27
Judge
The dense oaks filter sunlight along the drive toward the Montgomery house. I watch the mammoth building come into view and am reminded of the night I brought Mercedes here so many months ago. So much has happened since then. So much has changed.
“Alright?” Santiago asks as he pulls to a stop before the front entrance.
I blink and turn to my friend. Would he be that if he knew what I’ve done? Would he forgive me? I try for a smile, my betrayal a stone in my gut.
“Thank you,” I say.
“I believe it is us who owe you the thanks.” He touches my shoulder lightly, but I still feel it as if he were gripping hard. I think this is the extent of Santiago showing his emotions. And he’s come a long way. “Get some sleep.”
“You too.” I open the door and climb the stairs to the front entrance as Santiago drives away. But before I even reach it, Paolo pulls it open, and Lois comes running out after him, their faces dark with fatigue and worry.
My heart instantly drops to my stomach.
“We’ve been trying to call you. Where have you been?” Lois asks, too emotional to say more. Paolo lays a hand on her arm, and she quiets.
“What is it?” I ask, instinctively looking up to my bedroom window, realizing my phone is still switched off and in my briefcase.
Paolo takes a breath in, then turns to Lois. “Go inside. Make coffee.”
She nods, wringing her hands, but seems grateful to be away and have something to do.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“Mercedes is gone.”
“Gone? What? How?”
“She told the guards she was going to brush the horses yesterday around four in the afternoon. No one’s seen her since. And I know for a fact she wasn’t brushing the horses. When she didn’t come down for dinner, Lois went upstairs to check on her and found both bedrooms empty.”
“What? She can’t have gone anywhere between the gates and the guards…”
“We’ve had men search the grounds, every cottage, for hours, Judge.” He drops his head guiltily. “The timing… I took the truck like I always do to get the supplies for the horses. It’s the only way I can think of that she’d have gotten off the property without being seen. I never checked the truck bed. I never do.”
“She’s gone?”
He nods. “I’m so sorry, Judge.”
“You’re sure you’ve searched everywhere?”
“I’m telling you she’s not here.”
Raul rushes out the front door, pulling his jacket on. He must have just gotten in. Where would she go? Solana? Georgie?
I dig my phone out of the briefcase and hand the case to Paolo. While it slowly comes back to life, I tell Paolo to let me know if anything changes at the house.
“Raul, get the car.” I dial Ezra. It’s early, but he answers, and I know I’ve woken him from the groggy sound of his voice. “Ezra.”
There’s a pause. He must hear the urgency in my tone. “What’s happened, Judge?”
“I need the contacts of the men stationed at Georgie’s and Solana’s houses.”
“I’ll send them to you now.”
“Thank you.” I disconnect as Raul pulls up and move as quickly as I am able into the car. “Head into town,” I tell him and dial the guards one at a time, but they both tell me Georgie and Solana’s houses are quiet and have been all night.
“Her condo,” I tell Raul and instruct the men to let me know as soon as they see Solana or Georgie. All the while, I’m trying to keep my mind from wandering to Vincent Douglas. To how he wanted to witness Mercedes’s punishment but was told he could not. I doubt he’d believe she would be punished, considering. And then he’d set off on his own to avenge his sister’s death once again.
Why would she run? Fear of what The Tribunal would do to her? I’d protect her. Doesn’t she know that? I wouldn’t let them touch her.
But it doesn’t matter. I need to find her before Douglas does. She ran, and she’s on her own. She’ll need money which she had a lot of stashed at the condo. It’s not there anymore, but she doesn’t know that, so that’s where she’d go. I’m sure of it.
Traffic slows us down as we get into town, and when we’re a few blocks from the condo, I get out to walk, instructing Raul to meet me there. It’ll be faster. I hurry through the streets, imagining what I must look like when people clear out of my way. I haven’t slept. I’ve been beaten. And although adrenaline has burned the alcohol out of my system, I’m sure I’m a sight.
But I don’t care. Because I need to get to her. Bring her home.