Page 62 of Safe
“Did you happen to at least see which way he went when he left?”
“Yeah, he turned right.” She held her finger up, as if to stop us from going anywhere, and thought for another second. “I saw a girl in his passenger seat that wasn’t with him when he checked in.”
“Ok, thank you, miss.”
We left and started walking back to the car.
“When we get back to the station, we need to check in with the team, creating a list of abandoned properties. If he turned right, he’d be heading away from Grand Junction. Let’s fucking hope he didn’t head to the airport,” Alex tossed a half-smoked cigarette into the street as he jumped into the car, and we sped toward the station.
Back at the department, the atmosphere had gotten heavy as everyone got lost in their own heavy concentration. I sank into one of the office chairs, glaring at my watch, realizing I had been awake for 34 hours. I was fighting to stay awake when Alex walked back over to me and put his hand on my shoulder.
“Cody, you need some rest. Get some sleep, and I'll wake you if we need you.”
31. ALEX
I surveyed the office where everyone was engrossed in files, scouring social media, and combing through internet data. A smaller group of officers was jotting things down on the whiteboard, making calls, and bouncing ideas off each other. Danielle had been kidnapped somewhere around 18 hours ago, so I had maybe another 30 hours before my odds of finding her alive dropped drastically. In the few hours Cody and I were away, I hoped the team had made some headway.
Fatigue was kicking in big time, blurring faces into a nameless mob. I checked in with several officers, but there was no sign of activity on Danielle's or Landon's social media, not that I expected any. Landon was too smart to leave any traces, and Danielle was without her phone.
The team conducting interviews in the area returned empty-handed, with witnesses recalling only seeing Danielle alongside Cody. Employees at the store remembered her appearing upset but reported no signs of a confrontation or an accomplice.
We were hitting dead ends, and my last hope rested with the team investigating abandoned properties and any possible routes involving a right-hand turn out of that motel.
“Which one of you is Calhoun?” I shouted into the room.
A redheaded 20-something-year-old turned around from his computer and raised his hand in the air. “Right here, sir.”
I walked right over to him. Hopefully, there weren’t many abandoned properties west of Grand Junction.
“Landon was last seen checking out of the motel that sat diagonally from the convenience store, heading west towards the outskirts of town. Have you found anything that’s within a 25-mile radius of there?”
“Uh, yeah. Closest empty warehouses are one on the outskirts near Nordstrand Trucking. Couple near Little Park Road, and another few over near the airport.”
“Great, text them to me, and then I’ll head out. We’ll keep a team on standby for backup in case we see anything.”
I picked up my jacket and nudged Cody’s shoulder, careful not to startle him. As gentle as I was, he jerked awake anyway. I could tell he was in a very light, alert sleep. We needed to find Danielle, or I was fairly certain I was going to lose my best friend, too.
“We’ve got some warehouses to go check out in the direction that Landon took off. Let’s go.” I whispered.
It was already dark outside, offering us the stealth we desperately needed. If Landon spotted us anywhere in town, it would cause an issue for Danielle. We climbed into the car, and I punched each address into the GPS. None of them was too far away, but each was situated on the outskirts, near the desert or mountains. Choosing any of these would have been savvy from the looks of where they were located; it meant less attention and more expansive properties.
"We'll start with the ones near Little Park, about 30 minutes out," I said, breaking the silence.
Cody sat beside me, silent throughout the drive, his exhaustion and anxiety palpable. He seemed tense and on the verge of nausea. I struggled to find comforting words, but had managed to keep a necessary detachment to maintain clarity. To find Danielle, I had to stay analytical; emotional decisions could get her killed. I knew damn well Cody wasn’t going to be able to do it, so it was up to me to keep him in check. And myself.
Ten minutes away from the first warehouse, Cody finally broke the silence. In a low mumble that suggested he was holding back tears, he said, "If we find her, I need your permission for something."
He continued staring into his lap, fumbling around with something.
"What’s that, man?" I asked, trying to sound casual, but with apprehension. What the hell would Cody need my permission for? Did he plan on asking me if he could kill Landon himself? If so, that was off the fucking table. It would land me in the slammer right next to him.
Instead of answering, Cody placed the small black box he had been fumbling around with in his hands for most of the drive on the dashboard, letting out a broken, heavy sigh.
As we paused at a red light, I picked up the box and opened it. I don’t know what I was expecting to see, but it certainly wasn’t the biggest god damn diamond ring I had ever seen in my life, and yet there I was, staring at it.
"I bought it with the money you paid me," Cody confessed, almost sounding like he regretted it. "I was going to give it to her the other night at the zoo. She thought I was using the money for myself, that I only saw her as a job. I couldn’t tell her the truth. It would've spoiled everything.”
I didn’t say anything for a minute. There was still a part of my brain that told me to beat the shit out of him; to keep him away from my sister. But for what? I mean, really, who else could be better for her? Especially after Landon. Still, I wasn’t about to make it easy for him. It’s still my sister, and he’s still the idiot who eats on my couch in his boxers.
