Page 28 of Hell to Pay

Height: 5’4”

Weight: 130 lbs

Last seen leaving Pink Adult Entertainment on Route 308 on March 6th.

REWARD: $500 for any information leading to her return.

There was a phone number and a social media username at the bottom.

I stared at the reward. $500. A paltry sum that said everything. There were no big organizations behind the reward for Rain Adakai. No nationwide coverage. No crowd funded campaign with thousands of concerned donors. The reward had probably been scraped together by her family.

I lifted my phone and took a picture of the flyer, then moved it to the center of the bulletin board, in front of the used motorcycle for sale and even the teenager looking for a babysitting gig.

I could hardly breathe, and when I turned around I half expected to find everyone staring at me, at the bulletin board, finally realizing that something really bad was happening in Blackwell Falls.

But they were all just going about their business, standing in line, placing their orders, sitting at one of the tables in the coffee shop.

I wanted to scream at them.Don’t you see her? She’s missing! Don’t you care?

But I already had answers to those questions. They didn’t see her. She was expendable.

Disposable.

And no, they didn’t care. I mean, they’d probably say they cared. They’d probably say it was terrible, but what weretheysupposed to do about it?

Except if it had been their friend or sister or daughter, they would have done something. They would have organized search parties or pitched a fit at the police department to demand action or… something.

I rejoined Nolan in line, Rain Adakai’s face swimming in my mind.

“You okay?” he asked. “You look funny.”

“I’m good. There was a listing for a job. A part-time assistant at the Mayor’s Office. I think I’ll apply.”

I would tell the Bastards about Rain when we got home. Then I would make it clear that we weren’t giving up on her.

On any of them.

21

NOLAN

I wasonly half paying attention while we ordered the pastries — three chocolate croissants, two bear claws, two chocolate chip muffins, and two cherry turnovers.

I kept seeing the look on Lilah’s face when she’d gotten back into line.

She was worried about money.

She didn’t talk about it much — I thought maybe she was embarrassed that she had to think about it — but every now and then she’d let it slip.

It was no wonder she’d burned through her savings with only her shitty job at Burger Haven. I hated that things were so fuckinghardfor her, and I immediately started thinking about all the ways we could make things easier.

I waited until she’d gotten settled in the passenger seat of the Rover and angled my body to look at her.

“We can pay your rent you know.”

She pulled back a little. “What? No.”

“It’s nothing. Honestly, it’s the least we can do after all we put you through. We’d be happy to do it.”

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