Kingston Kidnappings (What Happens In Vegas Book 3) by Matt Lincoln (great book club books .txt) 📗

“No, Harry,” I started. “You can’t blame yourself. This wasn’t your fault.”

“And what exactly are you two still doing here?” he suddenly yelled angrily. I jumped back in shock at his outburst. “Quit wasting your time with me and go find my granddaughter! Isn’t that your job?”

“Harry, I’m not--” I started to say, but Miranda gripped my arm firmly.

“We should go,” she muttered quietly but firmly.

I nodded in resignation before turning back to Harry.

“Call us if you need anything, alright?” I urged him, but he didn’t respond. He just stared blankly at the empty space in front of him.

Miranda and I quickly filed out of the room. We walked in silence back to the elevator.

“You think he was mad at us?” I asked once we were inside. “I’d understand if he blamed us for this. It’s our case. This wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t been investigating.”

“I don’t know,” Miranda crossed her arms over her chest. “Maybe he is, but I think more than anything, he’s mad at himself.”

We fell back into silence after that. I couldn’t imagine how Harry must have felt. He needed his wheelchair to move around. Without it, there was little he could have done as he watched that stranger steal Amber away. Of course, none of us blamed Harry for not being able to stop him, but there was no doubt in my mind that he was blaming himself.

Even though it was past one in the morning now, the streets were still congested as party-goers stumbled into and out of bars and gamblers hopped from one casino to the next. I’d often heard New York described as “the City that Never Sleeps,” but in my opinion, that moniker more closely suited Las Vegas. Night was when Las Vegas truly came to life, and it stayed that way until the crack of dawn.

I stifled a yawn as Miranda pulled into the office’s parking lot. My eyes were heavy, and my entire body was starting to feel weary, but I didn’t want to go to sleep yet. I stretched as I got out of the car. I hoped the action would help energize me, but I still felt just as tired after.

“Maybe Fiona’s found something,” Miranda suggested, though she didn’t sound like she believed it.

“Yeah, maybe,” I agreed bleakly.

We made our way into the building and up the elevator. I punched my door code into the keypad at the entrance before pushing the door open. I could smell something cooking as soon as I stepped through the double doors.

“Junior, you’re back,” Fiona called as she approached me. She’d been standing by the desks and speaking to Wallace when we came in. His expression was serious, and now that I turned to look at Fiona, her expression seemed tense as well. “Eliza’s awake. She’s making us dinner.”

“She’s doing what?” I asked blankly. Her voice sounded cheerful, but I could see the fear in her eyes.

“Let’s go talk in my office,” she said quickly as she dragged me into her office by the arm. “You come too, Miranda.” She closed the door softly behind her once we were all inside.

“What’s happening?” Miranda asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“Eliza’s not doing well,” she replied quietly. “She woke up and then suddenly got up and rushed into the bathroom before we could stop her. I was about to go in to check on her, but then she came out and apologized for making a fuss. We were worried she’d gone in there to do something crazy, but it looked like she just fixed her makeup.”

“That’s weird,” Miranda whispered.

“Yeah, it really is,” Fiona nodded. “Then she said she wanted to thank us for being so kind to her and offered to make dinner. We told her she really didn’t have to, but she insisted. She started rummaging through the fridge and all the cabinets, but there wasn’t much since we just moved to this office. She looked like she was starting to panic. So Wallace sent me out to buy some groceries. She’s been completely calm ever since, which I don’t have to explain to you really isn’t a good sign.”

“She’s in shock,” I surmised.

“Yeah,” Fiona agreed. “Nelson thinks she’s using cooking as a coping mechanism for what happened, like trying to pretend nothing’s wrong. None of us have mentioned anything about what happened since we aren’t sure how she’ll react. That’s why I dragged you two in here. I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t accidentally say anything.”

“So, we just pretend everything’s okay?” Miranda asked incredulously.

“I guess,” Fiona shrugged. “Until we get a lead or Charlie gets here. Nelson thinks it’s best we don’t do anything to upset her for now.”

“This is so messed up,” Miranda growled. “I’m gonna go talk to Wallace. I can’t stand just sitting here. There’s got to be something we can do.”

She stormed out of the office. I reached out to stop her, worried that she might accidentally upset Eliza stomping around like that, but she was gone in a flash. I sighed in frustration. I turned to say something to Fiona, but my words died in my throat when I saw tears in her eyes.

“Whoa, hey, what’s wrong?” I asked as I hurried to shut the door Miranda had thrown open.

“She’s right,” Fiona sniffled. “I hate that we’re just standing around helpless. All we have is a phone call. That’s our only lead. Wallace told me to trace it, but no matter what I try, I can’t, and it’s all my fault that we’re just sitting here.”

“Stop,” I cut off her rambling as I took her hands in mine. “This isn’t your fault. You’re an amazing technical analyst. We all know that, but that doesn’t make you a magician. No one is blaming you.”

“I know,” she nodded. “But this is Charlie’s family. How can I let him down?”

“You won’t,” I insisted. “We just need a little more information about who took her. I know that once we have that, you’ll be able