Chapter 28 – Violet
Lee waited for me near the door to the restrooms. He extended a bottle of water, which I accepted gratefully. We leaned against the wall, watching our friends dance.
Anya and Drew barely moved as they swayed.
It was impossibly cute. Proof that the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
It still surprised me, the way Drew melted like butter anytime Anya made a request. While I’d always respected my big brother, his devotion to her gave me new appreciation for the adult he’d become.
Lucy and Clay whispered softly to one another, eyes locked. Whatever they were saying must have been funny. Clay kept cracking up softly, hiding his mirth in Lucy’s shoulder. My taciturn friend looked relaxed in her boyfriend’s arms. At ease in her own skin in a way that was a joy to watch.
And then there was Rae and Zach. For such late-bloomers, they were absolutely besotted now. Though I shouldn’t point fingers. Lee and I hadn’t exactly been quick on the uptake. He was too stoic by half, and I’d been too uncertain about pursuing my crush on my brothers’ friend.
Lee’s hand found its way into mine, and I leaned into his shoulder, taking some of the weight off my heels. While the shoes looked fabulous, they were murder on my feet.
The soft strains of a familiar song drifted from the speakers, making my mouth tilt in a smile. Straight out of high school.
Lee cleared his throat beside me, tugging me toward the dance floor, his blue eyes gleaming. “Dance with me, Cupcake?”
“This song goes out to one special lady who is the apple of her guy’s eye, the butter to his scone, the plot twist in his novel. He says ‘thanks for giving me a second chance to get things right.’ And I say best wishes to the happy couple,” the DJ’s low bass rippled over the group.
I smiled at Lee. “Do I know this special lady?”
“You are the most special-est lady.” He dropped a quick kiss on my mouth.
The simple brush wasn’t enough to satisfy me. Not by a mile. But if Lee had gone to lengths to dedicate a song to me, I wouldn’t waste it wishing I were somewhere else. Even if that other place was somewhere private, kissing him.
I sank against him, letting him take most of my weight as I all but melted into his arms. Strong and sure, they wrapped me closer.
The hard ridges of muscle beneath my cheek and his firm thighs against mine provided a frame upholding my body, which had gone limp like spaghetti. He was all that kept me upright.
It was perfect. Romantic. Everything I wasn’t prepared to appreciate in high school.
As the song drew to a close, Drew tapped on my shoulder. I blinked, not wanting to return to reality. “Have either of you seen Anya?”
Lee and I shook our heads. Drew’s frown deepened, worry etching his expression.
“Do you want me to go check the bathroom?” I asked.
“Please.”
Drew bit out the word between gritted teeth, his jaw taut. Deep furrows wrinkled his brow. I hated how worried he looked.
“How long has she been missing?” I asked.
“Just a few minutes.”
He paced back and forth, like a guard dog on a short leash. Maybe his reaction to the brief separation was over the top, but that was Drew. And it wasn’t like he didn’t have reason to worry after the mess with her ex.
“She probably just got cornered chatting with someone from the studio.” I scanned the crowd for her.
“I’ve searched. Twice,” Drew said.
He blew out a breath, long and slow, like he was trying not to lose his shit. And failing.
Lee placed a palm on Drew’s shoulder. “I’ll help you look again in here. Let’s check the exits too. Maybe she just needed some air.”
“I’ll check the ladies’ room and find you,” I said.
I wasn’t worried. Yet.
I smiled a quick greeting at Deb Jones, who was washing her hands at the sink. There were no feet beneath either stall. “Have you seen Anya?” The other woman shook her head.
I kept my head on a swivel, scanning for her as I walked the perimeter of the dance floor. Gran was cheek-to-cheek with Mr. Reyes, so I couldn’t blame her for kidnapping our friend.
Drew and Lee met me at the main door, expressions grim.
“Did you try her cell phone?” I asked.
Drew nodded. “Text and call.”
“She might just have it on silent. It’s not like she could hear it in here anyway,” I said. “Where are the others? Have they seen her?”
