eyes, but he said, “Sounds like a plan. I’ll get the leash and a baggie. I saw both hanging by the door.”
He handed the leash to me, and I clipped it onto Mr. Toodles’s collar. Neither of us spoke until we were outside the building.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Jax asked, slipping on his sunglasses. “Was that your dad on my phone?”
“Yes.” My stomach churned, and I felt like throwing up.
“What did he say?” Jax demanded. “Does he know where your mom is?”
“No. But he confirmed my mom’s apartment is bugged and someone has kidnapped her. I need to buy time for my dad to find her, and we’re going to meet to figure out how to get her back.”
Jax stopped in his tracks, lifting his sunglasses to look at me incredulously. “Meet? You’re going to meet him? Are you sure it was even your dad?”
“I’m sure.”
But was I really? Maybe it was one of the kidnappers who wanted to stop me from calling the police. Or maybe it was a ploy to delay the search for my mother. But it had sounded like the man I’d met in the coffee shop, who’d later turned out to be my father in disguise. He had saved me, protected me then. Plus, he’d said the riddle he’d send would confirm his identity.
“He called me Bitsy,” I said. “My mom said he used to call me that. No one but him would know that.”
“You can’t just blindly accept it’s him because he knew your pet name. Did you forget you were almost kidnapped a few weeks ago? This could be a trap.”
He was right on all counts, but somehow, I didn’t think so. “I know it could be a trap, Jax. I’m not an idiot. But I really believe it was my dad, and I trust what he said.”
Jax did not look convinced, so I had to figure out a way to get him to believe me. “I know this whole thing sounds crazy, but I need you to trust me. Please.” I kept walking, so Jax followed.
“I just don’t understand why we can’t call the police. That remains a perfectly acceptable option in my book.”
“My dad said she won’t come home if I do. It’s not my mom they want, it’s my dad. But the moment he turns himself over to them, they’ll have no use for her. They’ll…kill her, and possibly my dad, too.”
Jax blew out a frustrated breath. “Who is them?”
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me. Not over the phone, anyway.”
Jax pushed a hand through his dark hair, letting it rest on the back of his neck. “Let me get this straight. You haven’t interacted with your dad in fourteen years, and suddenly you’re all about trust with him? Think hard about this, Angel. This is your mom’s life we’re talking about, not to mention yours. I just want to make sure you’re one hundred percent sure about this.”
I looked at it from his point of view and knew if I were in his shoes, I’d be saying the same thing to him. “Jax, I’m sure. My gut is telling me that the man who called me is my dad.”
He fell silent after that, brooding. We walked along the sidewalk, letting Mr. Toodles do his business as he frolicked in the grass after his lengthy captivity. The November sun felt warm on my head, but I thought I might be sick at any moment. I wasn’t even sure how I was holding it together at this point.
“Okay, then what’s the plan?”
I just stared at him. “That’s it? No more arguing?”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t looked so shocked. You believe it was your dad, and what he said was legit, so I believe you. You asked me to trust you. I do. So, what’s next?”
His support meant a lot to me, even as I worried about him knowing too much. I tried to settle my frayed nerves and think clearly. “We go back to my mom’s apartment and clean up. I’ll make some calls to the local hospitals, and when I find nothing, I’ll tell you that we need to get back to UTOP to pick up my stuff. I’ll say that when I return here later tonight, I’ll call around to some of her friends to see if they know where she’s gone. I’ll pretend not to be too worried about it. I know my mom can take care of herself. Then, secretly, I’ll wait for my dad to send