“About forty minutes. Liza went out looking for them. Thinks she saw tail lights heading for the road. Said she tried to call Naomi, but she’s not picking up her phone. I tried too and got voicemail. I’m sure it’s nothing, but I need you to tell Naomi.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
My heart was hitting like a damn bass drum.
“Naomi stepped out to make a call, and no one’s seen her since. I’m standing in the fucking parking lot, and she’s not here.”
“Goddammit.”
“I don’t like this,” I said, dragging a hand through my hair. “I’m gonna go look for them.”
“Do me a favor first and call Naomi’s parents. I’m gonna get Liza and have some of my guys do a sweep of the woods.”
“She’s not gonna be there,” I told him.
“Gotta start somewhere. Call you back,” Nash said.
I immediately dialed Naomi’s number and headed back inside. Fi followed me with wide, worried eyes.
I snapped my fingers at her. “Get on the security feed for the parking lot.”
She didn’t give me an ounce of shit, just bobbed her head and hurried off in the direction of the office.
“Naomi okay, boss?” Milford asked.
“She’s not out there.”
“Hey! I could use a hand out here. The natives are gettin’ restless and thirsty,” Max said, swinging through the kitchen door. She took one look at us and stopped in her tracks. “What?”
“Can’t find Naomi,” I told her as the phone rang and rang in my ear.
“What the hell did you say to her this time?” Max demanded.
“Hi, you’ve reached Naomi Witt. Thanks for calling! Leave a message.”
I hit redial as worry crept over me like an icy, black cloud.
“Come on, Daze. Pick up,” I muttered.
“Let me try,” Max said, pulling out her phone.
“Tell me the second you talk to her. I need to know where she is.”
“What’s happening?” Silver asked, sticking her head in the door.
“Waylay and Naomi are missing,” I snapped.
All eyes landed on me.
“What are the odds that they’d both go missing at the same time?” Max asked.
I shook my head and scrolled through my contacts. My hands were shaking. I dialed Lou’s number.
“I know it’s date night, and I know I’m not your favorite person right now, but I think we’ve got trouble,” I told him when he answered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Liza said Waylay went missing again. She and Nash are out looking for her now, but Naomi walked out of the bar to make a call, and I can’t find her either.”
“I’ll meet you at Honky Tonk in two minutes,” he said.
“If something happened to them, Lou…” I couldn’t even finish the thought.
“We’re gonna find them. Keep it together, son.”
“Knox.” The worry in Fi’s tone had me turning fast.
“I gotta go,” I said and hung up. “What did you find?”
“Her coat and bag are still behind the bar. And the camera has her getting into a car in the parking lot about ten minutes ago.”
Ten minutes felt like a lifetime. “What kind of car? Who was driving?”
“I couldn’t tell. On either count. Some dark, crappy sedan. But it looks like she got in willingly.”
“What the hell’s going on?” Wraith demanded, poking his head into the kitchen. “There’s gonna be a revolt out here soon if someone doesn’t start pouring beers.”
“Naomi’s missing,” Fi told him.
“Fuck me.”
“Waylay too,” Max added with a tearful sniffle.
“Double fuck,” Wraith said, then disappeared back into the bar.
“Her phone,” Fi said.
“She’s not answering.”
“But she’s on your family plan, isn’t she?”
My mind was going a million miles a minute. I needed to get out there and start looking for her. Every second I wasted was one second that she got farther away. “Yeah.”
Max slapped me in the arm. “You can track her!”
Technology for the fucking win. I shoved my phone at her. “Find her.”
As she moved deft fingers over the screen, I headed for my office. I grabbed my coat and keys and returned to the bar.
It wasn’t the pandemonium I’d expected from pissed-off drinkers on a Saturday night. It was organized chaos. Wraith stood on the bar, boots planted between beer glasses. Everyone was gathered around, shrugging into coats.
“Last seen getting into a dark gray four-door shitmobile wearing a denim skirt and long-sleeved shirt that says Honky Tonk.”
“What the hell is this?” I demanded.
“Search party,” Silver said as she shoved her arms into a gray tweed coat.
The front door opened, and everyone turned expectantly.
It was Lou and Amanda.
“Let ’em through,” Wraith ordered. The crowd parted for them, and they hurried forward.
“I got her!” Max said, holding my phone up triumphantly. “Looks like she’s just off Route 7 near the Lucky Horseshoe Farm.”
I snatched it out of her hand. “Call Nash,” I said, pointing to Lou.
Lou turned to Amanda. “Call Nash. I’m going with him.”
I didn’t waste time arguing. We hit the parking lot, and I had the truck started before either of us closed the doors. I floored it out of the lot, fishtailing onto the road.
“Who took her?”
“I don’t know for sure,” I said, gripping the wheel tighter. “But if Waylay’s missing too, my money’s on Tina.”
Lou swore under his breath.
My phone rang. It was Nash. I hit the speaker button.
“You find Way?” I asked.
“No. I’m bringing Liza J into town. Got some footage off the Morrison’s doorbell cam. Dark, shitty sedan pulled out of Liza’s about an hour ago. A big, black SUV was parked on the shoulder, waiting for it. Headlights set off the motion sensor. Timeline fits for Liza seein’ the brake lights. Also got a call about a hit and run. Someone smashed through the Loy’s fence along the road over at Lucky Horseshoe.”
Lou and I glanced at each other. “We’re on our way there now, tracking Naomi’s phone.”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Nash ordered.
Lucky Horseshoe was a short drive, made shorter by the fact that I hit 90 miles per hour.
“Should be right up here,” Lou said, peering at my phone.
I let off the gas. Then hit the brakes hard when I saw the fence. “Shit.”
Tire marks swerved off the road and smashed right through the rail fence. I turned the wheel so my lights could follow the path and put the truck in park.