Free ON AIR by Hadley Quinn Page B

I didn’t meet this woman, but the idea of solving a mystery—as dumb as it may seem—was still appealing to me.
    “You’ve got too much of your dad in you,” I mumbled to myself as I closed up my laptop and packed everything to leave.
     
    ***
    I planned somewhat of a small gathering at my house on Saturday night. It was just six of my guy friends, including Chris, Madden, and Darius. The Giants were playing a rare interleague game with the Mariners down in San Francisco. If it’d been in Seattle, I would have been there in a heartbeat, but a game party at my house had to suffice.
    I’d say eight pizzas and six cases of beer were a good start to the night. I was only on my second beer when my phone rang with a call from Natalie. I’d texted her twice this week to ask if she was okay, and both times got a very lame “I’m fine thanks” response from her. I’d added that I was here for her if she ever needed anything and again, all she replied was “I’m fine but thank you.”
    I answered the call as I left the couch. The guys were loud and I knew I wouldn’t be able to hear much, but to my surprise, there was plenty of noise on Nat’s end of the call too.
    I didn’t know if she heard me answer or not, so I asked, “Nat? You there?”
    Silence. Then I thought I heard sniffling.
    “Natalie, answer me.”
    “Dane,” she cried softly. “Dane, I need you.”
    My heart went into hyper speed. “Where are you?”
    She paused again but barely whispered, “Derek’s house. I’m in the bathroom…”
    Who the fuck was Derek? I didn’t know anyone off the top of my head named Derek. At least no one associated with myself and Natalie.
    “Nat, who is Derek and why are you crying?” I asked as gently as I could. I stepped out of the bedroom, got Madden’s attention from the hallway, and waved for him to come to me.
    “He’s…he’s, um, just…someone I know.”
    There was something completely dishonest about how she’d said it and I knew he had to be something more. I was not expecting that at all, and before I could get upset with her for hiding it from me, Madden’s presence changed my course. So he could hear what was going on, I said, “Natalie, give me the address now. I’m on my way, okay? Are you in danger?”
    She paused again. “Um, I don’t- I don’t think so.”
    “Can you get outside?”
    “Um…yeah. But don’t come up to the house, I’ll find you.”
    I didn’t know what to think about that at all . “Just gimme the address.”
    She gave it to me, so I repeated it for Madden to hear. I asked her what was going on so I knew what I was facing, but she either hung up or we lost the connection. I couldn’t get her back on the line after that.
    I told the other guys we’d be back soon and Madden and I headed for my truck.
    “I’ve had more to drink than you, but you good?” he asked me.
    “Yeah, I’m fine.” We both shut our doors and I was immediately backing out of the driveway. “I heard a bunch of loud voices in the background, maybe yelling. I’m not sure if there was a fight or what, but Natalie was crying. She’d locked herself in a bathroom.”
    “Jesus,” Madden mumbled.
    “Did you know she had a fucking boyfriend?” I asked. I was angry, and it’s not that I was accusing him of anything, but I wasn’t able to control my emotions.
    “What? Hell no. What the fuck? Are you sure? That doesn’t sound right. Since when?”
    I only shook my head, too pissed to answer. I was trying to piece together the last few weeks with her. Either I was dumb as fuck or she’d been good at hiding it. Furthermore, I could only assume she’d been seeing this guy when we fucked the other night. And Madden mumbling something like “maybe that’s the baby daddy” got me all sorts of furious.
    I found the house in southeast Portland fairly easy. It was a basic neighborhood of older homes, but the corner lot seemed full of cars. I parked up the street in the first spot I found, and