Chapter Forty-One
The Chase Is On
Reaper Accommodations
The tracker indicated that Asher was heading for Reaper Accommodations, so here we are. Standing in front of Asher’s room, I resist the urge to break the door down immediately and instead choose to knock. I rap twice on the door while Mercy, Kane, and Rue look at me as if I’ve grown a second head.
“Knock, knock,” I say, and I hear the knowing grumble from Kane as he moans an annoyed, “Oh no.”
“Who’s there?” I continue with the other part, not waiting for any of them to play along. I deliver the question in a halting falsetto.
“Big D.” I return to my normal voice.
“Big D who?” I ask in the same high-pitched voice as before.
“This isn’t a fucking joke. Open the fucking door,” I growl, then immediately kick the door in, charging into the space.
“Well, that took an unexpected turn,” Kane comments.
And I really wish he hadn’t. But my annoyance is short-lived as I note that the apartment I am currently standing inside of is completely empty. Not a soul in sight. Not even an unmade bed.
He’s not here, I think to myself before voicing the same obvious observation out loud. “He’s not here.”
“It would seem you are correct, sir,” Kane offers.
I wonder why the women in this group have chosen to remain silent during all of this. Perhaps they don’t want to be here. Perhaps they don’t think I should be here.
Well, too bad. I’m the big cheese. And they can eat me. No matter how stinky I am!
What is wrong with my thoughts these days? Have I always been this ridiculous? Don’t answer that. Oh good, now voices in my head are talking to each other. Pull it together, Daryl.
I look around the room for any signs of entry or clues to Asher’s whereabouts, but find nothing. He is not here, and it doesn’t look like he’s been here. But the tracker placed him in Reaper Accommodations, so …
“He must be around here somewhere,” I tell the group, then boom out one final instruction. “Find him.”