27. CODY
Sprinting through an abandoned zoo made me feel like the biggest fool on Earth.
I knew that telling her the truth might mean losing her, but my love and respect for Danielle wouldn’t allow me to lie to her any longer.
I had hoped that honesty might convince her to stay, but who was I kidding?
I knew the trauma she had. I knew all the horrible things that had been done to her.
I knew how fragile her ability to trust was.
And the reality was that the truth made it look like I was only there for the money.
Never mind the fact that, even if I had told Alex to stop paying me, he wouldn’t have.
Never mind the fact that I didn’t even want the money in the first place.
None of that mattered if she wouldn’t even let me explain.
I was almost at her side when she leapt into the car, leaving me stranded in the zoo, five hours from where we were staying.
Breathless and defeated, I stopped, hands on my knees, and watched the taillights fade into the distance.
An ache of desperation stabbed my chest, and she was unknowingly holding the knife.
A few seconds passed before I remembered Danielle didn’t know Landon was coming after her, and I had the cell phone. I pulled it out without a second thought about just how pissed Alex would be and called him. He was going to be more than pissed, but that didn’t matter; Danielle did.
“Why are you calling me? Aren’t you on some stupid fucking date with my sister?” Alex's voice was drowning in irritation.
“We have a serious problem, Alex. I’m freaking the fuck out.” Panic and shortness of breath riddled the words as I said them.
There were no more jokes. Alex’s voice became sharp and focused. “What happened? Is she okay?”
“I messed up, man. I planned this big surprise for her at a zoo, five hours away... There were penguins... She started questioning how I managed it all, and she found out about the money. Alex, she took off in the car and left me here.”
“Okay, calm down. Get a rental, and get back. And fast.”
“No, Alex, you don’t understand! She has the car, no phone, and no idea Landon’s coming for her. I didn’t tell her.”
My chest heaved, and as I admitted I hadn’t told her, I was relieved Alex wasn’t standing in front of me. He would have punched me in the face without thinking twice about it.
Everything felt like it was spiraling out of control.
“God damn it, Cody! What the fuck were you thinking? Why wouldn’t you warn her?”
“I didn’t want her panicking. I just wanted her to feel safe. But now she thinks I’m only interested in her for the money. I told her I love her, and it didn’t even matter.”
“Hey!” Alex cut through my rambling, not just yelling, but unraveling, “I don’t give two shits about your fucking love life right now. My sister is in danger. Get a car, and I’ll alert the police department down there. I’ll have them stationed at the house to wait for her.”
The line went dead, and now Alex had also left me stranded.
A cab would take ages to arrive, and I couldn't afford any delays.
Desperate, I rifled through my wallet, then dashed to the gate where the security guard had been earlier, but it was empty now.
Panic was taking over faster than I could think, but I forced myself to focus.
Retracing my steps through the zoo, I made it back to the penguin exhibit just as the zookeeper finished locking up.
“Please,” I tried to get the words out, but they stumbled out almost incoherent between gasps and labored breaths, “I’ll give you $1,000 as collateral if you let me borrow a car. I promise I’ll get it back to you tomorrow. It’s an emergency.”
The zookeeper disregarded me with a mix of incredulity and disdain. “Are you out of your mind? I’d lose my job.”
As we were walking back toward the entrance, I had an idea. I pulled out the cell phone, redialed Alex’s number, put it on speakerphone, and held it out to her, hoping it would change her mind.
“He’s a detective. Just give me one second, okay?” She hesitated, giving me a look like I’d lost my damn mind before sighing in compliance.
“What, mother fucker?”
“Alex, please tell this kind lady that there is an emergency going on and you need her to let me borrow a car, which I offered $1,000 collateral for until I bring it back tomorrow.” I handed the phone to her.
A few moments later, and without saying a word, she handed me the phone back and unclipped her radio from her shorts.
“Security,” she looked me dead in the eyes, angered and annoyed, “Let this gentleman take the car up front.” She reached into her pocket and handed me a set of keys. “It’s my car. I want it back.”
