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Rolling my eyes, I grab the tablet and watch Tate as she continues talking to her friends. I wish I knew what she was saying. “Very funny, Ro. You know that I don’t do that anymore.”
“Damn. I was really hoping this might be the year that a woman knocked you on your ass and made you realize what a fool you are.”
I know she’s teasing but the moment the words left her mouth, I pictured Tate. “Don’t count on that, baby sister.”
“Some day, Linc. Some day.”
“Yeah, yeah. What’s up with you? Did you need something?” I ask, glancing to the side mirror as a car drives past the van.
“Nope. Just wanted to talk to you. It’s been awhile.”
I nod. “I’m sorry. I’ve just been busy. How are you? How’s Mom?”
“We’re good, Linc. You should stop worrying so much.”
Sighing, I rub my hand over my face. “Taking care of the two of you is my responsibility.”
“No,” she snaps. “It’s not. You were a kid the same as Nora and me when Dad died. It’s not all on you and besides, I’m an adult now. I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can but you have to know that I’m always here for you. All it takes is a text or phone call, Ro, and I’ll be on the next plane to Alaska. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you.”
She sighs. “When are you going to stop blaming yourself, Lincoln? You couldn’t have known.”
Tears sting my eyes and I shake my head as I ball up my fist. “Enough.”
“You’re right. I didn’t call to fight with you. Come home soon, okay? We miss you.”
“I will. I promise.”
“Good. I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing then. I love you.”
“Love you, too, Ro. I’ll talk to you later.”
Hanging up, I release a sigh and lean back in my seat as I try to stamp down all the memories that Rowan brought up before grabbing the tablet and turning the volume up.
“Boys are stupid!” Lexi shouts, holding up another glass of wine and all the other girls follow suit. There’s one empty bottle laying on its side on the coffee table and the second is halfway gone already.
“Aw, hell,” I mutter. Tate is going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow. Though, the thought of nursing her back to health is appealing. With a smile teasing my lips, I scan the neighborhood again and jerk to a stop when I see a man sitting in his car behind me. From my vantage point, it seems like he’s watching Tate’s house as well but I can’t tell for sure. I reach for the door handle before thinking better of it and grabbing my phone to snap a picture of his license plate.
Blaze still wants me watching her and truthfully, I’m not ready to give her up yet so I can’t confront him out here without a damn good explanation for why I’m also sitting outside her house. One thing is for sure, though, I’m not leaving until I know she’s safe.
* * * *
“Hey, guys. Thanks for coming,” Rodriguez says, holding his hand up in greeting as Storm and I walk into the small apartment. We’ve been working with Detective Rodriguez for a couple years now so when he called us for help with a case, we jumped into action. I do a quick scan of the apartment for Laney, the girl he called us here to watch over, but I don’t see here.
“What’s going on, brother?” Storm asks, stopping in front of the dining room table where Rodriguez has various papers and photos laid out in front of him. They shake hands and Rodriguez sighs.
“I wish I knew how to answer that question.”
I point to the papers. “Lay it out for us, man.”
“Two days ago, Laney came into the station and asked to speak to me. She wanted to know what could be done about the threatening phone calls she’d been getting and I started looking into it.”
I nod. “And what did you find?”
“Not a lot. But I’ve got this feeling in my gut that there is something going on here and I just need to find it.”
“Okay,” I murmur, looking over his evidence. One photo grabs my attention and I pull it out, showing it to him. “What’s this?”
