Chapter Twenty
Jaxson
I woke up holding Elena tightly in my arms. I’d planned on sneaking off once she’d fallen asleep, but being here felt so right that I succumbed to the exhaustion too. I held her for a few more minutes, thinking about last night and knowing the real reason we’re in one another’s lives.
My mother caught me when I came back, filling me in on what she’d found out about Elena. I’d already known it myself, but I didn’t bother to tell her that.
Besides, it didn’t matter. Not now.
I had a job to finish. We needed to find Elena’s sister before it was too late, and I wasn’t sure it wasn’t already. Seeing the pain in Elena’s gaze last night nearly brought me to my knees.
I knew what it was like to not feel anything, to be detached and disconnected from the world around me.
My world had been like that until I’d met Elena.
She let out a little noise and my chest tightened. She was so beautiful and kind, yet feisty and brave. It was a combination I’d never experienced before, but I loved every second with her.
Elena stretched and slowly rolled over, her eyes blinking open.
She wrapped her arm over my waist, which pulled the sheet away from her bare breasts. It took everything I had not to make love to her again.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her beautiful eyes resting on mine.
“You’ve made me a happy man. There’s nothing to thank me for.”
“There is.” She nodded sleepily. “You made me feel. You took away the pain, even if only for last night.”
I nodded, knowing there wasn’t anything I could say that would make her world right again. To keep the pain away.
I was somewhat surprised my brothers hadn’t come barreling in to find me, but they must have known that what I’d planned and what actually transpired were two very different things.
“I need to get downstairs.”
She laughed, and it sounded lighter than it had in a long time. “I vaguely remember your saying something like that last night.” She tugged the sheet over her breasts and I held in a sigh.
“You tricked me.” I winked.
“I tricked you.” She smiled.
“Totally took advantage of me. I was helpless.” I grinned, loving to see her smile.
I knew it wouldn’t last long.
“In your dreams, big fella.”
“Big, huh?”
She rolled her eyes and blushed.
I grabbed my jeans and slipped them on, my phone falling to the floor at the same time.
A call had come over from Captain Jenkins this morning. I picked up my phone and glanced at Elena, who looked like she had no plan on leaving the bed, which was probably for the best.
“I’ve got a call to make. I missed the Captain’s call earlier.”
“Why not make it here?” She sat up, still holding the sheet over her body.
I nodded and dialed Jenkins.
He answered before a full ring.
“Thank you for that tip. Did you see the news this morning?” he asked.
“No. I haven’t had the chance to turn it on.”
The moment Elena heard that, she flipped on the television, keeping the volume low.
“You’ve saved us a lot of time and money by pointing us in the right direction.”
“Not a problem. I only wished it led where I’d hoped.”
“About that.”
“Yes?”
“We’ve got a guy we brought in for questioning, but we couldn’t hold him. We didn’t have enough evidence to keep him, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to reveal anything to my guys, so we had to let him go free.”
“Who are you talking about?” My pulse quickened.
“There was a guy we saw on some surveillance footage near the time Missy’s boyfriend died, yet he lives here in the city.”
“Yeah? Like a dealer?”
“Well, he does have that on his record, but that’s not why we were interested in him. But like I said, we didn’t have enough to keep him for questioning or charge him.” Jenkins cleared his throat. “I gave Devin the information I have on the guy. I wouldn’t put it past this dick to be involved somehow with Missy, and you never know, maybe Sadie too, but I’ll let you make your own assumptions.”
“Thanks for this.”
“After what you did for the department? Please, it’s the least I could do.”
“I’ll be in touch.”
“I don’t doubt it.” Jenkins didn’t hang up. “But boy…that suicide was a real mess, wasn’t it? But the letter was perfection.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Watch the news and you’ll learn all about it.” Jenkins laughed and hung up.
I glanced at the television.
“What did he say?” Elena was sitting on her knees, the sheet barely hanging on as she waited hopefully for my answer.
“He gave us an interesting lead. The team is probably downstairs, already working on it.”
Hope flashed through her gaze and my chest tightened.
“We’ll investigate every solid lead we can until we find answers.”
“I know.” She nodded and looked at the television. “Interesting that the guy killed himself.”
“He did?” I turned to look at the screen to see what the media had been fed by the police.
“Is that what usually happens? A guy confesses and then kills himself?” Her head tilted.
“Sometimes. I’d imagine there are all kinds of scenarios that occur.”
