The Hookup (Moonlight and Motor Oil #1)(111)

“Sharlane, his mom has known he’s been missing now for nearly two hours. If you got anything on Stu—” Johnny said.

She whipped out her phone. “Give me your number. I see him, I’ll call you, Johnny.”

“I walk out of here, I can trust that?” Johnny asked.

She pinned him with a look. “Left me high and dry with a bun in the oven, an abortion bill to pay and did it stealing seventy-three bucks from my wallet. He’s not gonna come back here. But if he’s stupid enough to do that, I’ll give him a place to hide out. Then my first call will be you. You’ll have five minutes, Johnny. Because my second call will be the cops.”

Right.

He could trust that.

And Johnny wondered briefly if Stu knocking up Sharlane was the reason he’d knocked over a bank three years ago.

If it was, he’d have taken her with him, not Shandra, or at least have left her some cash to cover the medical bills.

So Johnny figured he was doing what Stu did.

Fucked-up shit that was just about Stu.

He gave her his number and then said, “Obliged, Sharlane.”

“It goes down, it’ll be my pleasure, Johnny.”

Johnny gave Charlie a look and they headed out.

“He was seeing a single mother who worked at the bank in Bellevue,” Johnny told him when they were in the truck. He didn’t tell him the part about Stu seeing her to get intel on how to rob her bank. “Let’s head there.”

“Jesus, how many stupid bitches did this jackass bang?” Charlie asked, pulling out of the parking lot.

“We’ll just say it could be long night,” Johnny said as answer.

“We got a problem,” Charlie stated.

Johnny looked his way. “A bigger problem than Brooks missing?”

“No, but see, we actually find that jackass before the cops do, ain’t no way I’ll keep my hands off him and ain’t no way you’ll keep your hands off him. I think this same situation is happening in Dave’s truck. Dave’s an old guy but I figure he can haul out a can of some whoop ass, anyone harms anyone that you boys got in your hearts. Plus, he’s a dad. He cares about Brooks and Addie and he feels her pain. So we gotta make a pact and hope to Christ they’re making one in Dave’s truck too. But the way Toby is with that boy, I’m thinking there’s no prayer of that happening. But we can’t think on that. We gotta have a plan. So if I get there first, you gotta stop me from murdering him. If you do, I’ll stop you.”

“Don’t wade in too soon,” Johnny replied.

“Oh, I won’t,” Charlie promised.

They drove.

Johnny’s phone rang.

He pulled it out and his mouth got tight at the name on the screen.

He took the call and put the phone to his ear.

“Norma,” he began, “not sure what this is but—”

“I know,” she cut him off, “everyone knows, word about what’s happening spread through Home like a wildfire, ’spect it’s doing the same all through Matlock. So I’ll make this quick, son.”

“Obliged,” he muttered.

“I’m in my car. Sally’s in hers. We’re on the way to your woman’s place.”

Johnny did not like that at all.

“Norma—”

She spoke over him. “Folks are thinkin’ best way to help is get on the roads lookin’ for Stu. I can’t stop that. Others think best way to help is go see to your women. Sally and me disagree so just to say, we’re heading out to Eliza’s acres and we’re gonna park across her lane and send people on their way. Make sure they got privacy while you’re handlin’ this situation.”

Johnny hadn’t thought about word getting out or what that would mean.

But now confronted with it, he decided Sally was going to get much bigger tips from now until the last drink he drank at Home, and he didn’t know what he’d do for Norma, but it would be something.

“That’d be appreciated, Norma,” he replied. “But you hear anyone talking, they find Stu, they call me first. Don’t know what’s in his head, never did, but think he’ll react better he sees me or I can call Shandra in and he’ll listen to her.”

“Gotcha,” Norma replied. “I’ll spread that word. Find him, Johnny. Now letting you go.”

And then she did just that, disconnecting.

When Johnny took his phone from his ear, Charlie asked, “What was that?”

“Townsfolk of Matlock are getting in the hunt, which I can’t think about right now. But some are also thinking of heading out to make sure Adeline and Eliza are okay. Norma, woman who owns Home, is heading out with her bartender to barricade Izzy’s lane and shut that down.”

“Good,” Charlie murmured.

He drove.

Johnny sat next to him, trying to keep his shit together.

His phone rang.

Johnny lifted it and his heart squeezed at the name on the screen.

He took the call and put the phone to his ear.

“This better be what I want to hear.”

Mercifully, Shandra told him what he wanted to hear.

“Meet me at the shack. I have the baby. I’m so sorry, Jo—”

He cut her off. “My shack?”