Chapter 19

Allen

I ended up meeting Brandon and Noelle for breakfast the following day with Nicole. It was obvious that we’d all shared the same kind of evening but from the looks of my best friend, he was worse off than Nicole’s sister. He had it bad for her, leaning against her as she sipped coffee with her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. She had to work later today but Brandon and I were going to do some work for the new case, anyway.

I hated kissing Nicole goodbye later that morning before she headed home with Noelle. They had purchased a small, used car with some of the money Nicole had earned. Noelle and Brandon had driven it from Noelle’s apartment to breakfast and Brandon just planned to leave with me.

I watched as the girls drove off. Then I got into the driver’s seat as Brandon slid into the passenger seat with a long yawn. “Have fun?” I teased, and he shot me a dark look.

“Like you can talk. I saw that look in Nicole’s eyes.” Brandon replied, and I shrugged with a grin. “She’s great for you, Allen.”

“I think so,” I agreed, and he fell silent for a moment.

“Noelle is like a storm. That girl ran me ragged,” he told me as he looked at me. “What the fuck happened to me last night?”

“They are quite a pair. They’ve been through a lot so we can’t fuck with them. I know that this is real for me but you need to think this through with Noelle.” I was casual, but I knew that he heard the warning in my voice.

“I know. I knew the moment I looked into her gorgeous face.” Brandon told me as I started the car and pulled away from the curb.

The following morning, we went to the station and were immediately called into the office by the captain. I exchanged a long look with Brandon as we headed through the door to see a nervous man sitting behind his desk. “I have bad news, boys.”

“What’s up?” Brandon asked as we both sat down. I couldn’t get any words past the dread filling my stomach, something that was new to me. I’d never felt it so personally before.

“Ricky broke out of jail while we were trying to transport him. We’re not sure how yet, someone helped him, but there’s a bigger issue at hand. He left a note behind referencing a woman named Nicole being a rat.”

My stomach went into a painful knot as I leaned forward to take a deep breath.

The captain continued. “He said something about taking care of his problem. My problem is that we have no record of a woman with that name in this case. Do either of you know who he’s talking about?” My boss’s voice filled the room through the ringing in my ears as I stood up.

I ran a hand through my hair. Brandon looked at me. “I can tell you later but I need to get out of here.” I looked down at my partner. “I need to find her.” I hadn’t talked to Nicole since last night, and I turned to leave the office, my legs moving faster.

“I’m going to help him. We’ll be back.” I heard Brandon’s voice and then he was beside me, walking towards the door.

I reached for my phone the second we were outside the door, dialing Nicole’s number. Brandon reached for his keys, and we got into his car that he’d left there yesterday. Her phone kept ringing. I got her voice mail and left a message while he started the car, buckling up as I told him to get to her house as quickly as possible.

“She’s going to be fine, Allen.” Brandon assured me as he pressed the gas pedal down to speed through a green light.

“If that mother fucker lays one hand on her, he’s dead. Fuck my career. Fuck everything.” I growled as I pressed my back against the seat of the car, trying to keep myself in control. I wasn’t used to this feeling, and I battled with my heart and mind as we sped down the road. It felt like it took forever but we were finally in the parking lot and I was out of the car, running towards her door.

I didn’t see Nicole’s little blue car anywhere in the lot while I ran. I didn’t notice anything or anybody as I approached the door, stopping on my heel and tapping on the thin wood repeatedly.

“What?” Noelle asked as she opened it, looking out at me and Brandon with a confused expression. “Are you okay?”

“Where’s Nicole?” I demanded as I pushed my way into the apartment, cursing the fact that I didn’t insist on her staying with me. The apartment was quiet and I turned to look back at Noelle as Brandon held her against him.

“She went to get some groceries for dinner tonight. We were going to invite you guys over.” Noelle covered Brandon’s hand with her own. “What’s wrong?”

“When did she leave?” I asked as I dialed her number again, pressing the phone to my ear.

“I guess an hour? I was working on a routine and lost track of time,” Noelle said in a shaking voice as fear crossed her face. The phone rang all the way through to her voice mail, and I ended the call and clutched the device in my hand.

“What store is she at?” I asked.

Brandon kissed the top of her head. “The guy that ran the club got out of jail and left some note about Nicole being a rat, Noelle. We need to find her.” His voice was surprisingly soothing as I started at him, startled by this new side of my partner.

“She’s at the Safeway a few blocks away. I’m going with you,” Noelle told me before she walked back to the bedroom. Brandon watched her with worry in his eyes, and I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I cursed as he looked over at me.

“She might just be shopping, Allen. It hasn’t been that long and you know how women can be at a store.”

I wanted to believe him but too much experience with these dirt bags made me believe otherwise.

“I have this feeling, Bran. It’s stronger than anything I’ve ever felt before,” I told him as I stared into his face, seeing the concern flash across it. “Something is wrong.”

