Chapter 33
thirty-three
CAL
“Your mama is calling,” I tell Cora. I got her in her swimsuit before we left and she knows that means water, so she’s been pretty excited for the entire ride to the water park.
“Hey, Firecracker,” I say with a smile. I love how much effort she’s put into our girl’s birthday. “We’re on our way.”
A muffled scream comes through the speakers of the rental car I’m driving, and I almost drive right off the road. I pull over more carefully and throw it into park.
“Harlow?” my dad says, worry creasing his face.
“Harlow!” I say more urgently.
The line goes dead, and I immediately try calling back. It goes straight to voicemail, but I try over and over again. My dad puts his hand over mine before I can tell the car to redial.
“Where was she? We need to start there.”
“I don’t know. A nail salon?” I desperately try to force air into my lungs.
“Look at me, Callahan!”
I startle at the sharp edge of my dad’s tone, but I do what he says.
“Who would know where she is?” he asks more calmly.
“Jo,” I answer and immediately call her.
“Hey, are you —”
“Where is Harlow?” I ask, cutting her off.
“Getting her nails done. What happened?” Jo asks, hearing the panic in my voice.
“She called me and there was a scream and now her phone is off. Where is she, Jo?” My question comes out more like a demand, but I don’t have the time to care.
“Sparkle Toes on West Sixth Street.”
I look it up on my phone. It’s less than three minutes on foot. I look at my dad. He nods before I get out of the car and run. Taking the car would be faster, but I can’t put Cora in danger too.
My phone is still in my hand and disconnects from the Bluetooth as I move away from the car.
“Call Harrison and the police. Fuck, call the National Guard. Something is wrong, Jo. I can feel it.”
“On it,” she says and then hangs up.
I run as fast as I can, every muscle in my body straining to get to the woman I love. A little over a minute later, I come to a skidding halt in front of a strip mall. The police are already there and a small middle-aged woman with black hair and thick red glasses is speaking to one of the officers.
“Where is she? Where is Harlow?”
“I’m sorry sir, but this is a crime scene, and I’m going to need you to back up,” the officer says, trying to get me to move back from them.
“Are you Cal?” the small woman asks me.
“Yes. Please. Where is she?” I plead.
“I don’t know,” she says, her eyes welling up with tears. “She walked out of the store to go to her little girl’s birthday party. She was so excited. But then a man pulled up in a black car. He tried to get her to go in, but she was heading back in here. Then some other man grabbed her.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?” I scream, some part of me understanding how unfair that is, but the other part is too worried about Harlow to care.
“I tried!” she yells and turns to fully face me. One side of her face is red and swollen. “I called the police the moment I saw how uncomfortable she looked when the car pulled up. I went out to try to stop the man from taking her, but he knocked me down and drove off with the first man. Harlow was unconscious.”
“Thank you,” I choke out. It’s the most I can manage right now, and she seems to understand.
“Where is she?” I ask, turning to the officer. “It’s been what? Maybe ten minutes? Have you found the car yet?”
“An APB went out for a black town car, but so far, nothing. My partner is getting the plate off the cameras right now.”
“Fuck!” I yell. I pace and pull at my hair. “What do I do? How do I find her?”
“Who are you to her?” the officer asks.
“That’s her man,” the small woman says. “She was telling me all about him and their daughter.”
The officer seems only slightly more sympathetic with the new information. He hands me his card, and I give him my number. The best he can tell me is he’ll give me a call when they have more information.
A red sports car comes flying into the parking lot, almost hitting the police cruiser. Jo jumps out of the passenger seat and runs for me.
“Do they know where she is?” Jo asks with the most emotion I’ve ever seen from her. Mav parks the car and runs up behind her.
I shake my head and let out a sob. Maverick quickly pulls me into him and holds me as I try to keep it together.
“I can’t lose her. I won’t survive losing her,” I whisper between sobs.
“You won’t lose her. We won’t let you,” he says.
“I have an email that might be of interest to you,” Jo says, having pulled on her business mask and turned to the officer. She shows him a threatening email they received about the podcast. Specifically, Ezra’s episode. I knew about it. She had me post something on my socials for her.
“She said there had been no more emails,” I say, walking over to see what Jo is showing the officer.
“There wasn’t. Until right after your phone call.”
I warned you. Now face the consequences.
“Can we trace that?” I ask. Can you trace emails? I have no fucking idea. This is Harlow’s thing.
“It will take a while,” the officer says.
“Harrison is on his way. Belle called your cousin Millie, who is loaning us their jet to get him here,” Jo says, ignoring the officer.
I look between her and the officer. I peek at his card to check his name. Officer Lionel Smith. Harlow and Jo have a theory that Senator Wolfe has the police in his pocket. Now I’m wondering how much we should be saying to them.
“We’re in fucking Nebraska. If the police here are in the pocket of a Maine senator, then we have bigger problems,” Jo says, staring down Officer Smith. The man looks baffled by the entire conversation.
“How the fuck do we find Harlow?” I say, anger and frustration taking over the soul-crushing fear.
“We’re going to put out an APB for Harlow with the picture this woman just sent me and the plates my partner just ran. Unfortunately, they’re for a rental company.”
“They’ve dumped the fucking car, haven’t they?” Jo says, her face turning red with anger.
“It’s likely, but not confirmed,” Officer Smith says, rubbing the back of his neck. “All you can do now is wait while my officers —”
“That is not all we can do. We’ll let you know when we find our girl,” Jo says, turning her back on the open-mouthed officer and stomping to the car. “Let’s go!”
“Thank you, again,” I tell the woman, making a mental note to send her concert tickets for life.
I run after Jo and cram myself into the back seat of the car.
“Harrison lands in four hours. We need to go through every email and make sure we didn’t miss any. Maverick, you’re going to pick Harrison up from the airport. Cal, you and I are going to go through every note and file we have on Ezra to find the connection,” Jo says.
“Did you find her?” Willa’s voice comes through on speakerphone.
“Not yet. We’re headed back to you. I’m sending you the login information for the podcast email. I need you three to go through every single one and see if we missed something. Jason is booking us a hotel suite right now to make it easier for everyone to be together. Belle should be getting that information from him soon.”
“On it,” Willa says.
The woman is a drill sergeant, and I’ve never been more thankful for it.
“We’re going to find her. This will not happen again,” Mav says through clenched teeth.
I don’t know how Maverick lives every day without Ezra, because I know I won’t be able to do it without Harlow.
I’d give up almost anything to find her.