Hide & Seek - Nicole Edwards Page 0,14
house, he wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting. From the outside, it appeared to be a decent neighborhood. Nothing fancy, probably mid- to low-income area, but well-maintained.
It certainly wasn’t to watch Tanner Wright’s father march his wife-beater-and-shorts-wearing ass over and plant it in front of the television and continue playing a video game. Or for the young man’s mother to be sitting at the kitchen table playing slots—or so he assumed based on the noises coming from that direction—on her electronic tablet while smoking a cigarette. Neither seemed at all concerned that Tanner wasn’t home, or that he hadn’t been seen since he left their house last night.
“Whaddya want?” Mrs. Wright called out, blowing a stream of smoke toward the ceiling. “We already talked to the cops.”
“Ain’t got nothin’ more to tell ’em,” the father said, eyes glued to the TV.
“Mr. Wright, would it be possible for you to pause the game for a moment?” Reese requested, attempting to be polite when what he wanted to do was punch the fucker in the mouth.
“I’m in a tournament right now,” the older man grumbled back.
Why were these people not at work?
“Mrs. Wright, would you please join us in the living room?” Brantley stated, his tone a bit firmer than Reese’s had been.
“If you boys wanna talk, you can come in here,” she said snidely, stabbing her cigarette out in an ashtray. No, wait. That was a plate.
When Brantley cast a look his way, Reese nodded toward the kitchen. Might as well get it over with.
They strolled through the dingy living room, past a table holding an ashtray filled to overflowing with butts, and an empty bowl with God only knew what caked around the sides. It was orange, that was all he knew.
Reese stepped into the kitchen, pausing to take a look around. Besides the disgustingness of the whole place, the kitchen wasn’t in bad shape. Countertops had seen better days, but the cabinets were level, the refrigerator running.
That was a good sign, right?
Continuing toward the mother, Reese circled the small breakfast table, peered out the window into the backyard.
Just outside on the chipped concrete porch was a bowl of water that was so grimy it would’ve likely been toxic if it had a drop of water in it, beside it a chewed-up bowl that probably held food every now and then.
He cut his eyes over to the woman. “Do you have a dog?”
Mrs. Wright nodded toward the window. “He’s an idiot, that mutt.”
Reese moved to the other window, squinted beyond the plastic blinds that were cracked and bent to find…
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.
Nope. No fucking way.
Outside, chained to a stake in the middle of the yard, was what was supposed to pass as a dog. There was no shade, and though it was November, he doubted the reason for the lack of shelter had anything to do with the season. The poor dog—it almost resembled a German shepherd but not quite—looked to be a good ten, maybe fifteen pounds underweight, its ribs protruding beneath the dull brown and black fur. From what Reese could tell, the hair was relatively short but matted in a few places. It looked like it hadn’t been tended to in—he glanced over at the mother—well, probably never.
The dog was in bad shape and these people didn’t give a shit.
“Why’s your dog chained up out there?”
“Can’t let the fucker in the house,” she snarled. “Pisses on the carpet every chance it gets.”
“How long’ve you had it?”
“Too damn long if you ask me.”
Not an answer.
It took everything in Reese not to yank the woman up by her food-stained T-shirt and march her outside to feed the dog.
Instead, he held on to his temper, turned his attention toward the woman.
“Mrs. Wright, when’s the last time you saw Tanner?”
She shrugged, not bothering to look up from her tablet. “Sometime yesterday. Why?”
“Mrs. Wright, you understand your son’s missing,” Brantley stated firmly.
“He ain’t missin’,” Mr. Wright shouted from the living room. “He’s out gettin’ himself a piece of ass. It’s all good.”
A piece of ass. Wow.
“We told the police already, he’s fine,” Mrs. Wright chimed in. “Tanner does this all the time. Long as he ain’t gettin’ no girl pregnant, I don’t much give a damn what he does.”
Reese would’ve bet money these people had no idea what their son was up to. Ever.
“Tanner disappears for days at a time?” Brantley inquired.
“Yup. Ain’t got no respect for his parents. Never around to help out with the chores or take