Page 157 of Give Me Redemption

“She’s been looking for this man the whole time I’ve known her,” he says to me.

I pull a smoke from my pack. “Do you mind?”

He shakes his head, pulling his own pack out. I crack my window, the cool breeze rushing into the car. It’s got to be around fifty-five tonight.

I blow smoke up toward the window. “She’s obsessed,” I tell him.

“She is that,” he agrees before flicking his lighter. I narrow my eyes at the few cars parked up and down the street.

“That’s hers,” he says.

Panic rises in my throat and I hit my smoke again. We slow, pulling in behind her. I turn to look when a man walks out of the alley. His head is down, his hands in his pockets. He wears a ball cap and some worn jeans. The music coming from the bar is loud until the door completely shuts, slicing it off. It’s hard to see his face for the lack of light.

But then the wind shifts and the clouds move away from the moon. He looks up and I see him.

He’s older, lines webbing out from his dark eyes. He spits on the pavement and stumbles a bit as he walks toward an old beat-up truck.

“He fits the description Dalton gave. He’s older, of course.” Monroe takes a drag from his smoke. I turn my head when I see a woman coming from the bar.

“Fuck, it’s her,” I say, going to open my door.

“No,” Monroe says. He nods toward the old truck. “He’ll see you go to her. Wait.” I watch as the man’s taillights come on, and then he reverses the truck. Black smoke rises from the tailpipe as it shakes from the vibration of the old motor.

I look back over at Dalton. She’s standing at the edge of the alley, slightly looking toward the man as he puts his truck into drive and presses the gas. He stops at the four-way and then turns right. Dalton bolts from the alley, running to her car. She doesn’t even notice us.

She climbs into her car and starts it. Her reverse lights come on, she backs up a bit, before she pulls out onto the street.

“We’ll follow her,” Monroe says, like we’d do anything else.

“She didn’t even see us,” I tell him.

“I know.” He places his smoke between his lips and we follow behind her. She stops at the four-way and turns right just like the man.

“Do you think that’s him?” I ask.

“I hope so. He sent her another email. It’s fucked up, man. I’m just afraid that when Dalton…ifDalton finds Chloe, she’s going to be so messed up, Dalton will be beside herself.”

“Do you think she’s going to be able to move on from this shit? I mean, even after she catches the man? Will she be able to move on with her life?”

He darts his eyes over to me before looking back at the road. “For your sake and hers, I hope so.”

I look toward Dalton’s car. That wasn’t the answer I wanted. Monroe has known her longer than me. He knows more about the case and how long Dalton has been dealing with this. I only know what she’s told me. I need her to be able to move on so we can move on. If she can’t, then where does that leave us?

I see the truck turn up ahead. Dalton lays back, but we’re right behind her. Her windows are tinted, so I can’t see inside her car. I wonder if she realizes she’s also being followed, or is she too focused on that motherfucker? I bring my smoke to my lips, the end burning red, my mind spinning, wondering how this is all going to go down.

Chapter Sixty-Four

Harlow

Staring ahead at his taillights, I wrap my hands around my steering wheel, blood swirling in my veins like a whirlpool. My pulse pounds against my neck, like a hammer to a spike. I feel it in my fingertips.

My mind is in a morbid place as I wonder where this man is leading me.

Does he know I’m behind him?

Does he like this game he’s been playing with me? What excites this nasty motherfucker?

Little girls obviously. The photos of Chloe in that last email showed me that she hasn’t developed like a normal healthy young woman would. She’s still childlike, and it makes me sick. He turns down a long road, and I let off the gas, slowing so it doesn’t look like I’m obviously following him. My eyes dart up to the rearview mirror, and I feel the skin tighten around them when I see a car behind me.

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