Page 65 of Letting Go

I can't speak. Can barely breathe. Scanning the ground, I find nothing. But the bathroom door is ajar.

"She never gave me the key back," he says, nervous, eyes flitting to the dark car careening up next to mine, jerking to a sudden stop. It's Nic and Mateus. Finn pulls in just as Nic steps from the car. Mateus slams the passenger door.

Finn climbs out of the third in the fleet of black Lexus's and then Claire's blond head appears. Her small mouth is pressed into a thin line. The sky is pink, the air cool and crisp, a touch of fall.

I stare at her, not realizing I'm staring.

"My sister. My car," is all she says by way of permission to be here.

I open the bathroom door.

A box of hair dye is smashed on the concrete floor, her phone is in the sink. The gawdy purple purse is on the ground, gaping open like a wound. The go-bag is nowhere. I can’t think. I can’t breathe.

"There's a few threads from duct tape over here on the ground," says Finn from outside.

This is where they took her. Right here.

"Blood," says Nic, and his hand is on my shoulder when I turn and see blood mixed with a few long strands of brown hair on the edge of the door. From behind, Finn puts an arm out in front of Claire to stop her from walking further.

"I'm a vet," says Claire pushing him off. "I've seen lots of blood."

"Not your sister's."

"I've been through worse," she says, her mouth a thin line. But she pales as she takes a closer look. Finn's brought evidence bags. They're tucked under Claire's arm. She swallows. "This is pretty fresh."

My heart drops and I stare at the wet red smear, the strands of hair. Chloe's hurt. This can’t be happening.

Nic turns me to face him. "This isn't your fault, Bryce. She left on her own. Don’t take responsibility for everything, all the time."

What the fuck? "Are you really giving me a life lesson right now? Your timing sucks."

"Be responsible for the things you do and the things you can change. Otherwise you're useless."

"Fuck you," I say under my breath, shrugging him off.

"Bryce. Bryce, pay attention. We've got the tracker on the go-bag," says Finn.

Nic shakes his head. "It wasn't working earlier though. We had nothing."

"Let's think this through for a minute," says Finn.

Claire steps past me into the bathroom.

"Let me do this," she says and nods to the scattered mess of Chloe's things.

I swallow and duck back outside. The sky is starting to wane to orange and the air is crisp. I shiver in the cool breeze and Mateus, straight from California, blows on his hands before stuffing them in jacket pockets. The temperature plunged in the early morning. Somewhere out there is Chloe and Reed has her.

Has her.

Finn picks up the thread of his thought again which is good because I can't think. "Bryce, the tracker. Try again." My phone is out before he finishes. The signal is spotty. We might get something now depending on where Chloe is—if she's close enough to catch a signal.

I search the app again. The whole trip down, there was no GPS signal which meant Reed had her in a remote location.

But there's still nothing. Just some random ping out in the ocean that's four hours old. If he has her on a boat they're long gone and moving fast into untraceable waters, out of range.

I catch my breath. "Nothing. Just the same."

"I might be able to triangulate this," says Mateus and takes my phone.