“Lucy and Clay headed home about fifteen minutes ago. Rae and Zach followed suit not long after. I texted them, but she’s not with them.”
“Why don’t you check your truck, and we’ll head to my house?
If she had a dress malfunction, my place is the closest to patch things up.
” It was a weak reason, but anything was better than believing something had happened to her.
“If she’s not at the house, we’ll hop in my car and drive around until we find her. ”
Drew’s shoulders were tense. I held back the urge to ask if they’d had a fight. Nothing in their behavior all evening suggested any tension between them.
Lee and I half-jogged toward the house, driven by a palpable sense of dread. I’d have blisters tomorrow, but that was a small price to pay for finding Anya. Something glinted under the streetlight as we reached the corner. A phone.
I scooped it up, heart going cold. The logo for Anya’s yoga studio adorned the back of the cell phone case.
A thousand scenarios rushed through my mind.
Anya hit by a car. Anya falling. Anya getting taken.
Frantically, I searched the bushes near where we’d found the phone. Lee joined me, expression grim.
“Let’s check the house. Just in case she dropped it,” I said after a fruitless search.
It took everything I had not to break into a run. But Lee’s ankle wouldn’t handle that kind of stress given the hill, and my heels were a recipe for disaster. My back door was locked, and I opened it with trembling hands.
“Anya?” I called out, hoping for an answer. For her to stumble out of the bathroom, laughing about a crazy mishap. A torn hem. Her period starting. Anything, so long as she was safe.
Lee and I searched the house quickly. Anya’s phone buzzed with another text notification from Drew, and I shuddered, locking eyes with Lee.
“We have to tell him.”
He nodded. “I’ll call. Grab your keys. Let’s drive a grid.”
It took me two tries to pick up my keychain, my fingers trembling too much to grasp them.
“Here,” Lee said gently. “I’ll drive; you keep your eyes peeled.
” He unlocked the car, holding his phone to his ear.
“Drew. We found Anya’s phone on the corner of Nichols and B Street, but no sign of Anya.
She’s not at the house. Vi and I are starting a grid search in her car.
We’ll search Warbass Way and everything west of the house if you take the east. I’ll call Zach and have him and Rae take everything downtown and toward the marina.
Call Clay and have them take the other side of town. She can’t have gotten far on foot.”
“What if she wasn’t on foot?” I overheard my brother say grimly.
“We’ll find her, Drew.”
Lee’s tone exuded confidence. This was him in search and rescue mode. Any other time, it would have been incredibly sexy. But with Anya missing, all I could do was let it quiet some of the fear. We had a mission. A purpose.
Lee drove slowly toward Warbass Way and the waterfront, each of us scanning the road on either side for any signs of her.
Inky black darkness greeted us, the occasional streetlight or house lighting breaking up the gloom.
He turned on Harrison, driving faster. Houses abutted the road, offering fewer hiding spots.
We were blocks beyond my place. He slowed again when he reached his house.
“Should we search it?” I asked.
He frowned. “She doesn’t have a key. I say we keep going.”
He drove on. My gut clenched, a toxic stew of worry making it feel like I couldn’t draw a full breath. Anya was out there somewhere. Maybe hurt. Maybe worse. I hated this feeling. The lack of control.
She was too sweet a person for karma to have her in its sights.
But what about her family? Cold dripped into my veins as I considered the possibilities.
She’d anonymously provided evidence to the authorities that could cripple her family’s criminal enterprises.
Slowly, law enforcement had been shutting them down, closing in on her parents.
Just last spring, her ex-boyfriend had appeared and tried to blackmail her into helping him with new smuggling routes, unaware that she’d already turned traitor. He went to jail.
Had her family sought revenge, blaming her for that betrayal? Or had someone tipped them off about Anya’s original sin against her family?
We believed ourselves insulated from violence on the island. But it had touched us before.
Anya’s ex, Owen, was supposed to be in jail. But Chaz Underwood was proof that a lenient judge could mean bail for just about anyone. I shivered.
