by Tate, Sennah
Carson nodded.
“Okay, weird guy, did you see what he looked like? Was there anything else weird going on?”
She frowned, struggling to remember the shadowy man she’d seen in Santorini’s.
“No, I didn’t get a good look at him. Just tall is all I remember… dark hair. She called him a cabron, whatever that is.”
Carson smirked for a moment, “Not a very nice word, to put it politely.”
“I’d gathered as much by the daggers she glared at him.”
“Right, so there was a shady dude, that’s a start. Maybe there’s surveillance footage or something from that night.”
“There was a text or something too!” Gemma said, looking up quickly, trying to remember the details of the now-weeks old memory.
“Oh?”
“Yeah,” she explained Izzy’s odd behavior that day and tried to come up with an explanation for it.
“Was this before or after you saw the guy at the bar?”
“After… no, before. I went to the bar that night because I hadn’t seen her in the few days since the text message.”
“All right, well, that’s something to go on at least,” he said with a sigh. It wasn’t as much as he hoped for, but Carson knew to take what he was given without complaint. There could always be the time that he was given nothing at all, so he had to be thankful for the things he was handed.
She paused for a long moment, staring into the dark abyss of her coffee mug, her eyes unfocused and her expression forlorn.
“Hey,” Carson said, drawing her attention back to him. He reached a hand across the table to cover hers and tried to ignore the white hot electricity he felt from her touch.
“None of this is your fault. You didn’t know this was going to happen, you didn’t know what questions to ask her or what to look for.”
Gemma sniffled, wishing she was better able to hold it all together in the presence of a stranger. But Carson didn’t feel like a stranger. He felt like an old friend that she was meeting for the first time; maybe that was their family resemblance.
“What… what do you think happened to her?”
Carson heaved a sigh, withdrawing his hand.
“I’m not really sure. The way things are in town leads me to believe there’s a new drug or something out there, but I don’t know if that’s something Izzy would mess around with.”
Gemma’s eyes grew wide. A drug? Izzy didn’t seem like that type of person when Gemma met her. She seemed so happy and full of life. It was hard for Gemma to imagine her just throwing all of that away in search of a high.
“I don’t think she would,” she answered with more confidence than her experience warranted.
“But that doesn’t mean she didn’t get caught up in some of this business. She may not have known what she was getting herself into.”
Gemma’s fear grew exponentially. It was sounding less and less like Izzy took a spontaneous vacation and more and more like something truly terrible had happened.
Carson could see the transition in her features. He knew that look; he knew the look that someone had when all hope was lost and they started to accept the tragic inevitability. He didn’t want to see that look on Gemma’s face.
“Hey,” he said again, pulling her out of her morose thoughts once more, “we’re going to find her, okay? This is my baby sister. I’m not going to let anything happen to her.”
Gemma nodded silently, trying to hold back her tears. Staying up all night had her nerves frayed and her emotions on a razor thin edge. She wanted to believe what Carson said, but the dread inside her only grew more intense. Her eyes flicked up to him, looking for reassurance; she saw the determination in his eyes and knew that she just had to trust him. It wasn’t going to be easy, but if Carson said they would find Isabel, she knew that they would.
“Okay. You’re right. There’s no reason to give up just yet,” she conceded, wiping her tears away and lifting her mug to chug the rest of its contents. It was going to be a long day and she was going to need every bit of false energy the caffeine could give her.
“Right,” he replied, satisfied with her new found resolve. “So I think the next thing we need to do is ask her boss if he noticed anything unusual.”
She nodded her agreement and Carson gathered up the few notes he’d written down during their talk.
When the pair arrived at the restaurant, Carson immediately set out to find Mr. Santorini.
He found the old man at the bar with a double rum and coke already set in front of him. Carson glanced at the clock on the wall; it wasn’t even nine in the morning yet and the man was drinking?
His salt and pepper hair was mussed on top of his head and his face showed the tell-tale signs of age, complete with blemishes and wrinkles.
“Mr. Santorini?” Carson asked, drawing the man’s attention.
“Jim,” he corrected, not tearing his eyes away from his drink.
“Right, Jim. I’m Carson, Isabel’s brother? I was wondering if I could ask you some questions?”
The older man’s expression changed at the mention of Isabel’s name.
“Yeah?” he asked in his thick northern accent, “well, I have some questions for her, too. She hasn’t shown up to work in a week,” he growled.
“Well, that’s what I’m here about,” Carson interjected before the other man could ramble on for too long.
Gemma joined them at the bar, sitting on the opposite side of Jim from Carson. They had him pinned in now.
“Izzy is missing,” Gemma said without fanfare.
“We’re trying to collect information on her activities in the days leading up to her disappearance. Did anything seem unusual about her behavior recently?”
The old man didn’t respond immediately and Carson thought that maybe he didn’t hear the question. Just as he was opening his mouth to repeat it, Jim spoke.
