Page 61 of Such A Bad Girl

When the manager did so, Kaylee wrote it down and quickly headed out of the office. West and I followed close behind.

“Hey, what about the rest of my money?” The old lady called after us.

“Kiss our asses!” Kaylee said as we got back in our vehicle, before she slammed the door in her face.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

THEO

Back at West and Kaylee’s house in the hills, West and I simultaneously wore a trail in the grass in the backyard as we made calls and tried to move mountains.

Money talked, fortunately, and we were able to put so many people on the search without involving the police officially that I was sure we’d find Everleigh soon.

When Kaylee came out to update us, she had a hopeful look on her face.

“Well, the good news is that we were able to get a hit on the van’s license plate. Unfortunately, the van was reported as stolen a week ago. We’re not any closer than we were before. I’m so sorry.”

West shook his head. Rian had met us here, having gotten nowhere with the neighbors earlier, and once we knew where Everleigh’s car ended up, his search wasn’t necessary. But now, he had another idea.

“Well, if that van was at the storage facility, then there has to be video of it leaving. We’ll trace it. I’ll go to all the businesses in the area and see what I can shake out of them.”

“You cool going alone?” I asked.

He glanced over at West quickly before replying. “Why don’t you join me?”

“Sure,” I replied. Kaylee walked over to West and put her arms around him. He stood stoically, lost in thought.

“West, call us if anything happens.”

“You, too,” he replied, barely glancing our way.

When Rian and I got in his truck, he looked over at me, his eyes full of worry.

“This ain’t good, man,” he said.

“I know.”

“You okay?”

“Fuck no,” I replied.

“Yeah, of course not,” he agreed. “This has to be tearing you up. And with West not knowing how you feel about Everleigh, it’s gotta be twice as hard to keep that to yourself.”

“I’m fine,” I said, with a dismissive wave. “I just want to find her safe. Let’s go.”

He nodded, thankfully not pressing me to talk about it more.

I wasn’t expecting much out of our search, but we ended up hitting gold.

We concentrated on the small businesses in the area, knowing they’d be easily bribed and not weighed down by bureaucratic procedures. We started at the used car dealership next to the storage unit and were able to spot the van heading west. Two businesses down from there, we the owner of the laundromat let us look at his footage to see the van turn south.

Business after business — a deli, a nail salon, a thrift shop, and a dozen others led us down the streets of Hollywood like we were following breadcrumbs.

Five grand and three miles later, we watched from the back of a mom-and-pop pizzeria as that very van pulled into the garage of a nearby townhome.

As soon as I saw it, I turned to Rian with wide eyes. “Let’s go!” I took off running, but he caught up to me quickly.

“Wait!” he said, grabbing my arm and stopping me. “It would be stupid to go in alone. We don’t know how many people we’re dealing with.”

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