“I could be wrong.”
He didn’t think she was. Instead of arguing, he asked, “Where would he stash her then? Not here.” He noticed the streetlight blinking on and a few teenage kids starting to eye his truck.
“Where’s the nearest hotel?”
“Monroe, but I’d think the police would have looked there.”
“Then the next-closest hotel?”
Instead of answering, he pulled his truck away from the Parker home, drove to the freeway, and headed north. He bypassed his job site and drove into Bell ten minutes later. “There are a few motels. Nothing fancy.”
“I’d think Nolan would have to avoid using a credit card.”
“I doubt he has one.”
They drove to every motel, each one seedier than the last. They were told that no one had checked in matching the descriptions of Nolan or Becky.
It was completely dark, but they continued to drive around Bell on the off chance they’d find Nolan’s car parked somewhere. The outskirts stretched for miles, however. Nolan could have Becky anywhere.
“Do you think they could have gone farther?” Karen asked as she looked up the highway.
“The next real town is thirty miles away.”
“That doesn’t feel right.”
“Buck assured me Nolan is showing up for work. If he knows where Becky is, I don’t think he’d stick her miles away.”
“I think we’re going about this all wrong,” Karen said. “If you were eighteen and your girl was knocked up and in need of running away, where would you take her?”
If he’d knocked up a girl at eighteen, he’d have moved her in with his parents, but that obviously wasn’t what Nolan would do.
“If I was Nolan, I’d hold on to my job until I had enough money to split. I wouldn’t spend it at a motel.”
“And if the girl’s parents thought you were hiding her, they’d be watching to see if you left town.” Karen scratched her head. “Is there a back room at the hardware store?”
Zach shook his head. “The storage room is crammed full. But you might be on to something.”
He pulled back onto the freeway and turned off several exits before Hilton. If Nolan was in need of shelter…why not hide in front of everyone?
“Where are we going?”
“Nolan shows up for work, early. The question is how early? Or does he even leave?” The small housing development was dark and quiet as he pulled into the gravel, past the nearly complete houses.
“This is your project?” Karen asked.
“Yeah.”
“Nice. How big are the houses?”
“Smallest model is twenty-three hundred square feet, the largest is twenty-seven-fifty.”
Karen smiled as she looked up at a passing house. “You do nice work, Zach.”
A strange sense of pride filled him. He hadn’t brought her there to show off his skills, but the fact that she’d taken a moment to compliment him made him smile.
He drove beyond the first phase of houses and parked the truck. “If Nolan’s here, he wouldn’t leave his car in plain sight. There are several finished garages to hide a car.”
“He probably saw us driving in if he’s here.”
“Or Becky did.”
They jumped out of the truck and walked around the back of the first row of houses. The moon helped light the way. When Karen tripped over an exposed drainage pipe, Zach took her arm and kept her upright. After she almost fell a second time, he just kept her arm in his hand. He liked it there anyway, he decided.
“We should see a light, or something?” Karen whispered.
“I’d cut the light if I were Nolan.”
Karen stopped walking. “Listen.”
Zach held his breath and closed his eyes. The trickling of water brought his attention to the houses on the other side of the street.
They stayed close to the shadows of a house and peered into the darkness for several minutes. Then he saw a shadow in an upstairs window of the third home in. He pointed for Karen’s benefit. She watched and the shadow reappeared.
“How many doors lead into the house?” she asked.
“Front, back, and garage.”
“I’ll go in the front, since I don’t know my way around. You watch the back door in case they try and run off.”
“Are you always this sneaky, Ms. Jones?”
“I am when I’m on a mission. Now get moving before they spot us.”
He gave a mock salute and kept to the shadows as he rounded the side of the house and around the back. He turned the knob quietly and slid into the dark interior. The house was nearly complete, all that remained to be done was carpet, some painting, and finishing work.
He heard Karen open the front door.
Instead of doing this in the dark, Zach flipped the switch next to the door and illuminated the kitchen. The door to the garage was in his line of sight, and there weren’t any kids running away.
“Becky?” Karen’s voice sang in the empty house, echoing off the bare walls. “Honey, I know you’re here.”
Zach went ahead and opened the door leading to the garage and saw Nolan’s car. “Nolan?” he called out.
“It’s OK you two. We just want to help.” Karen’s voice sounded closer.
Zach walked from the kitchen and noticed her standing at the foot of the stairs.
Above him, the floor squeaked.
“Nolan, buddy, you’re not in trouble here. We just want to talk to you two.” When silence met them, he said. “I saw your car.”
Karen kept her eyes on the stairs and waited. Finally, footsteps sounded above them until Nolan stood holding Becky’s hand at the top of the landing. “She’s not going back to her parents.”
Zach noticed the dark bruise alongside Becky’s face at the same moment Karen gasped.
Karen ran up the stairs and hesitated when Becky flinched at her approach. “Oh, baby. Who did this to you?”
Becky looked at Nolan then back to Karen.
Zach waited at the foot of the stairs and listened.
“You should tell them,” Nolan said. “Maybe they can help.”
Becky nudged closer to Nolan, whose arm slid around her shoulders. When the girl started to cry Zach noticed Karen’s body tense.
“Let’s sit down,” Karen suggested.
Nolan nodded. “We have a couple of chairs up here.”
Zach walked toward them and followed them into the master bedroom where Nolan had blown up an air mattress and had two folding chairs sitting beside a suitcase. There were food wrappers and a few bottles of water sitting off to the side.