Chapter 21
Ethan needed to get his fucking head in the game. Yes, stuff was going on with Maggie that he had no clue how to explain, but right now, his team needed him. This missing woman had to be his priority.
Jay climbed out of her rental. “I’ll head inside and notify the sheriff so he doesn’t get his panties in a twist. I’ll also keep track of locations.”
Ethan, Ryan, and Connor stepped into the building and grabbed their packs. Then they headed into the woods, quickly and quietly, following Joel and Zac’s coordinates.
Even as Ethan ran though, even as his entire fucking focus should have been on this, on finding this woman, it wasn’t. Not completely.
Had Maggie gotten home safely? Was she okay? Did she actually believe the shitty words her aunt had thrown at her?
He increased his pace, his boots sinking into the dirt, branches breaking beneath his feet.
When he finally reached the guys, they were near the riverbank.
Joel held up a plastic bag.
Ethan stopped. “Is that a cell phone?”
“The case matches the description Priya’s mother provided,” Zac said, looking back at the riverbank. “It’s waterlogged.”
Ryan glanced around. “Okay, let’s search downstream.” He gave everyone a section to search, then they moved out.
Ethan jogged through the dark wooded area, Connor close behind. They took in their surroundings, studying the bank of the river for footprints or missing belongings, any disturbance at all.
“You okay?” Connor asked as they moved.
“Not really.”
“Something happen between you and Maggie?”
Ethan moved his flashlight over the ground, searching. “Maggie had a conversation with her aunt after the meeting.”
“That’s never good.”
“Lilith told her that her mother killed herself, and it was Maggie’s fault.”
“The fuck?”
“My exact thought too.” He studied every inch of the bank. Nothing.
“She doesn’t believe it, does she?” Connor asked, his flashlight scanning over the bank too. “Surely she knows her aunt intentionally sets out to hurt her.”
“Maggie knows the woman is nothing but bad news, yet her words have always had the power to hurt her.” It made Ethan so fucking angry. That this lady, a family member who was given the role of primary caregiver and was supposed to love Maggie, had done everything but.
Something downstream caught his attention. He frowned. “You see that?” He aimed his flashlight at it.
“Yeah, it looks like—”
“A body.”
Ethan forced his steps faster. The woman was face down in the water, her body caught on a fallen tree trunk.
Fuck.
He leapt onto the trunk and reached into the water. One tug and she was up and out of the river. He jumped off the log and lay her on the bank.
Priya Tan.
Connor pulled out his radio as Ethan touched her pulse. Air hissed between his teeth. “She’s gone.”
Connor’s jaw clenched, and he relayed the information to the guys. It didn’t take the team long to get there.
“He drowned her,” Ryan growled.
Ethan pointed his flashlight at her bruised wrists. “At some point, she was bound.”
Connor scowled. “Scumbag.”
Ethan scrubbed a hand over his face. This confirmed everything they already knew. That there was a murderer in Deep River. And that murderer was likely connected to the original two missing women.
The next couple of hours were a blur of the sheriff and deputies recovering Priya’s remains.
Energy was low amongst his entire team. They all felt like they’d let Priya down.
Rage lit in his chest. But it also ignited something else. A need to find the person responsible. To get a name. A motive. To make sure the fucker couldn’t hurt anyone else. It ran so deep he could nearly taste it.
When they returned to the old firehouse, Jay was waiting for them, features grim. “I’m sorry.”
Ethan ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m going to head out, get a few hours of sleep before we start the search tomorrow for the person who did it.”
That wasn’t their job, but Ethan didn’t give a shit about boundaries with the sheriff’s office. This was his town, and he was going to make sure it was safe.
Maggie stared at the dark ceiling. She wasn’t tired. Not even a little bit. You’d think after all the overthinking her brain had done tonight, she’d be exhausted.
Nope.
Your mother took drugs, went down to the river, and killed herself. To get away from you.
It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. Her mother’s life hadn’t been perfect, but she wasn’t so far gone that she’d do something like that.
She rolled to her side and shut her eyes. A second passed, and she rolled to her other side.
Five more minutes, and she threw the sheets off her body. Her feet made soft thuds against the wooden floorboards as she walked down the hall. Polly’s door was slightly ajar.
Maggie pushed it open and crossed the room to the large bed. She climbed beneath the rosy bedspread.
Polly slept on her side, facing the center of the bed. Her eyes were closed, her chest moving in rhythmic motions. But at the jostle of the mattress, her eyelids scrunched then opened, a frown cutting into her brow. “Maggie?”
“Sorry I woke you.”
“It’s fine. Is everything okay?”
