Chapter 11 Sentinel
Sentinel
Shane came out of a deep sleep, awakened by his phone alarm going off. Except it was his day off, and he hadn’t set an alarm. The chiming pierced the fog in his brain, and he realized it wasn’t his alarm. It was an incoming call.
He picked up. “Amy? What’s going on?”
“I-I’m so sorry to wake you up, but I didn’t know who else to call. Micky didn’t come home last night, and I don’t know what to do.” Her voice quavered, and it sounded as though she’d been crying.
Shane threw off his covers and sat up. “Is it possible he came home while you were sleeping, then left again without waking you?”
“N-no. I was awake most of the night, and if he came in during the few minutes I nodded off, I would have heard him. I was camped out on the couch.” She pulled in a shaky breath. “He’s stayed out late before, but he’s never not come home. He was drinking so much last night, and I—”
“Let me make a few calls and see what I can find out. Then I’ll get dressed and come over. You stay put.”
“Th-thank you. I’m so sorry I woke you up.”
“Don’t be,” he soothed. “You did the right thing. I’m glad you called.” A bubble of pride ballooned inside his chest. Amy had turned to him first.
As soon as they hung up, he got online and checked the Sheriff’s Department’s database.
No arrests, no citations, and no accidents reported in the last twelve hours.
One incident of a motorist being pulled over for a non-functioning headlight, and another of a guy catching some shut-eye in his car, which was parked in a turnout well off the highway.
Trivialities, and neither vehicle matched Micky’s.
Any traffic accidents or rescues that required assistance would have gone to search and rescue, but they would have been logged in the database too. So that was good news, but it didn’t mean Micky hadn’t run into any trouble.
Next, Shane texted Reece. While he waited for his buddy to answer, he shucked his flannel PJ pants and pulled on a clean pair of underwear, jeans, and a long-sleeved waffle-weave T-shirt. He clipped his holster into its familiar spot on his belt.
His phone dinged before he could yank his fleece over his head.
Reece: Yeah, I’m awake. What’s up?
Shane: Micky didn’t come home last night.
Shane’s phone rang, and he answered before the tone had a chance to complete one full cycle. “I didn’t want to call you because I didn’t want to wake Neve up.”
“Appreciate that, man. She’s been dealing with morning sickness, so I like to let her sleep in as late as possible. Tell me what’s going on with Micky this time.” Reece yawned, clearly unconcerned.
Shane put him on speaker so he could finish getting dressed.
“Amy just called. She was up all night waiting for him, but he never made it home. She says he’s never stayed away all night before.
She also said he’s been acting strangely lately, so I told her I’d look into it for her.
No reports of anything unusual in the sheriff’s database, but I thought I’d check with you to see if SAR might’ve been called out on something that hasn’t been logged yet. ”
“Nope. It was a surprisingly quiet night, given the amount of partying around town.”
Shane double-checked his Sig Sauer P365 to be sure he’d chambered a round before seating the weapon into its concealed holster.
Next, he dropped two loaded magazines into his pocket.
The steps were rote, second-nature. “I’m sure it helped that most of the Silver Summit guests were back on the train by three o’clock in the afternoon, and the locals more or less behaved themselves for the rest of the night. ”
“No doubt, though I half expected calls about drunk guests drowning themselves in the resort’s hot tubs.”
“Darwinism at work.” Shane threw on his knit cap and coat and stuffed his gloves in his pocket as he exited his apartment and descended the outdoor staircase to the parking lot. It creaked and shook with his steps.
“You outside?”
“Yep. I’m heading over to Amy’s now.”
“Good.”
As Shane warmed up his truck, his phone connected to the Bluetooth system. “Hey, let me ask you something. Have you noticed Micky being extra edgy lately?”
“No more than usual, but I haven’t talked to him in a while. Why?”
“I caught him lying to Amy the other day about where he’d been.” Shane filled Reece in on the Durango-Grand Junction weirdness. “I confronted him about it yesterday at the Big Event.”
“How did he respond?”
“Not well. Told me to mind my own fucking business.” Shane swung his truck onto Bowen Street.
“I’m glad you stuck up for her.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure it was a good idea.” Shane described how Micky got in Amy’s face shortly after the confrontation. Would he have done that if Shane hadn’t pressed him?
