Finding Forever (11 page)

“Ms. Prince, I'd recommend you just lay back down. You've been through so much already.” The nurse looked up from her notepad. “You really need your rest.”

“With all due respect, you don't know what the hell you're talking about.” Taylor sat down. “Just let me call my mom or my assistant!”

The nurse stared blankly back at her.

“Don't just stand there,” Taylor added. “Get me a phone so I can get this straightened out!”

The nurse's expression turned grim, fearful. She stepped backward toward the door and pressed the buzzer on the wall. The door unlocked. “The doctor will be right with you,” she said, opening the door and stepping out. “You can discuss this with him.”

Taylor lunged to catch the heavy metal door before it closed, but just missed the handle before it snapped shut, the electric zap sounding as it locked. She pulled on the handle. When it didn't budge, she yanked it harder with both hands. Taylor pounded on the door and started screaming for them to open it. Whoever was “them.”

“Please, return to bed,” a male voice said sternly from a speaker built into the wall. “The doctor will be right with you. There is no need for alarm.”

Taylor darted toward the room's only window and traced the outline of the square frame with her fingers looking for a latch.

There was none.

Taylor clutched her head in frustration, reaching for a fistful of hair. But her hands only slipped through. She pulled frantically several times, then patted and clawed all around her scalp.

They shaved my head!

“I'm sorry,” Brooklyn said, touching Simone gently on the forearm. “I had to ask about the drugs thing. Even though I pretty much know she's clean.”

Every single supposed sighting of Taylor out partying had proved bogus after Brooklyn investigated. Twitter might be a great tool for social media marketers, Photoshop fiends, and for feuding with idiots, but Brooklyn found it a total failure as a credible news source.

“That's why I came to you,” Simone said. “You've been nothing but fair to Taylor—even when everyone else is writing crap that isn't true.”

“Thanks, but first I need the guest list for the party.”

“Of course. It was only like twenty people, maybe thirty. It was super small. I just sent out texts to everyone.”

“Okay, and did you take any pictures?”

“Yeah, but only on my cell. We made every guest check cells at the front door. We didn't want any pictures leaking out. It was a private party. Just kids. No adults. No media and stuff.”

“That didn't really work out very well,” Brooklyn joked.

Simone giggled.

“We are going to find her—I promise.” Brooklyn set her phone down in her lap. “But I have to ask. Simone, why haven't you gone to the police yet?”

Simone hugged her arms around herself and started rocking slowly back and forth. She stared into the park beside the stadium where Holden was walking away.

“I can't,” she said. “I'm afraid of what they might to do me.”

“They?”

“The cops.”

“Why?”

“I could go to jail.”

“Simone, they can't put you in jail for reporting someone missing. If there's anything I need to know, please tell me now.” Brooklyn tilted her head. “If you don't trust me, you have every right to get up and leave and go find someone else. As much as I want to make sure we find Taylor, I can't waste my time on this if you aren't going to entirely trust me.”

Simone sat back down and pushed her sleeves down to cover her hands. “You're right. The truth is that I really don't think those guys with the guns were cops.”

“Then who were they?”

“I don't know for sure, but I sort of think they were working with this guy I invited.”

“A friend of Taylor's?”

“Not really, just this random cute guy. He claimed he was an agent's assistant, and he had been trying to meet Taylor for the last few weeks. He was literally begging me for an invite to her birthday party.”

“And why did you give it to him?”

Simone exhaled. “Okay, I realize this is going to make me look really bad, and I want to say that I feel totally guilty for doing this, but the reason I invited him was because A) He was hot and B) He promised me he would bring drugs—but not for Taylor, I swear. Just for the rest of us. And he did bring drugs. A lot of them.”

“Like?”

“Molly, Ecstasy, maybe a little coke, too.”