“Yeah, she was acting a little weird, I guess. She was cranky. Just chalked it up to that time of the month, you know? But she snapped on a couple of the regulars. I had a couple of complaints about her attitude and had to have a talk with her. She wasn’t getting many tips because of it and I told her that if she couldn’t straighten herself out that I was going to have to fire her.”
Carson frowned; the woman Jim Santorini described didn’t sound like Izzy at all. Izzy was bright, full of life, and never rude. Something was definitely wrong, and this description didn’t do much to ease his suspicions.
“Then what happened?” He prompted.
Jim shrugged.
“She never came back. I still have two paychecks for her in the register.”
Carson didn’t even have to look at Gemma to know what her face looked like. She was horrified and losing faith in him all over again.
“Okay, thank you Jim, you’ve been very helpful,” Carson said, dismissing himself from the bar and the tempting stench of alcohol.
“Oh, one more thing,” Carson said, turning back to the old man who appeared to be losing his patience.
“What’s that?”
“Gemma says that someone came in one night and was antagonizing Izzy. You wouldn’t happen to have surveillance around here anywhere would you?”
Jim Santorini grumbled and downed the rest of his double.
“I might. It’s gonna take a while to find the right tapes though.”
“Take your time,” Carson said sarcastically, “I’ll be happy to pay you for your trouble if you can get it to me sooner rather than later though. I am trying to find a missing person after all.”
“Don’t you give me lip, Carson Sanchez, I know all about you.”
Carson’s face darkened, his eyebrows casting a deep shadow over his eyes. Gemma actually took a step back from him in anticipation of the blood bath she was sure was coming.
“What do you know, old man? I know if you have that tape to me by the end of the day, there’s a thousand bucks in it for you. Deal?”
Carson’s hand smacked down
on the bar, making the old man jump with surprise. He seemed embarrassed by his reaction and just nodded.
“Yeah, okay,” he muttered.
Carson picked up his hand and left behind a piece of paper with the date and time of the incident.
“Nice doing business with you, Jim.”
He led Gemma out of the restaurant, silencing any attempt she made at talking until they were secure in the confines of his car.
Like she’d been holding her breath the whole time, Gemma finally blurted out everything she was thinking in one long breath.
“We have to go to the police. Izzy wouldn’t do any of those things. Something is wrong. Someone kidnapped her or blackmailed her or… or…”
Carson closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose to ward off the incoming migraine.
“Gemma,” he sighed, “calm down. She’s going to be okay. And we’re not going to the police.”
She turned on him, fury burning in her gaze.
“What? How can you say that? This is obviously a matter for the police. She’s missing Carson. Don’t you realize how grave that is?”
“Of course I do! This is my fucking sister. I’m not out here playing detective for fun, Gemma.”
“We’re wasting time arguing about this when the police could be finding her.”
“The police aren’t going to do shit. This is a small town. Everyone knows about Izzy and I’s relationship. They know about my history. They’re going to try to point fingers at me and waste all of their resources building a case against me instead of actually finding her.”
Gemma didn’t believe him. She didn’t know what it was like to be treated like less of a person because of her past. She didn’t know what it felt like to have everyone always expect the worst of her. She didn’t know that the cops regularly pulled him over or stopped him on the street just to try to find him doing something wrong.
She couldn’t understand. That wasn’t the life she lived. She was a good girl and grew up trusting the police. Carson was not like that at all. He knew how corrupt small town cops could be and he wasn’t about to trust his sister’s fate with them. If that meant Gemma was going to be angry at him, then so be it. He would rather have Izzy home safe and sound than keep this woman he just met happy.
Chapter 6
“Look, I know you care about Izzy as much as I do. We both know something really strange is going on; the cops will know way more about what’s going on around town than we do,” Gemma persisted, making Carson’s jaw clench in frustration.
Why was it so difficult for her to understand that the police couldn’t be trusted?
He tried to find a way to explain it to her.
“Would you rather have the police investigating who they think took her, or would you rather someone actually be looking for her? Maybe our priorities are different, but I’d rather have my sister back first and then worry about who’s behind all of this.”
Gemma’s lips pursed in a show of defiance. She wasn’t going to give into him. He could already tell that bringing her along was going to end up being more trouble than help; he had to find a way to ditch her. Maybe the police station wouldn’t be such a bad idea. He could leave her there to file a report and she’d be out of his hair while he gathered more clues and leads.
“It’s the right thing to do, Carson,” she answered softly, her eyes trained on an empty street corner. She feared if she looked at him he would be able to convince her of anything. She couldn’t chance melting into his wishes right now; no matter how attractive he was and no matter how many of her thoughts revolved around his broad shoulders and strong hands, she couldn’t allow herself to be distracted. Izzy’s safety was at stake!
