Jock thumbed through the contacts on his phone and called several of Teagan’s friends. One friend vouched for Teagan’s boyfriend. She was at a high school baseball game, and he was playing shortstop, but Teagan wasn’t there.
That was enough for Jock. “She’s with her mother. God damn it.” He banged his fist on the table. Neither Axel nor I flinched or reacted.
Axel and I said nothing but shared a worried glance. Bria’s drinking and drug abuse concerned us. We sat quietly for a short while, each of us deep in thought. Jock got up to pace the floor, muttering curses under his breath. Teagan had been missing for two hours by now.
“Jock, if you don’t mind me making a suggestion.” Axel tiptoed carefully around my volatile brother, but much to my surprise, Jock sank down gratefully into the chair next to Axel.
“I’d welcome any help you can give. I’m not thinking clearly. I’m in such a panic my usual logical brain has deserted me.”
“Okay, I have a plan. You all have iPhones, right? Do you have the ability to track her phone in the app?”
“Oh, shit, yeah, I forgot.” Jock fumbled for his phone, dropped it, and scooped it up. He opened the app and punched the right buttons. Frowning, he held the phone up for us to see. “It must be turned off. It can’t be located.” Jock was near panic.
Axel put a comforting hand on his arm. “Okay, buddy, calm down. Deep breaths. We’ll find her. Jock, I want you to call 911. Get an AMBER Alert issued. You have the license plate and info on the car?”
Jock nodded, looking disoriented and shell-shocked.
“Do you have any idea where Bria was living last?” Axel’s calm, confident demeanor relaxed my brother somewhat. Jock was too much of a basket case to think clearly and was more than happy for Axel to take charge.
Jock shook his head. “I don’t have a clue. We ran everything through our attorneys.”
Esme and Eunice appeared, having put the children to sleep. They didn’t say anything but took seats at the table and listened.
“I do,” Esme said.
“You do?”
“Yes, I sent some of her clothes over to a hotel near Sea-Tac a week or so ago.”
“Do you know what one?”
“Of course.” She smirked. “You doubt me?”
He rolled his eyes and almost smiled. At least Esme had managed to lighten his mood.
Jock called 911, and they said they’d dispatch someone immediately. As soon as he hung up, he feverishly texted and called his daughter with no response. Then he called Bria again and started to go off on her on voicemail. Axel beat me to it and grabbed the phone from him.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Jock raged.
“You don’t want to piss her off. I know it’s hard. Wait until the experts get here and follow whatever instructions they give you.”
For a moment, I thought Jock might deck my boyfriend, but he turned away from us and stared out the window at the setting sun. Soon it would be dark, which would make it doubly hard to find Teagan. We didn’t know how much time we had. We didn’t know if Bria was dangerous. We didn’t know a damn thing, except for one fact. Bria had never shown much of an interest in her children. She was doing this to hurt Jock, and she wasn’t thinking straight, or she’d realize this wouldn’t end well for her.
Axel and I drove the twenty minutes to the airport and pulled into the lot of the hotel. He parked, and we ran into the lobby. Bria had checked out that afternoon. They didn’t have any idea where she’d gone, and Teagan hadn’t been with her then. We drove around the area, checking all the lots for Bria’s distinctive sports car with no luck. We showed her picture to several bartenders and hotel workers. No one had seen her today, though a few bartenders had served her over the past week. One remarked that she was quite the lush and wasn’t always alone. Sometimes she had a guy with her who seemed to be happy to spend her money.
Somewhat defeated, we headed back to the house. By now there were several city police and detectives there, along with Jock’s attorney. I doubt we’d have had such a response for a teenager who was with her noncustodial mother, but Jock was a Sockeye.
This was the type of scene that’d make my dad and his biker friends disappear into the woodwork. Too many cops. Even I was antsy about the volume in and around the house, and I had nothing to personally worry about.
