Page 159 of Happily Never After

“I know,” he said, scrolling through something on his phone. “We need to call Jack right now.”

“I’ll do it.” Charlie looked rattled for the first time since she was sixteen. She buried one hand in her hair and dialed.

“What do you mean you know?” Claire asked. Her vision was starting to blur at the edges. She took shallow, hurried breaths. Goosebumps ran down the length of both arms.

Luke showed her the screen. It was their security camera for the front yard. Something was flickering onscreen.

“Is thatfire?” She leaned in and stared at the screen.

Luke nodded. “It’s hard to tell from the video. Mr. Nesbit called and the fire department’s on their way. But they left us a message.”

“What does it say?” Her stomach roiled. She was going to projectile vomit here on the red carpet outside a historic theater.

“We warned you,” he said quietly.

Thirty minutes passed in absolute panic. Jack launched an FBI response. The venue shut down the screening. Cops and agents buzzed around them. Eventually, they were shepherded to what appeared to be an FBI safe room not far from the theater.

“Okay,” Jack said, a map of Los Angeles spread out in front of him.

Tanya paced in the corner, weeping and clutching a crystal. “Should have known. Mercury is retrograde again. Oh, my poor baby.”

“What do we know?” Claire asked. There was a pool of sweat beneath the Taser she had strapped to the inside of her thigh. She was going to use it on whoever had taken her sister.

“Last confirmed location was her house in Burbank.” Jack pointed to a spot on the map. “She left there at six thirty to head to Luke’s house?—”

“But we were already gone,” Claire said. Of all the days to be on time.

Luke sat in a chair in the corner, combing through the security footage. “I don’t think she ever made it to the house,” he said. “Her car doesn’t show up on any of the footage since we left.”

Jack made a note on a piece of paper and turned back to the map. “So that means somewhere between here and there she disappeared.” His shrewd brown eyes narrowed. “LAPD is checking traffic cameras and looking for her car.”

Charlie sat on a futon in the corner, eyes watering and fist clenched around a scrunchie that Brianna had let her borrow during their dance party.

“She could be anywhere.” Claire stared at the map. “We don’t even know where the professor is staying. Anyone could have her.” She turned away. Her hands twitched, ready to flip a table or strike a match to burn down a building. ESA had taken her baby sister. There was no doubt in her mind.

“What about her tracker? Don’t you always put a tracker in her car or shoes or something?” She had seen evidence of the tracker at Jack’s house back east.

“She left the bracelet at home.” His voice broke, and he cleared his throat. That was fair. It wouldn’t have gone with her outfit.

“She told me she hired a bodyguard,” Jack added.

“She didn’t,” Claire half-screamed. Her mind spun. She could see it, clear as day. Brianna, bound and gagged while a psychopath stared down at her. If they didn’t find her, she would be dead before morning. For the first time, she understood how Luke and her friends had felt the night she had been abductedby Barney. Nothing but dead ends, seconds slipping away. Could they find her before it was too late?

“Someone should check the decommissioned ESA houses. I have a list on my phone. That’s where they were going to take Wendy when they planned to kidnap her.” She scrolled through her emails and sent the spreadsheet to Jack.

Jack nodded and addressed one of the other agents in the room. “Humbert, we’re going to need LAPD to investigate every fraternity house that was once affiliated with the Greek organization Epsilon Sigma Alpha. I just sent you the list.”

“On it.” The agent disappeared into another room.

“Why don’t we just put out a social media blast?” Charlie piped up from the futon. She looked slightly more composed than she had a minute ago. The borrowed scrunchie was now around her wrist. “Bri’s a public figure. People know what she looks like.”

“We don’t want to cause a panic,” Jack muttered. “Whoever has her could drag her further underground where we’ll never find her. These next few hours are crucial.”

“I have another theory,” Claire said quietly.

Jack whirled around. There was a crazed look in his eyes. “What?” he barked.

“I think it’s possible that whoever is in charge out here lives in the Hills.”

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