Page 81 of Moon's Promise

Both men walked around the bar.

“Have fun.”

Moon frowned. “Doing what?”

“Cleaning up your own mess.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Moon sat in the shadows of a tree, watching a small house across the street from where he was hiding. In three hours, it would be dawn, and he would have to change his hiding spot to remain unseen.

Dodging the fucking cameras on the surrounding houses made it hard to switch positions. He had been staking out the house Larissa’s mother lived in for the nearly two weeks and, so far, he hadn’t caught sight of Larissa.

He had been able to use his own skills to find Larissa’s past addresses, and those of her relatives. It hadn’t taken long to find out her family was small, consisting of her mother and her two sisters. Her father had died when the girls were in grade school. An Army veteran, he had served overseas to come home to become a firefighter. He had lost his life when a home caught on fire and he risked his life trying to save a child who had become frightened and hidden in a bathroom linen closet. Neither had survived.

Moon had to harden his heart. Just because the father was a hero didn’t mean the same qualities he possessed had rubbed off on Larissa.

Keeping his eye on the sky as it grew lighter, he started his move. He had already come to the conclusion that Larissa wasn’t in her mother’s home. What he was waiting for was the opportunity to sneak into her mother’s house to search for anything that could provide a clue as to Larissa’s whereabouts.

Every Tuesday, her mother went to the grocery store and was away for approximately an hour and a half to two hours. Ignoring his cramped legs, he waited for Kendra Griffin to leave. When she did, he had to practically crawl before he could stand. How in the fuck did Shade manage to walk after waiting for his targets? He felt as if he were a ninety-year-old man. If someone called the cops on him for sulking around the neighborhood, he would have to give up before the chase could begin. The way he felt, a turtle could outrun him.

Slipping into the backyard without being spotted took longer than he’d expected when he was nearly caught by a fucker taking out his trash. He had already determined his entry point. So, moving toward a kitchen window, Moon carried a deck chair and placed it underneath. Using his knife, he then managed to raise the window and slide inside.

He dropped inside and sat on the floor until he got his bearings before he used the kitchen counter to rise to his feet, cursing. He was getting too old for this shit.

Looking at his watch, Moon got on the move. He barely had thirty minutes left before Larissa’s mother would return.

He moved from room by room but couldn’t find anything that would shed any light on where Larissa was. If there weren’t several pictures of her and the sisters, he would have thought he was in the wrong place.

Moon closed a desk drawer in Kendra’s bedroom before he glanced around the room, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully. There wasn’t a speck of dirt, the dishes were all done and put away—hell, even the coffee pot had been cleaned to a sparkling shine. Either Larissa’s mother had OCD, or she had been expecting him.

He climbed back out the window, then returned the deck chair to the same position he had found it in. But instead of going back to his hiding spot, he returned to where he had left his motorcycle three blocks away in a parking lot.

Larissa’s mother had made sure there wasn’t a scrape of information he could use. Either it was deliberate, or she was a clean freak. He was done wasting his time.

He grabbed a bite to eat at a drive-thru, ate, then rode to the house he had been watching. Parking in the front, Moon strode toward the door, knocked, then waited for Kendra Griffin to ask who he was.

The front door opened to show a woman who appeared much younger than her age.

“Hello, Moon.”

His fake smile nearly slipped. Holding on to it purposefully, Moon was aware of her gaze sweeping over him critically.

“Since you used my nickname, mind if I use your name, Kendra?”

“Not at all. Would you like to come inside?”

“Thank you. Yes, I would.”

Kendra stepped aside to allow him inside. He followed her into the living room, where he took the chair she motioned him toward.

Larissa’s mother didn’t mince words. “If you came here expecting to find Larissa or for me to tell you where she is, you’re going to be disappointed.”

“Would you at least give me a number so that I can talk to her?”

“No, I’m sorry. My daughter would have given you a way to contact her if she wanted you to have it.”

Moon kept his tone friendly despite his anger. “Do you know why I want to contact her?”

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