Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“They didn’t leave Vegas,” Tex said. “I get what you’re saying, Blink, but there’s no evidence to support that they were the ones who did this.”
Blink paced his living room. Back and forth. Back and forth. He couldn’t sit still. Couldn’t eat. Couldn’t think about anything other than finding Josie.
His little apartment was full. All his teammates were there, as were Wolf and Cookie. The police had come and gone, taking a missing person’s report and saying they’d be in touch, that since it hadn’t been twenty-four hours, and since Josie was an adult, there wasn’t much they could do, she’d probably be back of her own accord soon, etcetera. It wasn’t illegal for an adult to take off.
For some reason, they didn’t seem too concerned about the broken chain and footprint on the door.
It was bullshit, but nothing unexpected. The police were inundated with missing person’s reports, and nine times out of ten, the person wasn’t actually missing. Their phone died, or they needed a break from their life, or they just forgot to tell someone where they were going.
But Blink knew for certain none of those were the case with Josie. She’d had plans for them that night. They’d just shared their feelings for each other. She had no reason to take off and every reason to stay.
So while the police might not be looking for Josie, Blink and his friends were.
“It’s them ,” Blink told Tex in agitation. “There’s no one else it could be. Josie doesn’t have enemies. She hasn’t even met anyone here in Riverton except for our SEAL family.”
“I hear you. If it’s them, they’ve covered their tracks, because I’ve pinged both Gen and Millie’s phones, and they’re both in Vegas at the mother’s house. Have been all day. And all yesterday. In fact, they’ve been sending texts back and forth since this morning. The GPS units in their vehicles show they haven’t left the house all day either,” Tex said in a calm voice that grated on Blink’s nerves. Any other time, he’d be glad for the composure he was showing, but now? He wanted to reach through the phone and shake the man.
“Also, their credit and debit cards show no use. No gas stations, no food. Nothing,” Tex added.
“They could’ve hired someone to do their dirty work, right?” Preacher asked.
“Yeah, but that shoeprint Blink sent me is honestly too small to be a man’s.”
“It wouldn’t take much to overpower her,” Smiley said. “She’s tiny.”
“You aren’t helping,” Safe told his friend in a low tone .
“If it’s not the mother, or a man, who is it?” MacGyver asked no one in particular. “Could they have hired a woman to come get her?”
“It’s her. Or them. There’s literally no one else who hates Josie. They blame her for her ex’s death,” Blink insisted.
“Wait—why are they texting each other if they’re in the same house?” Kevlar asked.
“Yeah. That makes no sense,” MacGyver said.
“It does if they’re trying to make it look like they’re both in Vegas, but one of them was actually here in Riverton,” Preacher growled.
“What about traffic cameras?” Flash asked Tex.
“I’m working on it. But if they aren’t in their own vehicles—which I’m guessing they aren’t, since I already checked the GPS data—it’s like finding a needle in a needlestack to follow every car that drove by any of the roads around Blink’s apartment complex.”
“What about checking the car rental companies in Vegas?” Cookie asked.
“Already did that. Didn’t get any hits on either woman,” Tex said.
Every word out of the computer genius’s mouth pointed toward someone other than either Millie or Genevieve Hitson being the person who broke into his apartment and took Josie, and yet Blink knew without a doubt that one or both were behind her disappearance. Kevlar was right, it made no sense that the women were texting each other all day, while in the same house. To be fair, occasionally he’d send Josie a text while they were both sitting on his couch, just for fun…but not repeatedly .
“It’s her,” Blink said firmly, forcing himself to concentrate on the here and now.
“Right. So I just need to find proof,” Tex said. “I’ll go and see what I can do. I’ll be in touch.” The line went silent.
“I’m going to Vegas,” Blink announced. “No matter what Tex did or didn’t find, or might find in the next few hours, I know down to my soul that’s where she is.”
“I don’t want to be the one to say it…but they could’ve done something to her already. She might not be there,” Kevlar said, the sorrow and unease easy to hear in his tone.
Blink wanted to lash out at his team leader. Shout that he didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. But Kevlar didn’t say anything Blink hadn’t already thought. The image of Josie’s broken and bleeding body being discarded somewhere in the vast desert between Riverton and Las Vegas made him want to throw up.
“I know. And don’t think I haven’t already thought about that. But you guys didn’t hear the mother. The hatred in her tone was all-consuming. I don’t think she’d want to simply shoot Josie. That would be too easy. No, I think she has something more sinister in mind. She wants her to suffer.” Blink felt dirty just saying the words.
“So, while Tex does his thing, and the police are waiting for some arbitrary period of time to go by before they decide Josie is truly missing, who’s going to Vegas with Blink?” Wolf asked.
