The place was a mess. Rhaena had never been in Wren’s apartment before, but when her yellow Beetle had still been parked next to her truck, a sinking feeling in her gut told her to run up and check. The door was left wide open, and the smell of cat shit hit her like a wrecking ball as soon as she’d pushed her way in. Denver was stuck in his carrier which was turned over on its side, a floor lamp was busted on the floor, and Wren’s bag still sat packed up by the side of the doorway. Her immediate thought was that Foster and her assholes had tossed Wren’s place too … but the rest of the apartment didn’t look suspicious of that. Her cat was a dead giveaway. Wren wouldn’t have left him in there and just took off. And how would she have gone anywhere without a vehicle?
“Rhaena …” Jenkins said dreadfully, pulling a glove out and snapping it over his hand. He knelt down, sliding a paint pallet aside to reveal a spot of blood on the floor. She thought she’d be sick. She immediately dialed Athan and had told him to get here. Sarah had taken the phone, and as much as Rhaena dreaded telling her what she knew had probably happened, she forced it out anyway. They needed to call it in.
“We have to tell Foley,” Rhaena ground out, fighting her emotions.
“I’ll do it. You’re not supposed to be anywhere near this case.”
“How could we possibly get in trouble for this?” she asked forcefully, trying, and failing, to get her rising temper and panic in check. “All we did was come here for the truck and to give her back this phone! How could we have known?”
“I agree with you. But you were in there, too. He’s hyped. I’m the only one left with a badge right now, Babe … lemme call it in.”
She reluctantly nodded and walked further into Wren’s apartment, turning her camera on and recording every step. She might not have a badge, but she could at least gather enough to have when forensics came to kick them out. Deep down, she knew Foley wouldn’t expect her to sit by and do nothing. Angry or not. Car doors slammed downstairs, and she peeked out the window, surprised to see Brent Stratford following hurriedly behind Athan and Sarah. “What the hell?” she said under her breath. They flew up the stairs, and Athan warned Sarah not to touch anything before she pushed past him into the door. Rhaena felt her heart drop into her stomach when Sarah covered her mouth and surveyed the space.
“Fuck …” Sarah whispered, leaning down to open Denver’s carrier. The cat howled at her, begging to be let out.
“Don’t touch it yet, Sarah!” Rhaena warned. “We can’t let him out until the team gets here to look at the place.”
“But he’s been stuck in here for hours!”
“I know … but we have to wait.” It took everything in her not to tear up, but she held her composure and Jenkins met her eyes.
“Anybody but Foley would have told us we couldn’t report her missing for another few hours. He’s sending Foster.”
Sarah jumped at the name, seemingly remembering something. She pulled a card out from her jacket pocket and dialed the number on her phone. Nobody questioned her. “Hey,” she said, already pacing. “I’m not leaving. Tell me you were the one who trashed this place. Please tell me it only looks like this because ours did too …” The look of devastation that she gave Athan was enough to rip her heart out. “I’m not fucking leaving! What are they gonna do, arrest me for checking in on my best friend?” Athan pulled her into his arms and Brent stood ghostly pale in the doorway. “Fine. See you in a minute.” Sarah hung up and dialed another number.
“What’d she say?” Rhaena asked, already knowing the answer.
“They didn’t have reason to go through her apartment when they trashed ours. I’m calling Wren’s parents.”
“Don’t tell them anything yet, Sarah. We have to make sure this was a kidnapping first.” Rhaena backed herself toward the blood on the floor, desperately trying to hide it from Sarah’s view. Athan gently stopped her with a hand on her phone.
“She didn’t make it there, love. We have nothing to offer them yet. All they’ll do is panic and come down here, and whoever took her will just have more to use against her.” His voice was so soothing, even Rhaena shuddered at it. So much had changed about him since he’d been with her.
“So, they don’t deserve to know?” Brent piped up behind them, trembling with nerves. “You’re just gonna do nothing?”
“Why are you even here, Brent?” Sarah snapped, jerking her face toward him. “You’re the last person anybody wants to see. I told you not to fucking come.”
“Because I—” Brent paused, biting his lip and shaking his head. They all waited for him to finish, but instead he took another hard look around the apartment before turning away and making to leave.
“You’re a lawyer,” Jenkins started, stopping Brent in his tracks. “You’re not a cop. Keep your mouth shut, and just let us do our job … alright? We’ll find whoever did this and bring her home.”
Brent looked over his shoulder at Athan, and if looks could have killed … “If she ends up being another one of those bodies on your board because you didn’t do the right thing … I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Try it, Brent. You’re the last person that should be talking about‘the right thing’,” Sarah sneered, a low growl rumbling in her throat. “This isn’t his fault. It’s mine. And if you ever talk to him like that again, I’ll gut you like a fucking fish. Nobody cares about her more than I do. Interfere in this, and you won’t like the way I handle you.”
Rhaena caught notice of the way Stratford’s eyes blanched, losing focus and appearing terrified by some distant thought or realization. “Stratford,” Rhaena called, earning his attention. “We’ll find her. Go home and lock your doors. Stay alert and don’t talk to anybody aboutanything. Okay?” He simply nodded and clunked slowly down the stairs.
The team arrived quicker than she’d expected, and Foster questioned all of them thoroughly before kicking them out, getting as much information as she could about Wren’s whereabouts before she’d left Kane’s apartment on Sunday. They found more blood close to where Wren’s painting of Denver sat unfinished and toppled over. Sarah had nearly lost her mind when she saw it. Foster allowed Rhaena to take the cat when she asked, and they all gathered outside the coffee shop below Wren’s apartment. All but Jenkins, who stayed behind, vowing to help in whatever way he could with her disappearance. Brenthadactually left, but somehow Rhaena felt strongly that he wouldn’t go home.
“What was his deal when you went off on him up there?” Rhaena asked as Sarah leaned against the hood of the truck. Sarah crossed her arms and stared at the curb, lost in her worry.
“I dunno,” she breathed. “Wren said he’d been really off lately.”
“But would he know anything?”
Sarah finally raised her face, and Athan lit a cigarette, offering it to her. “I don’t see how. And if he did, I doubt he would have kept it to himself. Not when somebody’s life was on the line.”
“Especially hers,” Athan added, flashing her a look. “Weren’t you the one thinking there was some unspoken thing between them?”