Page 65 of Legends Luke

“I appreciate it, Mr. Drake. When this is over, I’ll make sure you’re compensated for your time,” Sandra said.

Drake smiled, and the sight of his white teeth against his dark beard changed his countenance entirely. Melody blinked, surprised at the transformation. “Please call me Drake. Mister is too formal for me. And there’s no need for compensation. If we can help in any way to bring your daughter home safely, we’re happy to do it.”

Melody stopped by her desk for her purse and jacket. She tried to ignore the curious stares from her coworkers as she fell into step with Drake and Sandra. “What will we do about our cars?”

“We’ll leave them here for now. My teammates and I will transport you if you need to go anywhere, but for the next day or so, it’s better if you stay close to home. When this is over, we’ll bring you to pick up your vehicles.”

Melody nodded, and they left the law firm. She smiled at Sandra, hoping to reassure her that everything was alright without showing her doubts that they would see a happy ending.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Luke slammed his fist against the shiny wood of the bar, spouting a string of expletives dripping with venom. He had enough presence of mind not to throw anything in his family’s bar, but it didn’t diminish the urge caused by the blinding rage coursing through his body.

He was gone.

English got the call from Tater a moment ago. The police served a warrant on the house where Blake Drummond was staying, and the asshole had disappeared along with all the young people Luke had seen at his place earlier. Drummond was in the wind, and Luke knew he was to blame.

“You done?” English sat at a table, sipping a cup of coffee, and spoke to Luke as if not a damn thing was wrong.

Luke glared at his mentor but wisely kept his mouth shut. He might have youth and build on his side, but with his CIA training, English could be a force in his own right. Tangling with his mentor would not end well for him.

“It’s not your fault, Luke. We all agreed it was too soon to involve Tater before we had more intel. We had no way of knowingthe fool would skip town before we could get to him.” English’s reassurances had little effect on Luke’s guilt.

“There has to be a way to find him.” Reagan sat on English’s right, holding Jax close to her as she fed him a bottle.

Reagan had insisted their friend Alex Crandell bring them to the bar to await word on the cops’ takedown. Jackson almost lost his shit when she showed up. She and Jax were supposed to be at home under Alex’s protection until Drummond was caught, but when she’d found out they’d closed the bar temporarily so they could monitor the case without interruption, she wanted to be close to her family.

“They could be anywhere. No one has seen them since this morning, which means they’ve had a lot of time to get the hell out of Fire Creek,” Easton said.

Reagan shrugged. “Maybe. But there’s something that’s not adding up. This guy doesn’t act like any criminal we’ve ever run across. I think he has a different ending in mind for his story. At least that’s how I would write it.”

English grunted. “This isn’t one of your books, Ray.”

As a murder mystery novelist, Reagan often brought a different viewpoint to the cases the Legends worked. Her knowledge was wide, based on the extensive research she conducted to make her stories authentic, even if they were fiction.

“He’s right,” Luke agreed, struggling to get his ire under control. “Drummond’s probably had an exit strategy this whole time. We underestimated the son of a bitch. Again.”

“But how could he have left town with a crew of young peoplewithout someone reporting them missing? Erin can’t be the only one with family looking for her,” Reagan said.

“If I had come up missing at that age, no one would have reported me missing or come looking,” Ben pointed out. “Hell, I would have been an easy target for this guy.”

“Any one of us could have been,” Jackson said.

“If I was writing this, I would choose young people who did have a home life where they wouldn’t be missed, where they wouldn’t draw attention to me. So why would he include someone like Erin in his crimes? She doesn’t fit the mold. I would consider her too high-profile, too easy to be discovered or recognized.”

“We already figured out she’s probably the reason why they didn’t strike in Fire Creek. So, they wouldn’t be recognized,” Luke reminded. “Melody said her boss has been having trouble with Erin for a while. She could have told Drummond some sob story, and he didn’t bother to check out who she was or how much of what she said was true. Then we show up with Melody, and he realizes she’s more trouble than he bargained for.”

“But if he decided to run because she was trouble, why not just drop her?” Reagan mused. She pulled the bottle out of Jax’s mouth because the infant had fallen asleep. “And since they decided to run, why bother to threaten you and your families? He didn’t have to confront you at the truck. Why would he even care if you or Melody got in his business? We’re missing something.”

“What did they do with the stuff?”

Luke stared at English, wondering how he could be so calm as he drank his coffee.

“You mean the stuff they stole,” Jackson responded.

English nodded. “Tater said they’d been monitoring the dark web and pawn shops, and none of it has turned up. Why steal the stuff if you didn’t plan to sell it for money? Why steal at all if not for the money?”

“What if it wasn’t about the stuff?” Ben asked as he moved from the bar to sit at the table with English and Reagan. “What if all the thefts were building up to something else?”

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