Chapter Thirteen

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Owen had a lot of questions, but a biggie was—what the hell had Alice been doing with Trent?

And he didn't like the answers he was coming up with.

Alice had been so adamant about her hatred for Trent so why would she have met with him? Better yet, why wouldn't she have told anyone involved in the search to find out what'd happened to Brynn?

Ruby was clearly wanting the same answers because the moment they'd left Carlton at the hospital, she'd tried to phone Alice, but the call had gone straight to voicemail. She'd left a message for Alice to call her back right away so maybe they'd soon be able to speak to the woman.

"Nothing on the traffic cam feed from six months ago," Ruby relayed to him.

They were in his home office with him at his desk and Ruby on the sofa. Both were working on their laptops and firing off texts to their team members who were working with them on this.

Owen hadn't expected to get any results from the traffic cameras. Footage was often stored less than twenty-four hours or less. Six months ago would have been way out of the range for that.

"The restaurant is a bust, too," he let her know.

Carlton had been able to give them the name of the San Antonio restaurant, but the place didn't take reservations, and the wait staff didn't have any recollection of Alice or Trent when one of Owen's operatives had shown their photos.

"As expected, Alice didn't post anything about seeing Trent on social media," Ruby went on. "In fact, Alice isn't a big social media person. She rarely posts anything."

That didn't surprise him either. Owen had always thought of Alice as somewhat of a private person. Then again, he'd always believed her to be Brynn's best friend and someone who was fiercely loyal to his niece.

Ruby's phone dinged with another text, and when Owen looked over at her, he saw the message had grabbed her attention. So did the profanity she muttered under her breath.

Hell. Not more bad news.

"Jericho, one of my crew, has been personally visiting the foreign retailers who wouldn't give us an order list," she said. "And he found one with a custom order of a mask made from Trent's photo."

Owen did some cursing, too, because this threw into question whether or not it'd been the real Trent who had attacked his father. Heck, it might have been the mask wearer meeting with Alice, too, though he couldn't imagine the woman believing it was actually Trent if she'd met him face to face. The masks were good, but they wouldn't be convincing in daylight and up close.

"Please tell me Jericho also found out who bought the mask," Owen said.

Ruby shook her head. "It went to an Al Smith at a postal box in San Antonio. Payment was made with PayPal."

He huffed. "Let me guess. Both the postal box and the PayPal account have been closed."

"Yes," she verified. "And there's no camera footage available to let us know who picked up the order."

Owen considered that for a moment. "So, Brynn's mask was delivered to Francine, but this one wasn't. That could mean Francine was indeed set up. Or it could also mean she got smarter with the delivery and purchase so it couldn't be traced back to her."

"Either is possible," Ruby muttered, and she groaned, the frustration in her voice and on her face.

Frustration that Owen felt all the way to the marrow. It didn't seem as if they were any closer to finding Brynn.

Ruby's phone rang, the sound shooting through the silence, and some of her frustration faded when she looked at the screen. "It's Alice," she said, answering the call. "You're on speaker," Ruby let Alice know right away, "and Owen is here with me."

"Did Carlton tell you something about Brynn?" Alice blurted.

"No. About Trent and you," Ruby said. "Why didn't you mention that you'd seen Trent at the Silver Oak restaurant in San Antonio six months ago?"

Alice made a sound of outrage. "Because I didn't, that's why. Is that what Carlton told you?" But she didn't wait for an answer. "Because if he did, it's a bald-faced lie."

"Are you saying Carlton didn't recognize his own son?" Owen asked.

"I'm saying he's lying," Alice snarled. "He hates me and wants to cause trouble for me."

"Then why didn't he report it to the cops?" Owen pressed. "Or click a photo of it to confront you? He didn't do either of those things. Instead, Carlton kept it to himself."

Well, maybe he had. Owen was betting he'd told Francine. No way would the woman report it to the police since she wouldn't want to give them any info that could lead to her son's location or arrest.

"If Carlton truly believes he saw Trent," Alice went on a moment later, "why didn't he talk to him? Why didn't he find out where he was staying?" Again, she didn't wait for an answer. "Because he already knew exactly where Trent was, and he told you that lie to put your focus on me, to make you believe I had some part in Brynn's attack and disappearance."

