Page 32 of One Knight Stand

Wally was right. It was empty, and I didn’t see anyone standing around.

I went back to the door and motioned for them to follow. We darted into the woods, using the small light on my key chain to find the path, and in five minutes we were at the spot where Wally had parked his car. We waited in the trees while he walked toward the car and let out Mr. Toodles, who promptly ran to the grass and took care of business. After retrieving the dog, Wally drove away. No one followed, no one darted out of the bushes, and no pedestrians or cars went by.

After a few minutes, Wally pulled back around. We darted out of the trees and ran to the car. Frankie jumped in the back with an enthusiastic Mr. Toodles. I took two precious minutes to sweep the car for any trackers like Jax had showed me.

“We’re clean as far as I can tell.” I hopped into the passenger seat and closed the door.

“Hope you’re right,” Wally said. “Do you still want me to take a roundabout route?”

“Absolutely. We have to make sure we’re not being followed.”

“Okay, we’re off.” He put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb. “Lead the way, boss.”

Chapter Nineteen

ISAAC REMINGTON

“We lost the girl.”

Isaac glanced at the clock on his nightstand. One seventeen in the morning. The shrill sound of his burner phone ringing had woken him from a deep and rather pleasant dream, and he wasn’t happy about it.

“What do you mean,lost?”

“She was at her mother’s apartment with a friend, a Miss Frances Chang, who is also enrolled in UTOP. They arrived at the apartment around eight and fixed dinner. The girl called around to the mother’s friends trying to find her. She didn’t seem overly worried—in fact, she said it was likely her mom was staying with a friend.”

“What?” He sat up, snapping the light from the beside lamp on. “How stupid is that? How could she possibly believe that?”

“I don’t know what information she’s basing that on. We heard only that when she couldn’t find her mom at any the local hospitals, she decided not to panic and instead is considering the possibility that her mom might indeed be with friends or…a new boyfriend.”

“That’s absurd. There’s no indication she’s called her father?”

“No, sir.”

“She hasn’t called the police yet, either?”

“Not that we know. We haven’t seen any unusual activity, and the local cops create a lot of that.”

Isaac leaned his head back against his headboard thinking. “Of all the ridiculous scenarios… Idiocy from her was not what I expected.”

“She’s a teenager. Teenagers don’t always have the best ideas.”

Isaac supposed that was true, although exceedingly unfortunate at this point. “What happened tonight?”

“She and Miss Chang left the apartment at approximately nine fifteen to head to a teen night at a local skating rink.”

“Her mom is missing and they went…skating?” Was he hearing this correctly? Things this stupid only happened on sitcoms. Not that he ever watched such idiocy, but still.

“Yes, sir. Teenagers. Dumb decisions and all.”

His hand tightened on the cell phone. “Are you sure she’s had no contact with the father?”

“None that we could find, and we’ve had constant eyes on her and her devices. We’re still monitoring her account and phone, of course. But she’s careful and talented on the computer, so we can’t be certain.”

“How did you lose her?”

“The fire alarm went off in the skating rink, and the kids scattered. I lost sight of her in the dark and the crowd, but Carson and I covered the exits to watch who came out. Unfortunately, there were four exits and only two of us. She and her friend must have gone out a different exit.”

“Did they return to the apartment?”

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