“That fucker,” Reece growled through the truck’s speakers.
“And there’s something else. Before that, he was talking to some dude who looked sketchy as hell. Said he didn’t know the guy, but he got twitchy when I asked about him.”
“I know who you’re talking about. I noticed that guy too. Any idea who he is?”
Shane passed along what Amy had told him. “Do you remember a guy named Benny from high school?”
“Sure don’t, and that guy didn’t look familiar at all, but we’ve all changed in the last fourteen years.”
The streets were quiet, and Shane accelerated through town.
“I pressed Micky about him again last night at Miners. That punched all his buttons, and he tried to feed me the same line of bullshit, but at least he didn’t take it out on Amy this time.
He took off instead, and she hasn’t seen him since. ”
The map Shane had discovered in her office suddenly bobbed and broke the surface of his whirling thoughts at the same moment he recalled the way she’d turned away from him when he’d asked about the Benny character. He shoved the errant thoughts aside. “Where were you last night, by the way?”
“Neve had to put two injured animals down yesterday, and it tore her up. Between her feeling like crap physically, she felt like crap emotionally too, so we bagged the celebration.”
“You missed a good time.”
“Eh, what we ended up doing was a better time.”
“I am flipping you off right now, asshole.”
“Hey, my wife needed a distraction. I gave her one.”
“You suck.”
“And rather well, from what I’m told.” Reece chuckled at his own stupid joke, but his tone turned serious. “I know Micky’s been our friend since we were kids, but Christ, I don’t get why someone as nice as Amy is with that dickhead. Got any hunches about what’s going on with him?”
“I’d call them questions without answers more than hunches at this point.
Something’s up, but I’m not sure what it is.
Amy can’t shed any light on it either.” Shane turned onto Amy’s street.
“Almost there, bro, so I have to go. But one last thing you should know about Amy being with Micky. That’s about to change.
” Quickly, Shane told him about Amy moving out.
Reece would keep the secret close to his vest until Amy was ready for everyone to know.
“I’m supposed to help her move after she closes today, but I’ll have to see if that’s still on.
If it is, I need to back out of helping you at SAR headquarters. ”
“Not a problem. Do you need my help if she goes through with it?”
An unfamiliar possessiveness rose up inside Shane. He found himself jealously protecting his role as her mover. “Thanks, but I got this. You take care of SAR business like you planned.”
Shane pulled into Amy’s driveway, noting that Micky’s truck was still missing.
Reece lowered his voice. “Hey, tread carefully, especially if Micky’s acting unstable. And if Amy starts to get cold feet, do everything you can to get her to follow through, yeah?”
Shane snorted. “Yeah, like that’s a foolproof plan. Chances are she’ll come to Micky’s defense, and suddenly I’ll be the bad guy.” The last thing Shane wanted was Amy turning on him, but that loyal streak of hers was a mile wide.
Ending the call, he turned off the ignition and clambered from the driver’s seat. He strode to the front door. As he raised his hand to knock, it whipped open.
Amy stood in the doorway, her hair tangled, smudges under her dark eyes, and worry lines bracketing her mouth.
“Shane,” she breathed. “Thank you for coming.” She stood aside, and he ducked inside.
She closed the door and moved past him, her lavender-and-vanilla scent wreathing him as she pivoted to face him.
“I checked the databases, and Micky didn’t show up anywhere. Have you heard from him?”
Hugging her middle, she shook her head. “No, and I’ve left multiple voicemails and sent texts.” Her gaze fixed somewhere over his shoulder, as if her mind was traveling somewhere far away.
“Could be his phone died,” he suggested.
“It’s possible, but that would be way out of character. He’s pretty anal about keeping his phone charged. In his line of work, stranded people need his help around the clock.”
“Does he have a tracking app?”
She shook her head.
“All right. Why don’t you get ready and open your store? Let me worry about finding Micky. I’ll drive some roads and see if I can find him.”
Her relief was a living, breathing thing that moved through her entire body and showed itself in her face. “Thank you,” she breathed.
“Of course.” He bit back the rest of what he wanted to say because it didn’t seem like the right time to tell her he would do almost anything for her.