Untamed (75 page)

Where the hell is she?

I run my hands through my hair, feeling a growing fear and frustration. It’s a ball inside me expanding. I’m going to explode.

I sprint back out to the car, call Glass on my phone. When he picks up, his tone is frosty.

“What the fuck is going on with you tonight, boy?”

“Where’s Dee, Glass?”

“She left.”

I blink. “Left?”

“I don’t know, she left the fight.”

“Why?”

There’s a pause. “I don’t know.”

He’s lying to me
.

“Have you tried calling her, Duncan?”

“She forgot her phone.”

“She probably went back to the college dorms.”

The college dorms!

I drive up there, but am turned away by security at the entrance to campus.

“Can you please get a message through to Caroline Edwards, Moore Hall, third floor, room G,” I tell the guard. Dee’s roommate. “It’s an emergency.”

The guard stares into my eyes for a moment, considers me.

“Christ, I really need you to do this for me.”

“I can’t, sir,” he says, his face stoic, his voice emotionless. “Not until I know who you are.”

“Look, someone I know is missing, and was her friend and roommate. I need to know if she’s seen her.”

The guard, an older man, bearded and tough-looking, shakes his head.

“Not even a message?” I run my hand through my hair, turn away from the guard for a moment, collect myself. “Can’t you just contact her residence administrator or whoever, check if she’s here? She can come here to the gate, talk to me with you watching. I only need to ask her one question.”

He considers me some more, and then relents. “Alright, son. Just hold on.” He goes back into his office, clicks onto the radio.

I wait outside, pacing, and maybe ten minutes later Caroline comes down.

“Duncan?”

“Is Dee here?”

“No,” she says. “Are you two fighting?”

I lick my lips. “No. I just can’t find her. She didn’t come by here?”

Caroline shakes her head, shrugs. “Not that I know of, anyway. I’ve been in our room all night studying. We’ve got a mock quiz tomorrow.”

“If she turns up for it tomorrow, will you text me? I just need to know if she’s alright.”

“Sure.” She takes out her phone, punches in my number.

I thank her, jump back in the car, drive back to my apartment.

The lights are on!

Relief floods through my veins. God damn it, Dee’s back home, and she gave me one hell of a scare.

I run up the stairs, burst through the door.

“Dee!” I cry. My voice almost breaks.

There’s no reply.

I frown, check the bedroom where the light is on. I notice her underwear drawer is open, and it was closed when I left here just half an hour ago. Most of her pairs of underwear are gone.

It hits me, a thump in the chest like I’ve been slammed by a cannonball.

She’s left
.

She came back because she forgot something. Maybe a passport she hid in that drawer? Fuck I wish I knew what it was she came back for, but I never, ever looked through her things.

God fucking damn it!

I suck in huge gulps of air, go back to the living room, and there I notice a small black object on the floor. I bend down, pick it up.

It’s the mirror I gave Dee. It’s cracked; she must have dropped it unknowingly.

I turn it over in my hand, watch the small cat wave.

“For fuck’s sake, Dee, where the hell are you going?” I breathe.

…And
why
are you going?

Chapter Thirty