Page 252 of Dark Love

“What? How can you say that? Take that back.”

“No. I can’t. And you need to promise me that you’ll say that until you believe it and others believe it when you say it. Because otherwise, people will die.”

“Dahlia, you need to believe him,” Imogene leans forward in Payne’s arms.

“Of course, I believe Vex. My brain just can’t process what he’s saying.”

I can’t tell her how much I wish I didn’t have to say that. But I wait for her to give me her word, wasting precious seconds that we need to save Marlie.

“I promise. Whatever happens in the future, Marlie was just a weird phone call I got from a mentally unstable person. That’s what Adonis thinks, anyway.”

Adonis is a fool. Her words are enough.

I pop up and head to the door.

“Where are we going?” Dahlia wraps her arms around my neck as I take off at a jog.

“To find your friend.”

“But you’re going upstairs, not downstairs.”

“I know, Dahl.” Payne follows close behind me with Imogene in his arms.

“How can you move this fast?”

“Practice.” Lots and lots of practice. Running up or down stairs fast enough can mean the difference between life and death. Payne used to complain that we train harder than firemen.

And he was right.

Hopefully, we’re in time today to save Marlie.

I’ve walked through Shock’s door more times today than I have in the last six months.

Shock and Dyce turn around as we walk in.

“What are they doing here?” Dyce looks ready to go to war with me.

And even though I desperately want to punch something, now isn’t the time. “Dahlia got a phone call at work today. I need you to trace the call. Marlie Wonderosh called her.”

“What?” Dyce’s voice is almost a whisper.

“How long ago?” Shock turns back to the computer.

All eyes shift to Dahlia.

She shrugs. “Marlie was my first call after break. Which ended at about 10:45.”

“Got it.” His fingers start flying across the keys.

I set Dahlia on the bar, but don’t remove my arms from around her and Payne sets Imogene down on the stool next to us, giving her a bit more space than I can bear to give Dahlia at the moment. “While Shock does that, why don’t you tell us more about the phone call, Dahlia?”

Dyce takes a step closer, but I ignore her, keeping my eyes fixed on Dahlia.

“It was so painful to listen to her. At first, I thought she was mentally unstable talking about how no one believed her and there was a man following her around. She said it was a cop that was terrorizing her, but I couldn’t get the name.”

“Plant,” Dyce fills in the gap for Dahlia.

“How do you know that? How do you know anything about Marlie?” Dahlia isn’t asking me. She’s staring past me at Dyce.

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