Noelle came down the hall wearing worn jeans and a sweatshirt with her phone pressed to her ear. “She’s driving home. Nic doesn’t answer the phone when she’s driving and has always told me to do the same.” Her voice was like a chant as she dropped her hand down to slip the phone into her pocket, tears sliding down her cheeks. “She has to be driving.”

I led us to my car. Brandon sat with Noelle in the back seat, comforting her through her tears. I could see how close they were as I glanced at them through the rear-view mirror on the way to the store. If I didn’t make sure Nicole was safe for my sake, then I had to do it for the sobbing girl in the back seat.

I was going to lose my job when I found Ricky because I was going to kill him. I was going to kill him for hurting Nicole if we didn’t find her. Noelle leaned forward and looked around the parking lot as I drove slowly.

“There’s the car! She’s here. Nicole must have stopped off somewhere on the way here.” There was joy in her voice as she pulled herself together enough to get out of the car.

We walked over to the small, blue Chevy and it was unlocked but there was nothing of hers left in the seat. I led the way to the store where we split up to find her.

My heart was pounding as I walked through the produce section, needing to see her dark waves with the sexy highlights. I didn’t know how to live in a world without Nicole in it and when I didn’t see her there, I moved to look down the aisles in the next section. People were staring at me as I walked, but I only had one goal in mind. I could hear Noelle calling her name on the other side of the store as people started to ask what was going on.

When the three of us nearly walked into each other, panic flared through me. I kept going, searching all the aisles for Nicole. I didn’t see her, and I turned to search every corner as rage filled me.

I calmed down enough to talk to the manager, asking if he’d seen anything unusual in the last couple of hours. I also had Noelle show him and his staff a photo of Nicole as I tried to keep my cool.

I knew that if Ricky had her, he didn’t have good intentions. Through my thoughts, I listened as everyone said they never saw her inside of the building. I counted, realizing that he could be two hours ahead of us. I had no idea where he’d take her or if she was even in Nevada. I didn’t know shit about him and I hated that fact. We’d have to start from nothing. Brandon looked at me as the informal interview ended with the staff.

We asked some of the guys collecting carts outside if they saw Nicole but they hadn’t. There was a big sale going on so it had been crowded on and off and they were kept busy outside. I wanted to ask them why the fuck they didn’t pay more attention but held it in as Brandon went to ask the manager if there was any surveillance video that we could see.

I was glad that he was here so this case would be handled properly. I was losing all sense of myself as the minutes passed, moving forward to the next step.

What was that?

We headed back to the apartment with strict orders to have someone call us if anything strange happened and Noelle dropped to the couch and cried quietly. Brandon sat beside her, pulling her into him as he stroked her messy hair.

“She’s raised me since I was a little girl. Nobody has ever loved me the way Nic has. You have to find her,” Noelle said against Brandon’s chest as I closed my eyes.

“We will. I swear to you that we will,” I promised her as I had in the past, meaning it more than ever.

Brandon made some calls and did some digging on Ricky as I paced, listening but unable to talk to anyone myself. I knew that I’d have to answer to the captain eventually, and I wondered what I’d say to him as my mind swirled with worry. I needed a story about how I knew Nicole so we could just focus on saving her.

Noelle was asleep on the couch when Brandon’s phone rang. He listened to the other end and nodded as he gave me a long look. He dropped the phone to the couch with a worried look at Noelle. “They have surveillance tape from the entire morning. It sounds like they got something. Do you want to stay here while I go back to the store? I don’t want to leave Noelle alone since we don’t know where that bastard is.”

“Yeah. I’ll watch her.” I knew that I was exhausted and stressed to begin with and I needed Brandon to do this. He grabbed the keys and left. I locked the door and wandered the apartment. I looked at the few pictures the girls had on the walls and shelves, staring into Nicole’s sweet smile as pain tore through me.

I felt guilt creeping in as I walked into the bedroom. It was messy with clothes but I could smell Nicole in here. I picked up a shirt of hers, pressing it to my nose and inhaling as I closed my eyes. I knew that she slept in here and stared at the bed while I pictured her tangled up in the sheets.

It felt so empty, and I walked into the small bathroom to splash cold water on my face. I needed to have my senses about me through this and push away the guilt so I could fix this and find Nicole.

My phone chimed in my pocket, and I glanced at it to see that Brandon had a dark van on the security tape that was in the lot near Nicole’s car, but blocking anything that happened. He had a slight description and was pleased to tell me that it had a white panel on the left side above a beat-up bumper, making it easier to identify without a license plate number. He already had it called in to the station and was going to talk to the captain to get a massive search started. We agreed on a vague story to tell about who Nicole was when I was back at the station.

Brandon told me that he’d be back at the apartment soon and to sit tight. I dropped into a recliner and stared forward as I thought about the van, Nicole, Ricky, and all the guilt in my mind.