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I told her about how we’d been talking—though not about how we’d been having an argument over her leaving the cabin without telling me—and how Alex had burst in with a gun. My words stumbled over my description of how I’d almost been shot and how he’d taken her with him before I could catch him.
“Mrs. Wallace—”
“Please call me Eliza.”
“Eliza.” The name was soft and fluid. It seemed like it suited her. “Do you by any chance still have Alex’s phone number? I know this is painful for you, but it would be very helpful.”
She didn’t hesitate to read off the phone number, and I scribbled it down. “Thank you so much. I highly doubt that he still has his same cell phone, but any little bit helps.”
“Would you like his license plate number too, then?”
I froze. “Do you have it?”
She rattled it off for me. “I don’t know if that’s the car that he’s driving, but I just thought that you should have it.”
“It’s extremely helpful, Eliza. Thank you.”
She was quiet for so long that I wondered whether or not she’d hung up the phone, and I decided to take a chance. “We will find her, Eliza. I swear on my life that I will find her.”
She gave a watery little laugh. “You know, Dillon, I actually believe that.”
“I’ll call you with any and all updates I find, okay? I promise.”
“Will you tell me which airport to fly into? I’d like to be there when you find her.”
My heart cracked all over again, and I wondered briefly what it must’ve been like to grow up knowing that you were that loved and cared for.
“I’ll text you all the details, but it won’t be from this number. Also, if you need to contact me again, you should call me on that number. I think that I’m gonna go check in with the sheriff and see what he has to say about our progress.”
“Okay. Thank you for calling me, Dillon. Let’s stay in touch.”
There was something about the way she’d said it that made me think that she meant it beyond just today and finding her daughter. I was hoping to prove her right.
When I hung up, I pulled out my regular phone and entered her number into my contacts, hoping I’d have another reason to stay in touch with her. She was a nice woman, and even though I wouldn’t just be finding her daughter for her, I wanted to help assuage her worry.
I got up and went back inside, where Hank was sitting on one of the barstools and drinking coffee from one of my mugs. I held up my phone to show him. “Macy’s mom gave me some pretty good information, so I’m gonna call Jim.”
I pulled out my phone again and dialed the backline of the sheriff’s office, using the number he’d given me when I’d just been down there. “Jim?”
“Hey, Dillon. We’re working on it, but—”
“No, no. I just talked to her mom, and she gave me some new information that we might be able to use. I have his cell number and a license plate number for his car out in California. Do you have a pen?”
“Yes, I do,” he said without missing a beat. “Ready when you are.”
I rattled off the information.
“Perfect,” he said. “I’ll put out an APB on the car and start running a trace on the phone number, and I’ll call you when I find anything. Try to get some rest, okay?”
“No chance, man.”
He was quiet for a second. “Look, Dillon. I know we’ve had our differences, but I know what a good cop you were, and I know you know that this is the worst time.”
“Yeah, and I also know that the next couple of hours are critical, Jim,” I said, my voice strained. “We have to find her now.”
“He’s not going to kill her, Dillon. He’s been looking for her for too long to do that. I know everything is awful right now, but you’re not gonna do yourself or her any good by panicking.”
I knew he was right, but I couldn’t stop pacing around my house as I thought of what might be happening to her at Alex’s hands right then.
