Page 10 of Girl Long Gone

Connor’s interest piqued at the mention of the pretty brunette. “What’d you find?”

“She went to school with Gabriel, comes from money, keeps a low profile. Stays way under the radar. I couldn’t find any social media accounts, which made it even more surprising to find her account on EternalMatch. Lives in Queens and works from home.”

“I read through her messages with Gabriel,” Connor said. “Sounds like they hadn’t spoken since graduation. Her roommate found his profile a few weeks ago, and Evelyn looked him up to get reacquainted. She looked pretty interested in what he had to say earlier.”

“Wait, you saw Gabriel earlier?” Ben grabbed a small blue notepad from his back pocket and untucked a pen from behind his ear. “What time was this? You never told me you saw him.”

Connor ignored the frustration in Ben’s voice. “I’ve been a little preoccupied the last couple of hours. You know, dealing with a break-in and a severed hand. Not to mention the circus combing through my apartment looking for evidence.”

Wide-eyed pedestrians hurried past him, reminding him to keep his voice down.

Taking a step closer, Ben lowered his voice. “What time did you see him? How much time elapsed between parting ways with him and coming home?”

Connor had told the dispatcher about his earlier encounter with Gabriel, but they’d shrugged it off and warned him not to interfere with an ongoing investigation. “I saw him with Evelyn Price at a coffee shop this afternoon.”

“You talked to him? Dammit, Connor, don’t be stupid. You can’t tip your fucking hand and give the guy a reason to freak out.”

Lead dropped in the pit of his stomach and Connor leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. “Sonofabitch. I swear I didn’t think about that. I needed to get there and warn this woman.”

Ben blew out a breath. “You should have taken a minute to think about how Gabriel would react. Dude, I’ve seen plenty of pictures of your sister since you hired me. You two could pass as twins. No way he saw you and didn’t realize who you were. And what about this woman? What does this mean for her?”

“Evelyn? Why would Gabriel seeing me have anything to do with her?”

“If Gabriel is the monster you think he is, do you think he saw you at the coffee shop and just left? Or would he have waited around to see what you were doing there?”

“He saw me talking with Evelyn.” Dread curdled in his stomach. He didn’t remember seeing Gabriel after the little shit had smirked as they passed each other in the narrow aisle between tables. After that, his focus had been squarely on Evelyn.

“Have you talked to her since this afternoon? If Gabriel is responsible for the break-in, he could have gone to her apartment once he was finished here.”

Cursing his lack of judgment, Connor grabbed his phone and pressed redial. If his hasty decision to seek out Evelyn led to her getting hurt, he’d never forgive himself.

5

The glowing phone screen stole Evelyn’s attention from her computer. She should have shoved it in a drawer. Knowing she had only until tomorrow evening to come up with something amazing to impress Gabriel had lit a fire, and she hadn’t stepped away from her desk in hours. With her hands still poised on the keyboard, she glanced down, and the number staring up at her dampened her palms.

Detective Mitchel.

A part of her didn’t want to answer. She didn’t want any more reasons to doubt Gabriel. She needed this job. But another part—the part of her jumping in circles from just the thought of him—wondered why he would call her.

Wiping the moisture from her hands on her cotton-clad thighs, she cleared her throat and picked up the phone. “Hello?” She’d try to play it cool. No reason to let him know she’d memorized his number.

“It’s Detective Mitchel.”

His deep voice rumbled through the phone, and she curled her bare toes against the soft carpet. “Can I help you with something?” She fought the urge to throw in a teasing remark about reporting him for stalking. Fantasizing about an off-limits cop was one thing, saying anything that could be construed as flirting was another.

“Are you all right?”

She straightened, the force of the movement causing her chair to roll backward. “Of course I’m all right. Why wouldn’t I be?” Annoyance coated her words like ants on a sugar cube. If he’d called her just to hound her more about Gabriel, she’d have to put him in his place. But then again, why else would he call?

A beat of silence pulsed through the phone, allowing the blare of cars and sounds of the city to dominate the line. “Someone broke into my apartment earlier. The timing’s suspicious, and I wanted to make sure nothing happened to you after you left the coffee shop.”

Evelyn glanced over her shoulder and strained to hear Abbie’s bath-time giggles and Lacey’s constant reminders not to splash. She didn’t want to alarm Lacey. Shrill laughter filled the apartment, and Evelyn turned back around. “Oh my God, that’s awful. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. What about you? Anything out of the ordinary happen? Anything that seemed out of place or odd?”

“No, nothing.”

“Have you talked to Gabriel?”