It’s the crack of dawn and I’m outside these asshat brothers’ house banging on the door. Why, you ask? Because none of the needle dicks will answer my phone calls.

Two days. That’s how long it’s been since I’ve heard from Alice. Last time I talked to her, she was leaving the police station and she promised to call the next day with the details for the exhumation of her dad’s body. I knew I should have left Ben’s and gone home, but she was adamant that she needed some time alone. Just her and her dog. I expected to hear from her the next day, but when I didn’t, I figured she and Dobey were vegged out on the couch eating ice cream. The next morning came and went without a word. I tried calling several times without response. I made Ben drive me home, my gut telling me that something was wrong and I may need him.

I noticed the smell first. Dobey greeted me at the door, but that was normal. What wasn’t, was the horrible smell of pee and poop. Last time I checked, even after her dad died and Alice was at her lowest, she didn’t pee or poop on the floors.

“Alice!” I call out, but I know deep in my gut that she isn’t here to answer me.

“Babe, something isn’t right.” I look behind me to see Ben with a grossed out look on his face. “I’m pretty sure I just stepped in Dobey’s poop. There’s also a trail of garbage all over this place.”

“Do me a favor, Ben, take Dobey out back while I run upstairs. I’m going to see if Alice left anything that will tell me where she is.”

I watch the two of them head outside before I take the stairs two at a time. When I reach her room, I don’t know what I’m expecting to see, but I’m disappointed to notice that nothing is out of place. Her bed is still made, meaning Dobey probably stayed downstairs and by the door the entire time she’s been gone. Her clothes are all here, so are her suitcases. I already knew she didn’t just leave. She would never do that without telling me first, and she would never leave her beloved Dobey behind. Something has happened.

I pull my phone out of my back pocket and dial the first brother I think of. When his voicemail picks up, I leave a quick message. “North, it’s Zoe. Have you seen Alice? Call me.”

I leave the same message for Oren, Ridge, and Cash. I’ve only called them one other time, and that was when we exchanged numbers after Alice first met them all. I wonder if they’re all in a meeting, but something tells me they are deliberately ignoring me. The question is, why?

I meet Ben and Dobey downstairs. “Ben, do you mind if we stay here tonight? Just in case she’s run out for a bit…”

Ben wraps me up in a hug. “Of course. I’ll go find the trash bags and floor cleaner. We can help her by cleaning this mess up before she gets back home.”

We work for a few hours cleaning up and putting things back where they were. Who knew so much poop could come out of one dog? Not to mention all the trash he threw all over the house or the pillows he shredded all over the downstairs. This dog better be glad I like him.

Nighttime falls and the three of us trudge upstairs. Dobey jumps in bed with us, but his eyes are always on the door. It’s like he’s waiting for her to walk through it at any second. I toss and turn all night, my mind refusing to slow down. I think of all the different scenarios that could have happened, but in the end, I decide the first thing I need to do is go to the Michaelson house and demand some answers. Have they or have they not seen Alice? Why did they refuse to answer my calls or return them?

This brings me to where I am now. Banging on their door before the sun has had time to fully rise. It’s on my third attempt at knocking the door down, that it’s practically ripped from its hinges by a very angry and tired looking Ridge.

“The hell do you want?”

I lift my eyebrow at this behemoth man with an attitude this morning. “Have you seen Alice?”

“No. We haven’t seen her since Monday.”

Ridge begins to shut the door but I slap my hand on it first. “Monday? As in four days ago?”

He cocks his head to the side thinking. “Yeah. We haven’t seen her in four days. Why?”

“Have you talked to her? Texted her? Anything?”

“Zoe, what’s going on?”

I get up in his face and yell, my patience is now completely gone. “Have you heard from Alice since then, you dumb piece of shit?!”

“What the heck is going on out there?” Oren pushes his way past his twin and stops when he sees me. I’m sure my eyes are large and wild. I can only imagine what the rest of me looks like right now.

“Oren, tell me you’ve talked to Alice since Monday.”

He shakes his head. “No, Zoe. I’m sorry, but none of us have talked to her since then. What exactly is going on. Where is Alice?”

“Something has happened to her,” I mumble. I don’t want to say the words out loud. Maybe if I don’t, I’ll wake up and this will all be a dream. I’ll tell Alice that I acted like a crazy person and then she’ll laugh at me and tell me to stay away from the pot brownies. Damn her for hiring Hudson. His brownies are the pot bomb. I let out a crazed laugh.

