Erased Read Online Free PDF Page B

the flashlight upright on the fireplace mantel. He nodded at Nick. “You get the space you needed?”
    “I guess.” Nick dropped onto the corner of the couch. “I came home earlier than I wanted.”
    Sam, face blank, voice even, said, “No one forced you.”
    “No.” Nick scrubbed at his face, then said, “Sit down. We need to talk.”
    Sam pulled himself straighter, suddenly on alert. “About what?”
    Cas sauntered over to the second chair and sat down. I sat on the other end of the couch.
    “I went out last night with the girl who works at the grocery store in Millerton,” Nick said, looking at me. “Remember, the dark-haired girl?”
    “How could I forget?”
    He ignored me. “We were talking this morning, and she ended up telling me that someone came into the store asking for Anna.”
    I sat forward. “What do you mean, asking for me?”
    “Asking if anyone had seen you. They knew your name. Had an outdated picture of you.”
    Sam paced in front of the fireplace, arms crossed over his chest. “Did the girl have a description of whoever was doing the asking?”
    Nick nodded. His expression was pinched, stressed at the eyes, as if he already had a theory as to who it was. “Girl our age. Reddish-brown hair. Skinny. Five-seven or so.”
    “Branch agent?” I said.
    The boys were silent.
    Sam was the first one to speak. “A Branch agent wouldn’t be dumb enough to ask about us in a grocery store. They would know it’d tip us off if word got around, and asking about a missing girl in a place like this—small town, safe—it’d turn into a local story by week’s end.”
    “It was a message,” Nick said.
    I frowned. “Who would it be, though? If not a Branch agent?”
    Cas cleared his throat, which was his way of warning me that what he was about to say wouldn’t be good. “We know only one girlour age with reddish-brown hair who would be asking for you, Banana.”
    Nick and Sam shared a look. Sam gave the barest of nods.
    “Who?”
    “Dani,” Sam said.
    My first instinct was to laugh, but it clearly wasn’t meant as a joke. All three of them were staring at me, tense, waiting for my response.
    “No,” I said quickly, matter-of-factly. “Dani is dead.”
    “Says the Branch,” Sam said.
    “And
they’re
trustworthy,” Nick added sarcastically.
    “It could be anyone.
Anyone
. Someone who used to work for the Branch. Someone who knows Trev.” I felt like I was sputtering, making up excuses. It couldn’t be Dani.
    There wasn’t even a tiny part of me that believed it.
    “That store in Millerton, it have a security system? Cameras?” Sam asked.
    “Yeah,” Nick and I said in unison.
    Sam gestured to Nick. Nick stood up.
    “Wait,” I said. “What are you going to do?”
    “Look at the tapes.” Sam pulled on his coat. “See who it was.”
    “I’m coming with.”
    He checked the magazine in his gun, making sure it was full. “No, you’re not. If someone was there asking for you, then you’re at a greater risk than any of us.”
    “How are you going to access the security footage?”
    Sam gave me a look from under the heavy furrow of his brow, like that was the silliest question I’d ever asked and no way was he going to answer it.
    “It’d be far easier to ask to see it, don’t you think?” I said. “Instead of sneaking in?”
    “Because I’m sure they let any customer who walks in the door access their security system?”
    “Let me come,” I said. “I have an idea, but you’ll need me there to do it.”
    “Anna.” Sam sighed.
    Cas walked up behind me. “Oh, let her come, Sammy. She might be useful.”
    I wasn’t sure if I should thank Cas or scowl at him.
    “Fine,” Sam said. “But if there is any sign of trouble, you leave. Right away. No questions asked.”
    I nodded. “Fair enough.”
    He started for the door. “And make sure you have a gun on you.”
    Worried that he’d leave without me if he had the chance, I grabbed the closest gun—the one from