Her gaze focused on my knuckles. “So that’s how you do it. You feed the department a little and they feed you a little more.”
“When it suits us.”
“I’d guess that.” She glanced at the television again, but this time, her shoulders fell into her. “Aren’t you worried about what else they’ll find on this guy, killer or not?”
“Well, if the ME does a thorough examination, he’ll see the guy was one hell of a klutz with all the bruising on his torso and elsewhere.”
“And that doesn’t worry you?”
“Not in the least. Why don’t you try to get a little sleep again? This kind of stress is exhausting, and you really didn’t get much rest last night.”
“I suppose I didn’t.” A blush stained her cheeks.
I walked over and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be headed out today to check out this lead. I’ll call when I can.”
“Can I come?”
“I don’t think that would be a very good idea.” I was standing at the door. “Especially with your parents here. I don’t think they’d appreciate my taking you out with us.”
She nodded in agreement.
“I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“Jaxson?”
“Yeah?”
“Be careful. I’m getting kind of fond of you.”
“I’ve passed that with you a long time ago, Elena.”
Her smile widened, but I saw sadness touch her gaze.
“Jax? What if Harner is involved?”
Her question was one that had been tumbling around my mind since we left that guy last night.
“Then we’ll deal with him as we would anyone else.” I tapped the door and took off to the study.
“Well, how much longer are we going to let loverboy get his beauty—” Drake stopped when he saw me walk into the study.
“Excuse me. It’s unlike me to actually sleep at night,” I said sarcastically.
“We thought we’d let you rest” —Devin used air quotes— “when we realized you weren’t hurrying back.”
“I heard from Jenkins this morning,” I said, ignoring my brothers. “He said he’d already spoken with you.”
Luke came into the study behind me, holding a cup of coffee.
“He did.” Drake nodded. “We’ve had some time to look the guy up, and I think this is a solid lead. Truthfully, I’m not sure why they couldn’t find enough to keep him for questioning.”
“Continue.”
“He was seen on security footage loitering around up in Rochester from about the time the girl went missing. He was also seen there around the time of her boyfriend’s overdose or whatever the police are calling it.” Devin glanced at Blake.
“Now, we didn’t see any footage of him around the area where Missy was found, and we’ve been combing it for the hours leading up to her death,” Blake added. “So that might make this a dead end.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” I leaned against the wall.
“I’ve got Mitch and Alex on him, and he’s a real piece of work.”
I glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s only eight in the morning. What’s the guy managed to accomplish this morning?” I laughed.
Luke grinned and pulled out his phone, flipping to video Mitch had texted over showing the guy hitting on several women at a gym. He was actually taking it to the point of harassment.
“So he scores high on the creep card,” I agreed.
“And then there’s this.” Luke clicked on another clip.
This one showed the guy videoing the women in compromising positions.
“That’s not looking good for him, is it?” I shook my head. “I say we go check out this guy for ourselves and see what he’s up to for lunch.”
“Sounds like fun to me,” Zack said, rubbing his hands together.
“Couldn’t agree more.” Devin nodded. “We’ve got an address. It’s an unsecured apartment building, so we’ll have no problem getting inside.”
“Good. That makes our job easier.” I glanced at Joel, who was studying his laptop. “Anything new? Sadie’s phone still offline?”
He nodded. “I think they destroyed it, but something interesting just happened.”
“Yes?”
“All of the threats left on Elena’s blog post have gone through an anonymizer, so some look as if they’ve originated in Turkey, Russia, or Canada. The IP list is endless, but two minutes ago, a comment appeared on her post. It was deleted seconds later, but I captured it and the IP it originated from.”
“It was another threat?” I asked, walking over to where Joel was sitting.
“It was, and I think they’d meant to go through the anonymizer, only something backfired. The IP address is in Manhattan.” He handed me his laptop. “It will take me a couple of hours to track down the specific location, but I will.”
I turned to Luke. “Can you ask Mitch if this guy went back to his place in the last while?”
Luke nodded and sent a text. He received a reply instantly.
“Mitch says he went back to his place about fifteen minutes ago.”
“Interesting.” My pulse accelerated. “We just might be onto something.”
My brothers moved toward the door with a new excitement running through the air. I think we’d all hoped to find out something related to Sadie last night, but maybe this would be our redemption.
“Everything okay?” My mom poked her head into the study
“We’re just about to take off,” I informed her.
“Good. Another lead, I assume?”
