The Devil's Daughter (Hidden Sins #1)(39)

Not an option. You made damn sure of that.

She noticed the door was unlocked and frowned. Had she locked it when she got here? Eden couldn’t be sure. She’d been so rattled and practically bursting with adrenaline and dread that it was entirely possible she’d headed for her mother’s house without pausing to lock the door.

But she didn’t think so.

She opened the driver’s door cautiously, half expecting something to explode. She only had cursory bomb training, so even if she swept the vehicle, she couldn’t be sure she’d find something. If there was even something to find. Hello, paranoia, my old friend. She turned a slow circle, trying to figure out if someone would have had enough time to plant something. If a person had the know-how, setting up a bomb in a half hour was cake.

Way to be reassuring.

She leaned back into the car, a flash of white and yellow catching her eye. Frowning, she leaned in farther and used the pen in her cup holder to hook the circular wreath of daisies lying on the floorboard of the passenger side. It looked like the kind of thing she’d made when she was a kid and bored out of her ever-loving mind during the summer. She’d weave together the flowers that grew in the fields of Elysia into something very similar to this and wear it while she pretended she was Persephone, just waiting for her Hades to appear and whisk her away to be his queen. Eden dropped it like it’d caught fire. She’d completely forgotten about playing that game. Hell, no one knew she’d done it. She’d always been alone out there.

Or so she’d thought.

She wanted to throw the flowers away, to rip the wreath apart and grind it beneath her boots. But it was most definitely some kind of evidence. Even if there was no trace on there to find whoever had left it, it was proof that someone had been watching her when she got here.

Apparently my instincts aren’t as ravaged as I thought.

She wasn’t sure if that was comforting or terrifying.





CHAPTER FOURTEEN


Zach didn’t take a lunch, spending the hour he would have been eating on the phone with the cops up in Augusta. They’d seen neither hide nor hair of Neveah, and they’d pulled her in often enough for various petty offenses to know her by name. His friend up there, Jared, had promised to keep an eye out for her, but three days since she’d been reported missing—and most likely closer to six since she’d actually been missing—and Zach was starting to lose hope. In the best scenario, she’d taken off for good, and that was that.

His gut said she wasn’t gone for good, but he was starting to suspect they wouldn’t see her alive again.

“Sheriff.”

He looked up and mentally cursed at the panic in Chase’s brown eyes. It could mean only one thing. The man went and confirmed it when he looked over his shoulder and lowered his voice. “The Smiths are here. I tried to talk them down, but they want an update, and they want it from you specifically.”

He had nothing to tell them. Fuck, he had less than nothing to tell them. But Zach knew those folk—they would park themselves in his waiting room and terrorize anyone who came in until he saw them. Now, that’s not charitable. Their daughter is missing, and they’re scared shitless. If you were in their position, you’d be doing the same thing. He knew that. Damn it, he really did know that. But their showing up randomly to corner him made it harder to do his job. There was nothing for it. “Bring them on back.” He eyed Chase. Whatever rest the man had gotten that had recharged him this morning was gone, leaving him looking drawn and downright haggard. “After that, take a break to eat something.”

He gave a halfhearted smile. “Yes, Mother.”

At least some of Chase’s snarky attitude was back. It had been missing since he’d found Elouise’s body, and the lack of sleep and running himself ragged hadn’t helped. But hopefully the worst had passed.

Somehow, he didn’t think any of them had seen the worst yet.

But the rest-and-recovery time he’d forced on Chase obviously hadn’t worked. He didn’t blame the man. Every time he’d closed his eyes last night, he’d seen Elouise’s face. How much worse would it have been if he was the one who’d found her? Some things a person didn’t just get over, and despite working the homicide beat back in Seattle, Chase obviously hadn’t developed much of a thick skin. Which was probably why he’d gravitated to Clear Springs—for the peace and quiet.

Not much of that going around these days.

Robert and Julie rushed into Zach’s office like they thought he was going to sneak out a window while they weren’t looking. It didn’t seem like too shabby an idea from where he was sitting. Julie immediately sank into the chair across the desk from him while Robert took up a position at her back. His hands came down on her shoulders, and he glared at Zach. “Where is our daughter?”

He tried to hold on to his impatience, reminding himself yet again that they were concerned parents and had every right to be bashing down his door at every available opportunity. “We’re still doing our best to search for her.” Which isn’t made easier by the fact that no one wants to answer our questions. He couldn’t tell the Smiths that, though. They were already in danger of going around him and starting a search of their own.

In fact, it was time for that.

He hadn’t wanted to go there, but they couldn’t afford to wait any longer. Zach scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m putting together a search party.”