Page 78 of That's Not My Name

“Yes! I’m absolutely positive. I remember because my brother used to live up there, and when I heard that’s where they were from, the long drive made a lot of sense. Alton is in the middle of nowhere, super isolated. My brother hated how far it was from everything, so he moved to Florence a couple years ago. Alton is a good two-and-a-half hours from here.”

I wave my hands to stop her, reeling her back to Lola. “But she specifically said they were driving back there?”

She nods. “Yes.”

Autumn grabs my arm in a vice grip of excitement. “And you’d be willing to pass this information along to my dad and the tip line too?”

Eloise puts one hand on her hip and grins. “Honey, I’ll call him until he drives down here himself and takes my statement,” she says, and slips inside.

I walk back to Max’s car in a daze.

Lola is in Alton.

Holy shit.

Max keeps clenching and unclenching his fists on the steering wheel. We all sit in the silence of the car, watching Eloise rip Roane a new one through the glass door.

Finally, Autumn cracks a huge smile. “Holy shit, you guys. We know where he took her.”

“Alton,” Max says.

Fucking Alton.

“Okay, so what now?” Autumn asks. “Do we go home? Are we done?”

I look at Max. Max looks at me. Autumn impatiently taps her foot on the floorboards in the back. I don’t have an answer for her. We should go home. We got what we came for and then some. We even got a bonus witness and a location out of it. If we head home now, we’ll be back a little after nine. But—

“It doesn’t feel right,” Max says. “Being so close to finding her and then going home?”

Exactly.

“So what do you want to do?” Autumn asks.

I scrub my hands over my face and pull out the camera stills of the diner video again. I flip through them, seeing Lola and this man. I wish his face was in focus. I wish they both were. I wish this was the inarguable proof that we need to make it rain on this town and this whole investigation, but I thought I had proof before this, with Meredith Hoyt’s tip-line call. “It’s just…what if this isn’t enough for your dad?” I ask her. “What if he takes one look at this and disregards it because I’m the one who drove down here to make this happen? What if he accuses me of coercing a witness or something?”

Autumn shifts uneasily in the back. “I really don’t think he’d take it that far, do you?”

“I brought him Meredith’s call, and he accused me of faking it to get myself off the hook. Why would he think this is any different? Any lead he can pass off as tainted by the main suspect, he will. He’s proven that.”

“Point, Drew,” Max mumbles.

“I’m sorry, Autumn. I know he’s your dad, but I don’t want to go home and assume he’s going to do the right thing…and then be fucked when he doesn’t. If we go back, our parents aren’t going to let us out of their sight for a long time. What happens if he doesn’t follow through?”

She stares at her lap, long tendrils of red hair falling in her face, and for one horrifying second, I think she’s crying. She looks up with anger in her eyes instead. “No, you’re right. Lola deserves more than leaving this up to my dad. But we can’t just drive around looking for her ourselves. Meredith was right about that—we can’t investigate this on our own. It’s too dangerous.”

“I said it once, I’ll say it again: I’ll punch Ted right in the face. I’m not scared.” Max throws a punch at the air above the steering wheel and the sigh that comes out of my chest weighs at least a hundred pounds.

“I’m not about to get us all killed trying to track down a kidnapper,” I say. “No means no, Max. You’re not punching anyone today.”

“Aww, fine.”

“I think we need to modify the original plan. We came out to find evidence that Lola was here, so we could force Roane to investigate, but what if we bypass him entirely? If we know she’s in Alton, why not bring the fight to them? I’m beginning to think the only way we’re going to get Roane on the team is if we take away any choice in the matter. So let’s give the evidence to another precinct. Someone impartial, who can look at what we have and run with it. Then Roane would have no choice but to work with them and listen to what they have to say, or look grossly incompetent.”

“Well, that or he’ll convince the Alton precinct that you’re guilty and then you’ll have two police stations after your ass,” Max says.

I glare at him. “Helpful. Thanks.”

“So…you want to bait my dad with his pride and reputation by siccing the Alton Police Department on him?” Autumn asks.

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