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“They aren’t here,” Augie called from somewhere inside. “Door was open when I got here.”
I walked through the little house until I found him staring at a laptop left open on the small, round kitchen table. “What do you mean by open? Closed but unlocked?”
“No, dumbass. I mean it was wide fucking open for any asshole to walk in and take whatever they wanted. We’re lucky there’s anything left.” He turned to me, expression stony. “Nobody around here leaves their doors wide open by choice, cop. Fawn’s phone is here, and Eve’s purse. They didn’t just walk out. Not voluntarily, anyway.”
A yawning pit of worry opened up. “When did you last speak to either of them?”
“Hours ago. Too many.”
It was the same for me. I hadn’t spoken to Eve since my shift had started mid-morning. “Fuck. William Reed.”
“Or Fawn’s ex.”
“What’s he got to do with it?”
Augie drummed his fingertips on the tabletop. “Fawn thought he was behind the drive-by shooting. She went to Eve about it, but Eve convinced her it was Reed. Fucking Eve! She’s so stubborn. She wouldn’t listen when Fawn tried to tell her.”
I bristled. “Eve’s smart. She has her reasons for thinking Reed has it in for her. I’m going over there to talk to him.”
Augie shook his head. “You’re as stubborn as she is. Open your fucking eyes. Reed is a pussy. He couldn’t pull this off if he tried.”
“Maybe not. But he’s got the money to pay someone who could. And what else do we have to go on? You got a name for Fawn’s ex-boyfriend?”
“Eddie…someone. Shit. I don’t know if Fawn ever told me his last name.”
“Then find someone who does know it and get back to me.”
Augie nodded, a determined light in his eye. He looked almost as worried as I felt. Two missing women, neither heard from for hours, was never a good situation. Even worse, when one of those women was somebody I cared about. A new determination fueled my muscles. I wasn’t going to panic. I was a cop, trained for this. I could put my feelings for Eve aside long enough to find her.
And finding her started with confronting William Reed.
Richards followed my lead, wordlessly handing over the keys to the cruiser when I made for the driver’s side door. He didn’t say a word when I put the sirens on, blasting through every light, pedal to the metal until we reached the Reed’s place on an affluent street in Providence.
I stormed up the front steps, banging my fist against the door. “Reed! Get out here.”
The door opened a crack, and William stuck his head out, eyebrows pinched together. They relaxed once he saw it was me. “Boston? What time is it? What’s going on?” He opened the door the rest of the way, coming out onto the front porch in blue silk pajamas, his feet bare. The porch light lit up his silvering hair, messed up like he’d already gone to bed despite the fact it wasn’t even nine.
“Do you know where Eve Hawkins is right now?”
“No? Should I?”
I studied him. Trying to determine whether he was for real or a good actor. “She’s missing. Her and one of her friends.”
I let the silent accusation hang in the air between us.
It took a moment for William’s eyes to widen. “You think I had something to do with that?”
“I don’t know. You tell me.” I fought to keep my impatience in check. If this man had touched a hair on Eve’s head, I would kill him myself. But I had no proof. I needed to remain calm and think clearly until I did.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because she’s your biological daughter, perhaps? How would that look to all your Christian supporters, if it came out that you had an illegitimate lovechild? One who’s a stripper at that.”
William shot a panicked look back at his front door, hurrying over to it and closing it. “Shh. Okay, okay. My wife and children don’t know about that either, so can you keep it down?”
Disgust for the man dripped from my words. “Did you, or someone you know, target Eve Hawkins and her club? Was it you who organized for someone to spray her place with bullets?”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