“Kevlar and Safe have to stay here with Remi and Wren. They’d be worried sick about them otherwise, and on the remote chance this isn’t the Hitsons, and has something to do with our jobs instead, I want them protected,” Blink said firmly.
Kevlar opened his mouth to protest, but Preacher beat him to it. “I’ll go. And Smiley will too. MacGyver and Flash, you guys stay here and see what else you can dig up. Talk to the neighbors, be Tex’s eyes and ears here if he needs anything, and you can liaise with the cops.”
Everyone nodded.
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for just the three of you to go to Vegas,” Cookie said with a small frown.
“As much as I hate those bitches, I can’t go in there balls-out,” Blink said. “I’ll do whatever I need to do in order to make sure Josie is all right. And if all seven of us show up, it will put them on the defensive. Maybe if it’s just me and a couple friends, they’ll screw up and boast about what they did. If there’s the smallest chance she’s still alive, that they haven’t killed her, I’ll take it. Do whatever I have to do. Sell my soul to find her.”
“All right,” Cookie said with a nod. “We’ll rally the girls. Josie will need the support of her friends when she gets home.”
The faith he had made Blink want to cry. Wolf, Cookie, and the rest of their team were legends in SEAL circles. They’d seen and done more things than most teams had combined. To hear him talk about Josie coming home with such certainty made his confidence rise.
“Right. Who’s driving?” Preacher asked.
“I am,” Smiley said decidedly. “We’ll take Blink’s truck, in case we need to go off-road. We can leave right now.”
It took everything within Blink not to race for his front door. “I need to pack a bag for Josie. She might need a change of clothes. And we’ll want a first-aid kit…just in case.”
Wolf put a hand on Blink’s arm, while Kevlar’s landed heavy on his shoulder.
“You’ll find her,” Kevlar said.
“She might be tiny, but she’s tougher than nails,” Wolf said. “I’m sure she has no doubt you’re coming for her. Just as my Caroline did when those assholes who took her threw her in the ocean. Women like her and Josie, they’re survivors. Call us when you’re on your way back.”
Blink swallowed hard and nodded.
Then he strode toward his bedroom to pack a bag. For a moment, he stood there, trying to find his equilibrium. Josie disappearing had shaken him to his core. He wouldn’t let her down. The alternative was unthinkable. He loved Josie, and she loved him. He wasn’t losing her now. No way.
Time had no meaning in the pitch darkness of the tiny closet Josie had been forced into. She strained to hear something, anything, but all she heard was the sound of her own heartbeat.
Her thoughts turned to Nate.
What was he doing right now? Surely he’d discovered she was gone. He would’ve called Kevlar and the others. They’d be brainstorming where she might be. Probably had called the police. Everyone would be searching.
But remembering the steps Gen had taken to stay under the radar worried Josie. Wearing an adult diaper so she didn’t have to stop and use the bathroom was…crazy…and smart. And the gas. Leaving her phone in Vegas. The car Josie didn’t recognize. And it hadn’t escaped her that Millie was the one they’d filed the protective order against, because she was the one who’d come right out and threatened her.
If Gen was questioned, she’d claim she was here in Vegas the entire time, that she couldn’t possibly be the one who’d kidnapped her, and all the evidence would support her claim. But Nate and the rest of the guys wouldn’t just assume that since her phone didn’t show her in California, that didn’t mean she wasn’t actually there.
But for the first time, worry began to creep in. Would they figure things out in time? Whatever Millie and Gen were going to do with her, Josie had a feeling it was more elaborate than simply killing her and dumping her body somewhere. That wouldn’t be enough vengeance for the two women.
Millie had spoiled her only son, and Gen had always been overly protective of her little brother. His death had clearly broken them, pushed them both to do things they otherwise wouldn’t have. Josie had no doubt of that.
Were they actually able to kill her? Maybe, maybe not.
But have someone else do something horrible, and exact their revenge so they didn’t have to get their hands dirty? Yeah, she could see them doing that.
Josie shivered. It wasn’t cold in the closet, but she could feel a clock ticking. And much faster than it had when she was overseas. She instinctively knew she didn’t have a lot of time before Millie and Gen put whatever plan they had in mind into effect.
Hurry, Nate. I need you to find me!
Hours later, in the dark of night, Smiley turned down the street where Millie Hitson lived. Tex had sent the woman’s address to them while they were on their way toward Vegas. He’d said he was still searching for any cars that showed up both near Blink’s apartment, as well as on traffic cams on the route out of Riverton, but it was such a colossal task, he hadn’t made much headway. He reassured them that he’d stay on it, and he’d even called in a friend to help him, a woman named Ryleigh who lived in New Mexico. But even with two of them working feverishly to hack into cameras, they all knew it would be slow going.
