Page 184 of Chasing Infinity

Charlie looks up at me from his computer and frowns. “I went out there while you were in the hospital. There was nothing there, Noah.”

My stomach roils with unease. “I just have a bad feeling about that place.”

Charlie leans back in his chair, watching me curiously. “What do you think it is?”

“I don’t know. There’s something about it that raises red flags.” I run my hands through my hair and groan. “I know you said it was a dead end, but if the two of us go back together, we might find something you missed.”

Charlie watches me with a steady gaze but doesn’t say anything, even though I likely offended him by saying he might have missed something. But he maintains his calm stoicism, which only seems to infuriate me further.

“We have to find her,” I plead with him. “We have nothing else to go on.”

“Okay,” he finally agrees. “We might as well start somewhere. Let’s go.”

A slight sense of relief explodes in my chest, and I take a deep breath. “Thank you.”

Charlie logs out of his computer and grabs his duty belt, clipping it around his waist. He grabs his keys from his desk drawer and then nods toward the door. I follow after him, taking the front seat of his patrol car.

With a flip of a switch, the lights and sirens turn on, and Charlie tears away from the station. He grabs the radio and mutters a few things to dispatch, telling them where we’re going.

“Are you gonna call for more units?” I ask him.

Charlie shakes his head. “Not right away. If we get out there and things look weird, I’ll call out, but I don’t want to pull my guys off the streets just yet.”

I nod my head, letting silence descend as we race through town.

The screeching sound of Charlie’s ringtone blares through the car, jolting me out of whatever stupor I was in. He pulls his phone out of the cup holder, and I catch a glimpse of the nameEliMontgomeryflashing across the screen. Charlie glances at me, and I nod my head as he answers. He puts the call on speakerphone so he can still focus on driving with two hands.

“Hey,” Charlie says.

“Hi,” Eli responds. “Everything okay?”

“Why?”

“I just saw you speeding through town with full lights and sirens,” Eli says. “Not usually your job to answer emergency calls.”

Charlie pauses for a second as he rounds a corner. “Yeah…no, everything is not okay.”

“What’s going on?”

“Addison’s missing,” I chime in, letting him know I’m here.

Now Eli pauses. “Is that McCoy with you?”

I grit my teeth at my old last name but answer anyway. “In the flesh.”

“Addison’s missing?” he latches on to what I said earlier. “Where is she?”

“If I knew where she was, she wouldn’t be missing, now would she, Monty?” I can’t help but rib at him though I’m well aware the timing is inappropriate.

He scoffs over the phone, but then his voice grows serious. “Where was she last seen?”

I exhale and rub the back of my neck. “I don’t know. The diner, maybe?”

“I’ll look around town some more,” Eli says. “If you guys need any more help, let me know.” He hesitates and then says in a softer voice, “She’s important to me too, you know?”

“Yeah,” I say. “I know. We’re going to the Witch House to check it out again. I feel like there’s something there that we’re overlooking.”

“Okay. Just ring if you need me,” Eli says. We say a few more words, and then Charlie hangs up the phone.

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