Page 16 of Wanted

The immediate dip of his brows conveys his confusion. Anyone who knows me knows I’m not the type of guy you run into in town. I stay close to my property and my dogs.

“Just helping out someone who needed a ride.”

“Huh. Anyone I know?”

“Just a friend.”

“You pulling my leg?”

“I’d think of something a lot more interesting if I was trying to prank you, Sutton.”

“Speaking of interesting, you’ll never guess the wild tale Lonnie was telling me from the back of my squad this morning.”

I settle my weight back into my heels. “When isn’t Lonnie telling a wild tale?”

Lonnie is the town drunk in the form of a sixty-two-year-old, six-foot-three, three hundred pound teddy bear. Unlike the belligerent trash Sutton and Silas have to chase out of the local bars from time to time, Lonnie wouldn’t hurt a fly.

“True, but I’ll tell ya, the way he was going on and on about some girl falling out of a car, I considered asking him what he’d been drinking and getting myself some for after this shift. Seeing as I picked him up from The Rocks, I can deduce it was nothing more than his usual gin and tonic. Bobby never serves him anything else. Says whiskey puts him in a bad mood.”

Everything Sutton said after the part about some girl fades into background noise. The saliva dries from my mouth and sticks my tongue to the roof as I fight to keep my jaw from falling open.

“Say that again?” The words are slow, forced out between my teeth.

“Yeah.” He laughs and scrubs his hand over his brow. “Lonnie claims he was driving on the north side of town. He made sure to state he wasn’t drunk multiple times as if he already wasn’t on his way to the drunk tank. Says he saw a woman fall out of a car driving slowly down the highway. And get this…”

I nearly start to count with the anxiety creeping in from his long pause.

“What?” I bite out.

“She was supposedly wearing a wedding dress.” He chuckles.

My gaze settles on the swishing curtain of bay three.

“No shit?” I mutter, eyebrows flying high on my forehead.

“He was so certain he made Silas check for a report. But of course there wasn’t one. I think I’d have heard if a bride-to-be fell out of a car in my town. And where’s the fiancé? Surely he’d be looking for his beloved.”

“Indeed.” The ominous rasp escapes Sutton’s notice. He’s too busy puffing his own chest to realize I’ve gone deadly quiet.

The radio strapped to his torso crackles to life.

“Duty calls. I’ll see you around, yeah?”

My head bobs in a jerky nod. “Yeah.”

Sutton departs.

I should too. I should turn around and follow him straight out that door but for some reason, I find myself moving in the other direction.

Across the emergency room, I don’t stop until I’m parked in front of room three.

I cross my arms and wait.

4

Frankie

“I can see your legs, you know.”

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