Page 141 of 2045 Clementine Lane: Catherine

“You should go home.”

I look up at Sade as she approaches my desk. I haven’t slept in almost forty-eight hours. I haven’t stopped since the morning I knocked on the door of the house on Clementine Lane and Antoinette told me that she thought Catherine was with me. “I’m not leaving the station until we find her.”

“Aiden-”

“Lieutenant,” I remind her.

She doesn’t reply. She raises her eyebrows at me.

“I’m sorry,” I manage after a long pause. “I don’t know what to do.”

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I realize that they’re true. If this were anyone else but Catherine, I could be objective. I could work. I would know what to do. But every time I think about next steps, all I see is Cat, locked up somewhere, scared and afraid. And the truth I can’t quite face is that that’s the best-case scenario. Because if she’s locked up somewhere, it means she’s probably still alive…

“When she didn’t arrive, I wasn’t completely surprised.” When my voice cracks, I raise my hand to my mouth and rub there for a second while I fight for composure. “I thought she just needed more time.” I stare at the piles of paper on my desk. “Even when she didn’tanswer her phone, I assumed she couldn’t talk to me about it. I decided to give her space and reach out the next morning.” When she doesn’t say anything, I look up at her again. “And I’m going to have to live with that decision for the rest of my life.

“You will.”

I bark out a bitter laugh.

“But you had no way of knowing.” She puts her hand on my shoulder briefly. “And when we get her back, you’ll slowly start to forgive yourself for that one mistake.”

The air in my lungs is trapped, and, needing an excuse to move forward again, I ask, “Anything new?”

“No. Surveillance on Sokolov has been eerily silent. More so than usual. We’ve followed up on all the information the girls gave us. Nothing.”

“And Drakos’s security people? Primrose Proper?”

“Cloak and Dagger called an hour ago corroborating what we know already. Street cameras picked up Catherine’s car entering downtown around the time Suzanne O’Neill said Catherine left. But the quality was bad. All we know is that she was in the front seat of herJeep, seemingly alone.”

“No, she wasn’t alone. She couldn’t have been. The back windows to herJeepare tinted. Until we know otherwise, we assume he was already in her vehicle at the Dressmaker.”

“Okay.”

“And Primrose?”

“Dropped off the face of the fucking earth.”

“Jesus.”

“If she has a lead, she’s keeping it—and herself—off grid.”

I grit my teeth, biting off the scathing comment that wants to come out my mouth. “I told the girls to stay out of this.”

“Yeah, I know.” Sade shakes her head slowly, considering something.

“What is it?”

“Maybe they could prove useful.”

“Or wind up getting hurt. Or worse, get Cat hurt if she’s not-”

Sade doesn’t let me finish the thought. “Antoinette keeps calling. She’s threatening to come down here if you don’t call her back.”

“Call her. Give her an update.”

“She won’t talk to me.”

“Well then she won’t talk to anyone.”

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