But Blink didn’t need verification for what he felt in his heart. The Hitsons had his Josie, and he was going to get her back if it was the last thing he did.
“Don’t do anything rash,” Preacher said, as if he could read Blink’s mind.
He didn’t respond. He was beyond speaking at this point. He’d gone over and over in his head all the bad things that could’ve happened to Josie in the last few hours…and he wasn’t up for coherent speech.
“Remember, let me talk,” Smiley said as all three of them got out of the truck.
Blink had no problem with that. It was going to take all his control to not grab one of the women and shake them until they told him where Josie was.
They strode up to the door and before they even had to knock, it opened. Genevieve stood there—and for a moment she looked shocked to see them .
“Who were you expecting?” Smiley asked in a hard tone that would’ve had most people quaking in their shoes.
Not this bitch. She put one hand on her hip, leaned against the doorjamb and glared at all three of them. “What do you want?”
“Josie. Where is she?”
“How the hell should I know? Did she up and disappear again? Shame.”
Blink’s hands fisted at his sides.
She smirked at him and said, “Guess these are your super-soldier friends? I’m not impressed. Piss off.”
“We aren’t leaving,” Smiley said. “Not without Josie.”
“So, what? You’re just going to camp out on our lawn? Because she’s not here. And if you were smart,” she told Blink, “you’d get the hell away from her, because she’ll probably manage to kill you too, eventually.”
“If you were smart, you’d quit talking out your ass and go get Josie.”
“Look, you might think you’re hot shit, but you soldier assholes are all the same. Cocky, conceited, and you think you’re God’s gift to women. News flash—you aren’t. I don’t know where that fucking bitch is, and I don’t care. If I ever saw her again, I wouldn’t lift a finger to help her. She could be drowning right in front of me and I’d stand here and watch. She’s. Not. Here. Now go away.”
“No,” Blink said in a guttural growl.
“Oh, it speaks,” Gen said with a roll of her eyes.
“Let them in.” Millie had come up behind her daughter and entered the conversation.
“What? No, Mom,” Gen protested .
“Yeah, Gen, let us in,” Smiley echoed.
“We have nothing to hide. They won’t find Josie here. If it’ll make them leave, let them look. The faster they understand she isn’t here, the faster they’ll get the hell off my doorstep.”
Gen sighed dramatically, then whirled and stomped back into the house.
“I’m allowing this because I want you gone,” Millie informed them. She looked at Blink. “I hate her. She ruined my life. But I didn’t do anything to the little bitch. Gen and I have been here for the last twelve hours at least.”
Blink stared at the woman. She was protesting too much. No one had asked where she’d been since this morning. Only where Josie was.
Smiley stepped through the door, with Blink and Preacher on his heels.
The house was a mess. It was obvious Millie Hitson was a hoarder. There wasn’t an empty spot on any of the tables in the house. They walked through the living area, sticking to a narrow path between stacks of boxes and miscellaneous crap, heading toward the kitchen. Piles and piles of clothes were on the couches, with only two spots open, obviously where Millie and Gen sat. The entire house had a kind of rank stench, a mixture of old food and possibly rotting rodents. But Blink wasn’t there to judge the way Millie lived. He simply wanted Josie.
Without talking about it, the men split up. Millie and Gen sat in their places on the couch as if they were unconcerned the men were there and what they might find .
For the first time, Blink wondered if he was wrong. Would they be so relaxed if Josie was here? He wasn’t sure.
It was difficult to search the house because of all the junk piled up literally everywhere. Opening closets was impossible, as they were blocked by who knew how many years of stuff being collected.
Preacher forced open a door near the kitchen and yelled, “Basement!”
Blink was surprised, since this part of the country wasn’t known for having basements, but his adrenaline spiked. Josie had to be down there. She had to be.
It was treacherous going down the stairs, because they were broken and uneven, and there were things stacked up on each step. Looking around, Blink’s optimism sank. It smelled even worse down here, and there wasn’t even a path through the crap. He had no idea how to start making his way through the piles and piles of junk that had been stashed in the cramped space.
“Shit,” Smiley swore from behind him.
“Josie?” Preacher called out.
“What the hell? You think she’s tied up under the piles of crap down here?” Smiley asked.
“I don’t know. But I’m not sure how we’ll even start a search through all this junk.”
Blink tuned out his friends and methodically catalogued the room. It wasn’t large, but he didn’t see any place where anyone could hide or be hidden. He leaned down and picked up a box and threw it to the side, not caring what was in it or where it landed. But under that box was another. And another .
Sighing in frustration, he looked around the room again. He had no idea what he was searching for, but nothing stood out as being suspicious.
