LUKE

 

My head is on fire. Not like actual fire, like hot-hot fire, but rather on fire as in I just got a new cut and buzz. The beautiful young lady at the salon said this cut was going to bring all the girls to my proverbial yard, which I’m prone to agree with. I look real damn good right now.

With headphones in my ear, I dance in the elevator shaft as it descends into the basement. If anyone could see me, I’d be embarrassed. It’s only when I’m alone that I’m free to get funky if you know what I mean.

Then I remember that there’s a camera in this damn death trap—the death trap being the elevator, I really hate these things since that one time I got stuck in one for four hours as a young child. Realizing that Marcus is probably chuckling into his closed palm while he watches me dance, I straighten myself out just in time for the elevator door to peel open.

I step out into the open space and make my way to the computer monitors where Marcus is waiting on me.

“This better be important,” I scowl, bracing one arm over the back of his chair as I peer over his shoulder.

“Oh good, you’re here.” He swallows nervously and spins his chair around to face me, knocking my arm free in the process. “I need to show you something.”

“If it’s elevator footage, then I’m really not interested,” I say with a light chuckle.

“What?”

“This obviously has nothing to do with the elevator,” I mumble under my breath and then take a step back to tower over the geek. “What do you have to show me that you couldn’t just send to my phone?”

He buries his eyes in his hand and groans. Sweat trickles down his forehead, beading along the edge of his hairline. “I didn’t know who else to show, so that’s why I brought you here. The twins are out of town again.”

I shake my head and laugh lowly. “Are they ever home?”

“It really doesn’t seem like it, does it?” He exhales a hot breath of air and then turns back to his screen. His fingers dance on the keyboard before a paused video pops up on the screen. “You have to promise if I show you this, you’re not going to say anything to anyone.”

“Just show me the damn video. The suspense is literally killing me”

“What if you don’t like what you see?” He cocks his head over his shoulder with a lopsided frown. “What if it changes how you see someone?”

“You’re being overdramatic, I’m sure.” I reach over his shoulder and tap the space bar.

The video begins playing back.

It’s black and white footage of the main floor where the abandoned factory used to stand. It’s been cleaned out and all that’s left are concrete columns and the rusted railings of the cat walk that surrounds the entirety of the floor.

There’s a man standing alone with his hands buried deep in the pockets of dark slacks. The man looks somewhat familiar, but from this distance, I can’t discern who it actually is.

Just them, Dominic steps into view. He keeps enough distance between himself and the man, but they begin to have what looks like a heated discussion.

“Why is there no sound?” I question, to which Marcus simply shrugs. Instead, he clicks a few keys on the keyboard to zoom in on the two men, and then freeze frames the other man’s face. “Isn’t that…? I thought he was dead.”

The man in question is none other than Mason Cartwright.

“He is dead.” He spins back around to face me and climbs to his feet to pass me. He clears his throat and points back at the screen. “That video was taken the day before Summer Smart and her sister were attacked in the parking garage.”

No way. “Does Chase know about this?”

He shakes his head defiantly. “No, and until I get some answers myself, he’s not going to know about this.”

“What do you think it means?”

“I don’t even want to think about it, to be honest.” He shrugs again, his face pale and haunted. “I don’t want to think about what it could mean.”

“Yeah…”

I stare back at the computer screen, taking a good look at the man who’s supported me all these years. Even when I didn’t think highly of myself, he brought me onto this team and watched after me. There’s no way that man—Dominic Ford—could ever be involved with something like this.

The one thing I know for certain is that this video has pulled a pin out of a grenade, and when it goes off, nobody is going to be left standing.

My day just went to absolute hell.