Bad Boy Brody(90)

I wasn’t slipping anymore. I was back in command.

Gayle’s voice came back to me. “Finn wanted to find Morgan, said she could find the girls, but we can’t find her.”

“What do you mean you can’t find Morgan?”

“She’s been missing for a week.”

That picture. It came back to mind. I had sensed something was different . . . wrong.

“What happened?”

“Nothing. I mean, no one knows. Finn said she had been sleeping at the house every day, but in the last few weeks, she went back to staying out there again. Temps are higher than normal, so maybe that’s why?”

“Are you there now?”

“I just got off the plane.”

“When did my nieces go missing?”

She didn’t reply.

Oh God no.

“Gayle.” I shouldn’t have to prompt this. This was more torture. “How long, Gayle?”

“They’ve been out there for eighteen hours.”

Eighteen goddamn hours.

Sweet Ambrea. Bubbly Alisma.

They were missing, and so was Morgan.

“I’m coming.”





Brody

I left immediately. I was on the next available flight, and a car was waiting for me when I landed in Montana almost a full day later. I hadn’t slept. My eyes were bloodshot, and I wasn’t prepared for the frenzy waiting for me outside the airport.

“Brody!”

Flash!

Flash!

“Are you here for Morgan?”

“Is it true that your nieces are missing?”

I stopped at that question and whirled on the reporter who asked it. She hadn’t expected a sudden response, and her eyes went wide. She began to pull back her microphone, but at the last second, she caught herself and thrust it closer in my face. She asked, “If your nieces were here to visit Morgan, does that mean your relationship is back on?”

Another reporter jostled for attention, pushing his phone in front of me. “We heard a search party is being organized. Is that for Morgan or your nieces?”

I looked at him and then took my sunglasses off. I didn’t care that the cameras were flashing non-stop or this clip would be on the news that night. “Does it goddamn matter? People are missing and you’re asking about my supposed love life?”

“Mr. Asher.”

The driver prompted me. I went past the rest of them and slid into the backseat.

No one was waiting for me, not that I had expected anyone to be. A part of me was glad Gayle wasn’t there. I didn’t want to hear her apologies for connecting Cheryl with the Kellermans, and I didn’t want to feel her sympathy.

I had to find Morgan.

I would find Morgan, and she would find my nieces.

It was that easy to me.

I just had to find her first.





Brody

The entire front yard was a sea of red and orange vests. Red and white tents were being set up, and people were milling all around the Kellerman estate. When the car stopped, a group of people came out of the house.

Cheryl ran into my arms, and I held her for a long moment.

She was crying and hiccupping at the same time. “I only meant to nap for an hour. I didn’t think the jet lag would hit me that hard, but I hadn’t slept the night before, and they’re gone, Brody. They’re gone.”

She kept crying into my shoulder. I looked over her head to Gayle, nodding to her. Finn, Abby, and Jen were with her. Shanna joined the group, and I frowned. “What are you doing here?”

Her eyes darted over my shoulder, but she folded her hands behind her back. “I came to help.”

I looked back, spotted the camera set up on a pedestal, and turned to glare at her.

“Is there press here?”

“No.” Finn shook his head firmly. “No press allowed.”

Shanna gestured to the camera. “It’ll all work out in the end, Brody. I have no doubt.”

She was filming for the movie.

I swore at her. “Are you serious?”

She didn’t respond, slinking away this time.

A man in a red vest approached the group. He was holding a clipboard, and he cleared his throat to announce his presence. He nodded to Finn. “We’re ready to start again.”

“Again?”

He looked at me, and when the recognition hit him, his eyes rounded slightly. “Mr. Asher, my name’s Alfred.” He held out his hand for me to shake and then continued, “I’m the search organizer and tracker. These are your nieces, I’m told?”

“They are.”

Cheryl pulled back from my chest, tears still wet on her face. She wiped them away with her hands and rolled her shoulders back. “I want to go this time.”

“No, Cheryl.”

“Cheryl, no.”

Gayle and Finn both spoke at the same time.

My manager reached out and touched her shoulder. “You went on the first search, and I know how exhausted you are.” Her eyes met mine as she continued speaking to my sister-in-law, “Besides, I have a feeling Brody will be too concerned about you to fully do a thorough search himself.”

“How many searches have you done?” I asked the man.

“This will be our fourth. We’ve been trying to hit certain sections at the same time so we can ensure no one in the search party goes missing themselves.” He gestured beyond the field and fence. “We’re doing an arm’s length stretch between people, all moving in a straight line.” He glanced back to Cheryl, who was sniffling into a ball of tissues someone had handed her.