Axel was a trooper. Jock was inconsolable and unable to function. Axel took charge. He worked with Jock to compile a possible list of places Bria might go and put him to work checking online at the various mutual credit cards they held to see if she was using any of them. Axel kept all of us from panicking. He was a rock, and we both leaned on him.
Even the investigators turned to Axel when they needed something.
By now the abduction had hit the news. At Jock’s request, Axel stood behind my brother and me when we went on the air to plead for Teagan’s safe return. Jock broke down and was unable to speak, then I couldn’t speak, so Axel stepped forward and spoke for us, pleading with Bria to release Teagan, and for Teagan to contact us.
An AMBER Alert was issued, complete with Bria’s license number and description of her and the car she drove.
Jock found a credit card trail and immediately shared it with the detective in charge. Bria used her card at a gas station in a small Eastern Washington town off of I-90. They’d left the area.
Jock and I would’ve spent the night pacing the floor and fretting, but Axel had this way of directing us toward tasks that kept our minds occupied and made us feel as if we were contributing.
Esme and Eunice got a few hours of sleep and whisked the three of us off to bed, saying we were no use to anyone exhausted. Jock didn’t even blink when Axel followed me to my bedroom.
We lay in bed together. I realized this was the first time we weren’t naked when we’d gotten between the sheets. I wore my jammies, and Axel had his underwear on.
He put his arms around me and pulled me close. “We’ll get through this,” he whispered in my ear. “She won’t do anything to Teagan. This is all a cry for attention.”
“I hope you’re right.” I buried my face in his chest, letting him be the strong one for once.
“There are a lot of resources looking for her right now. They will find her. She’s leaving a credit card trail, and they’ll get her.”
“They seem to be one step behind her.”
“For now, but this has become a national case. Someone will recognize her and call it in,” Axel assured me. He stroked my back and whispered sweet words to me, and despite my worries, I fell asleep.
Chapter 31—If Only
~~Axel~~
We’d miscalculated. Gravely miscalculated. Jock, Geneva, and I had assumed Bria would focus on one of us. We’d never expected her to take off with her daughter.
Jock was beside himself, worried sick about Teagan. She was in danger, and we all knew it, even as we pretended everything would be okay.
It’d been forty-eight hours since anyone had heard from either of them. We found Teagan’s phone in her bedroom. Either she’d forgotten it or her mother had requested she leave it home.
I managed a few hours of fitful sleep the last two nights. My dreams were disturbing and not restful despite Geneva’s comforting presence, but the one that woke me up was deeply disturbing. In my dream, Bria and I were in a dark forest. Teagan was a few feet away. With an insane laugh, Bria lifted a gun to her daughter’s head. The bang was deafening, and gunpowder filled my nostrils, almost choking me.
I jerked awake. Sitting up, I attempted to get control of my shaking. I was breathing hard. My body was in a cold sweat despite the warmth of the bedroom. The dream seemed so real, and before I was fully awake, I desperately surveyed the room for a body.
Geneva stirred and rose. “Axel, what’s wrong?” She was alarmed, and I didn’t blame her. I probably resembled someone having a heart attack or something.
“Bad dream.” I pulled her close and breathed in the scent of her hair, findi
ng solace in her arms.
“Would it help to tell me about it?”
“I just want you to hold me. I don’t want to talk.”
She held me tight, no questions asked. My heart beat wildly, and I sought to gain control of myself. I had to be strong for Jock and Geneva.
I had to be. Right now, she was my rock, and maybe that was what being a couple was all about. One was strong when the other was weak.
We lay wrapped together until my breathing and heart rate returned to normal. Geneva drifted off again, and I didn’t want to wake her, but there wasn’t any way I was sleeping.
Extracting myself from Geneva’s arms, I let her sleep. I took a shower and dressed in the same clothes I wore yesterday. I’d call Steele to bring over a change of clothes later. I walked in bare feet to the kitchen.
