Page 104 of The Woman at the Funeral

“Meet me at Zen’s.”

“Okay. Will do. Listen, we’re gonna find her.”

“Yeah. We have to.”

I let Leo handle the rest. Then I just sat, mind racing, for the whole drive back to Zeno’s place.

“Zen!” I yelled, banging on the door when I arrived.

He slid the locks and let me in.

“Look, it’s not good news.”

“Zen, I don’t want to hear that.”

“I saw the shadows coming up the stairs, but they must have clocked the camera before they came all the way up. All I saw was a ducked head in a baseball cap before the feed cut.”

“Goddamnit,” I snapped, swinging an arm across his desk, sending paper coffee cups flying.

“I’m working on it,” Zeno said, dropping into his chair as Goya walked around the room, whimpering for a moment, then dropping down onto his bed, looking defeated. “There’s gotta be cameras on the street around there.” He was mostly talking to himself.

“Sorry, bud,” I said, walking over to Goya to give his head a pet. “I’m gonna find her, okay?”

Goya huffed, putting his head back down and refusing to look up again.

Feeling useless, I paced Zeno’s apartment as he clicked and mumbled, trying to find me something.

Half an hour passed.

“Hey, we’re gonna get her,” Leo said, appearing at my side. His hand shot out, grabbing my shoulder, and giving it a squeeze.

“We have to,” I said, jaw tight.

Leo was on a constant loop of phone calls as Gav and Cesare showed up, offering their assurances.

But they were all empty.

None of us could do anything.

Except Zeno.

Who had a wild look on his face as he hit roadblock after roadblock until…

“Got it!” he declared, making my stomach flip as I rushed over toward his desk.

It was well over an hour since I’d gotten to the apartment and found the blood. There was potentially another hour she could have been missing before I even got back there, judging by the melted candles.

“Here, watch this,” Zeno said, pointing to the very edge of the grainy footage he found. “That’s baseball cap guy,” he said, catching just the corner of a man as he glanced out of the door beside the convenience store.

He disappeared for a second.

And when he came out again, he had his arm around a woman. Around Blair.

She was leaning against his chest.

The sight made my heart lurch.

Until I realized her feet and legs weren’t moving. She wasn’t leaning into him. She was being carried by him.

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