Chapter 31
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Andrew
“Mary-Elizabeth,” I shout as I step into our home. My blood simmers with rage but I refuse to let it consume me, I need a clear mind if I’m going to get her back.
And I will get her back.
“You’re so late—” Looking back from the dining room table, she stops when she sees it’s me. “And you’re so not Chase,” she sputters as she starts collecting papers that are spread across the table.
Chase closes the door behind us and walks over to my sister. “The game has changed. Your twin has decided to join the hunt.”
Her eyes light up with curiosity. “What happened?”
“You’ve been hiding all this from me?” I walk over to the table and begin leafing through print outs of messages, marked up maps, and photographs.
“I’m sorry, Drew, I—”
“Don’t apologize,” Chase interrupts as he turns to me. “You’ve been a ticking time bomb, man, we weren’t trying to do anything to set that off, especially when you refused to believe us,” he levels.
I let out an aggravated breath, but nod and shoot her an apologetic look. I have no right to be upset, he’s right, I would have flipped out.
Marybeth slams her hand on the table. “Someone needs to tell me what happened, right now.”
“I found your brother at Moonlit bar. You’ll never guess what we found the bartender wearing.” Chase nods to me. I take out the necklace and set it on the table.
Marybeth’s eyes widen in shock as she stares at the crown. “She really was taken.” She slumps back in the wooden chair.
I let out a weary sigh. “Yeah, can you please catch me up on everything you’ve found?”
During the next hour, I learn that while I was moping around, they were busting their ass to find anything and everything that would lead them to Tess. Chase used his friend on the force to find Ace’s accomplices who had yet to be captured. He spent weeks tracking down anyone who lived within the town’s radius, following them around for any sign of our missing girl.
My sister tapped into the gossip well of Alder Grove and began asking questions regarding old grudges against Tess, starting with Scott, Lilah, and Bailey. Although she’s not thought of fondly by most of her old classmates, none seemed to harbor any kidnap-worthy anger. Tessa’s mother had shockingly met bail, but for all intents and purposes, seemed to have left town. However, she’s still the most likely suspect.
When I’m caught up on their findings, I sit back and gape at them, reeling with all the information. “This is crazy, you know that right? I can’t believe you guys have done all this.” I run my fingers through my hair as I attempt to process everything.
“It’s not anything she wouldn’t do for any one of us,” Chase states, and I know that to be a fact.
“I know it’s too obvious, but I’m guessing you checked her old house next to Mom and Dad’s, right?”
Marybeth rolls her eyes. “What is this? Amateur hour? Of course we did, especially after the police refused to. They said there was no evidence of foul play and that Tessa must have run off. They seemed to have a rather biased opinion of the Kinsleys in general, gotta love small town cops. Anyway, there was one window I was able to see into. I sat there for a whole day, never saw a single person. By the looks of it, her mom hasn’t been home since she got out of jail.”
I round on Chase, “Please tell me that you didn’t allow her to help stalk Ace’s thugs for fuck’s sake.” I groan thinking of my tiny sister in a pink trench coat and heels trying to be discreet.
Marybeth scoffs from across the table. “No, he refused to let me help.”
I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Okay, you said you had a new development, spill.” Chase looks to Marybeth expectantly.
Her shoulders shift and she looks away for a moment, whatever she learned isn’t good news. “A man in a suit came over the other day when I was watering the plants at Mom and Dad’s. He introduced himself as our new neighbor, I forget his name, but apparently Tessa’s mom sold the house and this guy is fixing it up. Which means. . .”
“Which means, Ms. Kinsley really did take off, and there’s a good possibility she took Tessa with her,” Chase mutters.
“Fuck.” Kicking the chair out, I stand up and rub my face in frustration. “Can your cop friend pull the plates or credit cards to trace her?” I ask, hanging on to a thread of hope.
“No man, he has a family and could have lost his job over the first favor I asked. Shit.” He begins to pace, but stops abruptly to look at me. “What about Connor?”
My face twists in disgust. “Not happening.”
“Wait, Creepy Connor from school?” Marybeth interjects, looking back and forth between us.
Chase blows out a breath. “Yeah, Sam stayed in touch with him, told me he got even better after high school. He could help us find her, Drew.”
“I don’t know man.”
“Do we have any other options?” Chase’s voice wavers.
I realize I’m not the only one on the brink of falling apart. Hope in all of us flickers, threatening to extinguish.
I can’t let that happen.
“Okay, find out what you can from Sam so we can pay Creepy Connor a little visit. We will find her, and when we do, she’s gonna kick all our asses for taking so long. You good, sis?”
“Yeah.” She sniffles, turning to Chase who stands with his palms pressed to the table and his head down.
“What if?”
“Don’t,” I snap. “We’re gonna get our girl, and she’s going to be fine. Do you understand me?” He looks up slowly and nods.
After Chase has an address, we pile into Gus and spend the next half an hour on the road in silence. The air is thick with unspoken worry. The worst possible situations continue to pop to the surface of my mind. It’s taking the last of my remaining sanity to keep pushing them down.
Our fairytale had never been more backwards, after everything we’d overcome to find true happiness, where was the happily ever after we deserved?