Chapter 10
Lovelyn
Outside the police HQ, I rummaged in my bag for my phone. Parking in this part of central Deadwater was a nightmare during the working day, so I’d left my car in a side road and Ubered the rest of the way.
My discovery burned in me. I needed to get somewhere I could search Dixie’s tablet properly. Even just the back seat of my car.
But my fingers glanced over a shape in the bottom corner of my bag, concealed in the folds of the lining. What was that, a coin?
I wriggled it loose and extracted a small, circular disk. My heart thumped. It was a tracker. Shiny, silver, and up until now, hidden. I’d known someone had been watching me. Not guesswork now, solid metal in the lining.
After reading the threats against me, it could’ve terrified me, but just as fast as the thought emerged, another chased it. Whoever’d put this in my bag had done it with time and a pocketknife. Kane had the opportunities for that.
There was no doubt. The man who’d kidnapped me and hunted me down more than once. This was how he’d found me at Molly’s bar last night. Damn him.
Outrage boosted an inexplicable burst of deep exhilaration at what he’d done. He’d needed to know where I was and had been monitoring me. On a day like today, with emotions running high, that made me feel…seen.
Pathetic, but there it was.
The massive beast of a man had dominated my thoughts. In bed, I’d lain awake in the dark thinking about him. In the shower, my hands on my body had become his. He’d dropped me the second I’d lost my usefulness, but I couldn’t forget the way he’d chased me and that wink at the end. Then his offer.
If I was to condemn him, I had to condemn myself for liking some aspect of his acts. The kidnap, the chasing, the stalking. What was wrong with me?
“Lovelyn?”
I jumped and dropped the tracker back into my bag then peeked at the man approaching. Someone far less welcome than Kane whose neck I wanted to snap and kiss in equal measure.
Lyle Francis moved in on me.
Four months ago, Lyle had asked me out on a date. I’d accepted, and for a few weeks, we’d been seeing each other, to the point he introduced me to an acquaintance as his girlfriend. It was a label I hadn’t approved.
Lyle gave me the ick.
On the surface, he was a good-looking man. A few inches taller than me, well built from the fitness he needed to maintain as a cop. He wore his blond hair in a tidy wedge, and there was an air of polish about him that spoke of respectability. He was dependable.
He also had soft hands, and when he’d kissed me, I’d got caught up on that stupid detail.
I wasn’t attracted to him at all.
If we’d continued dating, the next natural step would have been us sleeping together, and I couldn’t stomach it. Lyle was polite, nonthreatening, and I’d liked the sense of protection he gave by being around. But there was zero spark. I’d blamed my hormones, but there was nothing to be done.
I’d ended things over a drink in a bar down the road from the police HQ. He’d been disappointed or even annoyed but had let me walk away without too much of a fuss. I’d avoided him since.
Until now.
Then I spotted something even stranger. Over his shoulder, Kane emerged from the next building over, the solicitors’. Mila had mentioned going there, but I’d never expected her brother to be with her.
He smirked at me in that infuriating way that went straight to my core, then took in Lyle.
Lyle cupped my shoulder. “I’m so glad I bumped into you.
I inched back so his fingers fell away. “Oh? How are you, Lyle?”
“Better for seeing you.” He indicated with his head to the building. “Arriving or leaving?”
“Leaving.”
“Good timing. I was just thinking about an early dinner. Care to join me?”
I opened my mouth to refuse, but my words dried up as Kane arrived at my side.
One big hand curled around the back of my neck, warm, possessive, and with absolutely no right to be there.
Yet I didn’t move or shake him off like I did Lyle.
In fact, I had to fight to keep the ripple of heat from my face.
“Hey, baby,” he purred.
Who the hell did he think he was? I clamped my jaw shut and glowered, though I couldn’t vouch for the expression that actually showed on my face.
Lyle jumped his gaze between us. Kane was half a foot taller than him. He towered over most people on the street. Then there was his size, the muscles I’d dreamed about. Even in a close-fitting black jacket, his powerful form was obvious.
An unpleasant twist formed on Lyle’s lips. “Who’s this, Lovelyn?”
“No one who’ll waste time with ye.” Kane regarded me, effectively dismissing Lyle. “Ready to go?”
I had an easy out. I could tell Lyle yes, I’d go with him for a meal. Except I really didn’t want to encourage him and I needed a moment to tell Kane off. For unknown reasons, I didn’t want to do that publicly.
I gave Lyle a quick and apologetic smile. “Enjoy your dinner.”
Then I let Kane lead me away. The second we were around the corner, he removed his hand. A pity, because I’d wanted to throw him off.
“What was that?” I demanded. “Baby? Really?”
“What should I have gone with, flower girl? Darling? Sweetheart?”
