Because they needed all the eyes they could find. He doubted the cops were doing much anymore. Not after this many days. “Okay.”

Mateo watched until Josiah disappeared around the next corner before he started walking again, walking and looking, ignoring his head and listening to his heart, because they needed to fucking find her. There wasn’t much he could do for Tristan or Josiah, but he damn sure could stay on these streets until they brought Rhonda home.

***

Mateo had walked around for hours. As soon as Josiah left for home, he’d gone down to one of the parks where a lot of the transients and gang bangers spent time. It was a long shot, but he knew he’d get a whole hell of a lot more information down here than the cops would, or even than he would have gotten if Jay had been with him.

Still, he didn’t have much luck. He’d pulled his camera out of his bag and showed the picture he’d taken when Josiah and Tristan had gone to the car the other night to any and everyone who would look. The picture he’d taken of Rhonda for Tristan.

No one had seen her. He’d even told people he’d give them the fucking camera if they knew where she was. It wasn’t worth much, but a couple hundred bucks was like gold to the people down here. Still, no one said shit.

After that it was back to alleys and quiet, lonely streets, because he figured if she freaked out, she’d probably be running away from people instead of toward them.

He asked a random man the time and realized it was almost time to meet Jay when he saw a space about five feet wide between two buildings. He didn’t know what the hell it was there for, but turned and made his way down it, stepping over weeds growing between broken pieces of concrete.

It was probably a waste of time but he didn’t stop going. Didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that anything could’ve happened to her out here.

Cars sped down the streets in front and behind him as Mateo made his way through the thin space.

The streets were quiet for a second, and that’s when he heard the soft moaning that sounded like a woman. The hairs on the back of Teo’s neck stood on end, chills running down his arms.

Did he say her name or not? He didn’t fucking know. He needed Jay for this kinda stuff.

Hell, it might not even be her, but somehow he knew it was, and that made his heart want to speed up and slow down at the same time. Who knew what happened to her while she was out here.

“Rhonda?” he said softly as he kept going. Mateo stopped when he got to another open space between the front building and the back. It was even smaller than the one he was in now, leaving the figure huddled on the ground hardly enough room to squeeze in.

“Rhonda?” he said again. “It’s me. Mateo. I’m Tristan’s...friend. We met the other night.” He bent down and she cried harder, trying to shove her way deeper into the space.

“It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.” He reached for his phone before remembering he didn’t have it. Dios, what the fuck was he supposed to do?

“If you come out here, I can take you to Tristan. He’s been real worried. He misses you.”

Her arms were around her knees as she started rocking back and forth. Teo looked down toward the street. The street was pretty quiet, with not a lot of people walking around. He sat down, not sure what else to do. Damn, he wished Tristan or Josiah was here. “We gotta get you outta here, Rhonda. You can go with me. I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

She was shaking so bad he could have sworn he heard her bones rattling together. She’d been attacked before, he knew that, and it scared the hell out of him to think about trying to reach for her to get her to come out.

“Hey!” he yelled when a woman walked down the sidewalk at the end of the path.

She passed but then peeked around the corner.

“Hey! I need your help. You got a phone...” he let the last word linger when she walked away. Not that he blamed her. What woman wouldn’t be nervous seeing him ducked down back here in this neighborhood?

Mateo leaned against the wall. “It’s okay if you can’t come out. I’ll stay here with you as long as you need, but you gotta remember, we have Tristan waiting for us. Josiah, too. They’re worried about you.”

She had to be scared to death, and who knew what else. What if something happened to her out here? How would they deal with that? It would kill Tristan.

“You were right, you know? I don’t know if you remember when I came to your house the other night. Remember when Josiah and Tristan went outside. I took a picture of you for Tristan, and you said I loved him, too. I don’t know how in the hell you knew that, do you remember?”