Page 78 of Burn

“You want ice? Or a glass?” It was a nice gesture.

“The bottle is fine. I’m really not that high maintenance.”

“Could have fooled me,” Bones muttered and then his chair jerked and Bones glared at Voodoo.

“Ignore him, he hasn’t slept and he’s being a dick.” Voodoo nodded to the burger. “Let me know if you want us to warm that up or add anything else to it.”

As much as I didn’t want to eat, I took a bite just to shut them up about the food. Lunchbox came back with a second bottle of water, then passed the drinks out before he took the chair next to me.

The rectangle shape of the table left plenty of room. I was kind of surprised anyone tookmyside. Unless it was just to make sure I couldn’t get away.

All four men were silent while I chewed the first bite. Then I took a second. The burger was actually pretty good. It wasn’t too hot, but it was still warm and it was juicy. It was just a little on the medium-rare side of medium, which was also good.

Alphabet let out a sigh before he took a bite of his own food. One by one, the others dug in and ate or added stuff to their burgers and then ate.

About halfway through mine, I nudged the plate aside and took a long drink of the water. My stomach had cramped when I smelled it, now I felt almost too full. Painfully full.

“You want something else?” Lunchbox asked and I shook my head.

“No, I haven’t been eating that much.” If at all really. “Except what you guys have given me. That’s making my stomach hurt.”

“Take it easy then,” Voodoo suggested. “You probably need smaller meals more frequently.”

“I can take care of that,” Lunchbox said and I sighed.

“Please… just tell me what’s going on. If you really are my new captors, I’d rather just know that and as more than just a passing conversation.” I flicked a look at Voodoo. “If it’s something else, I’d like to know that too.”

A cool nose bumped at my arm and I glanced down to where Goblin stared up at me. As soon as I moved my arm, he tucked his head against my thigh. With care, I scratched him gently between the ears before stroking down his back. The short hair was almost downy and soft. Had someone given him a bath? Or had I just not noticed before?

The contact helped ease some of the internal shaking that seemed to worsen by every passing moment. It didn’t do anything for the headache forming behind my right eye or the urge to cry. I fought both, because I really didn’t want to add tears to the whole situation.

The silence elongated to the point I thought they were just not going to answer me at all. Glancing up from where I’d been staring at Goblin, I found Alphabet, Lunchbox, and Voodoo all staring at Bones.

The fourth man sighed, then cut a hand through the air. “Tell her.”

A wave of dread hit me at the resignation in his response. Whatever it was, it was going to be bad. The other three were not in a rush to say anything, and I had to fight to keep my hand steady as I pet Goblin, rather than fisting his coat.

“I can’t find your sister,” Alphabet said, finally and I whipped my attention to him. “I started the search yesterday. I’ve found her records, verified her ID, you’re right, you’re identical. We put calls into her law firm, I also checked the status of her apartment’s lease and her bank account.”

There was invasive and then there was…

“You said you couldn’t findher,” I tried to speak around the bitter taste those words left on my tongue. “You found everything else?”

“Essentially. She’s been gone for at least a week that I can account for.”

“So her law firm has already filed a missing person’s report? They’re lawyers, they always know how to work with cops.” That was Am in a nutshell even before she passed the bar. If an attorney from her firm went missing, she’d probably be the first one to call the cops.

“Alphabet called them,” Lunchbox said. “So did I, two separate times, two separate reasons, they gave us the same answer.”

I cut my gaze back and forth between Alphabet and Lunchbox.

“They indicated she no longer worked there, that she’d sent in her resignation rather abruptly. When I pressed, saying I wasa client,” Alphabet continued. “All they would say was that her departure from the firm was unexpected and they didn’t have a forwarding address or contact info.”

“That’s bullshit.” I whispered the words, but there was just no way.

“I didn’t say it was true,” Alphabet told me, leaning forward and folding his arms together on the table edge. “To be frank, they wouldn’t just give out that kind of information to anyone. They didn’t even ask for a number to have another attorney get back to us. The thing is… there’s a party line and a united front. It’s even in the firm’s electronic records. Their human resources manager noted her abrupt resignation and added no rehire to her file.”

I sat back against the chair abruptly. The bump jolted the cut in my back but I didn’t care. “Why would they lie…?”

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