“There’s no prior investigation. There’s no evidence except your testimony. If I get a team down here, you’re asking us to go in blind. We haven’t compiled any recent information. We know nothing. Now,” he held his hand up, “I have history down here. My supervisor knows this. Based off that alone, I might be able to get a small team to come.”
“How long?”
“Six hours.”
“You took half of that.”
“Tray texted me earlier that something was wrong. I was coming anyway.”
“Oh.” I frowned.
“Just give me some privacy and I’ll work my magic.” He gave me a forced grin. “Okay?”
I jerked my head in a shaky nod and stood. “Okay.” Going to the door, I paused and glanced around. “I’m going to get some food.” Then I slipped out.
“Wait.”
I poked my head back in. “Yeah?”
He stood and pulled out his wallet. Handing me a fifty dollar bill, he said, “Get us all some food.”
“Okay.” I took the money and slipped back out. When the door shut, I didn’t move. I stayed right there and flattened my ear against the door. I didn’t have to wait long. His voice was muffled, but I made out enough.
“What are you doing?”
A guy was standing across from me. He was tall, wearing only a leather jacket with the sleeves ripped off. His jeans were cuffed and ripped and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. A panther was stitched onto the front corner of his jacket and I knew there was a bigger panther with two skulls on either side of it on the back. This guy, with scars running down his face and over his bare chest, was a member of Jace’s gang. This guy had the same jaded look in his eyes that Jace had.
I jerked back. A startled gasp came out, but I clamped my hand over my mouth to stifle it. I shook my head. “Nothing.” This was what I wanted. I could say the word and Jace might come to me.
He frowned.
“My dad’s an asshole,” I said instead. “He caught me drinking and he’s calling my mom right now.”
“Oh.”
I didn’t want him to come. As I stood there with the Panther frowning at me, I realized what I really needed to do. I had to get Gray out and never see Jace again. Tray was right. I still cared about Jace. That was why I hesitated. I wasn’t even sure if I still wanted to kill him anymore.
“It was a mistake coming here.” I said those words before I realized I was thinking them.
The guy grunted. “You don’t seem drunk.” He moved past me and pointed to the door. “Just tell your dad you’re sorry, smile, and quote bible verses. Don’t that work for all rich little girls?”
“Rich?”
“Yeah.” He looked me up and down. “I don’t know you, but I know you don’t belong around these parts. Go home. Go back to pretending the world ain’t some scary place.” The corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk. “Ain’t that what your types do? Daydream and turn real life shit into some fucked-up fantasy?”
An abrupt, genuine laugh came out of me. “I look like one of those types?”
He frowned, but didn’t answer. He kept going down the hallway. A door opened and he stopped in front of it, still giving me a puzzled look. Then, as he scratched his head, he went inside. The door slammed shut.
I looked this time and made sure I was alone, but it didn’t matter. When my stomach growled, I decided to actually go and get food, but instead of heading to a store I went to the lobby and used the phone there to order pizza. After I stopped at the vending machine to grab some sodas and a few bottles of water, I started back to the room. As I turned down our hallway, the door opened. I heard Chance say, “Tray, wait.”
“What?”
I stopped. The anger in his tone sent chills down my back.
“Stop. Come back in here before you go and tell her.”
“This is real, Chance. Her friend will die. I was there. I saw that girl. Her fear was real.” He moved further inside, but the door was left open. “You have to go in. You have to get her friend.”