“I can’t sleep,” Maggie finally said. Polly had already been asleep when she’d gotten home, so she hadn’t told her anything yet.
“Why?”
“Lilith said something…about my mom taking drugs the night she died. That she drowned herself because I was exhausting and a burden.” The words hung in the air, heavy.
“That bitch!” Any sign of sleep disappeared from Polly’s eyes. “Tell me you saw through her bullshit.”
“Of course, but at the same time, that makes more sense to me than her getting drunk, going to the river, and accidentally drowning.”
“How does Lilith know there were drugs in your mother’s system?”
Maggie lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know—she said she did her own research.”
“Don’t believe anything that woman says. She’s awful, and the only person she cares about is herself.”
“She believes it. This must be why she’s always hated me.”
“Maggie—”
“She blames me for her sister’s death.”
“You were a child. You weren’t responsible for anyone. And you didn’t do anything wrong.” Polly cupped her cheek. “You deserved love and protection. Shame on Lilith for not giving you both. For making you feel like you had to earn your place in her home. And now dropping this on you.”
“I love you for saying that.”
“Do you believe me?”
“I want to.” Maggie scrubbed the wetness from her face. “Distract me. Tell me how things are going with your mom.”
“How are things ever with my mom? Messy. Complicated. Strained.”
“I’m sorry.”
Polly lifted a shoulder. “I love her, but I wish she’d make smarter choices. It’s like when men are around, they’re all she sees and they always come first.”
“You come first, Polly.”
She scoffed. “I don’t think that’s ever been true.”
Maggie slipped a piece of hair behind Polly’s ear. “You know this is why we’re best friends, right? We bond over our trauma.”
“Almost makes the trauma worth it. I’m glad I have you.”
“Me too. Go back to sleep. I’m sorry I woke you.”
“Want to sleep in here?”
“With how much you roll around? Absolutely not.”
Polly laughed, because she knew it was true. The last time they’d shared a bed, Maggie had woken with her best friend half on top of her and Polly’s cheek on her chest. At least her breath had smelled okay.
“Did you find out who that woman with Ethan was?” Polly asked, as Maggie sat up.
Her skin prickled. “A friend from the military. She was their intelligence specialist or something.”
“I told you she looked badass.” There was a small pause. “You know you have nothing to worry about, right? She could be the princess of Genovia and she’d have nothing on you.”
“You know Genovia’s a made-up country in The Princess Diaries, right?”
“My statement stands.”
Maggie chuckled before leaning over and kissing her friend on the forehead. “Sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
When she stepped back into the bedroom, she crossed over to her bed and was about to climb beneath the covers when a tapping sounded at the window.
She froze, fear mounting in her chest.
What was that? Who was that? The person who’d been inside her apartment?
She shook her head. No. That was a stupid thought. They wouldn’t knock—they’d just break in.
After a quick scan of the room, she grabbed a pointed nail file from her dresser and inched toward the window. As weapons went, it wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing.
A jiggle sounded, like the person was trying to open the window.
Shit.
She wrapped her fingers around the edge of the curtain and took a deep breath before peeking out.
Air rushed from her lungs. “Ethan?”
The file dropped from her fingers, and she opened the curtains and unlocked the window.
He opened it from outside and pulled himself up and into the room.
“What are you doing here?” She wasn’t sure why she was whispering. Probably because it was late and she didn’t want to wake Polly a second time.
Ethan closed and locked the window. Once the curtains were drawn, he turned to her. “I texted you. Sorry, I wasn’t sure if you were asleep.”
“I haven’t checked my phone, but I wasn’t asleep.” She breathed him in. He smelled of forest and the kind of dampness that clung to your clothes after a walk by the river. “Did you find the woman?”
“Yeah.”
The way he said it… She almost didn’t want to ask. “Was she…”
“She wasn’t alive.”
Air stuttered into her lungs, and she almost stumbled back. Dead. The woman was dead.
Ethan gripped her hips. “I needed to come here. I needed to hold you.”
She leaned into his chest, pressing her palms flat against him. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too.”
“And I’m sorry about tonight. That I didn’t tell you I wasn’t okay the second I stepped into The Pancake Bar.”
“Next time, I need you to tell me everything. If this is going to work, I need to know the good, the bad, and the ugly. And fuck, I really want this to work.”
“Okay.”
“Thank God.” He kissed her forehead.
She slipped her fingers through his and tugged him toward the bed.
As she climbed beneath the covers, he toed off his shoes and took off everything but his briefs. The second he was in bed, his arms went around her. It felt like a band of protection between her and the outside world.
Finally, she slept.