Page 90 of I Can't Even

“Ellodie is missing. Track Dr. Brewn’s cell phone,” I said as I stood in the hospital hallway, a bunch of worried looking nurses surrounding me. I spoke and paced. “He got a ride from her at the gas station. Was supposed to be taking him to the hospital, but they never showed. That was twenty-five minutes ago. I got a bad feeling, Auden.”

Auden said he’d look it up, then I called Tobin.

I gave him the same information and stayed on the phone with him while I listened to him type.

Tobin started to work, and within minutes, he had access.

With the blanket agreement from the judge to do whatever we needed to get this motherfucker out of his town the information came fast.

And within ten minutes, we’d pinpointed his location to a popular hiking trail on the outskirts of Lake Lavonne.

I made it to the lake entrance in three.

“It’s him.” Tobin sounded excited.

I wasn’t excited.

I was experiencing bone-deep terror as I hung up on him and called my dad.

“Carter,” he said gruffly, sounding distracted.

“The killer has Ellodie,” I said as I bailed out of my cruiser and headed for the trailhead. “It’s a doctor from the hospital.”

“Don’t fuckin’ move, kid. I know you want to, but you need backup. If he was able to get her into the woods, there’s a reason.” Dad activated the phone tree after hanging up, and soon I had all kinds of people calling me.

I didn’t answer any, hoping to keep the line open in case Ellodie called.

She didn’t.

It was one and a half minutes later when I decided fuck it and started hiking.

I couldn’t wait.

Wouldn’t.

Not when she needed me.

The stupidly stubborn, too smart for her own good, really never going to hear the end of it from me, woman.

God, was it possible to love someone too much?

Because the feelings inside my chest right now… they were debilitating.

My hands were shaking. My knees felt weak. My heart was pounding.

And it had nothing to do with the hike I was now taking down a trail I’d been down what felt like a hundred times now.

I’d hiked all the trails in the area. Twice.

In fact, I’d been on this one five times over the last month, because it was the only one in the area that hadn’t been utilized yet, and I’d had a feeling I needed to familiarize myself with it.

Now I was glad that I had.

Pulling out my phone, I clicked on the tracking app Tobin had sent me, and tried to follow it without making it sound like I was a herd of elephants.

Instead of taking the trail, I cut through the woods, hiking up a slight incline I knew headed to a switchback that would lead down to the lake.

I looked at my watch, ignoring how my heart rate was riding at about 200 beats per minute, and glanced at the clock.

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