Branded & Broken (Black Hollow Creek #2)

Chapter 1

Allie

“Suppose she just left town and decided she didn’t want to tell anyone?”

I roll my eyes at the lazy theory thrown at me by our esteemed sheriff. Go figure.

How many times do I have to repeat myself? Saintlyn James wouldn’t simply disappear, not even for an hour—let alone days. I grit my teeth against the need to bite back at this bastard.

“You know Saint. Everyone in town knows her. She wouldn’t just leave. That’s not who she is, and even if she did leave, where would she go? Her father is here. I’m here now. Her entire life is here.” He can’t actually expect me to go along with this—this lie.

I guess he does since he merely shrugs. The movement makes me drop my gaze to the badge on the front of his khaki shirt.

It gleams in the overhead fluorescent light.

What a load of shit. The man wearing that badge should genuinely care about every person in his jurisdiction, yet he barely stops short of yawning in my face.

“The truth is, we all think we know someone. Then they do something wild and shocking, and suddenly, everyone starts actin’ like they never knew them at all.

Maybe you don’t really know Saint. Maybe none of us do.

People disappear all the time. Sometimes there isn’t a reason.

They just take their possessions and go. ”

I would laugh at the thought of Saint doing something so out of character if his indifference didn’t make my blood boil.

Men like him shouldn’t be in positions of power.

Clenching my hand into a tight fist, I slam it on his desk.

“I’ve told you numerous times already. She didn’t run away.

Something happened to her! Can’t you see that? ”

The glares of the other two officers in the room burn into my back. Sure, I’m making a scene, but I want answers, and playing nice only gets you so far. Playing nice is what Saint does. Not me.

He sighs, long and slow. “Listen, I know you care about Saint, but I can only do so much. There was no forced entry at the pastor’s house, and no apparent struggle. We have nothing to lead us to believe that she was taken anywhere or that anything malicious happened.”

I don’t understand how that’s possible. Saint wouldn’t disappear without a word, not on me. Especially me. I mean, yeah, I’ve been away at college, but we’re still best friends. Distance doesn’t change that.

“I don’t understand.” I shake my head, trying to figure out this puzzle. They watched my best friend grow up. They know Saint’s father, and that she lost her mom not all that long ago.

Are they blind? Or just avoiding the truth?

How can they not see how out of character this is for her?

It’s already been almost a week.

Six awful days since I went to Saint’s house to catch up when I got home from college, only to find her gone.

The front door had been unlocked, and while Sheriff Tanner was right—it didn’t look like there had been any struggle—the baking supplies she was using were still on the counter, along with a bowl of cookie dough.

It was like one second she was there and the next. .. gone. No text. No note. Nothing.

“I’m sure she’ll turn up.”

I narrow my eyes. “Turn up? Turn up? She’s not a missing pet. She’s a human who disappeared without a word to anyone, and y’all are acting like it’s no big deal.”

Sheriff Tanner sighs again. “That’s not true. We’re doing what we can based on the information and evidence we have.”

“I don’t understand. You’re a police officer, and someone is missing. Shouldn’t you be putting up flyers? Asking people to help look for her? Why are you sitting here doing nothing?” It feels like I’m begging him to do his damn job, and I shouldn’t have to.

Every time I think of Saint, this sick dread threatens to consume me. I should be doing more, asking more questions. I have to do more.

“We’ve asked questions and run surveillance.

The best thing to do is wait and see if anyone calls to report somethin’.

” Tanner’s features soften. It’s almost like he’s capable of feeling remorse, but he’s not fooling me.

He doesn’t really care. He’s pretending.

The way he always pretends to a person’s face when they bring him a problem he either can’t or won’t handle.

“If I hear anything at all, you’ll be my first call, but making a scene won’t help. ”

There’s an ache in my jaw from how hard I clench my mouth shut. Then I can’t. “No, you’re right, but I bet if I had a different last name, you’d be out there looking for her. The only thing that motivates you is money and a fucking order from a Bishop.”

Tanner’s mouth drops open. Too bad I only get a pinprick of satisfaction in his shocked expression seconds before his brown eyes harden into chips of flint. The mask slips, and he knows I see him now. He stops hiding.

“Exactly what do the Bishops have to do with any of this?”

I won’t apologize for the laugh that bursts out of me, especially not when it makes him flinch.

He might have joined the police force with the hope of making life better for people, but he’s fallen mighty far from that goal.

And he damn well knows it. “For one thing, when I ran into Calder Bishop and told him Saint was missing, he acted all sorts of sketchy.”

The corners of his mouth twitch. “That’s not exactly proof of anything. Calder isn’t what you would call warm and charming on his best day.”

“Have you even looked into him? Any of them, or are they so far up your ass, you can’t see them?”

His eyes narrow, and his jaw sets. I know I’ve pushed him too far, but I’m not willing to give up. Not on my best friend.

“We have nothing to lead us to believe—”

I cut him off before he finishes. “He knows something, and I don’t care if you don’t have evidence to make you see the truth. You need to check. Dig deeper.”

