Free Thread of Betrayal by Jeff Shelby Page A

where we are or where she is. Or we could tell him she’s in Maine. See what he does with that. I don’t know. It just seems to me like finding out what he knows puts us in a better spot.”
    I glanced down at the phone. He hadn’t left a voicemail.
    “Okay,” I said. “Let’s say he saw the news report. What do I tell him?”
    The phone began buzzing again. I glanced down.
    Mike again.
    Lauren picked it up and held it out to me. “I don’t know. But you’ll think of something.”

EIGHTEEN
     
     
    I touched the screen and held the phone to my ear. “Mike. What’s going on?”
    “I might ask you the same question,” he said through the line.
    “Oh, yeah. Why’s that?”
    “Because I just saw some crazy news report about you almost finding Elizabeth,” he said. “Some retired cop in Minnesota.”
    “You saw that?”
    “Not live,” he said. “But the link showed up in my email ten minutes ago and I just finished watching it. What the hell is going on, Joe?”
    Lauren was staring at me, craning her head toward me, trying to listen. It made me uncomfortable.
    I looked away from her, out my side of the windshield, trying to focus my thoughts. “It’s been kind of crazy. I haven’t had a chance to call.”
    “Catch me up.”
    The wheels were spinning in my head. “I’m in the middle of something so I gotta be quick. I found the family in Minneapolis. The family that she ended up with.”
    He let out a low whistle. “Wow. Yeah, I think I saw that in the news clip, but I was in such a rush to call you, I think I rushed through it.”
    “Right,” I said, realizing this was the first time I had ever talked to him and not believed every word he said to me. “Bazer see it?”
    “No idea,” Mike said. “I haven’t seen him yet this morning. Why?”
    “Just curious,” I said quickly. “Anyway. I talked to the family. But she’s gone.”
    “Gone?” he asked. “What do you mean?”
    I hesitated. “She ran. From the family. Before I got there.”
    “Dammit,” he said. “Why did she take off?”
    I hesitated again. “I’m not sure yet. I’m still trying to find that out.”
    “What's the story on the family? You never said...”
    “I can't talk about it right now,” I said.
    I glanced at Lauren. She widened her eyes at me.
    “Hang on,” I mouthed.
    “Okay.” Mike hesitated. “Any idea where she went? Can I help?”
    “We’re still trying to figure out where she went,” I said, still looking at Lauren. “Hoping we can piece it together here today. And I’ll let you know.”
    “I’ll do anything you need,” he said. “I’ll run traces on anything you want. I’ll hop on a plane. I’ll call in favors. You name it, I’ll do it.”
    “Thanks, Mike,” I told him. “Look, I gotta run. I’ll let you know.”
    I hung up and squeezed the phone for a moment before setting it down on the console again.
    “You look like you want to throw up,” Lauren observed.
    “That’s pretty accurate, yeah.”
    “Why?”
    “I’ve relied on him all these years,” I said, changing lanes to get around a slow pick-up. “He was my rock. I could bounce anything off of him. I trusted every word he said. I thought he was on my side.”
    “He still might be, Joe.”
    “Maybe,” I said. “But I hate the doubt. I can’t count on him until I know for sure. And let’s say he isn’t involved. Then I’ve totally undercut our friendship and his help. All that trust? Gone.”
    “You don’t think he’d understand?” she countered. “If he isn’t a part of it and you explain to him what you learned and why you had to be cautious, you don’t think he’d understand?”
    “I don’t know. But it feels awful.”
    “So what exactly did he say?”
    I relayed our conversation word for word, as best as I could remember.
    She thought about it for a minute before she said anything. “I just can’t believe he’d take Elizabeth.”
    I nodded. The same thought was gnawing at me. I knew Mike. I knew