Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
The room exploded with questions from everyone and I held up my hand to stop them.
“Listen, it says – I have Luna. Meet us at North Beach at sundown. Bring the voodoo priestess. Come alone or I’ll snap Luna’s neck.” I shivered at the words and looked helplessly at Beau.
“What number did it come from?” Miss Elva asked, shaking her head.
“Luna’s,” I said.
“Can we trace it? If it’s on?” Miss Elva asked.
Cash thought about it and then instructed me to call Luna. It went straight to voicemail and I just shook my head helplessly.
“You are not going to that beach,” Cash ordered, testosterone oozing off of him as he looked at me, hands clenched.
“Oh, I most certainly am going,” I seethed, squaring off with him.
“You are not. If you think I’m going to let you go alone to a beach to face some psychopath, you’re insane,” Cash argued.
“If you think I’ll just sit around and let my best friend be held captive by said psychopath, then you’re the crazy one,” I argued right back.
“You’re not going, and that’s final,” Cash ordered.
My phone rang and I turned my attention back to it, shooting a death glare at Cash.
“Hello?”
“Thea, it’s Trace. What’s going on?” His worried voice sounded through the phone and I realized I’d forgotten to call him like I’d promised.
“It’s Trace,” I said to the group, then turned away, not caring if I was annoying Cash.
“They found another dead body. And now Luna’s been kidnapped.” I explained things as briefly as possible, as recounting the story made my stomach turn.
“What do you need me to do?” Trace asked immediately.
“They asked that Miss Elva and I come to the beach alone tonight. Cash says he won’t let me,” I raised my voice and saw Cash shoot me a glare.
“That guy,” Trace complained.
“I can’t leave Luna,” I explained.
I heard Trace sigh on the other end of the line. There was a moment of silence, then he asked me something that made my mouth drop open. Holding the phone away from me, I turned to Cash.
“He wants to speak with you,” I said, handing the phone out and moving to stand by Beau.
“Well, well, well. This gets more and more interesting,” Beau whispered in my ear and I elbowed him in the gut, trying to listen to what Cash was saying into the phone.
“Sounds like a plan. See you at sunset. I’ll call Chief Thomas,” Cash said and then hung up the phone, handing it back to me wordlessly.
“Well?” I demanded, refusing to be cut out of the situation.
Cash sighed and ran his hand through his hair, looking sexy and frustrated, momentarily distracting me as I watched the muscles in his arm ripple.
“Stay on point, girl,” Beau whispered to me.
Right, focus.
I shook my head and waited for Cash to speak.
“You and Miss Elva will drive to the beach. Trace, Chief Thomas, and I will take Trace’s boat with no running lights and approach the beach from the water using the electric motor.”
“I’m coming too,” Beau said at the same time as Dylan. The two men looked at each other appreciatively for a moment.
“Stay on point, girl,” I whispered to Beau, and he smacked my arm.
“Fine, whatever, I don’t care. You go by land, we’ll go by water, and that’s it,” Cash declared.
“Okay.” Miss Elva finally spoke and then turned to meet my eyes. “Althea, you’re coming home with me. We’ve got some planning to do.”
“Four hours until sunset,” Cash said, looking at the time on his phone.
“Go team?” I said weakly, and Beau just shook his head at me as Cash’s brow furrowed even more deeply.
Well, Sunday evening was sure looking up. So much for those cuddles on the couch with Cash I had been looking forward to.