Interesting that she would bring that up. Until this moment, he hadn't considered that Alice might have played a part in that. Exactly what part though, he didn't know.

Owen had no intention of mentioning to Alice that it'd been a possible Trent mask. Heck, for that matter, the woman that Carlton had spotted with his son could have been wearing an Alice mask. And if that was true, then it was possible that the scene had been staged to make Carlton believe he'd seen Trent.

But why?

Had Alice staged it to get Carlton running to the police? Or do something that would lead her to the real Trent?

Again, the best he could come up with was a maybe that's what'd happened.

"This conversation is over," Alice ranted. "And you can tell Carlton and his bitch of a wife to go straight to hell." With that, she ended the call.

Ruby sighed. Then, she cursed. She set her laptop aside and went to the small fridge in his office to grab two bottles of water. She handed him one and had a long drink from the other.

She looked exhausted, and it occurred to him that of all the times he'd seen her, she rarely showed fatigue. But she was sure as heck showing it now.

Even though he knew she wouldn't appreciate it, he set his water bottle aside and pulled her into his arms. "I need this," he said to try to diffuse some of the stiffness he immediately felt in her body.

It was the truth, and it was somewhat unnerving to realize that he needed this and a whole lot more from Ruby. More though was probably something she wasn't willing or ready to give.

Still, he kissed her.

Couldn't help himself.

It was unnerving, too, that he seemed to have no willpower around her. He decided it had to do with her taste. It was like some sort of drug, one that turned his body into a furnace and fired up every inch of him. Especially those inches behind the zipper of his pants. Since that part of him often made bad decisions, Owen didn't like giving into his dick, but his dick and libido were definitely calling the shots here.

He figured Ruby would let the kiss go on a couple of seconds tops. But nope. She didn't pull back, and she surprised him by being the one who deepened the kiss into a scalding hot French. Just the way he liked his kisses.

Added to that, Ruby was the one who moved closer. Body to body. And, yeah, his dick was pleased about that. His mouth was as well. Hell, all of him was cheering that he was kissing Ruby as if there were no tomorrow, no investigation.

No possible regrets.

Everything sane and rational flew out of his head, and he slid his arm around her, hauling her even closer. Until their bodies were meeting in just the right places.

Hell, he wanted her bad.

Impossible to hide that since he now had a hard-on. That didn't send her skittering away either. She made a silky moan of pleasure that came deep from within her throat while her hands pressed hard on his lower back.

The heat soared damn fast, damn high, and it brought something right along with it. The need. He wanted to take her then and there. He wanted to sink hard and deep into her to try to sate this urgency. This fire that she had fueled inside him.

Owen decided to amp things up even more. He slid his hand between them, cupping her right breast, and he swiped his thumb over her nipple. He got a nice reaction. Another of those silky moans and her kiss got a whole lot harder and hungrier.

But then she stepped back.

Her breath was gusting, and the arousal was coming off her in hot waves. Still, she had managed to move, something that Owen wasn't sure he could manage, though he wanted to pull her right back for more, more, more.

"Damn you," she muttered.

Despite the ache in his body for her, he smiled. "That's not the reaction I'd hoped for."

"You got the reaction you hoped for," she argued. "I lost control. I was ready to drag you to the floor."

Now, he really smiled. "The floor works for me. Hell, Ruby, any place works for me to be with you."

He watched her amazing face as she considered that. And dismissed it. Not easily though. She was clearly fighting this lust battle right along with him, and there was just a sliver to let him know that it was a fight she was losing.

Then, his phone rang.

Since they'd been getting texts and calls seemingly every five minutes, this one didn't surprise him. But he cursed it anyway. His dick really did some cursing. That all stopped though when he took out his phone and saw Unknown Caller on the screen. This could be from one of the many threads of the investigation, so he took a couple of deep breaths and answered.

"Striker," he said.

Silence. For a long time. Then, he heard the woman's voice.

A familiar voice.

"I'm alive," she said.

"Brynn." Her name came out of Owen's throat with a rush of breath. "Brynn," he repeated. "Where are you?"

But he was talking to the air because she'd already hung up.

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