Page 58 of Bravo

Still no answer.

Reaching forward, I check the handle. It turns easily, so I shove the door open. “Such,Bravo,” I order.Search.He darts inside, and I follow, weapon at the ready. But from the moment I cross the threshold, I know I won’t find her.

The place is tossed. Every nook and cranny searched. Her mattress has been ripped open with a blade, its stuffing all over the floor. Cabinets were left open, the dishes that were once tucked away inside now littering the countertops.

Someone was looking for something in addition to the someone I fear they found.

“Sammy?” I call out.Please, God, let her be all right. Please let her be all right.Even as I fear the worst, I make my way through the cabin, stepping into the bathroom and clearing the entire place before I lower my weapon and withdraw my phone.

“What is it?” Elliot answers on the first ring.

“Get the others and get to Sammy’s cabin. Now.”

“What happened?”

My heart thuds in my chest as I try to wrap my head around all that’s happened today. “Sammy’s gone, and someone tossed her place.”

“I agree with Tucker.Sammy is not Sammy,” Elijah replies on speakerphone. “Though it’s a great surface story—seriously, I commend whoever created it for her—once you really start digging, it falls apart.”

“That’s what we found too,” Tucker replies. “I’m still kicking myself for not seeing through it.”

“Don’t,” Elijah says. “I wouldn’t have seen through it, either. Not without checking those tax records. I even ran her through a medical database, and nothing popped.”

Which explains why she didn’t want X-rays. Because she knew as soon as they put her in, the façade would crumble.

“Is she Olivia Brown?” I ask, though, in my gut, I know the answer.

“That’s still not one hundred percent,” he replies. “Especially since the photo you sent of Sammy isn’t an exact facial match for an old newspaper article I found about the Browns.”

“What do you mean?”

“I scrubbed the web for a photograph of Olivia Brown and couldn’t find anything except for a science fair project she won in the third grade. The photograph was super grainy though, so it’s possible that she is a match and the distortion can’t give me a complete read.”

“There are no photographs of her? She’s the daughter of a public servant.” Riley crosses his arms. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Someone removed her,” Elijah replies. “And they did a good job.”

“Likely after she was taken. My guess is they wanted to keep it out of the media,” Tucker adds. “This is a mess.”

“The guy who was here today didn’t look like a political aide,” my father interjects. My mother is standing beside him, her face pale, eyes wide. She’s shaken, and it breaks my heart to see it.

“No,” I agree, turning my attention back to the phone. If I can find her, I can fix this. I have to find her. “He was the senator’s son. Olivia Brown’s stepbrother.”

The expressions on my brothers’ faces harden.

“Something stinks here.” Tucker crosses his arms. “And the only person who can answer anything for us is missing.”

“Thanks, Elijah. You’ll keep digging?”

“Always,” he replies. “Check in with you if I find something.”

After ending the call, I shove the phone into my pocket. “Tucker, did you find anything on the security camera footage?” I ask.

“Not a thing. We didn’t pick up anyone in or out of her cabin. With the trees, there are some blind spots, but they’re few and far between. Someone would have to have a map of the layout in order to get out unnoticed.”

“Or have worked here and have a great memory,” I consider.

“You think she mapped out the security cameras?” Riley questions.

---