Page 76 of Seven

Grim shifted beside me. “Need to slow down, brother.”

I didn’t.

We got to the house in under ten minutes. Tallie’s car was parked out front, and Detective Joyner was parked right next to her. They should’ve been inside, but the house seemed eerily empty. And to make matters worse, the front door was wide open.

Wide open.

I’d barely put the SUV into park before I was out and rushing up the steps. When I reached the door, I stuck my head inside and shouted, “Tallie!”

No answer.

My pulse quickened as I stepped inside and shouted again, “Tallie!”

When she still didn’t answer, Grim leaned in and whispered, “Something feels off.”

I nodded, then drew my weapon and started inside. Grim was right behind me as I headed into the living room. We both stopped cold when we spotted Joyner sprawled out in the middle of the floor with blood pooling around him. “Ah, damn.”

I scanned the room, searching for something that might give me some hope. “Where the hell is Tallie?”

There was no sign of her.

The room spun.

My hands shook.

Rage and fear boiled up inside me so fast I couldn’t think straight.

“Tallie!” My voice cracked, raw and broken.

Again, no one answered.

I fucked up. I knew something was off the second I lost her in traffic. I should’ve tracked her down right then and there. Hell, I should’ve listened to my gut and never let her go. I’d just gotten her back, and now, I’d let her slip through my fingers again. Ihad no idea where she was or how to find her. I didn’t know if she was hurt or in danger, and it was fucking killing me. My chest was so tight I could barely take a breath, much less think.

I couldn’t lose her.

Not like this.

Grim put his hand on my shoulder and tried to sound reassuring as he told me, “We need to check the rest of the house.”

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat as I followed Grim through the house. We cleared the kitchen first. We saw nothing out of the ordinary—just a few dirty dishes and an old newspaper that had been left on the counter. The hallway was empty, and the bedrooms seemed to be untouched.

But when we reached the office, Grim stopped short. “Window’s cracked.”

I stepped inside for a better look and could see that the side window was slightly open, barely enough to stick a hand through. Something about it didn’t sit right, so I walked over and opened it wider. I stuck my head out, but I didn’t see anything out of the norm.

“Dammit.”

Grim didn’t say a word.

He just stood there watching as I let out a frustrated breath. My gut was screaming at me to move. I needed to do something, but I didn’t know where to start.

“We gotta find her.”

“We will. You can count on it.”

Grim hadn’t stopped searching. Even as he stood there next to me, his eyes were scanning every inch of this fucking place. We moved out of the office into the rest of the house. Grim was like a bloodhound, so I wasn’t surprised when he mumbled, “What the hell is that?”

He walked over to the detective and knelt beside him as he reached into his hand and pried something from the dead detective’s fingers. I stepped closer and saw that it was a crumpled piece of paper. It was stained with blood, which made it difficult to read. “What does it say?”

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