Chapter Twenty-Six
Bree
Nathan had made me abandon my phone after those armed men had kidnapped me. It seemed paranoid, but the more I thought about how organized, and, well, professional those men had seemed, it made sense. Once they had me, they found out my full name. That meant they could trace my phone.
"At least we have her last name," I said again.
Nathan gritted his teeth and drove down another block. "Fat lot of good it's going to do us if we can't get on the Internet and search for her address."
"And to think there used to be phonebooks just hanging around." I tried to lighten the mood but Nathan was too focused.
"Maggie Wheeler," he muttered again.
"There!" I pointed to a neon-bright chain restaurant. "They have tablets at every table."
"Why?" Nathan asked as we cruised by.
"You can order food online, play games, put a song on the jukebox, check your email. You know, stuff normal people can do with their phones."
Nathan whipped the car around in a tight U-turn. "Sounds like hell."
"At least they have a salad bar. I haven't seen a green vegetable in days," I said.
Nathan didn't even crack a smile. He then proceeded to scare the cheer right out of the waitress who seated us. His focused face and clenched jaw had a dangerous look that kept me on edge, too.
He grabbed our booth's tablet, annoyed when he realized it was anchored to the table, and started to search for Wheelers immediately.
"I'll do the salad bar," I told our waitress. She put down our waters with a shaky hand as she looked at Nathan. He ignored her, so I said, "He will, too. And a basket of fries for the table."
The waitress scuttled away, and I studied Nathan. The problem was his obvious angst made him even more attractive. Nice girls weren't supposed to find that sexy.
I got up and joined him on his side of the booth, leaning close to see what he was doing on the tablet screen. "Any luck?"
"Thousands of hits. I have to narrow it down."
"Well, we know she went to school around here. Try to check local listings," I said.
Luckily, Springer, New Mexico was not the most densely populated area in the United States, and a local search only turned up a few phone numbers and addresses.
Nathan started to scribble the addresses on a napkin. "Can you program the phone numbers into the burner? We'll find somewhere quieter and call later."
He would have left as soon as I typed the last phone number in but our food arrived. Nathan scowled at the poor waitress, then held up his empty plate.
"Salad. For once." I led the way to the salad bar.
"Can't we get this to go?" Nathan heaped indiscriminate spoonfuls of things onto his plate.
"You really think you're going to solve it all right now?" I asked.
Nathan's expression softened. "Sorry. You're right."
It was as if he just now noticed the raucous restaurant we were in. Nathan tipped his head up and scanned the jumbled memorabilia hanging from the ceiling. There were arcade games in the corner, a dance floor shaped like a boxing ring, and a photo-op booth with animatronic dinosaurs.
"It's supposed to be fun," I joked.
Nathan strode back to our table and started to wolf down his pile of salad. "You've been to places like this before?"
I laughed. "A long time ago. With my sister…"
He noticed the way my sentence trailed off. "Isn't there a way you can check your voicemail even when you don't have your phone anymore?" he asked.
"She won't call," I said.
The waitress arrived with a variety of ketchups and almost dropped the entire tray when Nathan smiled at her. I knew that jittery feeling he could send straight to my core. Maybe that was why I had agreed to give him a ride in the first place. It shook up the heavy loneliness that had been settling inside me.
By the end of our quick meal, the waitress was flirting with Nathan and shooting me jealous looks. She brought our bill right away.
"Any suggestions for a good motel around here?" Nathan asked.
The waitress glanced at me and stiffened. "The Sunrise is okay."
I grabbed the check and held it up, laughing. "She left you her number!"
"Then I guess that means I should pay." Nathan grabbed the check from me and pulled out a wad of cash.
He double-checked that we had the phone numbers and addresses, then waved to the waitress as we left. If only she knew we were only heading to the motel to make phone calls.
When he pulled into the parking lot of the Sunrise Motel, I was hit by a dizzying wave. It looked exactly like the motel where the men in dark suits had held me hostage. My breath wouldn't come back, and the edges of my vision went gray.
"Bree? Bree, are you all right?" Nathan slammed the car into park and grabbed my arm.
"Yeah, yeah," I said. "Just deja-vu. All these motels are starting to look alike."
He got out and ran around the car to help me out of the passenger side. "You know, you could stay here, if you want. I'll track down Maggie's family and see what I can piece together."
