42. Finn
Finn
She was ready. Damn. We were ready. The future I’d envisioned was so close to becoming my reality. I needed to get through the meeting with the bank tomorrow, and then we’d tell our families.
After that, I’d spend the rest of my life working my ass off to deserve all the amazing gifts I’d been given.
For a while, I worried that I loved Adele in a way she may never reciprocate. That she might not be able to give me what I wanted. So I’d waited and hoped that someday we’d get there.
That day was here. She was choosing me. Choosing our baby. And she was ready to tell the world. This was the best feeling in the world. But the road ahead of us was still long.
I turned out of Adele’s small neighborhood and onto the main road. The sun was just setting, the last bit of daylight a line on the horizon.
Mentally, I was running through my checklist for tomorrow’s meeting. I was nervous as hell. I was a pilot, not a businessman, and I had no idea how to pitch an idea like this. Thank God I’d have Owen there. If things went well, I’d be up and running before the baby arrived.
Heading out to pick up dinner also meant some time to work through my racing thoughts and will away the restlessness that had once again settled over me.
So I drove, tapping my fingers to the song on the radio and nodding my head the whole way.
The road to town was empty, except for a lone vehicle with a headlight out coming from the other direction. It was still light enough that I could tell it was blue or maybe black. As it passed me, a lump of dread formed in my gut.
My body immediately went on alert, and I scanned my surroundings for danger. This was what I felt like while flying missions. The world around me came into sharp focus. The skill had been ingrained in me for years. But why had the sensation hit now?
My instincts were telling me something wasn’t right, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what.
I was sleep-deprived and stressed and needed to get it together. So I turned up the radio and continued toward the Moose.
It was only when I pulled into the parking lot ten minutes later that it hit me. The truck I’d passed was familiar. Was it Richard’s? There were lots of blue trucks in northern Maine, but with a headlight out?
The headlight. Adele had mentioned it to Richard in the parking lot. Panic coursed through me, and the hair on my arms stood on end. Then my training kicked in. I took a few deep breaths and ran through what I knew.
Adele was home alone. The only destinations down that road were the few residential neighborhoods on the north side of town. Richard lived near Heartsborough, so it wasn’t likely that he’d have reason to be there on a Tuesday night.
I picked my phone up from the center console and dialed Parker.
“Adele is alone, and I think I saw Richard’s truck heading toward her house.”
“Are you sure?”
“No. But I have this feeling. We were discussing him and debating about how he could be dangerous. We were hungry and irritable, so I left to get food, and I just didn’t think…”
“How long ago?”
“Maybe fifteen minutes.”
“Okay. Paz and I will head there now. We’re twenty minutes out. Don’t panic. It’s probably nothing.”
I put the truck in drive and peeled out of the parking lot. “I’m heading back now. I’ll call her and see you there. Call the police. Call the FBI. Call everyone.”
Once I was on the main road, I picked up speed, flying through town at three times the speed limit. Then I dialed Adele. She didn’t pick up. So I tried again. And again. Nothing.
Every instinct in my body was screaming to get to her. I hoped I could make it in time.