Chapter 19 Alderman Harold Langford
ALDERMAN HAROLD LANGFORD
Icalled Mallory the second I got off the phone with Reek.
I was still standing in my study with my hand wrapped too tight around my cell, staring at the picture of Reek and Ava on my iPad.
While the Cartiers were celebrating life, my daughter was still gone. She had vanished into some story that didn’t make sense to me.
Sienna was not perfect. She could be impulsive, spoiled, secretive, and too confident. But she was still my daughter. Despite all the things she kept from me, I knew her well enough to know that disappearing without contacting me didn’t make sense.
And now, I could no longer ignore what my gut had been telling me for months. Something about this was off.
Mallory answered on the fourth ring. “Langford.”
I didn’t waste time with greetings. “I don’t think my daughter skipped town.
” I sat down behind my desk and looked back at the picture of Reek and Ava before locking the screen.
“The more I sit with this, the less I believe the version being fed to us. I don’t care how many blurry images surface or how many people suddenly remember seeing Sienna.
The Cartiers have too many resources, too much reach, and a lot of practice making things appear one way when they are really another.
I’ve been in politics long enough to know when a narrative is being shaped.
And this feels shaped.” I leaned back in my chair and rubbed a hand over my mouth.
“Everywhere I turn, there is another convenient piece. A witness. A rumor.”
Mallory exhaled slowly. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Oh really?”
“I haven’t been comfortable with the runaway angle either, especially since she was getting me evidence against the Cartier cartel.”
“She was what?!”
“She was willing to get us evidence to take them down, in exchange for us dropping her charges.”
“Why would you put her in that type of position?! That wasn’t safe! Of course, they had something to do with her disappearance! They probably found out!”
“Aldermen Langford—”
“So, you believe they had something to do with this.”
“I believe…” she paused as if she was choosing her words wisely. “I believe that the Cartiers are sophisticated enough to distort a situation if it serves them.”
That was as close to direct confirmation as she was going to give me over the phone.
I stood and went to the window, looking out into the dark yard behind my house. “I knew it. I knew something about this didn’t sit right.”
Though Mallory was keeping her cool, I could hear the coldness in her voice. “I can’t make claims I can’t prove yet. But I’m working hard to find out if my suspicions are correct.”
“Good. Because I’m not accepting this. Sienna may have hidden things from me. She may have been in trouble I didn’t know about. But she would not simply disappear without reaching out to me, unless something stopped her.”
“And if something did, I’ll find it,” Mallory guaranteed. “I’m not going to rest until I find out the truth.”