” Zuzu asks.

“No. No. We…where would a ten-year-old girl go?” I say aloud, hearing for the first time how feminine the panic in my voice sounds. “Where would she go?”

None of the guys answers. Fox is wide-eyed, bewildered, almost desperate to help but a total blank. Kit chews his lip, thinking, really thinking, but just as unsure behind his glasses.

Blue, unreadable.

“A ten-year-old girl and her dog,” Kit says, after a moment. He scratches the back of his head. “Would she…” He shakes his head.

I have no time for this. “What?” I snap. “Would she what?”

“Would she go to the dog track?” he says, his words surprisingly even.

“The dog track?” Fox repeats. “You mean, like, down by the casino?”

“Unless there’s another one I don’t know about,” Kit says drily. “Yes, down by the casino. Jesus. I know it sounds nuts, but she did tell me that’s where Nana came from. Showed me her tattoo—Nana’s tattoo, I mean. In her ear. And I guess maybe…” He shrugs. “Shit, I don’t know. It’s like the one other place I can think of that she knows around here.”

At that, Blue looks at me. Hard. So hard I can feel it pressing on me, into me.

Because he knows. He knows, he knows not just that I’m a girl but that I’m a very particular kind of girl, and he knows what that…place means to me.

But I know myself, too. And I know that if I have to go there, for Wendy, then I will.

I look up, at Kit. But before I can say anything, Blue speaks first.

“It’s a good place to hide out,” he says. “The track.”

Fox’s brows knit. He and Kit exchange a look.

“And you would know?” Kit says at last.

“I would.” Blue lifts his helmet. “Let’s⁠—”

“I’ll meet you there, yes?” My speaker crackles. Zuzu. Christ, I’d almost forgotten she was still on the line. “Share location, I will find you.”

I lift the phone back up and find my voice. “Sure.” I tap the settings open, the blue dot pulsing to life on the map. SHARE WITH ZUSANNA ELEZI? Her contact photo is an elaborate duckface-and-peace-sign combo, lots of contour and filters. Not what I would’ve expected. Or maybe exactly what I would’ve expected. I really don’t know what to think about anything anymore. “There.”

“Okay, yes. See you in fifteen. Tung.”

Blue stuffs his helmet on. “Make that ten.”