Free A Love So Deadly by Lili Valente

“No, Caitlin. Gabe was never at the ER at Presbyterian.”
    My brow furrows, the sentence not computing. “What?”
    “He was never there,” she repeats. “So I called the Carolina Medical Center, even though it’s further from Gabe’s house, but he was never checked in there, either.”
    I stare at Sherry, watching the same impossible hope blooming in my chest flicker in her eyes. “You don’t think…” I dampen my lips, afraid to say the words out loud. “We should check the Charleston hospitals first, before we start jumping to conclusions.”
    “I already did,” Sherry says. “In the past four days, no Gabriel Alexander was checked in to any Emergency Room within two hours of Giffney.”
    I shake my head slowly back and forth, a million thoughts rushing through my mind at once. “You think he’s… Do you think he…” I still can’t say it, can’t name my hope for fear it will disappear. “But why would his mom lie?”
    “Why wouldn’t she?” Sherry says. “You said she thought you weren’t helping Gabe. Maybe she decided he was better off without you.”
    “But she was devastated,” I say. “She was crying her eyes out.”
    “Maybe she’s a really good liar. And I mean, her son was still dying, even if he wasn’t dead yet. That’s something to fucking cry about.” Sherry shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s all just too fishy, and didn’t you say that Gabe said his parents had plane flights booked for him? To some hospice or something?”
    I nod, still feeling dazed, blinded by the ray of light in the darkness.
    “What if they kidnapped him?” Sherry continues. “Like, took advantage of the fact that he was sick, and put his ass on a plane as far from Giffney, and you, as they could get him?”
    “No,” I say, spirits crashing back to earth. “He would have found a phone and called me. Even if he was too sick to fight back, he wouldn’t have let his parents take him away and not found a way to let me know about it.”
    “Unless he couldn’t get to a phone for some reason,” Sherry says, squeezing my hands tighter. “Listen, I don’t want to put you through any fresh hell, or give you false hope, but there is something strange going on, and I’m going to help you figure out what it is. I already called Carla, and she told me to take the rest of the week off. She lost her husband last year. She told me to stay and be here for you, and that’s what I’m going to do. So…where do we start digging for more clues?”
    I take a shaky breath, hope and fear mixing inside of me to form a cocktail far more eye-opening than any cup of coffee. “There’s only one place I can think of. I have to go back to Darby Hill. There might be something there that will let us know what Gabe’s parents are hiding.”
    “Okay, but how?” Sherry asks, leaning in as she catches my excitement. “They’re not going to throw open the door when you knock, and welcome you in for a chat.”
    “I’m not going to knock,” I say. “I’ll break in after they’re asleep. I know the security code, so I can turn it off as soon as I pick the lock.”
    Sherry tilts her head, shooting me a confused look out of the corner of my eye. “Okay, but…when exactly did you become an expert at picking locks?”
    “Gabe taught me,” I say, shrugging like it’s no big deal. “It was a hobby of his. He liked the…puzzle solving aspect of it.”
    “Really,” she says, frowning. “That’s…kind of a weird habit for a guy who’s stinking rich. Was he planning a secret life of crime, or something?”
    For the first time in days I actually have to fight a smile. On impulse I lean in, hugging Sherry tight. “Thank you. Thank you so much for this.”
    Sherry hugs me back, smoothing a hand over my tangled hair. “Just don’t hate me if it turns out to be nothing, okay?”
    “I could never hate you,” I say, pulling away, sniffing away the tears trying to escape the corners of my eyes. I’m not going to