Page 87 of Now Until Forever
Tears gathered in her eyes.
Maloney came over. “We’re still looking for her. It’s scary, but we’re doing everything we can to find her.”
“I think it might be—” Her breath caught in her throat. Why not just jump in? “I think it might have to do with the Reverence Sisters. You know what happened yesterday, with me being kidnapped in that apartment. A man was murdered in this building. My neighbor was murdered the same way. I think everything might be linked.”
“We hadn’t connected it to the Reverence Sisters group, though.” Maloney’s expression remained professional. “The working theory has been that Doctor Splitfield’s death had to do with the Shrine.”
“What about the Dreamer who lived across from me?” Eliana said. “He didn’t have anything to do with this place.”
“But another murder of someone who works here will likely strengthen the theory that it’s connected to the Shrine, not the Reverence Sisters.”
Eliana stared at her. “You think Carolena is dead?”
Maloney’s expression softened, and it seemed like she was about to reach for Eliana.
Tony said, “No one is saying Carolena is dead.”
Eliana sat, angling her body away from the detective so she didn’t have to look at her while pretending she didn’t know what she knew. “If she isn’t dead, then where is she? And why hasn’t she checked in?”
Her phone buzzed—the new one Tony had brought her today because apparently shecouldn’t live without it. She wanted to call Maizie and have a ton of security settings added so they couldn’t track her. But honestly, if she was going to get kidnapped again, maybe it was a good idea to let them do it.
Wallace moved to stand across the table from her. “We can’t draw conclusions without proof. Nor can we speculate or come up with a theory. What we can do is look for your friend.”
Eliana nodded, dragging out her phone and looking at the screen. Part of her wanted it to be a message from her parents. Carlos seemed to have talked to them more lately than she had. But until she figured things out, she didn’t want to hash out in conversation what she hadn’t even finished wrestling with in her own mind.
She didn’t want to be rescued or told what to think, even by people she loved. Right now, it could be a fear reaction, making her want to curl in on herself—but with that recurring nightmare, it wasn’t a peaceful place to be. For her to build the life she wanted, Eliana knew she’d have to claim her path for herself.
“Wallace and I can walk through this whole place,” Maloney said. “We’ll search every room for her, then we can cross the Shrine off the list.” She nodded as if that decided it.
Tony said, “There aren’t many guests today, probably because of the weather. We could round up all the staff and get that room-by-room search done a whole lot faster.”
Eliana looked at him, tears blurring her vision. “What if she’s somewhere, nailed to a table with her tongue cut out?”
Tony came over, crouched by her chair, and put his hand on her arm. “Let’s try to find her. She might be alive, but hurt and disoriented. We don’t know.”
She bit back the words she wanted to say. No one needed her to presume Carolena was a lost cause, already dead. “She’s been missing since the craziness, right?”
Tony nodded. “That’s right.”
“Maybe she got stuck somewhere. Or she doesn’t know who she is.”
“Let’s get searching.” He stood and held out his hand. “What do you say? Want to go with me, and we’ll try to find her?”
Eliana took his hand. “Okay.”
If she got somewhere quiet, she could call Carlos and tell him that she hadn’t learned anything from Maloney. Then again, she hadn’t known that Sarah wasn’t being genuine either. Hadn’t believed that Faith might try to kill her. She never would’ve believed that Luci would willingly join that group.
The search for answers had only led her to understand how much she didn’t know. It was almost enough to send her right back to Wyoming, where at least the territory was familiar.
But first, she wanted to know that Carolena was okay and that Luci made it home safe.
Lord, I’m asking the impossible, but isn’t that what You do? Obviously, I have no idea what I’m doing, so maybe You could take the lead.
Ten minutes later, Tony walked her to the hall, where he’d gathered all the staff. He gave out orders for the search, assigning floors and rooms. Then he instructed everyone to check back in with one of the other security guards, who would stay on the ground floor by the elevators and coordinate. He lefthimself and Eliana out of the assignments, and even though she wanted to ask why, she kept her mouth shut.
Wallace and Maloney walked away with everyone else.
They probably thought she was supposed to rest and not be involved. Which, after being nearly murdered a few days ago might be a good idea, but she didn’t think that’s what Tony had in mind.
