Page 74 of Zeke

“Damn it,” I say, turning to my siblings. “How the hell are we supposed to find this guy?”

“Easy,” Julia says from the floor, looking up at us. “I know who he is. Steve Parkins. He’s a regular, not someone I ever thought would be a creep, but obviously I had a bad read on the guy.”

“Steve Parkins,” Kira’s dad chimes in. “If I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t believe it. But I double-checked the security footage, and it’s him, all right.”

“Security footage?” Eli asks.

“Yeah,” Kira’s dad replies. “We have surveillance cameras all over the place. When Country left me to watch Julia, I checked the feed to see if I could figure anything out to help me find her.”

“Can I see?” Eli asks.

Kira’s dad hits a few buttons on his phone, then hands it over to show Eli.

There’s an image divided into four, just like on cop shows where they have closed-circuit cameras watching over someplace. I’m not sure why a baker would need this many cameras, but I’m glad he has them right now because Eli opens an images and zooms in.

“I think that’s a partial license plate,” he says, pointing at the picture and turning to me and Eden. “I may not be able to get much from that, but since I have a name, too, we should be able to find this guy fast.”

He turns and goes to the table by the window where Kira and I shared coffee so many times. He sits down and pulls his bag from his shoulder, where he has his laptop stashed. He brings it out and immediately hammers away on the keyboard. It never ceases to amaze me how he does this stuff, but I’m really fucking glad he knows how to right now because waiting for the police to get off their asses has never worked out for us.

“Okay,” Eli says, typing at the speed of light. “Steve… Parkins…” He looks up at Kira’s dad for confirmation. “Right?”

“Yeah,” he says, shaking his head. “I can’t believe he’d do something like this. He just seemed so… normal.”

“Yeah, well,” Eden says with a dry laugh. “Normal is relative, wouldn’t you say? Besides, you never know what’s underneath what someone shows you.” She looks at Savage, and I know they’re thinking of each other. They both have tough, relentless demeanors, but with each other, they can be soft and caring. They let each other take the lead for them in different situations.

Eli looks at his computer, but the longer I wait for him to figure out what the hell we’re supposed to be doing and where we need to go to look for Kira, the more my temper lights up like fireworks. I pace the length of the bakery, including the hallway where I’d once cornered her and kissed her, before she’d told me she was choosing me. I stare at the spot on the wall where I’d pressed her up against it, remembering the feel of her lips on mine and thinking about how she’d felt the night before, beneath me, around me…

Before I intend to, I dart my fist out and slam it into the wall as hard as I can.

“Shit!” I cry out. I turn to see everyone staring at me. Apparently, I startled them because Julia has all but jumped into Country’s arms, and Eden gives me a look of disappointment.

“You need to calm the hell down right now,” she says.

“Are you kidding me?” I demand. “She’s out there with some fucking lunatic who thinks he owns her, and he’s got her who the hell knows where, and he’s doing who the hell knows what to her, and I just have to sit here and wait?”

“Yeah,” Eden says. “You do. Because if you go out there half-cocked, you’ll never find her because you don’t know where to start looking.”

“Don’t worry,” Eli says, not looking up from his computer screen. “I’m nearly done getting the info we need. I just need about five more minutes.”

“I won’t be calm until she’s back in my arms, and not a second sooner.” I debate arguing even more to have something to fight about and someone to fight with, but it’s pointless and would only make it harder to work together. Instead, I return to the group, cradling my hand.

Charge notices, and he comes over to take a look, which I’m grateful for, because a small part of my brain, the tiniest little part that isn’t wholly consumed with the need and desire to find Kira and get her back, has the capacity to worry that I might have broken my hand.

He pulls the appendage toward him and looks it over, running gentle fingers over the knuckles to see if they look or feel damaged. After a couple of minutes, he sighs and shakes his head. “Well, you’re lucky you didn’t break anything. But you’ll have an ugly bruise on those knuckles.” He turns to Kira’s dad. “Any chance I could get some more ice?”

He nods and heads to the kitchen for a minute, then comes back with a cheesecloth filled with ice, which Charge lays on my hand. It hurts almost as bad as it does without the ice at first, but within a minute or two, the cold numbs the pain, and I sink into the feeling.

It takes him seven minutes, but eventually, Eli makes a few clicks with his mouth and says, “Okay… Okay… Yes! There you are, you asshole!”

“Where?” I say, rising to my feet, my ice pack forgotten. I’m ready to get on my bike and rescue my girl from this guy before he can hurt her more than he may already have.

Eli looks at his screen, scanning whatever information he’s managed to pull up, and shakes his head. “There are two places. An apartment in town and a cabin outside of La Grange in the woods. He could be at either place.”

“Should we check the apartment first?” Julia asks, trying to get to her feet and stumbling. Country catches her before she falls.

“You aren’t going to be checking out anything,” Charge says, helping Country get her into a chair.

“And the rest of us aren’t going to waste time going from one place to the other,” Eden says. “We’re splitting up.” She looks at me. “Think you can handle that?”

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