Eunice was already making breakfast. Jock sat at the counter and looked worse than shit. He still wore the clothes he’d had on two days ago. His hair stood up on end, reminding me of a cartoon character who’d stuck a finger in a light socket. His eyes were bloodshot, but it was the emptiness in them that scared the shit out of me. He was a defeated man. If he’d slept any, it’d most likely taken place on the couch, where a blanket and pillow were stacked haphazardly.
They’d called in an FBI agent to assist in case she’d gone over state lines, and he was talking on a phone when I appeared.
With a sigh, I poured a cup of coffee. The agent disconnected his call, sat me down, and asked more questions about Bria’s and my relationship. I bit back my irritation and called forth what little patience I had left and went through everything with them for the tenth time since two nights ago. No, I didn’t know where she was. No, I wasn’t in contact with her. No, I didn’t have an affair with her, just a one-night stand when I didn’t know who she was.
I reminded myself they were just doing their jobs, and any information I gave them might lead us one step closer to finding Teagan.
Even though I wasn’t hungry, Eunice insisted Jock and I sit at the counter and eat the hearty breakfast she cooked of bacon, eggs, hash browns, and pancakes. She also fed the agents currently hovering around the house.
I forced myself to eat to set a good example. “It’s great, Eunice, thanks so much.”
She nodded, her eyes filled with concern for Jock, as her gaze flicked to him and back again. He hunched over his plate with shoulders hunched and barely spoke. Instead, he moved the food around on his plate and took a bite here and there.
“They’ll find her. Bria isn’t that crazy. She won’t hurt her,” I said, hoping to lighten his mood.
He grunted and continued to stare at his plate.
Geneva shuffled in, not looking any better than the rest of us, yet to me she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. She sat down on the barstool next to me. I gave her a quick kiss, while Eunice immediately placed a plate of food in front of her. Eunice was in a cooking frenzy. I’m sure that was her way of coping while helping others. Esme was upstairs keeping the kids out of everyone’s hair. They’d already interviewed the poor twins multiple times. While they were being careful and kind, the girls were getting more upset every time.
“This is my fault,” Jock mumbled.
“No, it’s ours. Esme and I shouldn’t have left the kids with Teagan. If we’d been here—”
“You can’t say that. None of you. It’s no one’s fault. Eunice, Esme, and you were doing what you always do. Jock, you’re a great father. You do everything you can for those kids. None of us predicted Bria would do this.”
“I’m responsible for this family’s well-being,” Jock said miserably.
“It’s no one’s fault.” I stood and put my hand on Jock’s and Geneva’s shoulders and smiled encouragingly at Eunice currently wringing the life out of a kitchen towel. “It’s not doing anyone any good to blame themselves or others. We need to stand strong and stay together. We need to protect our family and hope for the best.” No one seemed to notice my slip. I’d said “our” family before I’d realized it. Not even Jock blinked or berated me for including myself as part of his family.
“I’ve been praying,” Jock admitted. “I never pray.”
“Me too,” Geneva admitted.
“I think we all are.” I took a deep breath.
Jock turned his head to regard me closely. “I’d be an ass if I didn’t thank you for all you’ve done for us these past several hours. I’m not to the point where I’d admit we’d ever be best buddies or anything, but I’m not disliking you nearly as much as I did.”
Coming from Jock, that said a lot. I managed a nod as my throat constricted once again. It was doing that a lot lately. “Same here.”
“Stop it, both of you. You’re going to make us all cry.” Geneva sniffled and hugged me. “And you are part of this family as far as I’m concerned.”
She’d heard me. I met Geneva’s gaze, and as I looked into her eyes past the worry and grief, I knew we crossed an invisible bridge into territory neither of us had been in before. In all truthfulness, I liked this new territory a lot. It’d been a long time since I’d felt as if I belonged to something other than a hockey team. Being one half of a whole was the best feeling I’d ever had at the worst of times.
I prayed we’d make it through this bad time relatively unscathed and had the chance to build on this fragile thing growing between us like a flower pushing up through the soil in the spring.
If only.
