Page 113 of Muted

Theo storms into the office in front of me, arms crossed his chest like he’s ready to go to war with me. Keeping the door open and Cliff in my line of sight, I search the number for the police station as I explain what happened to Theo.

“I caught Cliff and Susu taking the cash from our last night open. They’ve been working together, and I assume, she’s been changing the books to make sure I didn’t see it. I thought it was just Cliff adjusting the invoices, but it’s so much worse than that.” I tell him, hitting the call button to make the report.

“Bullshit. Bull-fucking-shit, Chaz.” There’s no hesitation in his defense of her and I just close my eyes, feeling awful that I’m the one that has to burst his bubble.

“I’m not wrong, Theo. I saw it with my own eyes.Heardthem.” Well, I heard Cliff, but she was compliant.

He shakes his head once, denying me. “You saw wrong. I’m going to go get her.” Leaving me alone in the office, he storms out, Vance on his heels, leaving me alone with my piece of shit partner and feeling like everything is falling apart around me.

Staring at Cliff as he texts on his phone, jabbing his fingers against the screen, I wait until I hear the dispatcher greet me through the phone.

“Yes, this is Chester Ahearn at Sonority, the dueling pianos bar. I need a couple of officers to come down here as soon as they can. I caught an employee and my partner stealing and I’d like to report the theft.”

Chapter 32

Defense

Theo

Chaz is a fucking idiot. I’m going to beat the shit out of him once I find our girl and bring her back.

Running through the front door, I hear feet pounding behind me, but I don’t look because I don’t want to lose sight of her blonde hair flying out behind her head as she sprints down the street.

“Theo!” Vance calls out behind me.

I don’t slow down when I call out, “What do you want, Vance?” I’m surprised how quickly he catches up, and disheartened when Susu turns the corner at the end of the block, disappearing from my line of sight.

“That’s the way to the bus stop,” he pants out, keeping pace with me. “What’s going on?”

Forcing my legs to move faster, I sprint around the corner, seeing the bus stop a couple blocks down. It’s not there yet, so I slow a bit knowing that we’ll be able to get to her before she climbs in. “Chaz thinks she’s stealing from him.”

“She’s wouldn’t,” he defends her, and I appreciate his faith in her, but then he asks, “Would she?”

Whipping my head toward him to deliver a glare that I hope he reads as his death if he asks that ridiculous question again, I snap, “No, she fucking wouldn’t.” Staring ahead, we run across the last street, and I start looking for her in the small group of waiting bodies.

“Where is she?” he asks, his head jerking around, not finding her either.

I don’t answer and come to a stop, planting my hands on my hips to catch my breath. I turn in a circle, laying eyes on everyone here, but there’s no blonde hair to be found. “Fuck,” I murmur, then spin around to run my eyes around them again.

I start jogging again, past the stop, hoping I’ll see her hiding somewhere until the bus arrives. Vance sticks next to me and after fifteen minutes of looking, I stop again and tug on my beard in frustration.

“Fuck! Why would she fucking run like that?” I ask, not really expecting an answer, but Vance gives me one, anyway.

“Chester screamed at her,” he tells me and my body freezes.

Swiveling my neck in his direction, I grit out through my teeth, “Excuse me?”

“After I got there, he was already confronting them, made them give him the cash back. She tried to tell him something, but he yelled at her, told her he didn’t want to hear it.” Vance seems bothered by the memory, bothered by this whole fucking mess, actually.

Gripping his shirt, I jerk him toward me. “I’m telling you right now. Get the fucking doubt out of your head. It’s not what it seems. Shewouldn’tsteal from him. Something’s not right.”

He jerks his head up and down once, then asks, “So what now? She’s not here. Should we go to her apartment?”

“Hold on.” I pull my phone out and send her a quick text.

Me: Carebear, where are you?

She reads the text almost immediately after it’s delivered, but no bubbles to indicate she’s responding.

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