Page 63 of Knight
I tossed the apartment key to Brass as Mouse clapped me on the back, then pushed me towards the exit.
I made the drive in half the time with Mouse right on my tail.
I recognized the guy behind the counter. I had an idea that it was Dale. Gwen had talked about him a few times but only in a friendly manner. I wasn’t a particularly jealous person and even if I was, it only took one look into my girl’s eyes to see how she felt about me.
“Hey, guys. Mouse,” he said when he saw us.
I knew he’d met Mouse a few times the last few days. Those times when I broke down and drove to the coffee shop because I needed to see Gwen. If I wasn’t sure about this guy before, the level of respect he’d just shown my brother would have squashed that.
“Hey, man,” Mouse said with a breezy coolness in his tone. “Have you seen Gwen?”
“Yeah, she left maybe an hour ago…with Tara.”
“Did she say anything on where she was headed?”
“No, sorry,” he answered Mouse’s question with a curious glance.
“You got security cameras?”
“Yeah. Is something wrong?”
“Gwen’s missing,” I bit out not able to take this back and forth game any longer.
“We just need to find her,” Mouse said taking back control.
“I’ll be right back,” Dale called out to the other girl working then motioned with his head for us to follow him into the backroom.
I felt like it took too much time for him to find the footage that Gwen was on. I knew it was a matter of a few minutes, but every second felt like a hundred years right now.
The cameras weren’t that great but I could make out Gwen as she collected her things and walking out with Tara. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and my mind was spinning on what the hell could have happened.
“Rewind it a little more,” Mouse said and Dale complied.
Gwen said something to Tara as she closed the book that was sitting in front of her. Then she got up and walked away. I couldn’t see where she was going. I was about to ask him if he had a different camera showing where she went when I saw Tara move with quick, jerky movements. Tara pulled something out of her bag, then reached over and popped the top off of one of the coffee cups sitting on the table. I guessed it was Gwen’s because it was set further away from Tara than the other one.
“Did she just put something in there?” I asked, my mind not wanting to believe what I’d just seen.
Then Tara picked up Gwen’s phone that was sitting on the table. I couldn’t make out what she was doing, but if I had one guess, it would be that she was sending a text to Tripp. I had no doubt that she’d seen him when she pulled up.
“Oh, shit,” Mouse said in a gasp as we watched Gwen walk back to the table and down the rest of what was in the cup.
“I’m sorry,” Dale said in a whisper as he turned his head to look at me, his face had gone deathly pale. “I had no idea. I should have seen this…I felt like there was something off with that girl. I should have said something. I’m so sorry.”
With a deep, calming breath, I patted him on the back. I wanted to lash out and let the anger take over. But I was smart enough to realize that this wasn’t his fault at all. It was mine.Ishould have seen it coming.
“Call Cable,” I growled at Mouse. “I need everything he can find on this bitch.”
I had to find Gwen.
I couldn’t let her down again.
I had to believe that I would hear her sweet voice again. Feel her touch. Get to watch her face as she finally told me how she felt about me.