“Possibly.” I nodded.
“The police were in contact with the Egorovs this morning. They were advised about the suicide.” My mother’s eyes narrowed. “Timing is always curious, isn’t it? Anyway, I’ll be taking them out to lunch to try to change things up a bit for them. Should I invite Elena?”
“Sure.” I took a few steps toward my mom and lowered my voice. “If you can behave yourself.”
“When don’t I?” Her brow arched, but I wasn’t in the mood for arguing.
“We’ll be back later.” Devin hugged our mom as everyone filed out of the room.
I grabbed a quick cup of coffee in the kitchen before heading outside.
“You okay after last night with what I told you?” my mom asked, wandering toward the coffee pot.
“Absolutely.” I took a sip. “But my brothers are waiting.”
She placed her hand on my shoulder and gripped it tightly. “My only fear for my son is that he’s finally met someone even more calculating than he is.”
“I’ll handle things.”
My mother nodded, and I made my way out of the house.
I didn’t have the energy this morning to discuss much of anything to do with Elena. I was in the business of compartmentalizing, and I needed to continue that strategy. It was the only way I’d survived this long.
The ride into the city had a different energy than yesterday. We didn’t know if this was a pointless lead taking us to talk to a horny gym rat or if there was something here to unpack.
“Looks like we’re here.” Blake stated the obvious as Luke, Zack, and Ian pulled in next to us.
Joel texted right when we’d found a garage to park in not too far from the guy’s apartment. Things were starting to look up.
“Joel?” Blake asked, glancing at my phone.
“Yup.”
The moment I read Joel’s words, the blood in my veins turned to a fiery excitement. I realized we might really be onto something.
“IP address from this morning leads right here,” I told my brothers.
“You’re kidding.” Drake smiled, taking the key out of the ignition. “You know, I never doubt whose side God is on in our world.”
I smiled, climbing out of the car to fill in Luke and the rest of the men.
By the time we scaled the stairs and pushed open the door to the outside world, rain was pouring. It would make our quick walk even quicker.
We spotted Mitch and Alex standing outside a coffee house. They flagged us to come in their direction.
“A warm cup of coffee sounds perfect about now,” I muttered.
“Do you realize you’re probably the only man in the universe who can manage to fit in a latte on the way to kick a man’s ass?”
“It’s all about the priorities.” I laughed as we jogged across the street.
“Hey, there,” Mitch said, shaking my hand. “Perfect timing. Prince Charming just went into the sandwich shop next to us.”
“Really?” I thought about my options. “Maybe I’ll go check him out.”
I turned to my brothers. “Mind ordering me a quad espresso?”
Devin rolled his eyes. “Your wish…”
I smiled and watched everyone head inside before I strolled next door to the sandwich shop. The moment I opened the door, the smell of dill and rye bread overwhelmed my senses.
It wasn’t difficult to spot our man. He was holding a sandwich and harassing a couple of women who were trying to enjoy their lunches. I certainly wouldn’t mind landing a few punches for the fun of it with this one.
When he started to turn in my direction, I exited the café and made my way over to the coffee shop.
Devin handed me my drink, and despite my brothers’ giving me a hard time about my drink, they all had drinks in their hands too.
“The guy’s as much of a jerk when he’s grabbing lunch as he is at the club.” I shook my head as Mitch watched the guy cross the street back over to his apartment building.
“So, what’s the plan?” Alex asked.
“Hope the guy’s got some good information to share.” I smiled, taking a sip of my espresso. “In a cool, calm, and collected manner.”
“You haven’t exactly been known for having a long fuse,” Blake said, smiling.
“Well, however it works out.” I shrugged, grinning.
“We can take the elevators right up to his floor,” Alex informed us. “I don’t think there’s a reason in the world he’ll be expecting us.”
“Agreed.” I took a final sip and tossed my cup in the trash. “Ready?”
“You know?” Drake asked. “I really am. I really hope we’re close this time.”
The rain had slowed some, and we made our way outside and across the street within a matter of minutes.
We walked inside the small, empty lobby, where the mail slots acted as the only décor, and found our way over to two elevators. One was already waiting for us, which I took as a sign.
Alex pressed the button for the eleventh floor.
“What do you think these apartments run?” Devin asked Blake.
“I don’t know. Four or five grand.”
Devin nodded.
