“No shit.”
I spend the drive stroking Margo’s hair, willing her to wake up. Her face is peaceful—minus the blood—and she could pass for sleeping. Except her skin is chilled. Some asshole abducted her and left her in a breezy barn without a jacket or her shoes.
I’m going to kill them.
“You don’t think your family was behind this, do you?”
I tug at the tape on Margo’s wrists. “We’ve been operating under the assumption that Unknown is our age.”
He grunts. “Does she have her phone on her?”
I shift her, feeling her pockets. “Nope.”
“How’s she doing?”
“It’d be great if you could drive faster.”
Eli’s already driving like a maniac, but at this point, I wish we had my speedy little car instead of his massive truck. I’m not a doctor, but Margo being unconscious isn’t a good sign.
It’s a really fucking bad one.
“We’re here, we’re here,” he calls, bumping down the drive toward the emergency room.
As soon as the truck stops moving, I fling the door open and jump out, keeping Margo tight against my chest so she doesn’t bounce.
He follows me inside.
I should’ve taken the tape off her arms and legs.
A nurse rushes toward me. “What happened?”
“I—she was abducted. I found her.”
Chaos. She instructs me to set her on a gurney, and a doctor leans over her. They shuffle me backward, but the doctor’s gaze stays on me.
“This is the missing girl?” he asks.
I nod woodenly. “She was in a car accident.”
“Sit down, son,” the doctor orders. “We’ll take good care of her.”
The original nurse leads me to a chair in the waiting room. “Is that your truck?”
“No, mine,” Eli says. “I’ll go… move it…”
“It’s in the way of the ambulance bay,” she explains. “There’s a parking—”
“I know.”
He leaves, and I’m reminded that he was just doing this not too long ago. Different state, different circumstances… same fucked-up feeling going into a hospital gives you.
He’s not going to be back for a while.
I hunch lower and eye the people going in and out of the ER. Margo’s behind a locked door. Just when I had her in my arms again…
Eli’s dad bursts into the waiting room, gaze swinging around before he finds me. He’s usually a composed man, but right now…
Ah.
Detective Masters is right behind him.
“His goal is to make a scene,” Mr. Black says. “He can’t do anything. He has no evidence.”
I stand. “What’s going on?”
Mr. Black stops in front of me. “He wants to bring you down to the station for questioning. He thinks you—it doesn’t matter. It’s best if we go. He’s threatening to get an arrest warrant if you don’t go amicably—bunch of bullshit, if you ask me, but it’s harder to scrub that from your record. I’ll follow you there.”
“Mr. Asher,” Detective Masters calls. He’s got a gleam in his eye like he’s about to enjoy this next part.
I wish I knew what I did in our ten-minute interview to make such an impression.
“You’re going to come down to the station with me. We need to have a little chat.”
I stiffen. They’re going to take me away from the hospital. And what will be the first thing Margo sees? Someone who doesn’t give a fuck about her? Her social worker, or worse, the detective himself.
“I can’t right now,” I tell them. “Margo will wake up soon.”
“Now, Caleb, I doubt Margo would want to hear that you refused to help on her case.” He smirks. “Just imagine how hurt she might be by that information.”
“Come on, son,” Mr. Black whispers.
I stare at him for a moment, then turn back to the detective. “Fine.”
He guides me by the arm out of the hospital.
Lenora almost runs head-first into us at the sliding doors. “Caleb! D-Detective Masters!” Her attention bounces back and forth. “What on earth are you doing?”
“Just have a few questions for Mr. Asher, here,” the detective says.
I would very much like to punch him in the face.
Break his nose, maybe.
“But—”
“We’ve got to get going.” He sounds apologetic. “I’ll be in touch once Margo is awake.”
She nods, scanning my face, then steps to the side.
He hauls me outside, and his grip gets firmer. “Like that little show, did you, boy? You have a grim look on your pretty face. Heh. Not used to getting caught, more like.”
I say nothing.
He puts me in the back of his car, his hand heavy on the back of my head.
He hasn’t arrested me, but it sure feels like he’s about to cart me off and lock me away. My mind jumps ahead to the implications, and what my uncle would do when he finds out, then circles back to Margo.
Ah, well. This wouldn’t be the first thing the Asher family has covered up.
Margo
I wake up much the same as I did last time: violently.
My body jackknifes, pain crashing through me. It goes straight to my head, and so do my hands.
Someone rushes in. “Margo, Margo, calm down. You’re in the hospital.”
Stars burst behind my eyelids, but I recognize Lenora’s voice. She eases me back, muttering about the lights. A second later, everything in my peripherals goes dim. I lower my fingers away from my eyes and blink.
It still hurts, but not nearly as bad.
Lenora hovers at the side of the bed, her arms crossed over her chest. “I was so worried. I’m not allowed to tell you—”
A nurse comes in, followed quickly by a doctor. The doctor introduced himself, but I can’t focus on his words. I’m too busy eyeing the expression on my foster mother’s face… and trying to decipher it.
“You have a concussion,” the doctor says. I missed his name. “Expect headaches, maybe memory fragments.” He clears his throat. “There’s a detective outside who wants to speak with you.”
I widen my eyes. “Wait. You’re not going to tell me how I got here?”
He takes a step closer, sliding his hand into mine and squeezing. “Try to remember. Close your eyes.”
A nurse says, “You shouldn’t—”
“Leave us for a moment,” the doctor orders.
He notices I’m ignoring his directions and staring at Lenora. Her gaze has been on the floor, but now it flips up and crashes into mine.
“Can you give us a moment, Mrs. Jenkins?”
She flinches. “Yes, yes. But the detective can’t come in until her case worker gets here. She’s a minor.”
She leaves, and it’s almost like she was never here to begin with.
“Just us now,” he says. “So I want you to take a deep breath and think of the last thing you remember. Don’t say it out loud. Liz was right, I shouldn’t be helping.”
I grip his hand tighter. “What if I don’t want to remember?”