Chapter 32—Lost and Found
~~Geneva~~
The call came in the next morning, three days since we’d last seen Teagan. Bria’s car had been spotted in a wooded area off I-90 about forty minutes from where Jock lived. She’d turned around and come back over the Cascades. For what purpose, I dared not imagine.
I hoped she was bringing her daughter back home and turning herself in, but if they found her car, I doubted that’d be the case. The car appeared to be out of gas. No one was near it or in the trunk.
Jock’s face took on a haunted look, and I knew mine was just as stricken. Even Axel’s ability to be our port in a storm seemed to evade him. We stared at each other and said nothing. There was nothing left to say. We’d spent the better part of the last few days talking, speculating, and praying, all in an attempt to convince ourselves this would all be okay. But all three of us knew the truth. The longer a child was missing, the bigger the chance they wouldn’t be found alive. None of us spoke this fact out loud, but I determined such a thing only applied in stranger abductions. A family situation had to be different.
As soon as the authorities received word regarding Bria’s car, they took off in their black sedan. I sat there, dumbfounded, not knowing what to do and despising the idea of more torturous waiting.
Axel regained his stride and reached for my hand. “It’s going to be okay.” He spoke that statement with such confidence I wondered where he’d hidden his crystal ball.
“I hope so,” I whispered, my throat clogged with worry. He placed a soft kiss on my lips. Placed his hands on either side of my face and gently kissed my forehead. Then he rested his forehead against mine. I felt at peace for the first time in two days. Some of his positive energy transferred to me, and I gained strength from his closeness. I don’t know how long we just were, but my brother disturbed our moment of false normalcy.
He shot to his feet and grabbed his SUV keys from the key rack near the entrance to the kitchen. Axel immediately sprang into action.
“Where the fuck are you going?” He darted in front of Jock to block him from entering the garage.
“I’m going to save my daughter, damn it.” Jock pushed Axel and a shoving match ensued.
“Stop it, both of you. We don’t need this right now,” I shouted at the top of my lungs, but they were in a macho battle of wills. I pushed between them to intervene before fists started flying.
“Get out of my way.” Jock tried to shove me aside, but I held firm as did Axel behind me.
“You don
’t know where they went.”
“Somewhere east of North Bend on I-90. I’ll find it. I’ll fucking follow the police cars. They’ll have an entire crew there complete with copters.”
Jock had a point there.
“Jock, this isn’t a good idea.” Axel’s voice was once again the voice of calm and reason, only this time Jock didn’t give a shit. He was focused on his mission, and that mission was finding his daughter. I don’t think the entire Sockeye team would’ve been able to stop him. Then he did something unexpected. My big, strong brother crumpled before our eyes.
“Don’t you understand? I have to go. This waiting is fucking killing me.” Tears streamed down Jock’s face. He’d lost it, and it was a tragic sight to see.
Axel and I exchanged glances, and I moved to hug Jock. He pressed his head against my shoulder and cried so hard my entire shoulder was soaking wet. Big, heart-wrenching sobs that tore your insides up racked his body. I glanced up to find Axel watching us. For once, he wasn’t in control. He fidgeted and ran his fingers through his hair while shifting his balance from one foot to another.
“Okay, we’ll drive out there, but we can’t interfere and cause more problems. We have to do as they say and stay out of their way. Let them do their job.” I was in lecture mode, which usually annoyed Jock, but he didn’t care this time.
Jock extracted himself from my arms and backed away as if just realizing how much he’d come apart. He nodded.
“Axel will drive,” I ordered.
Jock didn’t disagree but tossed the keys to Axel. “I just want to be there. I can’t stand all this waiting.”
We let Esme and Eunice know we were leaving and put them on alert in case someone came to the house with pertinent information or Teagan called, then we filed into the garage. Jock sat in the back seat of his mammoth SUV, and I sat beside Axel.
We drove in silence down I-90. As the city sprawl gave way to towering fir and cedar trees, an unmarked police car with lights flashing zipped past us. Axel nudged the gas pedal to keep the cruiser in sight.
Blocked Page 22
