While the SFPD was on a citywide manhunt of an unmarked RV, Mason had a job list of his own. First, he needed to check on somebody who’d had a run-in with death. After that, he had his own family to take care of. The night seemed to go on forever.
Rubbing his eyes as he got out of the Mustang, he waved to the squad car and knocked on Kylie’s door. It took a few minutes for her to answer, and she didn’t do so without first peering through two different windows to ensure they were safe. When she opened the door, her eyes lit up with joy and relief.
“Tell me you got him,” she said.
Mason shook his head. “Sorry. I just wanted to check in on you.”
“I’ll be fine. I always am.”
“You don’t have to act so tough.”
“It’s not an act,” she said with an enchanting smile that reeked of cutesy charm and sly mischief. But she wasn’t fooling anyone—Mason could have spotted her trembling hands from a mile off. When his eyes drifted down to them, she stuffed them into her pockets. “Do you want to come in? I can get some coffee going?”
Although coffee sounded like perfection at that moment, he had to decline. “There’s somewhere else I have to be. But you’ve got my number. Call me if anything else comes up.”
“I’m sure the cops will call you before I get a chance to.”
“Good. Then I won’t miss it.”
Mason said goodbye and hurried down the porch steps. Kylie was safe, and that was one thing, but there were more people to check on. Some twisted idea of a nightmare came for him every time he blinked his exhausted eyes. It was the idea that Evie or Diane had been hurt in all this. That Wendell—if it really was him—had fled the scene only to go and hurt his family for ever having interfered. It was his biggest fear coming to life.
And then there was sleep. Oh, how badly he craved it. If it weren’t for the safety checks he had to perform, he could quite easily just let the seat back and fall into a coma for several hours. But it wasn’t that easy. First, he had to pay a visit to Evie and ensure she hadn’t been hurt. After that, his own home, where he intended to spend the rest of the night.
It felt like he couldn’t get there fast enough.