Page 128 of Scandal
“What do we know about this security guard?” I ask, trying to stay calm. Losing my composure won’t bring Merc back.
I did a shit job last week at the mere thought of her being in danger. I won’t make that mistake again. I promised her brother I would protect her with my life. This is me keeping that promise.
“His name is Ian Nicholson. He’s in his mid-twenties. Ex-military. From a small village in the Borders.”
I’m not sure why my ears cling to that specific detail. “The Borders? Where?”
Lewis has to check his employee file again. “Burnhollow,” he says.
Alarm bells start to go off in my head. “You’re sure?”
One of Lewis’s longtime, trusted security guards speaks up. “Aye. That’s the place. I remember him mentioning it not long after he started. Said it wasn’t much more than a pub, a kirk, and a dirt road.”
Feeling a mix of hope and fear, I turn to Lewis. “I need you to find any possible connections between Ian and Mitch Zegler.”
My mother gasps. “Your former bandmate?”
I grimly nod. “I dismissed him as a possible suspect before, but now I regret that. The information we could find on him didn’t make him look suspicious. He’s engaged and bought a small pub. But they live in a small village near the Borders called Burnhollow.
“It could be a coincidence,” Mac says.
“Aye, it could be,” I agree, my stomach souring with each passing minute she’s away from me. “But this time I’m not taking any chances.”
Like many private security agencies, Lewis and his team can do a lot that the police can—both legal and slightly less so. Most of their team members are either ex-cops or military, which is probably why Ian stayed under the radar.
While Lewis dives into Ian’s online profiles, I try to find something on Merc’s phone. Though the screen is broken, it still powers on, and my heart skips a beat when I see a fractured picture of the two of us lighting up her home screen background.
We’re cuddled up in bed, arms wrapped around each other and smiling from ear to ear.
“Hey.” My mother comes up to my side. “You can do this. Just breathe.”
I didn’t know I’d stopped.
I let out a shaky exhale and nod. “Yeah, okay.”
I go through her text messages, feeling like I’m invading her privacy as I search each one for a clue about her whereabouts. But every message is from before that time stamp on the security footage.
When I check her call history, my eyes widen as I glance back at the screen and then down at the length of the last call. “She was on the phone with Cash just prior to this.”
I don’t even hesitate. I hit the redial button on her phone.
“Did your date not go well, or do you just miss me that much?” The lightness in her brother’s tone breaks my heart.
And now I have to break his.
“Cash, this is Asher.”
There’s a pause, then he responds as if his gut’s already warning him something’s off. “Where’s Mercury?”
“She’s been taken.”
Another pause. “What the fuck do you mean, taken?”
I swallow my guilt and try to keep my pulse steady. “I need you to focus, Cash. You were the last to talk to her. She was seen with a security guard on surveillance, and we think he mighthave subdued her and snuck her past the other guards at the gate.”
“You can’t be serious.” His voice quivers.
“I wish I were,” I say. “Listen, I’m trying to keep my shit together so I can find her, so I need to know what happened in those last few minutes, Cash.”