I yanked my arm away from him. "We're in this together, remember? I'm not going to rot in some motel waiting for those men to find me again. I want to help."
"You're tired; you're traumatized. You don't have to be involved anymore." Nathan glanced around before opening the door to the motel lobby. "I think you'd be safe here."
"I'm safer with you." I gave his chin a pinch. "And you need me. How else would you have found the Internet tonight?"
"We have free Wi-Fi and a business center," the motel clerk announced proudly.
Nathan laughed. "I wish I had known that before. Tell me you know a great pizza place that delivers, and you're my new favorite motel. Sorry, salad's just not my thing."
I rolled my eyes and let Nathan chat with the motel clerk. The motel lobby felt like a giant fishbowl with windows on all sides. I tried to peer past my own reflection and into the night. I couldn't stop thinking about those armed men.
Were they still trailing us?
If they had been serious enough to kidnap me without a second thought, there was no way they had given up. I wondered how long it would take them to find the used car lot where we bought our ride for cash. The poor salesman there would get squeezed for information, and why would he hold out? I figured they were only a day or two behind us and working around the clock.
Whatever Nathan had done was not going to be forgotten by them. Too bad he couldn't remember.
"There's a pool and a hot tub. Maybe you want to take some time and relax," Nathan said.
I followed him out of the lobby and to our room on the first floor. Nathan always picked rooms that led right out to the parking lot. In case we had to make a quick run for it.
I rubbed my head, remembering how the black hood over my head had felt like drowning. "Maybe just a hot shower."
I steamed up the small motel bathroom but it did little to cloud my growing fear. The closer we got to Maggie and El Paso, the more certain I was we were driving straight into trouble. I wrapped a thin motel towel around me and rushed out, still dripping, to share my worry with Nathan.
"There's no Maggie there? Sorry, wrong number." Nathan hung up our burner phone and locked his eyes on me. "Feel better?"
"What if the Wheelers are the ones who sent those armed men after you?" I asked.
Nathan got up and peeked out the motel room window. "Pizza guy's coming."
"I'm serious, Nathan. What if by following these so-called clues, you're heading right back into the trouble that knocked you out in the first place?"
The teenager delivering the pizza gawked at me when Nathan opened the motel room door but I refused to move. Nathan paid him, grabbed the pizza, and slammed the door in his staring face.
"You hungry?" he asked me.
"Nathan, we need to talk about this. What if you're walking right into a trap when you should be getting help instead?"
He slumped into a chair at the small motel table. "We've talked about this. The authorities would hold us. I think Maggie needs us now."
"How many numbers do we have?" I asked.
"Eight."
I yanked on a sweatshirt and a pair of underpants. "I'll call while you eat. Then we'll switch."
Nathan dug into the pizza while I called one phone number after another. Some of the Wheelers had moved, some had never had a Maggie in the family, some had Maggies who were long-gone or passed-on. Most people I got on the line simply told me there was no Maggie there and hung up.
"My turn," Nathan said.
He pried the phone from my hand and shoved me in the direction of the motel bed. I crawled into it but refused to go to sleep. The worry still clawed at my brain, and I knew I couldn't sleep until we had found another clue.
"Hi. Sorry to disturb you so late, but I'm trying to find a Maggie Wheeler," Nathan said.
He quickly fumbled the phone and put it on speaker. I heard a woman's voice asking him to repeat the question.
"Maggie Wheeler?" Nathan asked the faint voice.
"Maggie," the woman said and then there was a long pause.
Nathan drew in a deep breath to try to explain but then the line went dead. "She hung up on me."
I leaned over and snatched up the napkin where Nathan had written the addresses. "She's the second to last number, right? We have her current address."
Nathan jumped up and grabbed the napkin from me. "She has to know something. Maybe she's Maggie's mother?"
I struggled to get out from under the soft covers. "Well, we know she's awake."
Nathan stopped me and tucked me back in. "You're exhausted. Get some rest. We'll go first thing in the morning."
I leaned back against the lumpy motel pillows but refused to close my eyes until Nathan settled down. He paced around, ate another slice of pizza, flipped through the local channels on the television, and then finally came to bed. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep the instant his arm snaked around my waist.
Cuddled in his arms was the first time I had felt safe all night.