His hands tightened on the steering wheel; Gemma could see the fine mosaic of bright white scars that criss-crossed his bulky knuckles — he was a man used to his hands solving problems. Gemma typically relied on her brain to fix things and right now, her brain was telling her that the police would help them.
“Fine,” he ground out through clenched teeth. He didn’t like conceding to her, but if he could manage this, the plan would actually work out a lot better for him.
He tried to ignore the smug satisfied smile that turned Gemma’s lips; she thought she’d won, he could let her have that for now.
Carson almost felt a little guilty for planning to ditch the girl, but he’d never intended to have a partner in this search for Isabel. She basically forced herself upon him — should he really feel bad for trying to shake her off?
Even as his mind formulated the plan, a rumbling deep within him rebelled against the idea. There was a previously unknown part of him, somewhere he never even knew existed, that suddenly came to life when Gemma was present. It was unsettling and he didn’t like it, but the thought of shutting it off now that it was awake seemed inconceivable.
He brushed those misgivings aside, though. There was no time to be interested in a pain in the ass like Gemma. Izzy had to be his first priority. If there was something possible between he and Gemma, it was just going to have to wait.
Gemma fought to relax as Carson zipped through the narrow back roads and bumpy residential areas. She just knew that the police would be able to assist. They would find Izzy in no time and then their lives could all go back to normal. She just hoped that everything was okay and these worries she had were completely unfounded.
The police station came into view after a few more minutes of Carson’s reckless driving and he pulled to a stop in front of the station.
“Here you go,” he said without looking at her.
“You have to come with me,” she protested, one hand already on the door.
“Why’s that?”
She nibbled her lip thoughtfully and Carson pushed back the urge to give her anything she asked for.
“You’re her family? Don’t you have to be the one to say she’s missing?”
He shrugged.
“Well, even so, you know more about her than I do. If they start asking me personal questions, I may not know them. It will work best with both of us,” she finished, trying to tell herself that she was just being realistic. She wasn’t trying to force Carson to come with her for any other reasons. Certainly not because of the way he made her blood feel like lava or the way his eyes stared straight through to her soul. No, she was only asking him along because it was in Izzy’s best interest.
At least, that was what she was going to keep telling herself.
Carson sighed, accepting defeat without an argument. He hoped that there would still be a way to leave Gemma here on her own without much input from him. He certainly didn’t want the police digging into his background. He didn’t want to deal with the suspicious gazes and thinly veiled threats. He spent too much of his life already trying to fly under the radar. He was a law-abiding citizen these days and all he wanted was to be left alone.
The whole area around the station was inundated with cruisers so it took him a minute longer than usual to find a parking spot. He was struck by how quiet the outside of the police station seemed. Typically, officers came in and out, mingled around the front doors with coffee and donuts, and generally just kept a watchful eye over the area. The presence of so many cars and so few bodies made the hair on Carson’s arms bristle in alarm.
Gemma didn’t seem to notice, so Carson told himself that it was a product of his anxiety about police. There wasn’t anything actually wrong here; he was just being ridiculous. There was a time and a place to give into his fears and this wasn’t it. He planned to stay cool and calm in the presence of the HGPD and Gemma.
The first thing that struck Gemma as odd when they walked into the monolithic sandstone building was the lack of security. It seemed to her that if any place in town should have security it should be the place housing all of the criminals. Then again, there were probably enough police officers around that security was superfluous.
Carson led her past the entryway to the help desk. There was no one to be se
en there. Phones rang constantly all around them without answers.
Gemma looked around for a bell or a button or something to press to let them know that they needed assistance; she found nothing.
A rumbling roar came through a door to their left. Their heads swiveled in unison towards the terrifying noise. It almost sounded like there was a lion or some other giant predatory beast on the other side of the door. The beast slammed into the wall making it tremble with the force of impact.
Meanwhile, Gemma and Carson stood awkwardly wondering what they should do. Carson grew more and more uneasy by the minute, wishing that he’d never agreed to come here.
Gemma didn’t want to admit it, but she was frightened. It sounded like there was something serious going on behind those doors. The door rattled again as someone — or something — rammed into it. She took a step backwards, straight into Carson’s chest. She didn’t notice him though; the door shook with another blow.
Carson eyed the door, trying to determine if it would hold. It was a solid metal door, and the hinges looked strong, but the screws holding it in place were already starting to wriggle their way from the wall. Gemma backed into him and instinctively he placed a hand on her arm, ready to protect her if needed.
The walls shuddered again, shaking a few of the hanging accolades free where their frames splintered and glass shattered on the ground.
Gemma jumped in surprise and turned to Carson, her eyes wide with terror. He tried to remind himself that she wasn’t his responsibility. He didn’t owe her anything. It wasn’t his job to protect her.
“Maybe we should—” she started, her voice trembling.
Before she had the chance to finish her suggestion, the door flew off its hinges and Carson’s arms wrapped around her, swinging her away from the door, using his body to shield her without even a moment of hesitation.
