Page 82 of Protecting Josie
“What the hell? You think she’s tied up under the piles of crap down here?” Smiley asked.
“I don’t know. But I’m not sure how we’ll even start a search through all this junk.”
Blink tuned out his friends and methodically catalogued the room. It wasn’t large, but he didn’t see any place where anyone could hide or be hidden. He leaned down and picked up a box and threw it to the side, not caring what was in it or where it landed. But under that box was another. And another.
Sighing in frustration, he looked around the room again. He had no idea what he was searching for, but nothing stood out as being suspicious.
“Blink?” Preacher asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. “My heart is telling me she’s here, that there’s nowhere else shecanbe. But…” His voice faded. He honestly thought they’d get into this house and find Josie huddled in a corner, freaked out but fine.
But now…the possibility that maybe, just maybe, whoever had taken her could’ve ended her life and thrown her body in the desert or buried her in a shallow grave, ate at him.
“You done?”
Millie’s harsh question echoed through the small basement. She was standing at the top of the stairs, staring down at them.
“We need to regroup,” Preacher said quietly.
“This is fucked up,” Smiley said as his gaze scanned the room.
“Come on. The longer I’m in this house, the more I feel the need to shower,” Preacher told them. He put a hand on Blink’s arm.
He agreed with his friends. Theydidneed to regroup, call Tex, maybe Kevlar and the others, figure out their next step. But something deep inside him didn’t want to leave. He’d had such high hopes of finding Josie that the alternative was soul-crushing.
He turned and made his way back to the main floor, the hair on the back of his neck standing up as he traversedthrough the maze of trash and other crap Millie had collected.
“Told you,” Gen crowed from her spot on the couch. She hadn’t bothered to get up. Millie had gone to the front door and opened it. She was standing there, clearly indicating their time was up.
But still, the entire situation had Blink’s internal radar screaming at him that the women were hiding something. HidingJosie.
“Fuck—is that a diaper?” Smiley asked under his breath as he passed a plastic trash can balancing precariously on a pile of clothing and who knew what else.
“Disgusting,” Preacher agreed.
Blink led his friends toward the door, stopping when he was next to Millie.
He looked into her eyes and said in a low, even voice, “We’re going to find her.”
Millie’s lip curled. “The world is a better place without her in it. I hope wherever she is, the bitch is suffering. Regretting her role in killing my son. There’s no torture too harsh to pay her back for what she’s done to my family.”
Something about her words made Blink freeze, but Smiley was at his back, pushing him forward.
“Josie didn’t do a damn thing to your spoiled son, and you know it,” Smiley said. “If she was guilty of anything, it was being too nice to someone who didn’t deserve it.”
“Get out!” Millie shouted, pointing to the door.
“Gladly,” Preacher said.
Blink walked out into the dry desert air and felt an urge to turn right back around. He wanted to take every damn thingout of that hoarder house until he found Josie, or some sign of where she was.
Smiley pushed Blink again to keep him walking. Every step felt like his feet weighed four hundred pounds.
“Come on, we need to talk,” Preacher said.
Blink walked as if in a trance back to the truck. He got into the back seat, and Preacher got in next to him. Smiley got behind the wheel. For a moment, they sat in silence.
Finally, Smiley said, “That was seriously fucked up.”