I feel a pair of hands on my shoulders shaking me. “Zoe!”

I look up into the worried face of North. “Look at me, Zoe. Where is Alice? What is going on?”

I begin to shake all over. “She’s gone. I haven’t talked to her since she left the police station Tuesday morning. She left Dobey alone.” I hear a sharp intake of breath before I’m pulled through the front door. North drags me into the kitchen and sits me down on a barstool.

“Start from the beginning and tell us everything.”

I start with her going to see Detective Duff and him asking her to agree to have her dad’s body exhumed. There’s a few mumbled curses after I drop that bombshell. I expected her to call me the next morning so I could be there with her, but she never did. I tried to call her, but I explained that I thought maybe she was busy with them, so I didn’t think anything of it. Alice would call me when she knew the information, because she couldn’t do this without me, and I’d never allow her to. We’re best bitches till death.

“So, she never called you back? There was nothing in the house that told you where she may be?”

I study Cash before responding. “Nothing. You all know she would never go off for more than a few hours without Dobey. When we got to the house yesterday, it was a mess. He’s been there alone at least a day, if not more.”

Ridge stands up. “Oren, find Detective Duff’s number and call him. See if he’s talked to her. Being there for her dad isn’t something she would miss, no matter what. Cash, call Sally. See if she’s heard anything or seen her in the last few days. North, can you call John at PNS? Maybe she checked in with him. She wouldn’t take off without him knowing about it. She’s almost obsessed with checking in on that shop.”

I watch each of the guys grab their phones and begin making calls. One by one, I see their faces begin to change. I know before they hang up that every call was a dead end.

North, Oren, and Cash confirm my suspicions when they each hang up, shaking their heads. “Now what? Is Detective Duff going to look for her?”

Oren grabs my hands in his. “He’s putting an APB out right now for her car and calling all the local hospitals. He said he would call back as soon as he has any information.”

I hop off the stool and head for the front door. I’m stopped by a hand grabbing my wrist. Turning around, I look up at an angry North. “Where do you think you’re going, Zoe?”

Ripping my arm free, I shove him away from me. “I don’t know what happened between all of you. Last time I talked to her, she was upset and headed home, which means that one of you did something stupid to hurt her. I’m not about to sit around here on my ass and wait for the police to call. I’m going to go look myself.” I look behind North and see three guilty faces. “The four of you can stay here. It’s not like you care what happened to her anyways.”

“Zoe, that’s not fair.”

“Screw you, North. None of you could even answer my phone calls or texts yesterday. If one of you gave half a crap about her, you would have picked up and I could have been looking yesterday. Your sorry excuses cost me a whole day. She’s out there somewhere, while the four of you sit here not giving a damn. Well, I’m not you. I love Alice, and I will do anything to get her back home.”

I turn away and stomp out the door and back to my car. I count to five, telling myself that’s all the time they’ll need to run out of their house.

I only get to three.

I smile and start my car, waiting for them to separate. Cash jumps in with me, while Oren and North get in Ridge’s truck.

“Let’s take the South Loop towards Midtown. Ridge is going to head East toward the river.”

We back up and head out, silently looking everywhere for any sign of Alice or her car. Cash periodically calls or receives a call from one of his brothers. After driving for almost three hours, we haven’t seen anything. I’m about to give up and head back to the Michaelson house when Cash’s phone rings.

“Yeah? Hold on.”

Cash puts his phone on speaker and holds it up between us. “Go ahead, North. We’re listening.”

“Duff just called, they found her car.”

I reach out and grab Cash’s arm holding the phone and ask North, “Is she okay?”

The line is silent for a moment before he responds. “She wasn’t in the car. It’s not far from the police station, on one of the backroads that would lead her downtown.” I hear a deep breath across the line. “The car has been wrecked. It looks like she hit a tree.”

“Send us the address, North. Zoe and I will meet you there.”

Cash hangs up the phone and enters the address into the car’s GPS after North’s text comes through. We let the navigation lead us, both of us too lost in our own thoughts to even attempt to get there on our own. I see the blue flashing lights before I see Alice’s car. What’s left of it, that is.

Cash and I jump out of the car and meet his brothers by a tree that Alice somehow managed to wrap her car around. The car is literally curled around the tree, the driver’s side having taken the brunt of it. I feel my legs about to give out when Cash pulls me closer to him.

“We’ll find her, Zoe.”

