just anyone that had her daughter go missing.
It was someone I knew.
Granted, it wasn’t someone I really liked, but it was someone I knew nonetheless.
“Shit,” I said as I caught Blaise’s hand up in mine, squeezing it lightly. “The woman that had a child go missing is Ames.”
Blaise’s head whipped around so fast that my head spun at her reaction.
She moaned and clutched her ‘bucket’ tighter.
Blaise’s mouth fell open and she focused on Ames standing in the middle of the chaos, her face a mask of tears as she cried and screamed. “My baby! Someone please, find my baby!”
Shortly after Ames’ words rent the air, Blaise threw her hand over her mouth and groaned.
“How about you go over there,” I suggested, pointing to where there was a calm spot in the parking lot. “You go sit on the curb for a bit, get yourself under control, and listen from there.”
Blaise sighed then patted my hand. “Thanks.”
Then she moved away from me.
“Come on,” Lynn ordered as he arrived with Six. “Let’s go see what we can do to help.”
I was reluctant to follow, mostly because I didn’t want to upset Ames any more than she already was.
Hence the reason I stayed on the outskirts, listening intently to the incident commander explain everything that had gone down as far as he knew.
My heart physically hurt after hearing everything.
Jesus, that kid had to be terrified right now.
“Ma’am,” Lynn said. “Where’s your husband? We’d like to talk to him.”
That’s when she shocked the living hell out of me.
“He’s at home.” Ames looked away.
“What?” I asked, unsure if I’d heard her right.
Her eyes came to me, and they narrowed in anger and disgust.
My eyes flicked up at an indelicate snort coming from my woman that had wandered closer to hear everything but was still far enough away so that she could discreetly puke in her trash can.
“He’s at home,” Ames repeated, sounding miffed. “He has to get up early in the morning. And if he doesn’t get a certain amount of sleep at night, his lower body aches.”
Anger simmered beneath the surface as I looked at Blaise who was looking at Ames with a look of disgust on her face.
I turned to give my stare back to Ames.
“He needs to be here,” I said. “No matter if he aches or not.”
Ames didn’t look away from me.
“Help me find her, please,” she whispered, a desperate plea in her voice that sent shivers down my spine.
“I’ll help,” I promised. “Any way that I can.”
Ames swallowed and looked away, right into the eyes of Blaise.
“Do you remember the woman from the diner that went into the bathroom at the same time as your daughter?” Blaise asked quietly. “Was she flustered or anything as she came out?”
That question seemed to stump Ames momentarily.
“No.” She shook her head. “She was on her phone. Playing Angry Birds, actually. Why?”
“You were watching that closely?” the incident commander in charge asked. “Why?”
“Because my husband watched her walk into the bathroom, and I wanted to look at her more closely.” Ames swallowed and looked away.
“Your husband needs to get here now,” the incident commander demanded. “This is highly unusual that he would think it’s best for him to go home.”
Ames shrugged. “I stopped trying to control my husband a long time ago. It’s easier.”
“I’ll send a cruiser,” the commander started.
Ames held up a hand. “I’ll call him. Get him here.”
My eyes made contact with Blaise again, who was farther away from us with her bucket huddled close.
My stomach sank for her.
When she was finished, she looked up and caught me staring at her.
She held up a shaky thumbs up, and I nodded once in understanding.
She would make it through.
“The first twenty-four hours are critical,” the incident commander continued. “We need to discuss our next step.”
So that was what we did for the next twenty minutes.
And for some reason, during the discussion, I forgot all about Blaise.
That was a mistake.
CHAPTER 20
Welcome to adulthood. You get pissed when they rearrange the grocery store.
-Blaise to Sin
BLAISE
We were in the diner’s parking lot with about two hundred volunteers to help in the search, and about seventy-five law enforcement personnel.
Everyone was listening to the incident commander speak.
Everyone but me, that was.
I was on the outskirts of the parking lot.
Still dry heaving.
“Baby, give me a break,” I whispered as I patted my belly. “Please.”
The nausea didn’t lessen, but it did stop long enough for me to draw a much-needed breath.
Puking was the absolute worst.
Puking nothing up was a close second.
I