“How does that happen?” Lauren asked.

Anchor smiled. “You don’t want to know, Ms. Tyler.”

TWENTY-THREE

“Do you want to see what’s in here?” Lauren asked.

We were sitting in the hotel bar. It was late and most of the tables were empty. A group of businessmen sat at the bar, nursing drinks and watching ESPN on the TV mounted on the wall. Anchor had excused himself and told us he’d be back in an hour. He didn’t say where he was going and we didn’t ask. We’d gone to the bar, both of us claiming to be hungry, but judging by the picked over food on our plates, we weren’t starving.

Now, she had Elizabeth’s bag open.

I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

“There’s nothing crazy in here.”

“That’s fine. But I don’t think so.”

She set the bag on her lap. “Why not?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It just freaks me out.”

“Why?”

“I honestly don’t know,” I said. I picked up a French fry but didn’t eat it. “I just don’t want to see. It doesn’t feel good to me.”

She stared across the table at me. “It makes me feel closer to her. To see what’s in here. To see her driver’s license, her lipstick. Brings her to me.”

I nodded. “Good. I’m glad. It’s just different for me.”

She nodded, but I wasn’t sure she understood. I wasn’t sure I did, either, but I thought it was tied to getting my hopes up. I’d been burned too many times before and I wasn’t going to let the thread of hope I was clinging to morph into anything more. Not yet. I needed to keep some distance.

“Anchor scares the shit out of me,” Lauren said. “If I hadn’t already mentioned that.”

“He’s on our side,” I reminded her. “That’s all that matters.”

She toyed with her fork, moving around pieces of lettuce in her salad bowl. “You think he would’ve killed that guy if he’d lied to us?”

I thought for a moment. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

“Are you okay with that? With working with someone like that?”

I pulled my napkin from my lap and tossed it on my plate. “Being okay with it has nothing to do with it. He can help us. That’s all I care about.”

“So if he had intimated he was going to kill that guy, you would’ve let it go?” she asked.

“It’s irrelevant,” I said. “He’s not going to kill him. Probably going to kick the crap out of him. Scare him. But that’s it. So it’s irrelevant.”

“I’m asking hypothetically.”

I leaned over the table. “Look, that kid was a scumbag. Who knows what else he’s done to people? He had zero problem stealing from our daughter and leaving her high and dry. He wasn’t sorry, even with Anchor and Kitting standing there. He didn’t care and he’ll run the same game tomorrow. And all I care about is getting Elizabeth back safely. Anchor can help us do that. So do I give a shit if Mikey or some guy like him ends up being collateral damage? No. I don’t. All I care about is finding Elizabeth. That’s it.”

My words came out sharper than I intended, but I meant everything I said. I didn’t care about anyone else, especially some piece of crap thief. And I didn’t have a problem working with Anchor or Kitting, as long as they could get me closer to Elizabeth. I’d come too far to start worrying about the gray ethical areas we might or might not have been entering.

Lauren laid her own napkin on the table. “Okay.”

“Hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bite your head off,” I said. “But she’s the only thing I care about.”

She pursed her lips. “I could never care about just one thing.”

“I know that.”

She started to say something, then stopped. Then she looked at her watch. “He’s going to be back soon. Can we run back up to the room really quick?”

I nodded. “Sure.” I signed my name to the check and we headed to the elevator on the other side of the lobby. We stepped into the car and she punched the number of our floor and the doors closed.

She circled her arm around mine. “I’m not judging. I swear I’m not. This is just a different world for me, Joe.”

“I know that.”

“And I’m glad you’re the way you are,” she said, looking at me. “You’re the reason we’re going to find her. I don’t need to understand it all. As long as you do, I’ll be alright with everything.”

The doors opened and we walked down the long hallway to the room. I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure what to say. I wasn’t sure there was anything to say.

Lauren slid the key card into the door, the lock clicked and she pushed on the door.

There was a loud beeping noise that we both heard immediately.

Her hands went to her pockets. “Jesus. That’s my phone. I left it in here when we were hurrying to get out of here.” She strode across the dark room while I fumbled with the light switch. The phone was laying on the table and she picked it up.

“It’s Morgan. A text.”

Blood pulsed in my ears.

Lauren touched the screen. “She has a number.”

“Did she send it?”

“She says to call her.”

“Do it. Now.”

She already had the phone to her ear. “Morgan, it’s Lauren Tyler. Can you talk?” She pulled the phone from her ear and touched the screen. “Can you hear me?”

“Yeah, I can,” Morgan said. “I texted you like half an hour ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Lauren said. “I left my phone in a hotel room.” She shook her head in disgust, like she couldn’t believe she’d been so careless.

“You have a number, Morgan?” I asked.

“She got another phone,” Morgan said. “One of those pay-as-you-go thingies. I don’t know how they work.”

“Give us the number,” I said, grabbing the small scratch pad and pen from the table.

Morgan recited it and I wrote it down.

“Did she say where she was?” I asked.

“No,” she said, the tone of her voice changing.

“Why not?”

“I tried to reason with her,” she said. “I told her I talked to you guys.”

I winced. “Okay.”

“And I think she was afraid I’d tell you. And she was totally serious. She doesn’t want to see you right now.”

My stomach sank.

“There’s something else,” Morgan said.

Lauren and I stayed silent, staring at the phone.

“She saw a postcard,” Morgan said. “In a drugstore or something. Of some blue bridge in San Diego.”

A chill ran down my spine.

“She thinks she’s supposed to go there,” she said. “She said it felt familiar.”

“Was she going there? Tonight?”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “She kept saying tomorrow.”

Lauren sat down on the foot of the bed, steadying herself with her hands.

“And she wouldn’t say where she is tonight?”

“No.”

“Okay,” I said. “That’s alright. This is all good. Is she going to call you back?”

“Yeah,” Morgan said. “I made her promise.”

I made a fist. “Good. When?”

“Before she goes to sleep,” she said. “Tonight. I told her that I needed to know she had a place to sleep for the night and the only way I wouldn’t call you guys was if she promised to call me.”

“That’s great, Morgan,” I said. “That’s a great job.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Her voice faltered a bit. “I don’t like lying to her.”

“You’re helping her. Think of it that way.”

“I guess.”

“Here’s the deal,” I said. “Stay close to your phone. We’re going to try and track down the phone. We might need your help. I’ll call you back. If you haven’t heard from me by the time she calls, make sure you call us the second you hang up with her. And if you can find out where she’s at, even better.”

“Okay. I’ll try.”

“I’ll talk to you soon,” I said, and we hung up.

Lauren was sitting ramrod straight on the bed.

I set the phone down on the table. “You okay?”

She shook her head. “No. Not really.”

I sat down next to her. “Talk to me.”

“I’m scared,” she said. “Scared what’s going to happen to her. Scared she’s in danger. Scared she’s going to think all of this is our fault. Scared she won’t love us anymore.”

“It’ll be okay,” I said, putting my arm around her.