“Blink?” Preacher asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. “My heart is telling me she’s here, that there’s nowhere else she can be. But…” His voice faded. He honestly thought they’d get into this house and find Josie huddled in a corner, freaked out but fine.
But now…the possibility that maybe, just maybe, whoever had taken her could’ve ended her life and thrown her body in the desert or buried her in a shallow grave, ate at him.
“You done?”
Millie’s harsh question echoed through the small basement. She was standing at the top of the stairs, staring down at them.
“We need to regroup,” Preacher said quietly.
“This is fucked up,” Smiley said as his gaze scanned the room.
“Come on. The longer I’m in this house, the more I feel the need to shower,” Preacher told them. He put a hand on Blink’s arm.
He agreed with his friends. They did need to regroup, call Tex, maybe Kevlar and the others, figure out their next step. But something deep inside him didn’t want to leave. He’d had such high hopes of finding Josie that the alternative was soul-crushing.
He turned and made his way back to the main floor, the hair on the back of his neck standing up as he traversed through the maze of trash and other crap Millie had collected.
“Told you,” Gen crowed from her spot on the couch. She hadn’t bothered to get up. Millie had gone to the front door and opened it. She was standing there, clearly indicating their time was up.
But still, the entire situation had Blink’s internal radar screaming at him that the women were hiding something. Hiding Josie .
“Fuck—is that a diaper?” Smiley asked under his breath as he passed a plastic trash can balancing precariously on a pile of clothing and who knew what else.
“Disgusting,” Preacher agreed.
Blink led his friends toward the door, stopping when he was next to Millie.
He looked into her eyes and said in a low, even voice, “We’re going to find her.”
Millie’s lip curled. “The world is a better place without her in it. I hope wherever she is, the bitch is suffering. Regretting her role in killing my son. There’s no torture too harsh to pay her back for what she’s done to my family.”
Something about her words made Blink freeze, but Smiley was at his back, pushing him forward.
“Josie didn’t do a damn thing to your spoiled son, and you know it,” Smiley said. “If she was guilty of anything, it was being too nice to someone who didn’t deserve it.”
“Get out!” Millie shouted, pointing to the door.
“Gladly,” Preacher said.
Blink walked out into the dry desert air and felt an urge to turn right back around. He wanted to take every damn thing out of that hoarder house until he found Josie, or some sign of where she was.
Smiley pushed Blink again to keep him walking. Every step felt like his feet weighed four hundred pounds.
“Come on, we need to talk,” Preacher said.
Blink walked as if in a trance back to the truck. He got into the back seat, and Preacher got in next to him. Smiley got behind the wheel. For a moment, they sat in silence.
Finally, Smiley said, “That was seriously fucked up.”
Blink couldn’t agree more.
“Now what?” Preacher asked.
“I’m not leaving. They know something,” Blink said.
“I agree,” Smiley said. “They were too quick to let us in.”
“And the daughter seemed very tense. She tried to hide it, but she couldn’t take her eyes off us,” Preacher added.
He wasn’t wrong. Blink had thought the same thing. “Josie’s not dead,” he said firmly. “I don’t know how I know that, but I do. The mother was too willing to let us in, and I would’ve thought she’d dig in her heels and protest us stepping one foot inside her house.”
“Right? She was pretty sure we’d come up empty-handed. Why? Because Josie isn’t there? Because she knew we wouldn’t find where they’d stashed her?” Preacher asked.
“Why is the daughter there anyway?” Smiley mused. “She has her own place, right? That’s what Tex said, at least. So if she has her own apartment, why is she at her mom’s house at,” he looked at his watch, “eleven-thirty at night? And they’re both completely dressed. Most people at this time of night, if they aren’t getting ready to go party, are in their pajamas. ”
He wasn’t wrong. Blink’s mind spun.
“And did you see the look on Gen’s face when she opened the door? She was definitely expecting someone, and she was shocked to see us instead,” Preacher said.
“They’re waiting for someone,” Blink agreed.
“To bring Josie to them?” Smiley asked.
“Or to pick her up,” Preacher said.
“The mom let us in, hoping we’d get in and out and leave. So that whoever they were expecting wouldn’t arrive while we were there,” Smiley said.
“So we stay. Stake the place out. See who’s coming,” Preacher decided.
Blink was on board with that plan. They were close to figuring out what the hell was going on. He felt it. These women weren’t going to outsmart him. He had too much at stake—his entire future, his sanity, the love of his life.
Blink needed Josie. He wasn’t sure he could survive losing her.
As hard as it would be to sit and watch, that’s what he’d do if it meant figuring out what Millie and Gen Hitson were hiding. And they were hiding something, he had no doubt.
Smiley pulled away from the curb and headed down the street. They’d double back around and wait and watch…it was what they did best.