A Few More Days
Maddox
Technically, the favor for Ryder was done.
Call it a positive development.
But I wasn't feeling it.
By now, it had been ten days since Evan Carver had been vanned – plus another ten since we'd learned he was done bothering Delaney's sister.
This made twenty days total, for anyone keeping score.
Ryder should've been happy.
He wasn't.
He was back in Chicago, acting like Mackinac Island had chewed him up and spit him out. He hadn't said much, but the change was stark and unsettling, like his biggest purchase on the island was a new – and decidedly glummer – personality.
The way it sounded, he was done with all of it.
I wasn't.
On the other side of my desk, Cal's eyebrows furrowed as he asked, "You want us to what?"
Fucking Cal. "You heard me the first time."
"Yeah, but I don't get it. Why keep watching her if nobody's in danger?"
"We don't know that." Something about this wasn't adding up. And for some inexplicable reason, I couldn't seem to let it go. "Today was the first time she's left the building in weeks."
"I know," Cal said. "Because I just told you."
"Yeah, so?"
"So I said she went for a walk, not that she'd joined a cult."
"Not that you know of," I shot back.
Cal was silent for a long moment before asking, "So that's why we're still watching? Because you're afraid she'll join a cult?"
I was in no mood for his grief. "Hey, you brought up the cult, not me."
Like a dog with a bone, he refused to let it go. "So why are we still watching her?"
It was a good question. With the Carver issue permanently resolved, half of my favor was finished.
But the other half? Finding Delaney Sinclair. That was still ongoing.
And why? Because I still hadn't told Ryder I'd found her.
Once I told him, there'd be no taking it back. But until I did, I had to make sure she didn't slip away, leaving me with nothing to say except that I'd lost her.
To Cal, I replied, "Because their story's full of shit."
He shook his head. "Whose story?"
I started counting off on my fingers. "Ryder Vaughn. Tessa Sinclair." I dropped my hand. "Hell, the whole Sinclair family for all I know."
During the past couple of weeks, the mom's social media page had mentioned Tessa maybe a dozen times and Delaney only once, saying Delaney was, in the mom's words, "probably bumming on the beach."
Probably.
As if she couldn't be bothered to find out.
Plus, the story was utter bullshit – unless that seventh floor apartment had suddenly sprouted sand and surf.
When Cal just looked at me, I added, "I'm just saying, she's not exactly missing."
"Delaney."
"Right."
"Why?" he scoffed. "Because we didn't find her chained up in a basement?"
At the image, my blood pressure spiked along with my temper. "No. Because if any of them had just driven a few fucking hours to that house where she'd been living for years—"
"Apartment," Cal corrected. "The lower unit, remember?"
I stared across the desk. "Fine. Half a house. But that doesn't change the point."
It really didn't. Until maybe a month ago, Delaney's address hadn't changed. Neither had her phone number.
Hell, she'd been easier to find than most CEOs.
And yet everyone kept acting like she'd vanished into thin air.
Something was definitely off. I recalled what Delaney had said the last time we'd talked – assuming I could call it a conversation. She'd been using some pretty loaded language.
Stalking.
Hounding.
Hell, she'd even threatened to call the FBI.
And now that I'd gotten some distance, I was starting to wonder if I'd been reading some of it wrong.
Maybe I wasn't the one who'd gotten her so rattled.
Maybe she'd felt threatened by something else.
Normally, I trusted my instincts. But with Delaney, they'd obviously steered me wrong, which made part of me think Cal was right.
Maybe I should drop it, tell Ryder where she was and move on.
With Carver out of the picture, I wasn't even sure Ryder cared.
But I did.
And my instincts still weren't backing down. Before I could stop myself, I was already saying, "Let's give it a few more days."
Cal studied my face. "And then what?"
I shrugged. "We'll see what develops."
"And if nothing develops?"
More casually than I felt, I said, "Then that's good news, right?"
Judging from his expression, Cal wasn't so sure. "You wanna know what I think?"
I just looked at him and waited.
His gaze locked on mine. "I think you're stalling."
If this were anyone else, I'd tell him to shove it. But Cal wasn't just anyone, and his logic was sound.
Maybe he had the right idea.
But hell if I'd admit it. "A few more days," I repeated. "We'll see what shakes out."