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“I don’t think she’s too far from here. If I’m honest, I’d say she is within a ten-mile radius. Someone knows where she is. I’m working on getting a few search warrants. The more we can look, the closer we can get to finding her,” Steven tells me, sitting by my bed drinking a coffee.
We’ve been working all morning, and it has been a nice distraction from everything that’s going on. I’ve been thinking about Jayden constantly and have been only answering Reece’s calls to talk to him. I am trying to keep things as normal and as calm as possible so that I’m able to get my son back without causing too many problems. So far, Reece believes I’ve recovered from his attack like every other time.
I’m letting him believe that until I have my son.
Only then will I change that on him.
“Is there a possibility she doesn’t want to be found?” I say to Steven, sipping my own coffee. “Could she have made herself disappear?”
Steven nods, meeting my gaze. “It’s possible. Incredibly hard, but possible. Some people want to disappear and they don’t want to be found. There’s a solid chance that is the case, from what we’ve gathered so far, her home life wasn’t great ...”
Surely this hasn’t got something to do with Dax.
I frown.
“You don’t think she’s come across foul play, such as human traffickers?” I dare to ask.
Steven shrugs, as if the idea is not even slightly shocking to him. “Again, it’s possible. Girls like her are an easy target. They disappear quickly and they don’t put up a fight. There’s always a chance that has happened.”
“How would you know? I mean, how would you even go about looking for something like that?”
He might be able to give me some information, something to indicate that he knows where to find those kinds of people. In turn, I may be able to find Dax. That would be worth everything and more. If he could give me some idea, without realizing it, on where to start I might just be able to get somewhere on this case. Kendric is running out of time and, so far, all Alarick believes is that Blanche has something to do with it.
I still can’t see it.
I still don’t believe he has something to do with this.
He just doesn’t seem like the kind of person to risk it all for that.
He’s been so good so far, so helpful, so nice, and he’s so smart.
No, I refuse to believe it.
“That would depend on how much evidence you had,” he answers my question, and I focus back on him instead of letting my mind run wild.
“Say you had an idea of who was doing it, but you didn’t know how to locate them? Where would you even begin? I’m sure there are known traffickers, but they’re well hidden.”
“With a name, you can find anyone. Really, you can. It’s just about looking in the right places. You don’t go to the bad guys, Zariah, you go to the good guys.”
I narrow my eyes. “You mean like friends?”
“Better,” he goes on, staring at his laptop as he types something. “Family.”
Family.
Why the hell haven’t we looked into Dax’s family? With his name, and a good bit of digging, we’d be able to find someone in his family that would possibly know where he is.
God dammit.
Yes.
“What if they have no family?” I dare to ask.
“Everyone has someone, that’s just the truth. Everyone has someone that even if they changed their name and disappeared, they’d make contact. Doesn’t matter how bad they are, there is someone they’d give it all up for. A mother, a father, a sister, a friend, a lover ... Someone.”
“Is that what you’re looking for in this case, her someone?”
He nods. “Exactly. You find that person, you find your person.”
My heart pounds against my ribcage as I fight the urge to grab my phone and tell Alarick the almost obvious thing that has just been pointed out to me. We’ve been looking into the bad people, the people who know Dax or Peter, who are involved with them, who work for them, but we haven’t looked on the other side of things. Dax has to have someone out there that he cares about, or someone who would know where to find him.
We just have to find that person.
It seems scarily obvious now.
Steven and I finish up with our work and when he’s gone, I pick up the phone and dial Alarick.
“Zariah,” he answers. “You good?”
“Come to the hospital, I’ve got something to share.”
“On my way.”
I hang up and take a deep shaky breath.
This could be the break we need.
God, I hope this changes everything.
~*~*~*~
“I WAS TALKING TO STEVEN,” I say, when Alarick, Kendric, and Cohen arrive at the hospital. “We were just talking about cases in general and he told me that when you’re looking for someone who has disappeared, you look for the good side, not the bad side. In other words, you find their family, you go from there. He said everyone has someone they care about, you just have to find that person.”
