Chapter Eighteen
Brooke woke up to the sound of footfalls and a sharp pain bit into her joints jolting her memory. She was gagged and blindfolded with her legs tied to a chair and her hands were bound behind her back. She cried out, but the muffled sounds were barely audible to her own ears—whoever was outside the door had no chance of hearing her pleas. Before she could come up with an alternate plan, she heard the footsteps fade into the distance along with any hope she might be rescued.
After a few moments of pointless struggle, she leaned into the silence, listening for a clue, any clue about what was happening to her. At first she was discouraged with only the sound of the air conditioner whirring to life—not much of a clue, but then she was grateful that wherever she was being held, at least she had some small creature comfort.
An image of Mark’s face flashed in her mind, and she wondered how she’d completely missed that he was dangerous from the start. You’re a bad judge of character , said the voice inside her head that constantly barraged her about the messiness of her life. But the other voice, the one that told her to be kind to herself, replied, How could you know he was bad? Besides, you like Reggie and she’s a stellar human.
But you pushed Reggie away.
Win one for the accusatory inner voice. Time to shut down this game because she wasn’t going to find a way out of here by second-guessing her decisions. And she had to get out of here. Ben would probably be out of school soon. Who would look out for him if something happened to her? Who would protect him if he was in danger?
She shook away the dread and wished she could rip away the blindfold. The dark canvas was an invitation to think the worst and her thoughts were bleak enough already. Despair began to creep in. Her sense of time was skewed by the drug, but it felt like hours since she’d left the courthouse with Mark, and hope was fading fast.
Her brain raced through a succession of nightmare scenarios, all of which left Ben without a parent. She should’ve planned better, made sure she had people in her life who would be willing and able to step up if anything ever happened to her, but she’d been too focused on what she needed to do—get her degree, get a real job that paid real money—and somewhere along the way, she’d forgotten there was an actual reason she was working so hard, sacrificing so much. Hell, she’d even pushed away the one person who’d seen her life up close and hadn’t run far and fast in the opposite direction.
Where was Reggie right now? Was she back at the courthouse having a side convo with Leroy about the silly juror who’d gone to lunch and hadn’t come back? Had the judge let the proceedings start back up without her or had everything come to a screeching halt in her absence?
You’re not that important. The voice inside her conjured the statement from a sinister mix of exes and fake parents who’d told her the same. Surely that was why she’d been picked in the first place. She’d been targeted for being the calm one, the one who smoothed things over, who went along to get along. The one who didn’t have anyone else in her life to turn to when her child was threatened and could be counted on to comply with any instructions if it meant keeping Ben safe.
What would Reggie do if she knew what was happening right now? Flashes of Reggie driving full speed to the hospital and barreling past all obstacles to get to Ben told her exactly what she needed to know. Reggie would be there for her, in good times and bad, strong and fierce. She’d pushed her away because she was used to doing everything on her own, even figured she had to in order to prove her own worth, but maybe there was a greater value in letting her guard down and accepting love from someone else. And now she might not get the chance.
She sat in silence for a moment, replaying the last few times she’d seen Reggie, wishing she’d let the future simply play out instead of orchestrating it to the only conclusion she thought she deserved.
A low whistle broke into her thoughts, and she stiffened at the sound. She didn’t know the tune, but she recognized the whistler and braced for Mark to enter the room. Whatever he had planned, she was ready for him, and she would not go down without a fight.
* * *
Reggie’s hand was on the car door handle ready for the second Lennox stopped the car in front of Ben’s school. As the vehicle eased to the curb, she lost her patience and opened the door only to feel Lennox grab her other arm.
“Slow your roll. School’s in session and the resource officer confirmed he’s in class.”
Reggie shook off Lennox’s arm. “Sure, but every minute Brooke is missing means this kid could wind up without a parent. I hope you brought your badge.” She didn’t wait for a response before jumping out of the car and jogging to the front door of the school. She’d made it a few steps inside when she heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Lennox running toward her. She held the door as Lennox dashed past.
“Come on,” Lennox called out. “Let’s do this.”
Relieved not to have to tackle this job on her own, Reggie followed Lennox to the administrative office. Sarah and her team were still in Oak Cliff, regrouping in their efforts to find Brooke, but Reggie had insisted on seeing Ben herself, to be sure he wasn’t in any danger and so the questions came from a familiar face. Besides, if there was a chance Brooke wasn’t in trouble, but had simply decided not to come back to court, Ben might have some idea of where she might be.
