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She sighed loudly. “I still do.” The sound of a motorcycle in the distance came over the line. “I have to go now.”
Dempsey looked positively frantic, pointing at his two signs.
“I remember the water,” I said.
“Me too.”
“I still have the scar.” That would be something nobody else would know.
“I have to go, Josh.” She finally seemed to accept that I was her cousin. “Bye.”
“Email me.”
“Okay,” she said before the line went dead.
Dempsey exploded. “What part of keep her on the line didn’t you understand? We needed to set up a meeting.”
I’d had enough of this bully. “You heard her. She’s scared, and pushing her wasn’t going to help.”
Adam and the others stayed quiet while Dempsey vented. “We needed that meeting.”
“That’s not the priority,” I shot back.
“It damned well is.”
I stood. “She needs someone she can trust. She sure as shit isn’t going to trust any of you.”
He stood as well, seeming determined to stare me down. “You just blew our best chance.”
“I just saved your only chance. She knows it’s me now.”
“She didn’t say that.”
I’d heard it, and if he hadn’t, he was tone deaf. “Her voice did. I’ll let you know when she gets in touch.”
Boxer finally spoke up. “He opened up a second line of communication. That was smart.”
Dempsey didn’t look impressed.
Rylie added her two cents. “She was clearly scared to be on the phone. Maybe email will be easier for her.”
Now it was three against one.
“Well, what’s done is done. So we’ll see,” Dempsey said, backing down. He pointed at me. “If there’s another injury or, God help us, a fatality, it’s on you, Benson.”
I knew his statement was nonsensical, but itwouldbother me if someone else got hurt in the meantime.
Dempsey left with a huff and an under-the-breath comment I didn’t catch.
Adam stayed behind when the others filed out. “What was that about water?” he asked after the door closed behind the last of them.
It still brought a cold sweat to recall that day. “It was right before she was taken. I was visiting, and she and I went down by the creek. A flash flood came out of nowhere. I’ve never been so scared in my life. We heard the roar even before we saw anything. A literal wall of dirty, brown water came rushing down the creek bed, and we almost didn’t get out in time. It was probably only five or six feet, but it looked a mile high to me.”
I stayed and talked with Adam for a few minutes before calling an Uber to get to the airport.
Once in the car, I typed out another text to Nicole.
ME: Still missing you
