This probably shows just how I’ve been treated by men in the past. I haven’t had a man cook for me, or ever truly been spoiled before. I don’t know anything about love, or romance, or dating. All I know is work, family, and friendship, which isn’t a bad life at all. My job might not be safe, but my personal life is. I take risks every day as a cop, but I won’t take them with love. It’s just not worth it. I’ve never been lucky in love. A few lukewarm relationships, but no real connection that left a lasting impression on me. I’m married to my job and that’s just how it is. I’ve accepted it.
Then why does it feel like I’m reminding myself?
• • •
I wake up early, jump in the shower, turning the water to as hot as my skin can take, then get dressed. Ranger didn’t want to come to check in with the local police, but it’s something I need to do, both because I have to let them know I’m in their territory and because I need their help. I gave them a call to tell them about the tip, and they told me to come in and see them. The more people we have looking, the higher our chances are for finding her. I don’t bother with any makeup, just rub some lotion into my skin and run my fingers through my hair before rushing out the door. I walk to Ranger’s door and consider knocking to wake him up, or to see where he’s going to meet me today, but he’s a grown-ass man and he has my number.
I shake my head and rush toward the elevator. I’m here for a reason, and finding Elizabeth is my only priority.
• • •
When the police here turn out to be helpful and cooperative, and tell me Elizabeth was seen on camera at a nearby gas station, I feel like today might be my lucky day. When I go to the gas station, I talk to the man who saw my cousin, writing down anything I think can be of help, even minor details. I view the footage of Elizabeth, which was taken only yesterday, and it’s definitely her. She looks disheveled, her normally perfect hair wild, her shoulders slouched, her posture telling me what I need to know.
She’s terrified.
But it is her. She’s alive.
She walked inside the gas station with a man staying closely behind her the whole way. She grabbed a few things, bottled water and snacks, and then he pays for everything along with his gas. I can see her glancing around, as if looking for an escape, but then the man whispers something in her ear and she stills.
He looks tall, and built, with broad shoulders, muscles, and dark hair, but I never get a good look at his face. She is tiny compared to him, the contrast between them striking. The two of them exit and head for their car. I write down the make and model, and the license plate number, then head back to the police station to run the plate and get any information I can to track this car and its owner down. It’s clear she’s being held against her will. Was it just a case of wrong place, wrong time?
I send Ranger a quick text telling him to meet me at the station. He’s going to hate that, but he came here to help me, and he needs to suck it up and do what needs to be done. Adrenaline fills me at the thought of being a step closer than I was yesterday to finding Elizabeth. I turn off the radio, needing silence to think. What’s the best way to approach this? Go in guns a-blazing, or with just Ranger until we can figure out the situation? My phone rings and I know it’s him, so I pull over and answer it.
“Tell me everything, now,” he says into the phone. He’s rude, but right now, I don’t care. We don’t have time for niceties.
“She’s alive! Saw her on the gas station camera footage from yesterday. Saw the man she was with. I have his license plate number and I’m on my way to the station to locate it.”
“I’ll get in a cab and be there ASAP,” he says, then hangs up.
I throw the phone on the passenger seat and pull back into the driving lane.
And then I smile.
My baby cousin is alive, as of yesterday. One year younger—younger than me all the same—and she’s still alive. I can only hope that they haven’t hurt her, and that I can find her before anything else happens to her. I remember her face and how proud she was when I graduated the academy. Never did I think I’d be using my skills to find her. Never did I think there’d be a situation I wasn’t sure I could save her from.
She needs to be okay.
And I want whoever did this to her to pay, either with their blood, or with life behind bars. I really want anyone that has hurt my family to suffer.
Maybe I’m more like Ranger than I’d like to admit.
• • •
Ranger storms into the station like he owns it, like it doesn’t faze him to be here when I know it does. He probably feels as comfortable as I would in a motorcycle clubhouse—he’s in enemy territory.
“What did you find?” he asks, ignoring everyone and everything else around us. “Do we have anything to go on? An address? A name? I’d like to know who the fuck I’m about to kill.”
My eyes flare. “Can you not yell that out? Pay attention to where we are, Ranger,” I hiss.
“Yet you’re not telling me not to do it,” he adds, crossing his arms over his chest and staring me down with those amazing hazel eyes. “Because you know the fuckers who took her don’t deserve to breathe our air.”
“The courts will deal with them,” I say, even though silently I do agree with him. “They can suffer behind bars. Unfortunately for us, I tracked the car but they’ve already dumped it. It was stolen anyway, so we have nothing except the location where they left it and a description of the man. I’m getting them to do a sketch of him right now and we’re going to plaster his face everywhere.”