Page 88 of Colton’s Inferno

His pulse started to race. “Call Callum.”

“I tried. There was no answer.” Ted paused. “I’m going out there now.”

What in the hell was Ted thinking? “You can’t confront someone like that. He might be armed. He’s definitely dangerous.”

“We know where he is at this minute. What we don’t know is where he’ll be later.”

It was the same thing he’d said to Callum earlier this morning. And still, Stu had gotten away. He couldn’t waste time waiting for someone else to show up. The gun was still at the small of Aiden’s back. The grip bit into his flesh. “I’m at the hospital. Come by and get me. We can stop by the bar and see if Stu’s still there.”

“I’m on my way.”

Aiden ended the call and handed the phone to Lucy. “Stay here with your grandfather.”

She rose to her feet. “Where are you going?”

“Someone called in a sighting of Stu. I’m going with Ted to check it out.” He pulled her into a hug. “I’ll be in touch.”

She melted into his embrace. “Be careful.”

He tightened his grip and then let her go. There were so many things he wanted to say, but now wasn’t the time. “I’ll see you soon.”

Aiden walked down the corridor. His footfalls rang out like shots. Pulling the phone from his pocket, he found Callum’s number and placed a call. It was answered after the first ring. “Hey,” he said, before his brother got a chance to speak. “I’m on my way to Frisky’s. The bartender called Ted. She thinks that Stu is lurking around the parking lot. We’re going to check it out now.”

“There was another sighting that turned out to be nothing,” said Cal. “I’m fifteen minutes out. I’ll meet you at the bar.”

The front doors to the hospital opened automatically as he approached. Sun reflected off the roof of Ted’s car as he pulled up next to the curb. “See you there,” he said before ending the call.

Aiden opened the door and slid into the passenger seat. “Thanks for picking me up.”

Ted pulled away from the hospital. “I still haven’t heard from Callum.”

Was it funny that his brother hadn’t mentioned missing a call from Ted? Or maybe there were just so many moving parts of the investigation that he forgot to mention anything. “I just talked to him,” he said. “He’s heading to the bar now.”

Ted gripped the steering wheel tighter. His knuckles turned white. “Will he get there before we do?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay, then,” said Ted, letting out a long breath. “We’ve got this.”

Aiden wished he had Ted’s confidence. “We’re just going to see if he’s there. If he is, we’ll call Callum. He’s the one who’ll arrest him.”

“Yeah, of course.” Ted dropped his foot onto the accelerator. The car shot down the road.

In the middle of the day, there wasn’t much traffic. It took only a few minutes to drive to Frisky’s. The old cinder block building was surrounded by broken pavement and gravel. There were two windows and a door at the front of the bar. A neon sign hung in one window. The word Open was illuminated in yellow script. In the other window hung a sign for Golden Elk, a locally brewed beer. At the back of the bar was an overgrown wood, filled at the edge with beer bottles and wrappers. Half a dozen cars were scattered in the lot.

None of them belonged to Stu Whittier.

“I don’t think he’s here,” said Aiden.

“Maybe he’s around back.” Ted drove slowly to the rear of the building. There was nothing to see except more broken pavement and a dumpster.

He knew what it meant to let the professionals do their job. As a firefighter, Aiden didn’t want civilians racing into a blaze. No matter how brave it seemed, someone always got hurt.

Ted cursed. “I don’t see anything.”

“Let’s just wait for Callum,” said Aiden at the same instant he saw a flash of white in the tree line.

Ted dropped his foot onto the brake. The car jerked to a stop. “Did you see that?”