“You little asshole,” Lauren hissed. “Pimping her out.”

Will’s hands were at his mouth, his expression more surprised than hurt.

“You’re fired,” Beltran said, quietly. “You’re done.”

Will frowned, but didn’t seem all that surprised.

“Address,” I said. “I want an address for this guy.”

“I don’t know his exact address,” Will said, dropping his hands from his mouth.

“But you know where he lives,” I said.

“Yeah, pretty much,” he said.

“I can get an address out of his file,” Beltran said. “I’ll be right back.”

She hustled across the lobby.

“He should accompany us,” Anchor said. “Just to make sure we find it.”

“I agree,” I said.

“Look, man, I’m not going anywhere,” Will said, shaking his head. “I just…”

Anchor was next to him, his hand gripping Will’s arm, whispering into his ear. The color drained from Will’s face and, after a frozen moment, he gave a short, curt nod. Anchor released his arm and patted him on the shoulder.

“He’ll be coming with us,” Anchor said, smiling at me.

TWENTY-EIGHT

“We have a small complication,” Anchor said from the passenger seat.

We were idling in front of the hotel. Will Thorton sat pressed into between Lauren and myself in the back with Ellis behind the wheel.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Seems someone is following us,” Anchor said.

Lauren glanced at me across a hunched down Will Thorton.

“Who?” I asked.

“Not sure,” Anchor said. “But we’re going to find out. So just bear with us for a moment, please.”

I wasn’t sure what other choice we had.

Ellis pulled the SUV away from the curb slowly, then made a U-turn at the end of the parking lot. We passed the front entrance and made a left out onto the street in front of the hotel. We drove maybe twenty-five feet before Ellis jerked the wheel, crossed the double yellow line and screeched to a diagonal halt in front of a car parked at the curb. Both he and Anchor were out of the car before we’d seemingly come to a halt.

“What the hell is going on?” Lauren asked.

“No clue,” I said, staring out the window.

Anchor and Ellis were flanking a late model American sedan—Ford, Chevy, I wasn’t sure—but it looked like a rental to me. Anchor was on the driver’s side and Ellis was on the passenger’s side, perched on the sidewalk, eyes riveted to the car. I didn’t see weapons, but I was certain they were there and could get them out quicker than whomever was in the car that had apparently been tailing us.

Ellis moved closer to the car and his hand snaked around to the small of his back.

Anchor was in tight on the driver’s side window, his hand on the door.

The door opened.

Lauren and I both saw who it was at the same time, but she said it before I could. “What the hell?”

I slid out of my seat, opened the door, walked around the front end of the car and said to Bryce Ponder “What the hell are you doing here?”

Bryce was wearing the same clothes he’d had on in Denver and his chest was puffed out. “Looking for Ellie.”

Anchor glanced at me. “You know him?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but he’s supposed to be back in Minnesota.” I switched my gaze back to Bryce. “I told you to go home.”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” he said, lifting his chin.

“The hell I can’t,” I said. “We told you. You took an unaccompanied minor across state lines. I guess I need to make that call now. I didn’t think you were this stupid.”

The air left his chest and his shoulders slumped. “You can’t call the cops, man.”

“Really? I can’t?”

“Let me interrupt for a moment,” Anchor said, then motioning at Kitting. Kitting nodded and went back to the SUV. “I’m going to give you two a couple of minutes to get this figured out.” He looked at me. “Handle it however you’d like and let me know if you need assistance.” Then he turned to Bryce. “And I’ll say this one time. Do not follow us when we leave. Do not follow us again. I will see you. If I do, you won’t be able to follow anyone again for a very long time. In a car or in any other manner.” Anchor retreated to the car.

Bryce Ponder swallowed hard, watching Anchor as he walked back to the SUV.

“He’s not kidding,” I said. “And either am I.” I pulled out my phone.

“Please don’t call the cops, man,” he said. “I just want to help find her.”

I scrolled through my contacts and found the number I wanted, then punched it. “I’m not calling the cops.”

Relief swept through him. “Thanks.”

“I’m calling your parents.”

His eyes went wide. “What? No, you…”

The line clicked over and Ed Ponder said, “Hello?”

“Mr. Ponder, this is Joe Tyler,” I said, staring at Bryce. “I’m going to put you on speaker for a moment.”

I pulled the receiver from my ear and touched the screen. “Can you hear me alright?”

“Yeah, I can hear you.”

“I’m standing here with Bryce,” I said. “And I need your help.”

“You’re with Bryce?” Ed Ponder asked. “In Colorado?”

“No,” I said. “We’re in California.”

“California?”

“Yeah,” I said, staring at Bryce. Briefly, I recounted how we’d met up with Bryce in Denver and how he’d then followed us to California despite our telling him to return home.

Ed Ponder muttered something under his breath. I couldn’t make out the words but they weren’t pleasant.

“So, here’s my dilemma,” I said. “I can’t have him out here, getting in the way. It’s not going to work. He told us he’d head back to Minnesota and he didn’t. My inclination is to call the authorities now. But I promised you I would do everything I could to avoid getting him in trouble with his probation. I’d like to keep that promise. So, I’m calling you.”

A long sigh came through the phone. “I’m nearly inclined to tell you just to call the cops.”

Bryce frowned and shook his head, chewing on his thumbnail.

“But I guess I’d rather you not,” Ed said. “Everything being even, I’d rather you not.”

“So what do we do?” I asked.

“He’s there? He can hear me?” Ed asked. “Bryce you there?”

I looked at Bryce.

“I’m here, Dad,” Bryce mumbled.

“I have no idea what you’re doing,” Ed Ponder said. “None. But it sounds like Mr. Tyler is willing to cut you a break if you’ll do the right thing for a change. We know you have the credit card your mother arranged for you. You still have it, right?”

Bryce shuffled his feet. “Yeah.”

“Go to the airport. Now,” Ed said. “Buy a ticket home. We’ll pick you up.”

“My truck’s in Denver,” Bryce said.

“We’ll worry about that later. Go to the airport and buy a ticket. If you can’t get a flight until morning, you spend the night there at the airport. You wanna do anything else, you’re on your own.”

Bryce’s hands were balled up and I knew he wanted to lash out. Hit me, hit something. But he didn’t. He took a deep breath. “Alright.”

“Call me when you get to the airport,” Ed said. “Mr. Tyler?”

“I’m here,” I said.

“Thank you,” he replied. “For calling and for giving him another chance to save his own rear end. My wife and I both appreciate it. You need anything else from us, please let me know.”

“Will do,” I said and we hung up.

Bryce and I stood on the sidewalk for a moment.

“I wasn’t trying to cause trouble,” he said. “I really wasn’t.”

“I believe you.”

His eyes clouded over. “I’m just worried about her.”

“Me, too. But the best way for you to help is to go home.”

He nodded. “I will. But can I give you something?”

“Give me something?”

He fished in the pocket of his jeans for a moment, then pulled his hand out and extended it to me. A small silver bracelet was in his palm and I took it. There were several small charms attached. A moon, a sun and a small cat.

“I gave it to her for her birthday,” he said. “I found it on the counter in the bathroom in the hotel in Denver. I think she forgot it. Would you give it to her when you find her?”