When we arrived on the eleventh floor, the corridor was as inviting as the lobby. Worn gray carpet led the way as we walked down the hallway until we spotted the apartment number for Tim Greenwood.
“Mr. Greenwood?” I knocked on the door.
A minute or so passed by.
“Who’s there?” he asked.
Within seconds, Luke had jimmied the door and I broke it open the rest of the way.
“What are you doing stalking a blogger’s posts?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he stammered as I walked deeper into his apartment.
“Yeah, yeah. They never do.” Zack and Ian took the man down to the ground and dragged him toward his couch.
I glanced around, taking in the space. This apartment was a lot better than the last one we were in. It was tidy and barely looked lived in. I noticed a bedroom and nodded toward it. Drake went to make sure it was empty. I knew we wouldn’t be lucky enough to just find Sadie with a bow on her.
“Who do you think you are, barging into my apartment like this?”
“Just a few men with a few questions,” I advised, walking slowly over to Timothy.
“Now, tell my why you’ve been making threats to my friend, Elena.”
“I don’t know any Elena.” His eyes turned to slits as he stared at each of us slowly.
“Sure you do. You just posted another comment this morning, but you quickly realized your error.”
Tim’s expression fell slightly.
“Now, let’s try this again. Why are you sending threatening posts to Elena?”
“It’s not personal,” he muttered.
Ah. Headway.
“Is it ever?” I asked, kneeling in front of the man.
“I was just paid a little to freak her out. Now, get out of my apartment.”
“Oh, I don’t take orders from men like you.” I stood and glanced at my brothers, who took a few steps closer.
“I’m not a bad person.” Zack and Ian pushed him deeper into the couch.
“Even the devil can lure the purest of hearts.” I smiled. “But I don’t think you’ve ever had one of those.”
“Like you’re a real prize.”
“What did you do to Missy and Sadie?” I ignored his comment.
“What? I have no idea who or what you’re talking about.”
“Sure, you do. You left that note for Elena on her door about her sister, Sadie.”
His lips tightened, and Zack and Ian restrained him further.
“I don’t have to tell you shit.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
Mitch slammed his fist into the guy’s jaw, barely missing the sweet spot to knock the man unconscious.
Timothy glared at Mitch, who punched him again.
“This is the deal. You know what happened to Missy and Sadie. You’re either the person who did it, or you know who's behind it.”
“You’re full of—”
My fist knocked into the man’s nose, breaking it with one hit. Tears filled his eyes and blood ran from his nose.
“What was that?” I asked.
“I don’t even know these people,” he whined, coughing on his own blood.
“But you know of them?” I asked.
“Unless you’ve got a badge, I ain’t telling you anything.”
I watched the blood dribble out of his nose, and I let out a sigh, wondering why it was the same with all of these creeps. They had to know we’d get what we wanted eventually. It was just whether they wanted it to hurt more or less.
Timothy spotted the blade Devin had just pulled out of its sheath with gloved hands.
“Did you kill Missy or her boyfriend?” I questioned.
“She was a cute little thing, but I didn’t touch her.”
“What about her boyfriend?”
My brother handed me the knife as Ian and Zack continued to hold the man down. He tried to squirm but couldn’t move.
“Did you not hear me?”
“It’s not like anyone misses that druggie,” he spat out. “He was a loser.”
My gaze skewered the man in place, and fear channeled through his eyes.
Fear I’d put there.
I ran my fingers along my jaw as my eyes stayed fixed on the man in front of me. I knew he wanted to beg for his life. They always did.
“What makes you any better? I’ve seen how you’ve been treating women around town today.”
“You’ve been following me?”
“Which makes me wonder why you won’t just tell me about Sadie and Missy.”
“I–I…” His eyes focused on the blade that I inched toward his throat.
A few seconds passed.
“Don’t know where to begin?” My voice broke the silence in the room as my eyes canvassed the man’s limp body.
He was obviously an amateur and nothing more than a shell of the man I saw earlier when he was full of himself, picking on women and towering over them like a predator.
“I didn’t kill the women.”
Hearing him use the plural made my blood freeze.
“They’re both dead?” I asked emotionlessly.
“I don’t know about the second girl. She only gave me orders about where I needed to hand her off.”
“She?” I studied the man carefully.
“Yeah. A woman signs my paycheck. I’m a modern man all the way.”
My pulse was pounding. “Who killed Missy?”
“I’d imagine the same woman who signs on the dotted line.”
“Who’s that?”
“I don’t know her name.”