Without a second thought, I hugged the zookeeper in gratitude, snatched the keys from her, and sprinted back to the front gate.
Just beyond it sat a blue Rav4, parked near where we had left our car earlier.
The guard opened the gate, and I jumped into the driver's seat as adrenaline fueled my desperate need to beat Danielle to the house.
The drive was a blur as I drove speeds I didn’t even know a Rav4 could go.
The silence on the road was imposing, but my spiraling thoughts filled the quiet space.
I was terrified of what might happen to Danielle while guilt ravaged my insides over how I’d screwed up with the person that I knew I couldn’t live without.
She deserved more than to feel like a fucking obligation, to be tethered to a lie.
I had accepted the money not because she felt like a burden to me, but in hopes that I could do things to show her how she deserved to be taken care of, even if we had never happened. Without a job right now, I couldn’t have done it on my own.
But the reality is that no matter how I tried to justify it, I had betrayed her trust, hiding the truth in the name of protection.
A stupid call considering she had damn near lost her life because of Landon’s lies.
I knew the odds of getting the chance to explain any of it to her now were low, and I doubt she would have believed me anyway.
After driving into the early evening, I was close to the house.
I was about ten minutes away when my phone rang.
“Alex?”
“We have a fucking problem. Police went to the house, and Danielle wasn’t there. Warren and I are on our way down there now.”
“Fuck! She couldn’t have stopped anywhere. She has no money. Where the fuck is she?”
I don’t even know what Alex said after that.
Everything became a blur as I calculated how much time Landon would need to get to Grand Junction.
He had at least two hours on us, if not more, depending on how long Thomas had waited to fess up, and it wouldn’t take more than four hours to get here by plane.
Add in the five hours Danielle had to drive to get back.
It was probable that he was already there.
The only things I had going for me were the fact that he had no idea what car she’d be in and that we were on the outskirts of town.
All of this was like a bad nightmare I kept hoping to wake up from.
I didn’t even go to the house right away.
I didn’t want to go back to the house, full of cops, but emptier than it had ever felt.
I drove around town hoping I would see Danielle, but after an hour, I saw nothing, not even the car.
I had no choice but to go back, talk to the police, and start from scratch.
I reached the house a little after six, my veins still pumping adrenaline, keeping me wide awake despite the pure exhaustion that was setting in. Two Grand Junction Police Department cars were stationed out front.
As I climbed the stairs, I readied myself for the barrage of questions I was bound to face. The door stood ajar, its broken frame a telltale sign that Alex had told them to break the fucking door down, trying to find her.
The next hour that unfolded was surreal and disjointed.
I sat on the sofa as officers filtered in and out, asking what felt like a ridiculous stream of questions—details about Danielle's appearance, any photos I could provide, the car’s license plate, and whether she had money or a phone.
All of this, they should have already heard from Alex.
I couldn’t help but wonder if he left it all to me as some sort of punishment.
When they asked about the argument that prompted her departure, the question smacked me hard. I struggled to respond without tears or sounding like an absolute fool.
After a few hours, everyone left, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
I tried to sleep but ended up staring through the blurred images on the TV, desperate to occupy myself with anything but worry.
Despite feeling restless and helpless, I knew I had done everything I could, and now all I could do was wait for Alex.
At some point, I must have drifted off. I startled awake to Alex shaking my shoulder, the clock reading eleven in the morning. Danielle was still missing, and dread hit me again as I coped with the reality of her absence. She still wasn’t here, and there was nothing good that could come from that.
“Any word on Danielle?” I asked him before saying anything else. Hello felt inappropriate, and I knew an apology was useless at this point.
“No. Been at the station all night. I traced the GPS signal from the car you guys had. Grand Junction found it parked behind the convenience store in town. There was nothing in it.”
“What about cameras?”
"There are cameras positioned at the front of the building, capturing the cars entering the parking lot. I'm heading there now to comb through the footage and see if I can spot Landon. Do you want to join me?"
