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“God dammit.” Nico rubbed his jaw, his eyes running over the gray sedan that could mean everything, or nothing.
“Look,” Wilde said. “Chances are, he’ll go to ground until the dust settles.”
“You believe that?”
Wilde went silent, which was answer enough. “You need to watch your back, Nico. Hear me? If he’s coming for you, he’s not gonna be quiet about it.”
“I think he might already be here.”
Nico disconnected. For a moment, he just stood, arms dangling at his sides. Two-thirds of his squad tentatively gathered around him with uncomfortable determination on their faces. They were looking for guidance. Orders. The next step. But he wasn’t ready. Nico walked away, stopping when he reached the middle of the deserted road. He closed his eyes and inhaled the calm night into his lungs, willing his head to clear enough to figure this out. The moon hung low, a thin crescent casting the barest of cool light over the world. Stars twinkled brightly through the broken gaps in the clouds. There was no breeze, no sounds of insects or other forms of life in the trees. Just cold silence, as if even the forest knew something was very wrong.
Nico heard footsteps behind him.
“You alright?” Frank asked.
He didn’t answer, just hung his heavy head. No, he was not alright. Lexie was gone. Taken. Maybe dead. Why and by whom were still question marks, and he couldn’t stand it. Where was she? What was happening to her? Did he even want to know?
“I should have been here,” he whispered.
“Don’t do that,” Frank said. “You’re no good to her if you give up now. Keep your head.”
“There’s too many trails. How am I supposed to find her if I don’t know where to start looking? And that blood—”
“It might not be hers.”
The strength of his tone was enough for Nico to lift his head and turn around. “I’m okay,” he assured Frank. It was an effort, but he forced himself to believe it was true, rallying everything he had to pull it together and concentrate.
“Lieutenant, we’re here, and we’re ready,” Frank said. “Just tell us what you want us to do.”
Nico breathed deeply and nodded. “Alright. Zoe?”
She trotted over. “Yes, sir?”
“Call Seth. Have him put a BOLO out for a man named Bryan Fowler, Massachusetts. Just released from Granite Ridge last week.”
“Okay.” She scribbled the information on a notepad.
“And call West again. We need him with us.”
“What if he doesn’t answer?”
Nico raked a hand through his hair. “Then go over there, lights and sirens blaring, and tell him that I ordered you to keep banging on his front door until he pulls his head out of his ass.”
Zoe tried to repress a smile. “Got it.”
“Wade?”
“Yeah?”
Nico gestured to Colin Rowe’s presumed car. “Was he in the bar tonight?”
Wade’s big shoulders shrugged. “Not sure. I was in the office most of the night cutting paychecks.”
“What about other staff who might have seen him?”
He gave a thoughtful tilt of his head. “Well, Tobias doesn’t pay attention to anything except what’s going on in his kitchen, but Annie finished at six. I’ll call her and ask.”
“Let me know what you find out,” Nico said. “Frank, you’re with me.”