“I know you want an answer, Allie, but blaming anyone you see fit ain’t how we do things.”

“I want more than an answer. I want you to give a fuck that a young woman from your town is missing!”

“We do care, and we’re doing everything in—”

“Stop with the bullshit. Stop pretending. You aren’t doing shit, and we both know it,” I growl. “I guess if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”

I don’t miss the slight twitch of his jaw and the rage flickering in his eyes. He’s fed up with me, and that’s fine, because I’m fed up with him too.

I shake my head and shove out of the chair. I’m done relying on cops who don’t deserve the badge they wear to do something.

“Don’t be stirrin’ up trouble, Allie,” Sheriff Tanner calls out as I walk away.

Every muscle in my body tightens. The motherfucking audacity. I whirl around and lean over his desk, staring straight into his eyes.

“You’re not my daddy, Tanner, so don’t try to tell me what to do.

And trouble isn’t what I’m going to cause.

I’ll find Saint since you all are too incompetent to do your job.

If you stand in my way, I’ll call some of my friends at the FBI.

Have them all over this place in hours.” I want him to know that I’m not afraid of him—of them—and I won’t stop until I find her.

He draws himself up like I’ve finally, finally reached him. “Threatening an officer is a crime.”

“Then arrest me,” I counter, then smile when he doesn’t say a single word. My grin grows, turning a little feral. “That’s what I thought.”

Unfazed by his anger, I walk out of the police station with my head held high and ignore the disgusted looks from the other two officers. I hope they know if Tanner goes down, they’re going down with him. I’ll expose every dirty secret they have.

Once I’m outside, the evening air washes some of the heat from my skin, though it doesn’t help the pure fury still simmering through me.

I scan the mountains along the horizon, the peaks rising into the darkening sky, while I try to calm down.

All the frustration, fear, and anger coursing through me make it hard to draw a full breath.

Tears sting the corners of my eyes, but I blink them back.

None of these assholes will wring tears out of me.

Think. Think.

Saint is out there somewhere. I know she is.

And no one seems to care, except her father and me.

The thought tightens my chest as I duck my chin and walk to my car, my hands deep in the pockets of my leather jacket.

I sigh, lifting my shoulders around my ears, as if it will do anything to ease the fear that has been rooted inside me since I found Saint’s house suspended in time.

But this is more than fear. I’ve never considered myself someone who doesn’t understand the world and how it works.

Some might call me jaded. I like to think of it as wisdom.

I’m well aware certain people would never garner a search party.

Their disappearances are ignored or, even worse, shrugged off as inevitable.

People who live on the wrong side of the law, or who walk the line between life and death.

Saint isn’t one of those people.

That’s what makes this so hard to believe.

If someone as kind and giving as Saintlyn James can go missing and not get even a shred of concern?

It has to mean foul play. Tanner is covering for someone.

And I highly suspect it’s the Bishops. It has to be.

No one in this town would hurt Saint. No one except one of them.

Behind the wheel of my car, I chew the inside of my cheek to avoid the call I’ve been dreading.

The phone feels as heavy as my heart when I hit Saint’s dad’s contact.

I told him I planned to talk to Sheriff Tanner tonight.

I want something new to share with her father, but my hope burned to ash the moment I stepped inside that police station.

“Hello?” The breathless hope in the pastor’s greeting only throws an echo back in the hollow of my ribs. I have to find Saint. Not only for me but for him too.

Stiffening my spine, I force a little brightness into my tone.

“Hey, Pastor James. There are no updates, but they’re still looking.

” I rush to add, “They know as much today as they did the day before. That’s okay, though.

We’ll find her, with or without their help.

I’m not giving up, and neither should you. ”

“I can come down there and talk to them. Maybe I can get them to do something else.”

No way. If this is breaking my heart, what will facing the sheriff’s empty stare do to him?

No, he wouldn’t survive that. “It would probably be better for you to stick close to home just in case Saint shows up. I’ll manage Tanner.

” Lying to a pastor might be a serious sin, but I’m doing it with the best intentions. That must count for something, right?

“All right.” He releases a shaky breath that is like a blade straight into my chest. “All I can do is pray. I need to believe the Lord has a plan. That he will lead us to Saint, or lead her home.”

I press my lips together to stop myself from responding.

He can pray all he wants. In my experience, the big guy doesn’t give a shit.

If it’s going to keep his morale up, more power to him.

I’m more realistic. Prayer isn’t going to bring Saint home.

The only thing bringing her home is her father’s and my need for answers.

It’s time to dig deeper. I’ve been patient. I’ve asked around. I’ve waited for the fucking police to do their jobs. Nothing’s happened. And now, I’m tired of waiting.

“I’ll ask around town some more and see if I can stir anything up. If I hear something, I’ll give you a call.”

“Okay,” he whispers in response. “Talk soon.”

“Yup,” I say and hit the end button.

Fuck. I rest my head against the steering wheel. If I want real answers, I’ll need to go to the source, to the one person I’ve done everything in my power to avoid since I got back to town.

Kade fucking Bishop.