Though hesitant, I knew I had to go. I felt the burden of responsibility for everything that had happened, and I felt the need to redeem myself and bring her back safely.
I couldn’t say a word as I sat in Alex's car; all I could feel was the tightening of my chest. His sister was in danger once more, and this time it was my fault, even after I promised to protect her. If I were in his shoes, I would fucking hate myself, too.
My mind spiraled. Memories of losing Riley, the image of watching Danielle get further and further away from me at the zoo, and how broken and bruised she was when I first met her.
Danielle had brought meaning to my life again; at this point, losing her would mean losing the last sane parts of me, beyond redemption.
We drove almost the entire way to the station before Alex cleared his throat and spoke.
"Hey," Alex said as he stopped at a red light and turned to me. "About what I said earlier, about not caring about your love life, I didn’t mean it. Honestly, if there’s anyone I trust with my sister, someone who would never hurt her, never lie to her, and treat her the way she deserves, it's you."
I couldn't hold back any longer. All the anger I had towards myself, the worry, the fear, it all came rushing out. The flood of tears was unlike anything I’d ever known before.
"Alex, I swear to God, the only reason I kept taking the money from you was for her."
"You think I don’t know that, Cody? Why do you think I kept insisting you take it? I wouldn’t have stopped, and Danielle should have fucking known that."
"I know, but she doesn’t understand. She wouldn't let me explain, and even if I did, I doubt she'd believe me. Alex, if anything happens to her..." I couldn't bring myself to finish the thought.
As we pulled up to the station, Alex looked at me with an intensity that made my skin prickle. "Cody, listen to me. Nothing is going to happen to her. We're not going to stop until we find her."
We entered the building and were led to a small office at the back, where they'd set up the surveillance footage for us to review.
They had trimmed the video to moments before Danielle arrived at the store.
The reality of the moment slapped me in the face as every idea and theory that I had was shot to shit.
"This doesn't make any sense," Alex said, his eyes fixed on the screen.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"In the video, she parked out front. Yet they found her car behind the store. Plus, how long do you typically spend in a convenience store? Five minutes, tops. What are the odds he'd find her in less than five minutes?"
We watched fifteen minutes of the footage from after she arrived. Danielle never exited, and Landon never entered. That’s when everything clicked.
"Oh my God, Alex. He was already fucking there. That explains why he didn't need to find her in less than five minutes."
"How do you know he was already there?"
"That’s the convenience store where she used her card. Think about it. The only clue he had was where she swiped her card. People don’t usually travel far from home to shop at a convenience store. He probably banked on the chance she'd return there."
Alex buried his head in his hands. "He was staking it out. We're not searching for a car that arrived after her; we're looking for one that was already there."
His head snapped up, and his eyes sharpened.
"Holy shit. That's him," Alex said, pointing to a man walking around from the back of the building, dressed in a black jacket, blue jeans, and a black baseball cap.
He had a full beard and wore sunglasses.
I leaned in and squinted, but the figure seemed unremarkable, like anyone could fit the description.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Look at his hand—the tattoo," Alex replied, pausing as he zoomed in on the man's left hand. "He's got tattoos across his knuckles. H-A-T-E. That's him."
"Seriously? She dated a guy with 'hate' tattooed on his knuckles?
" I blurted, unable to hide the disbelief in my voice. Alex glanced over, one corner of his mouth twitching, amused, regardless of how inappropriate the timing was. We watched as he looked around, got in Danielle’s car, and moved it to the back of the store.
“Show me your car, mother fucker.” Alex muttered as he leaned closer to the screen, scrutinizing every detail in the video footage.
Less than thirty seconds later, a burgundy Hyundai Sonata emerged from behind the store and exited the parking lot.
As the car approached the camera, Alex paused the video.
"We've got him. The car, the license plate, and Danielle—alive in the front seat." Alex yanked a pen from his pocket and scribbled the plate number before exchanging a determined look with me. Together, we ran out of the room.