Lennox handled the introductions at the front desk and the secretary motioned for them to have a seat. Reggie was too jacked up to sit and started pacing the room, acutely aware she was making the staff uncomfortable, but not caring enough to stop. She was on her third pass when she heard someone call her name and she looked up to see Ben walking toward her.
“Hi, Reggie!” His face broke out into a big smile. “Did you come to watch the mathlete practice?”
She returned his smile to cover the gut punch of guilt. Here he was thinking her visit was a fun surprise when it was anything but. “Hey, Ben, I wish.” She pointed at the chair next to Lennox and when he was seated, she took the one on the other side. “Court let out early today and I need to reach your mom, but her phone battery died while she was telling me where she was. Any chance you could give me a rundown of any places she might be?”
He put a finger on his chin while he pondered her question, and she resisted the urge to shake him to get a faster response.
“I guess she could be at the restaurant,” he said. “Or she could be at the library. She likes to go to the library at Richards to study. She says it’s because they don’t let you use phones in there so she doesn’t get the urge to play Candy Crush instead of focusing on her homework.”
He grinned to punctuate the remark and Reggie wanted to scoop him up and tell him everything would be okay, but he wasn’t the one who needed the reassurance—she did. She shot a look at Lennox who nodded her support. “Thanks, Ben. Any place else you can think of?”
He shook his head. “I’ll let you know if I think of anything.” He pointed at her phone. She handed it over and watched while he entered his phone number. “And you can text me anytime you want. But not during class. Or mathlete practice. Or meets. Okay?”
She reached out and ruffled his hair. “Okay. You better get back to class.”
“Yep.” He stood and gave her a mock salute. “Thanks for coming to see me.”
She waited until he was halfway down the hall before turning to Lennox. “Sarah’s got someone here watching him, right?”
Lennox jerked her chin at a woman who was following Ben. “On it.”
Reggie had seen the woman when they’d walked in and figured she was a teacher or staff, but now she noticed the authoritative way she strode down the hall, her gaze sweeping back and forth. “Good.” She checked the time. “What are we going to do when school’s out and we still don’t know where Brooke is?”
“You’re forgetting mathlete practice. That’ll keep him busy for a bit. In the meantime…” A loud ringtone interrupted her words, drawing attention from the woman at the front desk who frowned and held a finger to her mouth. Lennox pointed at the door and Reggie followed her outside where she impatiently listened to one side of the conversation.
“Not there either?…Did you check the library?…What about—okay, fine. We’ll see what else we can find out.” Lennox disconnected the call and shook her head.
“They can’t find her,” Reggie said, hating the declaration but needing to hear Lennox confirm her worst fear.
“They can’t. She’s not at work, not at the library, not at home.”
“Has anyone questioned Benton?”
“Not a good idea. First, he’s in the middle of a trial, but even so, if he suspects we’re on to him, he might do something stupid.”
Reggie clenched her fists. “Put me in a room with him for five minutes and I’ll have an answer.”
“And a mistrial in his case too.” Lennox motioned for Reggie to get in the car. “Cool your jets and let’s think this through. If Mark didn’t leave her at his house, where could he have taken her?”
“Good question.” Reggie’s mind whirred with possibilities, but her thoughts kept coming back to one key fact. “Mark was late getting back from lunch, but only by a few minutes.”
“Your point?”
Reggie pulled out her phone and put in Mark’s address. She clicked on the map that appeared as the first entry and zoomed in on his house. “If he stopped on the way back, it was a quick in and out. They searched the entire house?”
“Yes. They didn’t find anything suspect.”
Reggie stared at the image on her phone for a moment and then pinched the corners and drew them back in to zoom out and then she zoomed back in again. She repeated the process a couple of times.
“Care to share?” Lennox asked.
Reggie pointed at the yellow bungalow and drew her finger across the map. “Look at this. Mark’s yard backs right up to this building.” She enlarged the map again. “I know this building. It used to be loft apartments and it was converted into an office building last year.” Her thoughts started to snowball and her fingers couldn’t keep up as she typed another search into her phone. A few more clicks and she found exactly what she was looking for. “There! That’s it.” She shoved the phone at Lennox. It took her a moment, but when she finally got it her eyes lit up.
“Holy shit.”
“I know, right?”
“We’ve got to get back to the courthouse. I’ll call Judge Hunt on the way.”