I look up to Cash. “What happened? Did she wreck and someone took her to the hospital and not know who to call?”

Before Cash can answer, an older man in a worn suit walks over to us. Tipping his hat to us, he introduces himself as Detective Duff. “Ma’am, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

“Of course not.”

“When is the last time you spoke to Alice?”

“She called me four days ago. In fact, she called before she left the lot at the police station. I believe she had just had a meeting with you about digging up her dad.”

Detective Duff clears his throat. “So, no one has seen or heard from her since?” He scratches the back of his neck.

“Just spit it out, Detective. Did you find something in her car?” I’m beginning to shake, his demeanor setting off alarms in my head.

“We found a rag in the front seat. It smells strong, like ether.”

“Ether?”

Cash’s grip on my shoulder tightens. “Ether, like gas?”

“Yes. I’ve sent it to the lab, but I’m willing to bet that it’s going to come back positive for chloroform.”

I gasp at this information.

“We also found quite a bit of blood in the seat, and the floor. It could have been from the wreck. There’s a lot of glass from the driver’s window and windshield shattering. I’ve sent samples back. We should know within the hour what blood type it is.” He looks away. “You wouldn’t happen to know her blood type, would you?”

“She’s AB positive. I know because we’re the same. We always joked that we really were sisters from another mister.” A sob breaks free when I think of her saying that.

Detective Duff pulls out a baggie from his pocket. “Are either of you familiar with this place?”

In the bag is a red matchbook with gold letters saying ‘Golden Pony’. I shake my head, “I’ve never heard of the Golden Pony. What kind of place is that?”

“It’s a, um, well, it’s a gentleman’s club.”

I blink a few times. “A gentleman’s club? The kind with poles and naked girls?”

Detective turns a bright shade of red when he says, “Yes, ma’am.”

“Alice would never go somewhere like that.”

“She might.” Cash looks down at me. “We know about the ladies at the warehouse, Zoe. What if she went there to try and help someone?”

“That’s not possible. The apartments are completely full. Besides, she wouldn’t do anything like that without me.” I think back over our conversations then stop. Glancing back up, I stare at Cash. “How did you know?” I watch him flinch, but not answer. “Cash, tell me how you knew about the girls.”

“It doesn’t matter…”

“Don’t give me that crap, Cash. Tell me how you knew.” The guilt on his face is all the answer I need. “That’s why you haven’t talked to her since Monday, isn’t it? You found out and, I’d bet everything I have, y’all jumped to conclusions without asking her or hearing her out. I’m right, aren’t I?”

“It wasn’t like that, Zoe.” He pulls me away from listening ears and closer to his brothers. “Why didn’t she tell us about it, Zoe? Why keep the fact that the two of you were selling illegal pot from us?”

“Whoa.” I throw my hands in the air. “It wasn’t like that at all. She didn’t do it for the money. The board members told her, she had a year to make a profit and pull Du-Kane, Inc. out of the red or she’d lose her position. She would lose everything. But you know Alice, she was determined to prove herself and do it in six months.” I look around at the four brothers. “You didn’t know any of this did you? Jesus, you four are idiots. She came up with the idea to sell FLAG for one month, just to try to push the company out of the downward spiral. We had every intention of selling it at PNS after the month was up.” I put my fingers to my temples, trying to repress the headache that is beginning to form. “You didn’t ask her about any of it. You just assumed the worst and accused her of lying and doing something shady, didn’t you? I don’t need an answer, the guilty looks on your faces says it all.”

“Zoe, we didn’t know.”

“No, you sure didn’t know, North. You didn’t know because you didn't ask. I thought y’all would be good for her. I was so wrong about you.”

I walk away and head back to Detective Duff. “Is there any word on the matchbox you found?”

“We know who the owner is.”

“Really? Has he seen Alice?”

“I just sent an officer to go pick him up. Tell me, Zoe, have you ever heard the name Robert Andrews? He’s a pimp that works the downtown area.”

Why does that name sound familiar to me? Oh. My. God. “I know who he is. He’s Sally’s old pimp.”

“Sally? Is she someone important to Alice?”

“They went to school together. We ran into her about a month ago and Alice offered her a new job and a place to live. We just wanted to help her get away from that life. Did he take Alice?”

Detective Duff and I both know how dangerous someone like Robert could be. “We don’t know. If you can give me Sally’s address, I’ll go see her and find out if she may know where he stays.”

“She’s at the apartments. The address is…”