“Why were you going with anything at all?”
“We need to talk, and he was in the way. I didn’t like the way he looked at ye.”
“I’m dating him,” I bit out.
His eyes narrowed. “Why the lie, Lovelyn?”
I could kill him. “We broke up.”
“Why did you dump him?”
“How do you know I was responsible?”
“No man would voluntarily give up the chance to fuck ye on demand, so what was it?”
How did he take me from hurt to soaring in the space of seconds? The compliment, odd as it was, made a little home in my chest. “None of your business.”
“Okay, then what did ye want from that wet mop? There must have been something that attracted you.”
“Why, so you can use that to get me into bed?”
“A bed? Try against a wall in a dark alley when I catch ye in a chase, or deep in the woods where I make ye scream. Whichever you prefer.”
I stalled out, my brain short-circuiting. The problem was I liked the sound of those scenes. Where Lyle had done nothing for me, Kane was the opposite. Over the past couple of days, I’d more than once pictured his big body on mine. His mouth taking my lips in blistering heat.
On the back of my neck, his hand had been rough.
The attraction I hadn’t felt with Lyle soared with Kane. That didn’t change who he was or what he’d done.
I lifted my chin, forcing away the lust. “I’ll ask again, what do you want, Kane? And don’t say sex because the answer is still no. I am never taking you home.”
“Your loss. Got any leads on Dixie?”
Of course he pivoted back to business. Emotional whiplash was becoming our thing.
“Do you have anything you’d like to share with me?”
The fire in his eyes banked. No answer came.
“The results of the DNA test you ordered?” I challenged.
His jaw tightened, the muscle popping.
“You can keep that mouth closed. I already know it’s positive. Time’s up, and you wouldn’t still be pursuing her otherwise. So let’s try another approach. Anything from the meeting you were in with the solicitors?”
Kane just watched me. I could scream at him and he’d barely blink.
“Then we’re done. If you won’t give up even a word, why should I?”
From his pocket, he pulled a piece of card and handed it over.
I squinted at it. It was a torn-off piece of a black-and-pink beermat from Divide, the skeleton crew’s nightclub. On it was written a number in block capitals.
“Call me if you change your mind. Or if you think of anything I can do to trade for the information.”
Throwing it back in his smug face would’ve suited me, but I stuffed it into my bag instead. “Don’t hold your breath.”
I walked away, through the crowd and passing offices and shopfronts. Anticipation of Kane’s touch grew until I could almost feel him behind me. There was no way he’d give up that easily. Not the man who’d chased me through another city. But when I finally peeked back, I couldn’t spot him.
Wait. He didn’t need to keep me in his sight.
I ducked around a corner and fished the tracker from my bag once more. In the fuss over Lyle, I’d forgotten to challenge him on it. Now, it felt like one of his secrets I finally had access to.
One I could use in my favour.
The side road led me to an open square. I quickly crossed it and popped out again by a queue of vehicles filtering back into the busy main road.
One was a flatbed truck. I dropped the tracker into the back then lunged into a café beyond.
Hidden inside, I took a position against the wall behind the door, trying to appear casual, just waiting for a friend to arrive, even if my pulse skittered along. The café was busy enough that I didn’t draw attention. It left me the opportunity to spy through the glass.
Sure enough, Kane sloped out of the shadows, his gaze alternating between his phone and the road. For a moment, he studied the device, then his expression soured, and he took off running.
A laugh flew from my lips. I’d beaten him at his own game. He thought I was in a cab and disappearing across the city.
To celebrate, and to give him a chance to clear the area in his hunt, I grabbed myself a buddha bowl and takeaway coffee, then ordered an Uber to get back to my car and return home.
Thankfully alone.
The house was silent. In the kitchen, I started on my dinner and Dixie’s tablet.
Already, I’d added all the apps I could think about for trains, hotels, air travel. Anything she might have used in her escape. Nothing had come from it.
But I hadn’t tried the calendar sync artifact solution my father had suggested, though he hadn’t known what he was saying.
I opened the calendar. Tapped the settings to turn the sources back on, then sat back, not breathing.
A notification popped up, the app unfurling an event.
I almost squealed in happiness.
I tapped the link with a shaking finger and took a breath, because right there was a train ticket. One way. Bought ten days ago for the TransPennine Express and delivered to the calendar. I stared at the town name. Warford.
I had her. I knew where Dixie had gone.
No other information materialised to help me with a hotel or other accommodation, though I spent the rest of the evening searching. But I had a starting point to finding my friend, hopefully getting to her before anyone else did.
I packed a bag then went to bed.
Tomorrow, I’d leave Deadwater to find Dixie.
If it hadn’t been for the message that woke me in the dark, I would’ve stuck to the plan.