Page 83 of Little Girl Vanished

“Shit,” I moaned.

The light dropped to the floor, pieces of broken glass spread out along with a few drops of blood.

“Double shit.”

“Someone beat us here,” Malcolm said, then squatted next to the blood. “And not long ago. This blood looks fresh. It’s still wet.”

“You’re suggesting someone kidnapped Eddie Johnson?” I asked in disbelief.

His sarcastic gaze lifted to mine. “What do you think happened here?”

Okay, he was right. Stupid question. But the better question was who had taken him and why?

Chapter 24

“Did you do this?” I asked, really wishing I had my gun.

“Why the fuck would I kidnap the guy I was trying to protect from you?” he asked, sounding like I’d asked the stupidest question he’d ever heard.

I motioned toward him. “Why would you be this involved in protecting a regular in your bar unless you had some kind of investment?”

He stood and narrowed his gaze. “What are you suggesting?”

“I’m not suggesting anything,” I countered. “Answer the question.”

“I’m here because the kid has no one else to look after him. His mother died and his father remarried. The old witch treats him like a literal version of the proverbial stepchild. He’s a good kid. He just needs a break.”

“A break like kidnapping a twelve-year-old girl?”

“What? Fuck no,” he grunted.

“How well do you know him?”

“Well enough to know he didn’t do that,” he spat out, and spun to look around the room. “They were in a hurry, and this was recent.” He looked up at me. “Who else knew you were planning to pay a visit?”

“You,” I countered, my brow lifted. “You had a good ten minutes inside your bar to arrange for someone to take him.”

“If he worked for me, why wouldn’t I just tell him to go into hiding?”

“Maybe you did,” I said, not wanting to consider the alternative suspects. “Maybe he cut himself while he was fleeing.”

His gaze was dubious.

Even I knew that sounded far-fetched.

“Who else knew you were interested in him?” he asked. “Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee?”

“Nate and Drew?” I asked in disbelief. “One’s a Jackson Creek police officer and the other is a mild-mannered bookstore owner.”

“And, as we’ve established, the bookstore owner’s awfully nosy.”

I shook my head. “I don’t see him doing it.”

“Sometimes it’s the ones you least suspect,” he said, then a grin lifted the corners of his mouth, even though his eyes still looked deadly. “Ever watched that Netflix show, You?”

“Have you?” I asked in shock.

He snorted with a look that made it clear he hadn’t. But he had a point. Ruling someone out based on outward appearances was bad practice. Still, would Nate or Drew have had time to pull something like this together? Whoever had taken Eddie had also stolen his car.