“Turn Point or the marina?” Lee sounded grim.
Turn Point County Park would be abandoned this time of night. It closed at dusk. The perfect, secluded spot. But the marina offered an easy egress. Plenty of boats if you wanted to make a getaway.
“The marina.”
Lee turned left, parking at the private marina. Another point in its favor. Not many fishermen left in the evening. From the parking lot, it was difficult to make out anything in the water, but my gut urged me forward. Anya was down there. I could feel it.
We clambered down the steep wooden stairs toward the dock below.
Something inside urged: faster. Move. All the ugly suspicions from earlier made me forget my blisters and sore feet.
We hit the landing, and I scanned the first dock, spotting nothing amiss.
We surged forward, conducting the same quick study of the next dock and the next.
In my periphery, I spotted movement two docks over, accompanied by the low growl of a boat motor.
“Over there,” I pointed, spotting a small speedboat slip away from its berth. It was too dark to see clearly, but four figures were silhouetted against the faint light cast from the moon.
It didn’t add up. Four was too many. Unless things were much more complicated than I’d suspected. A cold shiver racked my body.
Lee gripped my hand, pulling me back. “My boat’s over here.”
I glanced at him, surprised. I’d forgotten he had a berth here. He owned a small speedboat. We’d used it on the occasional trip to Lopez. It wasn’t big enough to handle the big shipping lanes on the Haro Strait side of San Juan Island, but it could get us as far as Anacortes in a pinch.
“You have your keys?”
“There’s a hidden spare for emergencies.”
This definitely qualified. Cold iced my veins, making me feel like I might crack, my movements wooden and stiff. Lee helped me from the dock and into his boat. I kicked off my shoes. My feet would be frozen, but I couldn’t manage a shifting boat deck in heels.
“Life jacket,” Lee grunted, handing me a bright orange vest.
I fought the reflex to snap back at his gruff tone.
Lee was the search and rescue expert. Hypothermia was the biggest risk in the Salish Sea, but drowning wasn’t a pleasant way to die either.
I tugged on the stiff vest, tightening the straps.
Lee donned his own. Another time, I’d laugh at how incongruous the garish flotation devices looked against our fancy dress, but tonight, all I could think of was my friend.
Assuming Anya was the only one taken, that left three assailants.
At best, we were evenly matched. But since I doubted Anya would go willingly, that meant they’d either drugged her or gotten their hands on a weapon.
My money was on both. Drugs implied Dr. Underwood, which cast new light on her presence at the dance.
Had that been their purpose? To case the dance and find a moment when Anya was vulnerable and alone to abduct her?
It begged the question: why? Why take her?
She hadn’t been directly involved in Chaz Underwood’s takedown.
If the Underwoods blamed anyone local, it’d be Lucy and Clay.
They were the ones who’d snooped. Clay had called in the DEA agent.
The same agent we’d met during the incident with Anya’s ex, which presented another possibility.
Could it be her family? Her ex? All three?
Threads tangled and multiplied, becoming an impenetrable knot. Four people. But which four?
Owen had been picked up for attempted smuggling. Was he out of jail? As far as we’d heard, Anya’s parents remained free. The evidence Anya slipped to the FBI during her time working for her family’s business seemed to go nowhere. Or had it?
I prayed I still had enough connectivity left as Lee motored away from our slip.
A quick search of Anya’s real name revealed a headline out of Detroit: local family subject of an FBI search.
I swallowed, trying to ease my dry throat.
At that moment, Lee kicked up the motor, catching me as I lost my footing.
“Easy now.” He gripped me tightly. “Take a seat. I’m going to catch them.”
I showed him my screen. “I’m not sure who’s taken her. If her family found out she betrayed them, they had time to travel here from Detroit. This headline about the warrants for their arrest is a few days old.”
“How did she not get a heads-up?” Lee asked grimly. “I find it difficult to believe the FBI wouldn’t reach out. Protect her somehow.”
“I have no idea. I just hope she’s okay.”