Will nodded, impressed. “You know a lot about it.”
“You tend to learn quickly when you call Lorraine’s Christmas party date a warlock and he repeatedly dunks you in the punch bowl.”
“Sounds like a lovely fellow.”
“I had a piece of pineapple lodged in my ear until New Year’s. Come on, let’s see what else we can find.”
We worked in companionable silence until Will pulled out the bottom drawer of Bud’s bureau. “I suppose there could be some truth to your theory.”
I rushed over and gawked. Will had last year’s yearbook spread out on his lap. The spine was broken down the center from heavy use, the book flopping open to a photograph of Cathy Ledwith. The smiling, black and white photo was circled in black, but there was a heavy red slash through it. A date was written in the same black ink.
“Oh.” My hackles went up and fear, like an icy breeze, shot down my spine. “That’s the day Cathy went missing.”
“You mean the day she was found.”
“No. When she went missing.”
Will turned a page; two newspaper clippings were carefully folded and pinched in the crease. I didn’t need to open them to know they were from the day Cathy disappeared and the day she was found.
“Trophies?” Will said grimly.
“Could be. What about these?”
Four loose photos were tucked in the back of the book. They were each the standard, posed picture-day photos—bright smiles, heads cocked, fuzzy blue background, Mercy uniforms pressed and impeccable. “Fallon, Alyssa, Kayleigh, Miranda,” I said, as I flipped through each shot. “It’s like a roadmap.”
“Or a catalog.” Will took the photos from me and laid Alyssa’s and Kayleigh’s out on the bed. “He’s got these two.” He picked up Fallon’s photo and eyed me. “Still think they’re partners?”
I swallowed hard. “I—I don’t know.”
Will placed the photo next to Miranda’s. “Then I guess we need to figure out which one of these he is after now.”
I waited outside while Will handed Bud’s key over to Centuri. He hadn’t been gone for a minute when I snatched my phone and hit the speed dial.
“Grace.”
“Why didn’t you tell me another girl has gone missing? Why didn’t you tell me it was Kayleigh Logan?”
I heard Alex suck in a breath just as Will stepped out to meet me. Will’s eyes raked over me as I stood there with the phone pressed against my ear. Suddenly, his lips were pressed in a thin, sharp line and I knew he wasn’t happy. From the sound of Alex’s sharp breathing, it was apparent that he wasn’t, either.
“Did Sampson tell you about Kayleigh?”
“Of course he did. You and me and Will are supposed to be working together on this, Alex. How are we supposed to do that if we’re not sharing information?”
“Actually, Lawson, me and Romero are working on this case. I don’t know what you and Will are doing, and frankly, I don’t care. I’ve got two missing girls to find.”
I could hear him pull the phone away from his ear and something inside me swelled and broke. “Bud Hastings.”
He paused. “What?”
“You need to be looking for Bud Hastings. He’s the janitor at Mercy.”
I could hear the sound of shuffling paper on Alex’s side. “We interviewed him. He’s got an alibi for the time Alyssa went missing. And, actually, for Kayleigh’s, too. He’s on sabbatical. So thanks, but—”
“Where?”
“What?”
“Where did Bud Hastings go on his sabbatical? Do you know? Because Will and I are at his apartment right now and Bud’s not here, but pictures of four teenage girls are—and two of them have gone missing.”
“Lawson.” I could tell Alex was gritting his teeth by the tight, stiff way he said my name. “We’re handling it.”
“Not well enough, you’re not.”
I hung up the phone and jammed it in my pocket while Will stared at me for a moment of stunned silence. Slowly, a sly, impressed grin slid over his face.
“For some reason, I’m incredibly attracted to you right now.”
I wanted to grin despite our dire circumstances. My pants also seemed to have no conscience as I felt the desperate need to take them off.
“No,” I said as much to Will as to myself. “We’re getting Alyssa and Kayleigh back. Then we’re stringing up Bud by his sicko neck.”
“I don’t understand why he’d take another girl right now.”
I pointed upward. The moon was hanging low over the bay, an enormous silvery orb half sliced by the night. “That’s why.”
Will’s gaze followed mine and he let out a low whistle. “The seventh day of the moon cycle.”
I gaped. “What?”
Will pointed. “The moon is half full on the seventh day of the moon cycle.”
My insides went to liquid. “The seventh day. He wasn’t holding the girls for seven days, he was waiting for the seventh day of the moon cycle.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“It means that Alyssa and Kayleigh are running out of time.”