Alarick stares at me with a confused expression.
I do a better job of explaining.
“He has to have family somewhere, someone he is still talking to, someone he cares about. Surely he didn’t just disappear without a trace. I mean, think about it, he left that house unattended. Someone has to be controlling that. He left everything and just disappeared. Someone knows something. You just have to find that someone.”
Alarick grins, wild and free, a grin I haven’t seen on his face for months. “You’re fuckin’ genius!” He turns to Cohen and Kendric. “Cohen, get Bohdi onto findin’ out who that house is registered to. It has to be under someone’s name, someone is keepin’ it good for him. Find that person. Kendric, you and Samson get onto searchin’ for his family, friends, someone out there who is still in contact with him. Surely the man doesn’t have nobody.”
“What about Peter?” Cohen asks.
“Fuck Peter, we’ve been lookin’ in the wrong places. We’re lookin’ at him because of their connection, but we’ve been wastin’ our time not searchin’ outside of him.”
“Let’s get onto it then,” Kendric murmurs, then looks to me. “What about Blanche, you got anything on him?”
“Blanche isn’t in on this,” I say. “I’m not risking my job to look into him. I’m sorry.”
Alarick glances at me too now. “Know you don’t like the idea, Zariah, but you gotta know our sources are all pointin’ to him.”
“Some cartel leader? You want me to believe him?” I shake my head. “No, I’m sorry, I’ve spent time with him and he’s smart. He’s clever. He’s so into his job. He’s not going to risk everything help some pathetic idiot like Dax out.”
“Dax is powerful, don’t underestimate him,” Cohen growls.
I shake my head. “I’m not doing it. I’m not looking into someone I know isn’t involved.”
“Need you to be on our side, Zariah,” Alarick tells me, crossing his arms. His big body so powerful it makes me feel a little intimidated.
“I am on your side. I’ve risked everything to help you all out and I still am. I’m not looking into someone who has finally given me a break that I’ve been working my ass off for.”
“So it’s about your fuckin’ job?” Kendric growls.
I look to him. “Do not, Kendric. I have every damn right to want to protect my job.”
“Sure that’s all you’re protectin’?”
I shake my head and look away. “I’m not looking into Blanche; you’re going to have to find something else. Now, can we look into the information I actually gave you that might lead somewhere?”
“You’re protectin’ someone who could be fuckin’ dangerous,” Kendric growls.
“You’re assuming. You have zero proof he has anything to do with this,” I snap, glaring at him.
“We have plenty of people tellin’ us his name, you think that’s a coincidence?”
My chest tightens, and I take a deep, angry breath. “He hasn’t got anything to do with this.”
“You fuckin’ him, is that it?” Kendric throws at me, eyes fierce.
“Go fuck yourself, Kendric. I’m not fucking him. I’m working with him. He’s not a bad person.”
“You’re sure of that. You’re willin’ to risk my fuckin’ life for it? Because if you’re wrong, and I go to prison because we can’t fix this, you’re goin’ to live with your choice right now.”
Guilt slams into my chest and I cross my arms, trying really fucking hard to convince myself I’m doing the right thing here. What if I am wrong? What if Kendric goes down because I refuse to look into Blanche? Am I making the wrong choice? God dammit, I don’t know what to think anymore. Everything is confusing me. Blanche doesn’t seem like the kind of man to do something like this, but Kendric is right, can I be one hundred percent sure of that?
Alarick intervenes before I can say anything more. “That’s enough. Do what I’m fuckin’ tellin’ you to do, Kendric. We don’t have time for this fuckin’ bullshit.”
Kendric doesn’t take his eyes off me.
He’s angry.
I’m angry.
We’re running out of time.
Changing the subject, Alarick asks, “We’re goin’ to get your boy back this afternoon, you ready for that?”
I pull my eyes away from Kendric’s and look to him. My voice strong when I say, “I’m ready.”
I’m more than ready.
I need my son back.
I need my freedom back.
I just need this all to be over so I can finally start my life the way I have been wanting to for so long.
The time has finally come.