Love in the Shadows

Chapter Twenty- Nine

(Sam's POV)

"She was attacked?" My uncle's tone was laced with indignation.

I watched Lucy walk out the doors and turned to respond. "Her and Tash. On their run this morning."

He shook his head. "I'll help you run it through the system, if you want." It seemed like something had earned his loyalty or maybe my uncle just wanted to do his actual job. Either way, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I gave my dad's office a lingering dirty look before trailing to follow Jet to his desk. It was as we both took a seat, and I pulled out my notepad that his phone rang. "Hey Paula, what's up?"

His eyes widened as he listened. "Have you tried calling Dave? Brie? Okay... okay. I'll swing by their place." Fully intrigued as he rang off the Lawson's names, I listened to his side of the conversation.

He hung up and I worked to keep my face blank before asking,  "Problem?"

"I've got to swing by the house of a local family. That was a family friend, worried that they can't be reached. I just want to make sure that everyones okay. Sorry, are you okay if I grab someone else to help you?"

"Actually... would it be alright if I come with you?" I hid my smile at the hesitancy that passed over his face.

"You sure you want to?" I was. Extremely. But, I wasn't going to share with him that we were interested in the Lawson's.

"I would. We can run the data when we get back but it doesn't hurt for you to have someone else to ride along, right?" He nodded his head, still seeming unsure, as we made our way outside, stopping to give Lucy my truck keys.I didn't want to leave her trapped here and also wanted to let her know what was going on. Her eyes widened as I explained where we were going, letting me know that I wasn't wrong in my concern.

Jet, on the other hand, couldn't seem more unbothered, chatting away non-stop and not appearing to care in the slightest that my responses were getting shorter and shorter the closer we got to the Lawson house. Something felt wrong, yet he was unperturbed. 

It wasn't until we pulled into the driveway, next to the car Sylvie and Dave Lawson had been driving yesterday, that he gave me a side eye. He explained, "If you're worried about this, you should stop. This isn't the first time that they've just taken off. Their daughter struggles some, and they seem to take her out of town whenever she is not at, one hundred percent."

I raised my eyebrows, hoping to convey mere curiosity and not my desperation for more information. In my experience silence tended to push people to gossip more. I wanted him to feel at ease sharing.

"There were some rumours about her a while back and they were gone for almost half a year or so." It was interesting hearing him so casually mention what Steven himself had been worried about.

Why didn't anybody else seem to see a problem here?

As we made our way up and onto the porch, I couldn't help but notice that the camera from yesterday didn't follow our movements. The light for the camera wasn't blinking either. Jet followed my gaze and explained, "Most cameras around here are just for show, not something to worry about."

I wondered if I should be straight up with him now. Let him know that we were here yesterday and that camera had fully been on and watching us. Instead, I stayed silent. That nagging feeling in my gut causing me to be wary of who to trust.

He knocked on the door and peeked through the glass. "Everything looks fine. See this is their mode. When those pregnancy rumours were circulating about Brie, they left suddenly. Took a break from town and waited for everything to die down before they came back."